Martha Beckwith
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Martha Warren Beckwith (January 19, 1871 – January 28, 1959) was an American
folklorist Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...
and
ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...
who was the first chair in folklore at any university or college in the U.S.


Early life and education

Beckwith was born in Wellesley Heights,
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
, to George Ely and Harriet Winslow (née Goodale) Beckwith, both schoolteachers, before the family moved to
Maui Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of ...
,
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
, where they had relatives descended from early missionaries. There, Beckwith made friends with many locals including members of the wealthy Alexander family who later sponsored her folklore work, and she developed an early interest in Hawaiian folk dancing. Beckwith graduated from
Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States. It is the oldest member of the h ...
with a
Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...
degree in 1893 and returned to Hawaii, working as a teacher in Honolulu. She moved to Chicago in 1896 and began teaching English and Anthropology at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
before taking a position as an English instructor at
Elmira College Elmira College is a private college in Elmira, New York, United States. Founded as a Timeline of women's colleges in the United States#First and oldest, college for women in 1855, it is the oldest existing college granting degrees to women that ...
the following year. After her father's death in 1898, Beckwith studied various languages, including Old English, French, and German, at
Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
and the
University of Halle Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...
. She returned to the States and taught English at her alma mater. Her formal education in anthropology did not begin till the 1900s, as her interests in Hawaiian folk customs and literature felt out of place in the English academic curriculum. In 1906, Beckwith obtained a
Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...
degree in anthropology after studying under
Franz Boas Franz Uri Boas (July 9, 1858 – December 21, 1942) was a German-American anthropologist and ethnomusicologist. He was a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the mov ...
at
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
and completing a thesis on
Hopi The Hopi are Native Americans who primarily live in northeastern Arizona. The majority are enrolled in the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona; however, some Hopi people are enrolled in the Colorado ...
and Kwatiutl traditional dances. She received her
Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...
from the same institution in 1918.


Academic career

In 1909, Beckwith first joined the faculty at Vassar College as an instructor in the English Department, recommended by William Witherle Lawrence. She left Vassar in 1913 and returned to Hawaii, where she collected extensively on the islands' native folklore and mythology. In 1915, she took a position in the English Department at
Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...
and began publishing on topics including
hula Hula () is a Hawaiian dance form expressing chant (''oli'') or song (Mele (Hawaiian language), ''mele''). It was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Native Hawaiians who settled there. The hula dramatizes or portrays the words of the oli ...
and Tsimshian mythology. Her work was often in conversation with Boas' and his''Tsimshian Mythology'' influenced her doctoral dissertation on the mythological figure Laieikawai. While Boas encouraged Beckwith to remain at Smith, she approached her childhood friend and noted naturalist, Annie Alexander, with her concerns about the lack of academic positions in folklore research; Alexander responded by proposing and anonymously funding the Folklore Foundation at
Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...
. In 1920, Beckwith was appointed as the chair of the Foundation, making her the first person to hold a chair in the field at any college or university in the United States. Under her direction, the Folklore Foundation published multiple monographs, often authored by alumnae, on Jamaican, Native American, and Hawaiian folklore. The Foundation also hosted lectures and meetings of 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 ...
. From 1932 to 1933, Beckwith served as the president of the American Folklore Society, and in 1934, was on the Committee for the National Folk Festival. Beckwith became a full professor in 1929 at Vassar and retired in 1938.


Research and travel

Beckwith conducted research in a variety of European and Middle Eastern countries but her most extensive research focused on
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
and
Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...
,
Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
, and the
Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin ( ; Dakota/ Lakota: ) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples (translati ...
tribes of North and South Dakota. Beckwith carried out fieldwork in Jamaica between 1919 and 1922. Her publications on Jamaican folklore often included details on music recorded by Helen H. Roberts, who accompanied Beckwith to Jamaica in 1920 and 1921. Beckwith's research in culminated in ''Black Roadways: A Study of Jamaican Folklife'' (1929), one of the first folkloric studies of Black communities in the New World. The book is noted for presenting Black culture as a rational system and was the subject of an extended review in the ''Journal of American Folklore'' by Melville J. Herskovits, to which Beckwith responded. Although not an uncritical review, Herskovits – an anthropologist who specialised on Africa – praised Beckwith for her detailed descriptions of customs, so much so that "he felt able to identify some as not merely African in origin but specifically, say, as Yoruba or Ashanti". Her work largely focused on cultural and historical influences on folklore, rather than the racial or mental characteristics of the groups she studied. Beckwith also studied her own community while at Vassar, working to collect folk songs from the descendants of Dutch settlers in the
Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley or Hudson River Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The region stretches from the Capital District (New York), Capital District includi ...
as well as the beliefs and traditions of modern college women. In 1926, Beckwith gathered folktales at the
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (), also called Pine Ridge Agency, is an Oglala Lakota Indian reservation located in the U.S. state of South Dakota, with a small portion extending into Nebraska. Originally included within the territory of the ...
in South Dakota. She also spent several summers working with the Mandan-Hidatsa tribes on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota; Beckwith was adopted into the Hidatsa's Prairie Chicken Clan for her work translating the tribes' traditional stories. From 1926 to 1927, during a sabbatical year from Vassar, her fieldwork took her to
Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...
, where she worked among Portuguese settlers as part of travels that also took place in Italy, Greece, Palestine and Syria. These travels influenced her methodology and understanding of folklore studies as a discipline, which she outlined in ''Folklore in America'' (1931). Beckwith's most recognised work was her studies of Hawaiian culture, including creation chants and myths and translations of 19th century Hawaiian writers such as Kepelino and Kamakau, on the later period of the Hawaiian monarchy. Her ''Hawaiian Mythology'' (1940) has been described as "representing more than thirty years of exhaustive research".


