Iroquois Journey: An Anthropologist Remembers

2. At Yale and among the Senecas

two At Yale and among the Senecas My introduction to graduate work at Yale immersed me in two realms, ethnology and prehistory. George Peter Murdock, a consummate bibliographer who could hand each student references on any ethnographic topic complete with call numbers, assigned topics to each of his graduate students together with a specific reading list. Each student was expected to produce an ethnographic essay on that topic by the end of the semester. My assignment was the Indians of Connecticut. J. W. DeForest, as an undergraduate, had written a book on the subject in the preceding century, and still earlier Ezra Stiles, a future Yale president, had mapped floor plans of native wigwams. At the end of the semester , Professor Murdock had me read my essay to the seminar. He both praised and critiqued my writing, telling me to use active verbs and avoid the passive voice. Murdock was a comprehensive teacher (serving on my doctoral committee), like most at that time not welcoming to women at Yale, and known for gatherings at his home in Hamden. Being a commuter, I unfortunately missed most of the latter. Clark Wissler had advised me to come see him, when I was ready to pursue graduate work, at the Institute of Human Relations at Yale where he spent two or three days a week. Wissler and I com- 22 | at yale and among the senecas muted to New Haven, he from New York, and I from Westport. Going home Friday nights he frequently took me by cab to the station. During the ride to Westport I listened to anecdotes on the history of anthropology about which he was writing, which aroused my curiosity. Wissler had a keen perception of the personalities involved, their struggles, and collaborations. I count myself among Wissler’s “boys.” He had no sons of his own, but he embraced Jack Ewers, Harold Conklin, and me as if we were. Prehistory under Cornelius Osgood proved a contentious experience . Only four of us signed up for the course, which Osgood gave for the first time in the shadow of George Grant MacCurdy, recently retired author of Human Origins, which we read. Each of us had to prove his worth, which Osgood grudgingly acknowledged. A veteran of the University of Chicago under Maynard Hutchins, he manifested disdain for the Ivy League and its alumni. Eager for field experience, I learned that the Laboratory of Anthropology at Santa Fe offered coveted fellowships for training in fieldwork in both ethnology and archaeology. I missed out on the ethnology party under Leslie White among the Hopi. Meanwhile, I had talked with MacCurdy about joining a team in European prehistory and mentioned it to Clark Wissler. He remarked that there were no jobs in the United States for a European prehistorian; instead, he urged me to apply for a Laboratory of Anthropology fellowship in archaeology under William Duncan Strong of the Smithsonian Institution (si), who would be working on the Great Plains of Nebraska and South Dakota. He also said that I should read the literature on western exploration and Pawnee and Arikara ethnology and that he would write the committee. That summer of 1932 on the plains proved a wise decision. Everyone of consequence in Plains Indian studies visited our site at Signal Butte and later the Leavenworth site at Standing Rock Reservation on the Missouri River. Matthew W. Stirling, director of the Bureau of American Ethnology, joined us for a week in camp on the Missouri. An elderly Dakota named Crazy Bear rode his horse down to inspect our dig most days. On occasion he brought an interpreter. He apparently reveled in our digging up the cultural remains of the “Rees” (Arikaras). I began to quiz him about artifacts that surfaced in storage pits. One day I found cut and incised bison ribs, which he explained had once held feathers to guide them when cast to glide upon snow, which I immediately linked at yale and among the senecas | 23 to the Iroquois game of “snow snake.” I commenced to think that field ethnology was more rewarding than archaeology. The second year of graduate school went better. I received the Carroll Cutler Fellowship, which paid tuition, provided for books, and defrayed commuting expenses. I carried a full load of courses, notably Wissler on the direct historical approach to Plains Indian cultures; Te Rangi Hiroa—Sir Peter Buck, the Maori physician...