An Anthropologist’s Arrival: A Memoir

240 Pages·2014·1.79 MB·English

by  Ruth M. Underhill

An Anthropologist’s Arrival

An Anthropologist’s Arrival
A Memoir
Ruth M. Underhill
Edited by
Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh
and Stephen E. Nash
tucson
The University of Arizona Press
© 2014 The Arizona Board of Regents
All rights reserved
www.uapress.arizona.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Underhill, Ruth, 1883–1984.
An anthropologist’s arrival : a memoir / Ruth M. Underhill ; edited by
Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh and Stephen E. Nash.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8165-3060-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Underhill, Ruth, 1883–1984. 2. Women anthropologists—United States—
Biography. 3. Tohono O’odham Indians—Social life and customs. 4. Pueblo
Indians—Social life and customs. I. Title.
GN21.U48A3 2014
301.092—dc23
[B]
2013039476
Manufactured in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper
containing a minimum of 30% post-consumer waste and processed chlorine free.
19 18 17 16 15 14 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Timeline vii
Genealogy ix
Monographs xi
Introduction 5
Part One: Becoming Ruth Underhill
A Zigzag Life 27
Do Good to Others 29
Mother Was an Angel, Part 1 34
They Were Murrays 46
Abram S. Underhill 52
Mother Was an Angel, Part 2 61
Youth Passing 69
Quakers and Darwin 74
Picnics and Dances 78
Vassar and Europe 86
The Society 93
The Big Love 99
World War I 108
A Marriage Begins and Ends 117
vi Contents
Part Two: Becoming An Anthropologist
Columbia, Part 1 131
Papa Franz 144
Coming of Age in Arizona 148
Henrietta 151
Chona and the O’odham 159
Columbia, Part 2 173
The Fruit of the Saguaro 180
Indian Affairs 192
Around the World 204
We’re Going to Live This Year 211
Acknowledgments 217
Figure Credits 219
Index 221
Timeline
1883 Born in Ossining, New York
1890–1901 Ossining School for Girls, with several trips to Europe
1901–1905 Vassar College, AB (1905), Phi Beta Kappa
1906–1908 Travel in Europe, with one term each at the London
School of Economics and University of Munich
1909–1913 Massachusetts Society for Prevention of Cruelty to
Children, Boston, agent in charge of Italian cases
1912–1918 Begins writing articles and book reviews
1914–1915 Charity Organization Society, New York City, agent for
Italian cases
1916 National Committee for Mental Hygiene, survey field
worker
1917–1919 American Red Cross, in charge of Italian orphanages
during World War I; after war employed by the Rockefeller
Foundation
1919–1929 Continues writing, occasionally travels, and marries
1930–1937 Columbia University, PhD; assistant in anthropology,
Barnard College
1931–1935 Research fellowships from Columbia University Social
Science Council and Humanities Council
1935–1937 US Department of Agriculture, consulting anthropologist
1937–1948 US Office of Indian Affairs (later Bureau of Indian Affairs),
associate supervisor of Indian education, then supervisor of
Indian education
1948 University of Denver, visiting lecturer in anthropology
1949–1952 University of Denver, professor of anthropology
1953 Formally retires, but continues to travel, teach, and write
1957–1958 Television program Red Man’s America
1984 Dies in Denver, Colorado
vii

Genealogy
Maternal Grandfather: Robert Lindley Murray (1824–1874), born in
Flushing, New York, a wool merchant, insurance agent, and Society of
Friends minister.
Maternal Grandmother: Ruth Sherman Taber Murray (1827–1907), born
in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and gave birth to eight children.
Paternal Grandfather: Jesse Haight Underhill (1812–1896), a Quaker
farmer descended from Captain John Underhill, who settled in New
England in 1630.
Paternal Grandmother: Eliza Sutton Underhill (1821–1906), lived in
Ossining, New York, and had two children.
Mother: Anna Taber Murray Underhill (1854–1919), from a prominent
Quaker family after which New York City’s Murray Hill was named.
Father: Abram Sutton Underhill (1852–1942), grew up on a farm near
Chappaqua, New York, and became a successful lawyer.
Sister: Margaret Underhill (1886–1970), Ruth’s beautiful sister, married
Edward F. Barron and had a child.
Brother: Robert Lindley Murray Underhill (1889–1983), earned a PhD
from Harvard in 1916 and became a professor there with a specialty in
logic; celebrated as a pioneering alpine mountaineer; married Miriam
O’Brien in 1932 and had two sons, Robert and Brian.
Sister: Elizabeth Sutton Underhill (1892–1982), a suffrage activist,
graduated New York University Law School in 1921 and became first
female bank director in Westchester County; unmarried.
ix