Later life

Beckwith retired from Vassar in 1938 and relocated to
Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...
. She continued to research and publish as an Honorary Research Associate at the
Bishop Museum The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaii State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. Founded in 1 ...
, moving to Hawaii after the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Her last years focused on work pertaining to Hawaiian herbal remedies, as well as translating the work of Hawaiian writers such as Kepelino and
Samuel Kamakau Samuel Mānaiakalani Kamakau (October 29, 1815 – September 5, 1876) was a Hawaiian historian and scholar. His work appeared in local newspapers and was later compiled into books, becoming an invaluable resource on the Hawaiian people, Hawaiian ...
. At the age of 80, she published her final major work on the
Kumulipo In Hawaiian religion, the Kumulipo is the creation chant, first recorded in the 18th century. It also includes a genealogy of the members of Hawaiian royalty and was created in honor of Kalaninuiamamao and passed down orally to his daughter Alapa ...
'','' and though she suffered a stroke in 1951, she remained an editor for the ''
Journal of American Folklore The ''Journal of American Folklore'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Folklore Society. The journal has been published since the society's founding in 1888. Since 2003, this has been published at the University of I ...
'' until the mid-1950s. Beckwith died on January 28, 1959, in Berkeley and is buried on Maui in Makawao Cemetery, which is also the final resting place of her parents, brother, sister, and childhood friend Annie Alexander.


Selected bibliography

* Beckwith, Martha W. (1916). "The Hawaiian Hula-Dance". ''The Journal of American Folklore''. 29 (113): 409–412.
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 ...
 0021-8715. * Beckwith, Martha Warren (1922). ''Folk-Games of Jamaica'' (with music recorded in the field by Helen H. Roberts). Poughkeepsie, N. Y.: Vassar College.
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 ...
10555685. * Beckwith, Martha Warren (1923). "Signs and Superstitions Collected from American College Girls". ''The Journal of American Folklore''. 36 (139): 1–15.
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 ...
 0021-8715. * Beckwith, Martha Warren (1923). ''Christmas Mummings in Jamaica'' (with music recorded in the field by Helen H. Roberts). Poughkeepsie, N.Y.: Vassar College.
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 ...
47059596. * Beckwith, Martha Warren (1923). ''Polynesian Analogues to the Celtic Other-World and Fairy Mistress Themes''. New Haven, C.T.: Yale University 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 ...
16327978. * Beckwith, Martha Warren (1924)
''Jamaica Anansi Stories''
(with music recorded in the field by Helen Roberts). New York: American Folklore Society.
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 ...
2322187. * Beckwith, Martha Warren (1924). 'The English Ballad in Jamaica: A Note upon the Origin of the Ballad Form'. ''Publications of the Modern Language Association'', ''39''(2), 455–483. https://doi.org/10.2307/457194 * Beckwith, Martha Warren (1925). ''Jamaica Proverbs''. Poughkeepsie, N.Y.: Vassar College.
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 ...
4513341. * Beckwith, Martha Warren (1927). ''Notes on Jamaican Ethnobotany''. Poughkeepsie, N.Y.: Vassar College.
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 ...
18484068. * Beckwith, Martha Warren (1928). ''Jamaica Folk-Lore'' (with music recorded in the field by Helen H. Roberts). New York: American Folk-Lore Society.
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 ...
 312470569. * Beckwith, Martha Warren (1929). ''Black Roadways: A Study of Jamaican Folk Life''. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina 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 ...
870469911. * Beckwith, Martha Warren (1930). ''Myths and Hunting Stories of the Mandan and Hidatsa Sioux''. Poughkeepsie, N.Y.: Vassar College.
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 ...
 3371330. * Beckwith, Martha Warren (1930). "Mythology of the Oglala Dakota". ''The Journal of American Folklore''. 43 (170): 339–442.
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 ...
 0021-8715. * Beckwith, Martha Warren (1937). ''Mandan-Hidatsa Myths and Ceremonies''. New York: American Folk-Lore Society.
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 ...
800851041. * Beckwith, Martha Warren (1940)
''Hawaiian Mythology''
New Haven, C.T.: Yale University Press, 1940.
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 ...
 316816993. * Beckwith, Martha Warren (1948). "An Old Song". ''Western Folklore''. 7 (2): 176–177.
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 ...
 0043-373X. * Beckwith, Martha W. (1949). "Function and Meaning of the Kumulipo Birth Chant in Ancient Hawaii". ''The Journal of American Folklore''. 62 (245): 290–293.
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 ...
 0021-8715. * Beckwith, Martha Warren (1951)
''The Kumulipo: A Hawaiian Creation Chant''
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951.
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 ...
 898842854.


References


External links

* *
Books by Martha Warren Beckwith
at the Online Books Page, University of Pennsylvania Library.

(digitized text at ''Sacred Texts Archive'')
''The Kumulipo, a Hawaiian Creation Chant'' by Martha Warren Beckwith
(digitized text at ''Sacred Texts Archive'')
''Jamaica Anansi Stories'' by Martha Warren Beckwith
(digitized text at ''Sacred Texts Archive'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Beckwith, Martha Warren 1871 births 1959 deaths American folklorists American women folklorists American ethnographers Mount Holyoke College alumni 20th-century American anthropologists American women anthropologists Vassar College faculty Smith College faculty Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni American women non-fiction writers American women academics Presidents of the American Folklore Society People from Wellesley, Massachusetts 20th-century scholars University of Chicago faculty Elmira College faculty