Walter James Hoffman

author

Walter James Hoffman

1846–1899

A 19th-century physician turned ethnologist, he is best known for detailed studies of Indigenous traditions, including Ojibwa Mide'wiwin practices and Menominee life. His writing reflects the era's drive to document languages, ceremonies, and visual culture across North America.

1 Audiobook

The Mide'wiwin or "Grand Medicine Society" of the Ojibwa

The Mide'wiwin or "Grand Medicine Society" of the Ojibwa

by Walter James Hoffman

About the author

Born in Pennsylvania in 1846, Walter James Hoffman trained as a physician and graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1866. He practiced medicine in Reading, but he became better known for his work as an ethnologist and folklorist.

Hoffman carried out fieldwork among several Native communities and published studies on Ojibwa traditions, Menominee life, sign language, pictography, and the graphic art of Inuit peoples. His best-known books include The Mide'wiwin; or "Grand Medicine Society" of the Ojibwa and The Menomini Indians, works that helped preserve a large record of ceremonies, stories, and cultural practices as they were being documented by late-19th-century researchers.

He died in Reading, Pennsylvania, on November 8, 1899. Today, his work is remembered both for its historical value and as part of the early development of American anthropology and folklore studies.