author
S. A. (Samuel Alfred) Barrett
1879–1965
An early American anthropologist and linguist, he devoted much of his career to studying and documenting Native American communities, especially in California and the Pacific Northwest. His work also reached museum audiences through collecting, research, and film.
2 Audiobooks
Pomo Bear Doctors
by S. A. (Samuel Alfred) Barrett
Ceremonies of the Pomo Indians
by S. A. (Samuel Alfred) Barrett
About the author
Born on November 12, 1879, Samuel Alfred Barrett was an American anthropologist and linguist best known for his research on Native American peoples. He studied at the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked under Alfred L. Kroeber and completed his doctorate in anthropology in 1908.
Barrett built an important museum career as curator of anthropology at the Milwaukee Public Museum and later served as the museum's director from 1920 to 1940. His fieldwork focused on communities including the Pomo, Miwok, and Kwakwaka'wakw, and he became known for combining ethnography, linguistics, collecting, and visual documentation.
Later in his career, he returned to California and helped create documentary films on Indigenous peoples of the western United States. He died on March 9, 1965. His papers are preserved at The Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley, a sign of the lasting research value of his work.