Four Anthropologists: An American Science in Its Early Years

Mark, Joan, 1981   Four Anthropologists: An American Science in Its Early Years describes the activities and work of leading American anthropologists during the years 1865–1900, before and just after the arrival of Franz Boas from Germany. Paradoxically, the achievements of the American anthropological community at that time, though acknowledged in Europe, were soon forgotten or downgraded in the United States. Using both private correspondence and published writings, Joan Mark has succeeded in unearthing the stories, achievements, and eccentricities of this unique scientific community. She describes in convincing terms the true magnitude of these pioneer American accomplishments in establishing anthropological methods and studies. Frederic Ward Putnam, Alice C. Fletcher, Frank Hamilton Cushing, and William Henry Holmes founded, along with John Wesley Powell, the chief anthropological institutions of the United States. They pioneered the methods that dominated twentieth century ant