Editors’ note: today’s post is courtesy of Sharlotte Neely, Professor Emerita of Anthropology at Northern Kentucky University. Our thanks to Dr. Neely for making this resource available. Dr. Neely has also contributed a general list of anthropologists’ graves; more information on that list can be found in this post.

I have organized a list of more than 70 deceased anthropologists who were American Indians. Dozens of tribes and nations are represented from every culture area in North America. Included are Ph.D. anthropologists (like Alfonso Ortiz), proto-anthropologists (like Black Hawk), amateur anthropologists (like Bodaga Pino), assistants to anthropologists (like Kopeli), key informants (like Will West Long), and unintentional anthropologists (like Ishi). The list can be viewed at Find a Grave. I would much appreciate being contacted at sharlottedonnelly@gmail.com about additional people I should add to the list or corrections I should make, including editing individual entries and adding photos.

Two of the most interesting items I have learned in creating the list are, first, the number of non-Indian anthropologists who credited Indians who worked with them, often as co-authors, rather than anonymous informants, and, second, how many Indians with graduate degrees in anthropology worked professionally in the field of anthropology from the beginning of the discipline in the United States and Canada. 

Editors’ note: today’s post is courtesy of Sharlotte Neely, Professor Emerita of Anthropology at Northern Kentucky University. Our thanks to Dr. Neely for making this resource available.

I have organized a list of more than 1,200 deceased anthropologists using the free online site Find a Grave. It accomplishes goals absent in other sites, such as the American Anthropology Obituary Index, which is a list of people whose obituaries have appeared in either the American Anthropologist and/or the Anthropology Newsletter from 1899 through early 2003, Recent Obituary Articles in American Anthropologist, which has actual obituaries from 2018 through 2023, and Royal Anthropological Institute Obituaries, which is mostly limited to distinguished members of the Royal Anthropological Institute.

My ongoing list of 1,200+ anthropologists is located online through this link. With some editing the goal is to have a photo, short bio (or some other pertinent information, such as published books), and grave location (or confirmation of cremation) for each individual. There are hundreds of anthropologists’ existing graves/cremations yet to be located on Find a Grave, which has no index, and hundreds more anthropologists’ graves/cremations yet to be created for Find a Grave. The Find a Grave site has several advantages including the large number of individuals there, a diversity of anthropologists from the entire world, its free to use status, the ease of adding or correcting information on all individuals, and the breadth of individuals defined as “anthropologist.” For the Find a Grave site, “anthropologist” includes Ph.D. professors (like Franz Boas), proto-anthropologists (like John Aubrey), honorary anthropologists (like James Neel), almost anthropologists (like Alan Dundes), amateur anthropologists (like George McJunkin), and unintended anthropologists (like Ishi).

To participate on the Find a Grave site, go to the Find a Grave homepage to join for free. You can then add new graves, add photos to any grave, and correct or add to any particular site by contacting the individual site manager through the edit tab. To gain “famous” status for anyone on the list who does not already have famous status, you may email Find a Grave to make a case for famous status. To get someone added to the deceased anthropologist list, contact me, Sharlotte Neely, via email.