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.
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