Fürer-Haimendorf Collection

Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf lived and worked as an anthropologist throughout the Himalayas from the 1930s through the 1980s. Fürer-Haimendorf's specific interests included the Naga ethnic groups of the North Eastern Frontier Area of India and the Sherpa ethnic group of north-eastern Nepal. However, he travelled far and wide throughout the entire region, taking over 100 hours of film throughout his career. Extraordinary in both its breadth and its depth, the Fürer-Haimendorf collection is one of the finest extant ethnographic film collections that document Himalayan cultures. The collection includes both archival footage from Fürer-Haimendorf's lengthy research career in the Himalayas, as well as interviews with the Professor himself recorded on video. Samples of both appear below. The Fürer-Haimendorf film collection is located in the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) where he was Professor.

© Alan Macfarlane Click on the image above to view excerpts from an interview with Fürer-Haimendorf, conducted in Cambridge by Professor Alan Macfarlane in 1987.

© Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf Click on the image above to view an excerpt from The Land of the Gurkhas, filmed in Nepal by Fürer-Haimendorf in 1957.

© Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf Click on the image above to view excerpts from Fürer-Haimendorf's Arunachal Pradesh footage fillmed in 1944 and 1945.

© Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf Click on the image above to view a silent excerpt from Among the Sherpas, filmed in Nepal by Fürer-Haimendorf in 1971.