Editing Human Relations Area Files (section)

==History==
On February 26, 1949, delegates from [[Harvard University]], the [[University of Pennsylvania]], the [[University of Oklahoma]], the [[University of Washington]], and [[Yale University]] met in New Haven, Connecticut to pledge their membership in a new nonprofit research consortium to be based at Yale. The plan was to "develop and distribute files of organized information related to human societies and cultures."<ref>[[Clellan S. Ford|Ford, Clellan S.]] 1970. ''[http://hraf.yale.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/HRAF-1949-1969.pdf Human Relations Area Files: 1949-1969, a Twenty-Year Report] (10).'' (New Haven, CT: Human Relations Area Files).</ref> The name of the new inter-university corporation was the Human Relations Area Files, Inc. (HRAF). It is an ever-growing catalogue of cross-indexed ethnographic data, sorted and filed by geographic location and cultural characteristics.

The name came from the Institute of Human Relations, an interdisciplinary program at Yale at the time. The Institute of Human Relations had sponsored HRAF's precursor, the ''Cross-Cultural Survey'' (see [[George Peter Murdock]]), as part of an effort to develop an integrated science of human behavior and culture.<ref>[[Carol R. Ember|Ember, Carol R.]] 2012. Human Relations Area Files. In Leadership in Science and Technology: A Reference Handbook, vol 2. William S. Bainbridge, ed. (Los Angeles: Sage Reference), pp. 619-627.</ref> On May 7, 1949, the HRAF consortium was formally established with three additional universities—the [[University of Chicago]], the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|University of North Carolina]], and the [[University of Southern California]].<ref>[[Clellan S. Ford|Ford, Clellan S.]] 1970. ''[http://hraf.yale.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/HRAF-1949-1969.pdf Human Relations Area Files: 1949-1969, a Twenty-Year Report] (11).'' (New Haven, CT: Human Relations Area Files).</ref> As of 2018, there are 21 sponsoring members and hundreds of associate members. The HRAF Collection of Ethnography (the pre-electronic precursor to ''eHRAF World Cultures'') was originally distributed as paper files. From the early 1960s until 1994, most members received their annual installments on [[microfiche]]. Since 1994, the annual installments have been in electronic form, first on CD-ROM and later online.<ref>[[Melvin Ember|Ember, Melvin]]. 2000. [http://hraf.yale.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/HRAF-in-the-21st-Century.pdf ''HRAF in the 21st Century: Blueprint for the Future after 50 Years''.] (New Haven, CT: Human Relations Area Files).</ref>