Tom as I knew him
Benedict Sandin’s personal obituary of Dato Tom Harrisson, who died in a road accident near Bangkok in 1976, recalling his twenty-one years as Government Ethnologist and Curator of the Sarawak Museum (1945–1966).
Summary
Sandin, who served as Junior Assistant Curator under Harrisson from 1952 to 1966, describes how Harrisson transformed the Sarawak Museum from a small prewar institution into one of the best museums and libraries in Southeast Asia, including the renovation of the building, the construction of a new office and workshop (1953–54), and the regular publication of over four hundred pages of scholarly articles annually in the Museum Journal (p. 147). He recalls Harrisson’s demanding and sometimes bullying temperament, balanced by genuine consideration for his staff, illustrated by an incident in the late 1950s when a lost collector was searched for with the help of surrounding villages and, upon his return, was granted two days off with money from Harrisson’s own pocket (pp. 147–148).
Sandin also notes Harrisson’s particular devotion to the Kelabit people of Fifth Division, to whom he was given magistrate’s powers, and his major but unpublished archaeological contributions, especially at Niah Caves, whose field notebooks remain in the Museum in nearly illegible handwriting (p. 148). The piece closes with Harrisson’s letter, written four days before his death, describing his intention to establish a scholarship trust for the Kelabit people (p. 148).