Anna Hadwick Gayton (September 20, 1899–September 18, 1977) was an American anthropologist, folklorist, and museum curator. She is most recognized for her role in "compiling and analyzing Californian Indian mythology" and was elected President of the American Folklore Society in 1950.

Personal life and education

Gayton was born on September 20, 1899, in Santa Cruz, California. She attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, receiving a B.A. degree in 1923 and M.A. degree in 1924. In 1928, Gayton completed her PhD in anthropology under

Alfred L. Kroeber Alfred Louis Kroeber ( ; June 11, 1876 – October 5, 1960) was an American cultural anthropologist. He received his PhD under Franz Boas at Columbia University in 1901, the first doctorate in anthropology awarded by Columbia. He was also the fi ...

and

Robert H. Lowie Robert Harry Lowie (born '; June 12, 1883 – September 21, 1957) was an Austrian-born American anthropologist. An expert on Indigenous peoples of the Americas, he was instrumental in the development of modern anthropology and has been described a ...

and a minor in psychology under Edward C. Tolman. Gayton was the first woman to receive a PhD in anthropology from Berkeley. Her dissertation was titled 'The Narcotic Plant Datura in Aboriginal American Culture'. During her studies, she served as an editorial assistant to the journal ''American Anthropologist''. She would again hold this role again between 1932 and 1934 and also held a similar role between 1934 and 1939 with ''Yale University Publications in Anthropology''. In 1931, she married fellow anthropologist,

Leslie Spier Leslie Spier (December 13, 1893 – December 3, 1961) was an American anthropologist best known for his ethnographic studies of American Indians. He spent a great deal of his professional life as a teacher; he retired in 1955 and died in 1961.Robe ...

. Gayton died on September 18, 1977.

Research

As part of her research for her PhD, Gayton conducted fieldwork with the

Yokuts The Yokuts (previously known as MariposasPowell, 1891:90–91.) are an ethnic group of Native Americans native to central California. Before European contact, the Yokuts consisted of up to 60 tribes speaking several related languages. Yokuts ...

and

Western Mono The Mono ( ) are a Native American people who traditionally live in the central Sierra Nevada, the Eastern Sierra (generally south of Bridgeport), the Mono Basin, and adjacent areas of the Great Basin. They are often grouped under the histori ...

peoples: she would go on to publish nine essays based upon Yokuts and Mono myth and oral tradition. From 1925-1926, prior to receiving her degree, Gayton worked with Kroeber as a Museum Research Assistant in Peruvian archaeology, focusing on the Uhle pottery collections. From 1925-1929, she conducted an investigation of the "political life" of the Yokuts and Western Mono peoples in the San Joaquin valley of California, focusing on reconstructing the childhoods of those born in the mid-19th century. This investigation, taking an "ecological approach" to Indigenous politics, was the first of its kind. She was also a National Research Council Fellow from 1929-1930, continuing the ethnographic research on the Yokuts and Western Mono peoples that she had started during her time as a research assistant.

Folklore

During the 1930s, Gayton became active in the

American Folklore Society The American Folklore Society (AFS) is the United States (US)-based professional association for folklorists, with members from the US, Canada, and around the world, which aims to encourage research, aid in disseminating that research, promote t ...

(AFS). She was reviews editor of the ''Journal of American Folklore'' from 1935 to 1940 and associate editor from 1940 to 1943. She would serve as the chair of the AFS's Committee on Research in Folklore from 1945 to 1948, as Vice President of the AFS in 1947 and president in 1950. During this period, Gayton had commenced a study of the Feast of the Holy Spirit among Azorean Portuguese of California, aided by a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

awarded to her in 1947. She has been hailed as a "pioneer advocate of comparative folklore studies".

Academia and curating

In 1948, Gayton joined the staff of the Department of Decorative Art at the University of California, Berkeley. The main focus of her research became Peruvian textiles in the university's collections, work begun by her predecessor in the Department of Decorative Art, Lila M O'Neale. Gayton continued this research into ancient Peruvian costume as the (unpaid) curator of textiles at Berkeley's

Museum of Anthropology (now Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology). She was particularly associated with ancient materials collected by the archaeologists

Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

and Charlotte Uhle. In 1965, toward the end of her career, Gayton worked as the Vice President of the Institute of Andean Studies. She retired from teaching the same year.

Selected publications

Gayton, Anna Hadwick (1927). ''The Uhle Collections from Nievería''. Berkeley (Calif.): University of California Press.

OCLC OCLC, Inc. See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was founded in 1967 as the ...

882742385. Gayton, A. H; Kroeber, A. L; Uhle, Max (1927). ''The Uhle pottery collections from Nazca,''. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press.

3096352. Gayton, A. H. (1935). "Areal Affiliations of California Folktales". ''American Anthropologist''. 37 (4): 582–599.

ISSN An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit to uniquely identify a periodical publication (periodical), such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs a ...

0002-7294. Gayton, A. H. (1935). "The Orpheus Myth in North America." ''The Journal of American Folklore.'' 48 (189): 263-293. doi:10.2307/535272. Gayton, A. H. (1942). "English Ballads and Indian Myths". ''The Journal of American Folklore''. 55 (217): 121–125. doi:10.2307/535249.

0021-8715. Gayton, A. H. (1945). "Yokuts and Western Mono Social Organization". ''American Anthropologist''. 47 (3): 409–426.

0002-7294. Gayton, A. H. (1946). "Culture-Environment Integration: External References in Yokuts Life". ''Southwestern Journal of Anthropology''. 2 (3): 252–268.

0038-4801. Gayton, Anna Hadwick (1948). ''Yokuts and Western mono ethnography /A. H. Gayton''. Berkeley; Los Angeles: University of California Press.

600867859. Gayton, A. H. (1948). "The "Festa da Serreta" at Gustine". ''Western Folklore''. 7 (3): 251–265. doi:10.2307/1497549.

0043-373X Gayton, A. H. (1948). "Folklore and Anthropology". ''Utah Humanities Review''. 2: 26–31. Gayton, A. H. (1951). "Perspectives in Folklore". ''The Journal of American Folklore''. 64 (252): 147–150. doi:10.2307/536632.

0021-8715. Gayton, A. H. (1955). "A New Type of Ancient Peruvian Shirt". ''American Antiquity''. 20 (3): 263–270. doi:10.2307/277003.

0002-7316. Gayton, A. H. (1961). "Early Paracas Style Textiles From Yauca, Peru". ''Archaeology''. 14 (2): 117–121.

0003-8113. Riesenberg, Saul H.; Gayton, A. H. (1952). "Caroline Island Belt Weaving". ''Southwestern Journal of Anthropology''. 8 (3): 342–375.

0038-4801. Rogers, Barbara Thrall; Gayton, A. H. (1944). "Twenty-Seven Chukchansi Yokuts Myths". ''The Journal of American Folklore''. 57 (225): 190–207. doi:10.2307/535966.

0021-8715. Stumer, Louis M.; Gayton, A. H. (1958). "A Horizontal-Necked Shirt from Marques, Peru". ''American Antiquity''. 24 (2): 181–182. doi:10.2307/277480.

0002-7316. Gayton, A. H. (1967). "Textiles from Hacha, Peru." ''Ñawpa Pacha.'' 5 (1): 1-13. doi:10.1179/naw.1967.5.1.001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gayton, Anna Hardwick 1899 births 1977 deaths American folklorists American women folklorists 20th-century American anthropologists American women anthropologists American curators American women curators Presidents of the American Folklore Society