James Stevenson

author

James Stevenson

1840–1888

A self-taught explorer of the American West, he helped document the landscapes, peoples, and traditions of the Southwest in the late 1800s. His books and reports bring together geology, natural history, and early ethnographic observation from a period of rapid expansion in U.S. science.

4 Audiobooks

Illustrated Catalogue of the Collections Obtained from the Pueblos of Zuñi, New Mexico, and Wolpi, Arizona, in 1881 Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1881-82, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1884, pages 511-594

Illustrated Catalogue of the Collections Obtained from the Pueblos of Zuñi, New Mexico, and Wolpi, Arizona, in 1881 Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1881-82, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1884, pages 511-594

by James Stevenson

Ceremonial of Hasjelti Dailjis and Mythical Sand Painting of the Navajo Indians

Ceremonial of Hasjelti Dailjis and Mythical Sand Painting of the Navajo Indians

by James Stevenson

Illustrated Catalogue of the Collections Obtained from the Indians of New Mexico And Arizona in 1879 Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1880-81, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1883, pages 307-428

Illustrated Catalogue of the Collections Obtained from the Indians of New Mexico And Arizona in 1879 Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1880-81, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1883, pages 307-428

by James Stevenson

Illustrated Catalogue of the Collections Obtained from the Indians of New Mexico in 1880 Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1880-81, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1883, pages 429-466

Illustrated Catalogue of the Collections Obtained from the Indians of New Mexico in 1880 Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1880-81, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1883, pages 429-466

by James Stevenson

About the author

Born in Kentucky in 1840, James D. Stevenson became an executive officer of the U.S. Geological Survey and built a reputation as a self-taught geologist, naturalist, and ethnologist. He took part in major surveys in the Rocky Mountain and Yellowstone regions and worked closely with the scientific expeditions that helped shape how the American West was studied and described.

He is especially remembered for collecting and writing about Indigenous cultures of the Southwest, including Zuni, Hopi, Ute, Arapaho, and Navajo communities. Among the works associated with his name are illustrated catalogues of collections from New Mexico and Arizona and a study of Navajo ceremonial practice, writings that reflect the 19th-century drive to record material culture and belief systems.

Stevenson died in New York City in 1888. His life was short, but his publications remain a window into the mix of exploration, government science, and anthropology in the United States during that era.