Holt Clare (1901, Latvia — 1970, New York) — journalist, teacher, anthropologist. In 1914, the Holt family moved to Moscow. In 1920, she married and shortly afterwards emigrated with her husband from the Soviet Union. In 1921, settled in New York, where she attended the Brooklyn Law School, an art school, and the Columbia University journalism faculty. In 1928–30, was a reporter at the “New York World.” Wrote reviews of cultural events under the pseudonym Barbara Holweg. First visited Indonesia in 1930. Studied dance, collaborated with anthropologist Willem Stutterheim, and then assisted Swedish dance researcher Rolf de Maré in his research on Indonesian dances. With the outbreak of World War II, returned to the USA, where in the 1940s and early 1950s worked as assistant to the well-known anthropologist Margaret Mead, as well as researcher in the Department of Strategic Planning and foreign policy specialist at the US State Department. In 1953, left government service in protest against new security rules established by Joseph McCarthy. Spent the rest of her life lecturing at Cornell University, where in 1962 she founded the Modern Indonesia Project. Returned to Indonesia in the mid-1950s and in 1969 to gather material for her book.

Works: Art in Indonesia: Continuities and Change. Cornell University Press, 1967.

Zina Tobiash