Lewis Henry Morgan

Born in Aurora, New York, Lewis Henry Morgan trained as a lawyer but became far better known for his writing on anthropology and social history. He developed a close interest in the Haudenosaunee, especially the Seneca, and his early research grew into The League of the Ho-dé-no-sau-nee, or Iroquois, a landmark study of Iroquois society.

Morgan later became one of the first major scholars to study kinship in a systematic way. In Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family and Ancient Society, he compared family relationships across cultures and proposed broad stages of social development. Some of those evolutionary ideas are now seen as dated, but his work on kinship and social organization remained highly influential.

He is often remembered as one of the founders of American anthropology. His books were widely read by later thinkers, and his combination of field observation, comparison, and historical argument helped establish anthropology as a serious area of study.