Histories of American Physical Anthropology in the Twentieth Century

273 Pages·2012·1.77 MB·English

by  Michael A. Little

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Histories of American Physical Anthropology in the Twentieth Century chronicles e a
the growth and progress of the fi eld of physical anthropology in the United States, dn
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from its professional origins in the late 1800s up to its modern transformation in
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the late 1900s, when it became known as biological anthropology. Michael A.
Little and Kenneth A. R. Kennedy have assembled an impressive group of thirteen
scholars and anthropologists to elaborate on some of the various people, ideas, A
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traditions, and organizations that have contributed to the advancement of bio-
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logical anthropology, which today focuses on the study of human variation and
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evolution. They highlight episodes that contributed to the evolution of biological
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Twentieth Century
anthropology into a science, touching on the shift from antiquated nineteenth- o
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century practices to the contemporary application of modern scientifi c inquiry ps
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Offering compelling accounts of the development of this scientifi c branch of ge
anthropology, contributors provide a brief and readable background of Ameri- ys

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can anthropology’s biobehavioral side. This edited collection is designed for i
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upper-level undergraduate students, graduate students, professional biological
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anthropologists, and those who wish to learn more about this thriving fi eld.
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Contributors r
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C. Loring Brace, Kaye Brown, Matt Cartmill, Eugene Giles, Bernice A. Kaplan, Kenneth wc
A. R. Kennedy, Clark Spencer Larsen, Michael A. Little, Jonathan Marks, Donald J. ea
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Ortner, John H. Relethford, William A. Stini, Emoke J. E. Szathmáry
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Michael A. Little is distinguished professor of anthropology at the State University
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of New York at Binghamton. hs
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Kenneth A. R. Kennedy is professor emeritus in the Department of Ecology and ea
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Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University.

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For orders and information please contact the publisher
LEXINGTON BOOKS
A division of Rowman & Littlefi eld Publishers, Inc.
E M A. L
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200 DITED BY ICHAEL ITTLE
Lanham, Maryland 20706 Cover image: Department of Anthropology staff, 1904,
1-800-462-6420 • www.lexingtonbooks.com Smithsonian Institution Archives, NAA-42012. K A. R. K
AND ENNETH ENNEDY
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Histories of American
Physical Anthropology in the
Twentieth Century

Histories of American
Physical Anthropology in
the Twentieth Century
Edited by
Michael A. Little and
Kenneth A. R. Kennedy
LEXINGTON BOOKS
A division of
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham (cid:129) Boulder (cid:129) New York (cid:129) Toronto (cid:129) Plymouth, UK
Published by Lexington Books
A division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
http://www.lexingtonbooks.com
Estover Road
Plymouth PL6 7PY
United Kingdom
Copyright © 2010 by Lexington Books
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems,
without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Histories of American physical anthropology in the twentieth century / edited by
Michael A. Little and Kenneth A. R. Kennedy.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7391-3511-2 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-7391-3513-6
(electronic)
1. Physical anthropology—United States—History—20th century. I. Little,
Michael A. II. Kennedy, Kenneth A. R.
GN50.45.U6H57 2010
599.90973—dc22 2009033984
Printed in the United States of America
(cid:2) ™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Dedicated to Frank Spencer (1941–1999)
This book is dedicated to Frank Spencer,
who devoted most of his professional life to
studying and documenting the history of physical/
biological anthropology. Many of his works serve
as invaluable references in the chapters that follow.

Contents
Preface ix
Contributors to the Volume xi
Chapter One Introduction to the History of American
Physical Anthropology 1
Michael A. Little and Kenneth A. R. Kennedy
Chapter Two “Physical” Anthropology at the Turn of
the Last Century 25
C. Loring Brace
Chapter Three Franz Boas’s Place in American Physical
Anthropology and Its Institutions 55
Michael A. Little
Chapter Four Aleš Hrdlicˇka and the Founding of the American
Journal of Physical Anthropology: 1918 87
Donald J. Ortner
Chapter Five Principal Figures in Early 20th-Century
Physical Anthropology: With Special
Treatment of Forensic Anthropology 105
Kenneth A. R. Kennedy
Chapter Six The Founding of the American Association
of Physical Anthropologists: 1930 127
Emo˝ke J. E. Szathmáry
vii
viii Contents
Chapter Seven Principal Figures in Physical Anthropology
Before and During World War II 141
Eugene Giles
Chapter Eight The Immediate Postwar Years:
The Yearbook of Physical Anthropology
and the Summer Seminars 155
Michael A. Little and Bernice A. Kaplan
Chapter Nine Sherwood L. Washburn and “The New
Physical Anthropology” 173
William A. Stini
Chapter Ten The Two 20th-Century Crises of Racial
Anthropology 187
Jonathan Marks
Chapter Eleven Race and the Conflicts within the Profession
of Physical Anthropology During the 1950s
and 1960s 207
John H. Relethford
Chapter Twelve 75 Years of the Annual Meetings of
the American Association of Physical
Anthropologists, 1930–2004 221
Kaye Brown and Matt Cartmill
Chapter Thirteen Description, Hypothesis Testing, and
Conceptual Advances in Physical
Anthropology: Have We Moved On? 233
Clark Spencer Larsen
Appendix 243
Index 249
Preface
Most of the chapters in this volume were originally presented as contributions
to a symposium organized by Little and Kennedy at the American Asso-
ciation of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA) annual meeting in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, in 2005. This was an anniversary symposium marking the 75th
year of the AAPA, and three of the contributors to this volume (Loring Brace,
Matt Cartmill, and Eugene Giles) also contributed to the 50th anniversary
volume in 1980 that was edited by Frank Spencer. Two of the chapters here
were added to the collection after the symposium: an introduction to the
collection by the editors and a biographical overview of the contributions to
physical anthropology made by the founder of American anthropology, Franz
Boas. The thirteen chapters that constitute the volume do not present a com-
prehensive history of physical anthropology in the United States during the
20th century. Rather, they highlight numerous aspects of histories of this sci-
ence as it developed to maturity during this period. The 20th century began in
the United States with only a handful of physical anthropologists continuing
antiquated 19th-century practices, and ended with 2,000 professional physi-
cal anthropologists throughout the nation participating in modern scientific
inquiry. Other major sources of historical and biographical documentation for
physical anthropology are reviewed in Chapter 1.
We acknowledge, with our thanks, the assistance of the organizers of the
2005 AAPA meeting and the editors of Lexington Books, particularly Alyc
Helms, Jana Wilson, Melissa Wilks, and Patricia Stevenson, who guided this
book through the production process. We also thank Adrienne V. Little, who
provided valuable assistance with proofreading.
ix