An editorial board composed of graduate students was also established, including the following members: Stephen C. Cappannari, Harold C. Conklin Leo A. Estel, John F. Goins, Dorothy L. Rainier, and Adan E. Treganza. It was decided that subscription to the society's publications would be by membership in the group, and the annual dues were set at $3.00. Persons interested in joining the Kroeber Society may apply to the treasurer, care of the Department of Anthropology, University of California Berkeley.

The activities of the Kroeber Society at the present time include the holding of meetings to hear papers on anthropological topics, and the publishing of the present series. The publication is not envisaged as a competitor to any of the present anthropological Journals, but rather as a supplement, since much of the material to be published here will be the work of students and might not otherwise be published. Each year sees the production of many student papers, seminar reports, and individual research projects which are filed away and not accessible to other students. Many of these papers are of considerable scholarly merit and deserve publication. It is hoped that the present economical format will enable the Kroeber Society to make such work more generally available.

Having expressed our professional indebtedness to Professor Kroeber by using his name as the name of the society, we would like to make our first publication a small tribute to Professor Robert H. Lowie, whose pioneer work in anthropology is well known to all students of culture. The members of the Kroeber Society join in expressing their appreciation for Professor Lowie's many years of stimulating guidance and teaching.

Clement W. Meighan
Berkeley, 1950"

Volume 1 (May 1950) of the Kroeber Anthropological Society Papers

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

History

"In the fall of 1949, a group of anthropology students at the University of California (Berkeley) gathered to discuss the possibility of forming a society of anthropologists which could publish occasional papers. The idea was enthusiastically supported by a number of students and the organization was officially constituted on December l, 1949.

At an early meeting of the society, it was decided by a vote of the members that their group should be called the Kroeber Anthropological Society, in honor of Professor A.L. Kroeber and in recognition of his long and outstanding career in anthropology. Professor Kroeber kindly allowed the use of his name for this purpose.

The Kroeber Society was organized in Berkeley, where there are enough anthropology students to support the activities of the group. The society is in no way a closed group, however, and interested individuals are welcome to join. The editorial board will be glad to consider papers submitted by non-members as well as members.

The officers chosen to guide the Kroeber Society for the 1949-1950 term include the following:

Chairman: Clement W. Meighan
Vice-chairman/treasurer: Alan R. Beals
Secretary: Catharine McClellan
Program Director: Francis A. Riddell
Publications Director: Richard Bachenheimer

Purpose

Over the last fifty years, the Kroeber Anthropological Society Papers has evolved into a semi-annual volume with considerable international readership. We publish articles in the general field of anthropology (and all its subdisciplines) and neighboring fields which are of theoretical and/or practical interest. We remain particularly committed to publishing the work of students and junior scholars.

The KAS began hosting annual meetings in May 1957. These meetings have taken many forms over the years: some have included papers representing the spectrum of anthropological interests, others have focused closely on specific topics. Several meetings have been held to honor the scholarship of retiring anthropologists, and one has taken the form of an Ethnographic Film Festival. The most recent KAS conference, "Translocalities: Borders, Boundaries, and the Making of Sites," was held April 2003. In addition to its printed journal, KAS is also now a free, open-access scholarly journal (Fall 2009).

Both the journal and conferences are designed and implemented by graduate students in the Department of Anthropology at UC Berkeley, with support from faculty and campus organizations, such as the Graduate Assembly. While KAS typically has a senior faculty advisor from the UC Berkeley Anthropology Department, we remain an autonomous student institution that is financially independent from the department. All graduate students in the UCB Anthropology Department and the Joint UCB-UCSF Medical Anthropology Program are eligible to become members of the KAS.