The Human Relations Area Files (HRAF)

The Human Relations Area Files (HRAF)

Description
	The Human Relations Area Files is an archive of cultural data maintained by a corporation with the same name and referred to by its initials HRAF. It is indexed and cross-referenced using the OCM.

Discussion

The HRAF is made up of hundreds of thousands of pages of OCM-coded ethnographic material from books and articles on a selection of 350 societies from around the world. This archive can be used by researchers interested in doing cross-cultural research and comparison. You can access a microfiche version of the HRAF archive from over 300 libraries and other institutions.

Note:

You may hear the OCM referred to as the HRAF or H-RAF codes because of their connection. However, since "Outline of Cultural Materials" is the official name of the outline itself, "OCM" will be used in LinguaLinks to refer to it.

See:

The connection between the OCM and the HRAF

See also
	Here are some additional resources:
	For a list of the libraries and institutions where you can access the HRAF archive, contact Human Relations Area Files: P.O. Box 2054, Yale Station, New Haven, CT 06520; (203) 777-2334. For 60 HRAF societies on CD-ROM, contact SilverPlatter CD-ROM: 100 River Ridge Dr., Norwood, MA 02062-5206; (800) 343-0064. For a primarily electronic journal on cross-cultural research in which the OCM is the categorization basis, contact World Cultures: Journal of Comparative and Cross-Cultural Research, Analytic Technologies, 6616 Christie Rd., Columbia, SC 29209-2147. [hard copy available]

Context for this page:

Structure module: Human Relations Area Files
In modular book: Using the Outline of Cultural Materials (OCM), by Elinor Abbot
In bookshelf: Anthropology

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 3.5, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 17 September 1998