Carl Eugen Guthe (June 1, 1893 – July 24, 1974) was an American academic and anthropologist.

Early life and education

Guthe was born in

Kearney, Nebraska Kearney ( ) is the county seat of Buffalo County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 33,790 in the 2020 census, making it the 5th most populous city in Nebraska. It is home to the University of Nebraska at Kearney. The westward pus ...

, in 1893, son of Karl Eugen Guthe, Professor of Physics and Dean of the Graduate Department of the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, and Clara Belle née Ware of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Within a year his family moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, when his father took a position at the University of Michigan. He graduated from the

in 1914, then went on to receive two degrees in anthropology from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

– an M.A. in 1915 and a Ph.D. in 1917.

Career

Guthe assisted

Alfred Kidder Alfred Vincent Kidder (October 29, 1885 – June 11, 1963) was an American archaeologist considered the foremost of the southwestern United States and Mesoamerica during the first half of the 20th century. He saw a disciplined system of archaeolog ...

with his excavations at

Pecos, New Mexico Pecos is a village in San Miguel County, New Mexico, San Miguel County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,392 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, shrinking slower than other parts of San Miguel County, partly because Pecos ...

; their efforts to ship the skeletons found there to the Peabody Museum at Harvard resulted in their being suspected of

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

. He was a founding member of the department of Anthropology at the University of Michigan as well as its first chair. He was the first director of the school's new Museum of Anthropology in 1928 and became the Director of University Museums in 1936. He left the university in 1944 to take up the appointment as director of the

New York State Museum The New York State Museum is a research-backed institution in Albany, New York, Albany, New York (state), New York, United States. It is located on Madison Avenue, attached to the south side of the Empire State Plaza, facing onto the plaza and to ...

. He created the Society for American Archaeology and began publishing the ''American Antiquity'' journal. Carl Guthe headed an archaeological expedition to the Philippines from 1922 to 1925, which was used to create the Philippine Collection at the Museum of Anthropology. He went to several locations in the Philippines to look for archaeological evidence. There are 485 sites represented in the total collection, 120 caves, 134 burial grounds and 231 graves. These excavations relied on the work and information of Filipino residents, although Guthe himself didn't consider their perspectives important to the artifacts excavated.

Personal life

Guthe married Grace Ethel (née McDonald) on 12 September 1916 in

Wayne, Michigan Wayne is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A western suburb of Detroit, Wayne is located about southwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 17,713. Wayne has a long history of autom ...

. They had three sons: Karl Frederick, Alfred Kidder, and James. Karl Frederick Guthe (1919–1994) was professor emeritus of biological sciences at the University of Michigan. Alfred Kidder Guthe (1920–1983) specialised in the archaeology of the US eastern seaboard, and became director of the Frank H. McClung Museum in Tennessee.

Death and legacy

Carl Guthe died in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1974, at the age of 81. His contribution of Philippine artifacts remains significant within the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology collection.

References

External links