Frederica de Laguna

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Frederica Annis Lopez de Leo de Laguna
Frederica de Laguna in 1993.[1]
Born(1906-10-03)October 3, 1906
Ann Arbor, Michigan
DiedOctober 6, 2004(2004-10-06) (aged 98)
Haverford, Pennsylvania
Other namesFreddy
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma materPhoebe Anne Thorne School, Bryn Mawr College, Columbia University
Known forUnder Mount Saint Elias: The History and Culture of the Yakutat Tlingit
Scientific career
Fieldsanthropology, archaeology, ethnology
InstitutionsBryn Mawr College
Thesis "A Comparison of Eskimo and Palaeolithic Art"  (1933)

Frederica ("Freddy") Annis Lopez de Leo de Laguna (October 3, 1906 – October 6, 2004) was an American

Paleoindian and Alaska Native art and archaeology in the American northwest and Alaska.[3]

She founded and chaired the anthropology department at

Early life and education

De Laguna was born to Theodore Lopez de Leo de Laguna and Grace Mead (Andrus) de Laguna, philosophy professors at Bryn Mawr College, on October 3, 1906, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She was home-schooled by her parents until age nine due to frequent illness.[6] She joined her parents and younger brother Wallace on two sabbaticals during her childhood: Cambridge and Oxford, England in 1914–1915 and France in 1921–1922.[2]

De Laguna attended Bryn Mawr College on a scholarship from 1923 to 1927, graduating

Abbe Breuil, and received guidance from Paul Rivet and Marcellin Boule." In June 1929, de Laguna sailed to Greenland as Therkel Mathiassen's assistant on the country's "first scientific archaeological excavation." Staying a total of six months, the excavation convinced her of a future in anthropology and later became the subject of Voyage to Greenland: A Personal Initiation into Anthropology (1997).[6]

De Laguna received her PhD in anthropology from Columbia University in 1933.

Career

Frederica Annis Lopez de Leo de Laguna at a 1937 symposium with Kaj Birket-Smith (right), where they presented a joint paper on Alaskan ethnology.[7]

De Laguna's first funded expedition was to

University of Pennsylvania Museum and brought her brother Wallace, who was a geologist,[8] as an assistant. The following year, the museum hired de Laguna to catalog their Eskimo collections and again financed two excavations to Cook Inlet in 1931 and 1932. She co-led an archaeological and ethnological expedition of Prince William Sound in 1933 with Birket-Smith; the trip became the basis for "The Eyak Indians of the Copper River Delta, Alaska" (1938). De Laguna next explored the lower Yukon Valley and Tanana River in 1935 and published two works because of it: Travels Among the Dena (1994) and Tales from the Dena (1997).[6]

Bryn Mawr College hired de Laguna as a sociology lecturer in 1938 "to teach the first ever anthropology course." She kept this position until 1942 when she took a leave of absence to serve in the naval reserve as a lieutenant commander of

U.S. Forest Service in Alaska, and the establishment of the Frederica de Laguna Northern Books Press.[6]

De Laguna also worked as an Associate Soil Conservationist in 1935 and 1936 on the

Selected works

References

  1. ^ Roth, Bill. "Frederica de Laguna in 1993". 1993. JPEG file.
  2. ^ a b Woolf, Linda M. "Frederica de Laguna". Women's Intellectual Contributions to the Study of Mind and Body. Webster University. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  3. ^ Hirst, K. Kris. "Frederica Annis Lopez de Leo de Laguna [1906–2004]". About.com Archaeology. About.com. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  4. ^ a b Ginanni, Glaudia. "Founder of BMC Anthropology Department Dies at 98". Bryn Mawr Now. Bryn Mawr College. Archived from the original on 5 August 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  5. ^ "Frederica de Laguna".
  6. ^ a b c d e f Wang, Lorain. "Biographical Note" (PDF). Register to the Papers of Frederica de Laguna. National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  7. ^ Davis, Fremont (1937-03-18). "Frederica Annis Lopez de Leo de Laguna (1906–2004), standing and talking at meeting with Kaj Birket-Smith (1893–1977)". Smithsonian Institution Archives. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  8. ^ Laguna, Wallace De (1963). Geology of Brookhaven National Laboratory and Vicinity, Suffolk County New York. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  9. ^ "Search Digital Collections "1" - Penn Museum". www.penn.museum. Retrieved 2020-03-27.

External links