author
Frederick Webb Hodge
1864–1956
A key early scholar of Native American history and archaeology, this editor and field researcher helped shape how the Southwest and its Indigenous cultures were studied in the United States. His work brought together on-the-ground excavation, careful documentation, and influential reference writing.
1 Audiobook
The Jumano Indians
by Frederick Webb Hodge
About the author
Born in Plymouth, England, on October 28, 1864, he moved to Washington, D.C., as a child and built a career that crossed anthropology, archaeology, history, and publishing. He entered the field through work with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Hemenway Archaeological Expedition, gaining early experience in the American Southwest.
He later became closely associated with major research institutions, including the Smithsonian's Bureau of American Ethnology and the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. Alongside his institutional work, he edited American Anthropologist for many years and became widely known for major reference projects on the peoples and past of the Americas.
His writing and editorial work helped organize a huge body of knowledge for both scholars and general readers, especially on Native American communities and Southwestern archaeology. He died on September 28, 1956, leaving behind a career remembered for both fieldwork and the careful shaping of historical and anthropological record.