Stephen Powers
Stephen Powers (* July 1840 in Waterford , Washington County , USA; † April 2, 1904 in Jacksonville (Florida) , USA) was an American journalist , ethnographer and historian who made special contributions to the research and documentation of the Indian tribes of California acquired.
Life
Born and raised in Waterford, Ohio, he attended the University of Michigan , where he graduated in 1863. During the Civil War , Powers accompanied the Union Army as a correspondent for the Cincinnati Commercial , a forerunner of the Cincinnati Enquirer .
Powers left Ohio for the west in 1869. He hiked across the southern and western states to his destination San Francisco in California . Upon arrival, Powers wrote of his experiences and observations and published them as a book in 1871.
Merits
Between 1871 and 1876, Stephen Powers traveled thousands of miles on foot and horse through the north , the central coastal region of California and the California Longitudinal Valley . Powers became very familiar with the various distinctive groups and tribes of California Indians. He studied their way of life, in particular spiritual and religious beliefs and ceremonies, languages, stories, mythology, handicrafts ( basketry , rock art , carving, pottery), dwellings and tools.
He also studied their methods of dealing with plants and animals for their food, clothing, medicine and tools. Powers observed and documented the adaptations, circumstances and consequences of the clash of cultures during missionary work, a century of invasion and occupation of Indian lands by Spanish, Mexican and Euro-American immigrants.
Stephen Powers published his various ethnographic studies in a series of articles that first appeared in Overland Monthly from 1872 to 1877.
Tribes of California
As a result, Stephen Powers processed his research and documentation as well as other material in a book. It was published in 1877 as part of the federally funded Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region series. This was published by the renowned geologist John Wesley Powell , then director of the United States Geological Survey at the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ethnological Studies at the Smithsonian Institution .
Alfred L. Kroeber , an anthropologist , director of the University of California, Berkeley , the Museum of Anthropology at Berkeley, and dean of the Native Californian Ethnologists said of Powers' book Tribes of California, “... it will always remain the best introduction to the subject. "(For example:" ... it will always be the best introduction to this [research] subject. ")
heritage
His book and articles are administered by his alma mater, the University of Michigan , which published them online as part of the Making of America project , a joint venture between major US universities.
See also
-
Indigenous people of California
- Survey of California and Other Indian Languages - Project of the University of California, Berkeley in the English language Wikipedia
- Traditional narratives (Native California) - Page in the English language Wikipedia on traditional narratives of the Indians of California
- en: Category: Native American history of California - Category in the English language Wikipedia
- California mission clash of cultures - Page in the English language Wikipedia on events in California today during the missionary activity in Spanish and Mexican times
- Alfred Robinson. 1846. Life in California as a free Google eBook
- Victor Golla. 2011. California Indian Languages. Berkeley, University of California Press. For a discussion of Powers' work on the Languages of California, pages 28-30.
- Heizer, Robert F. (Ed.). 1975. Letters of Stephen Powers to John Wesley Powell Concerning Tribes of California . In Stephen Powers, California's First Ethnologist , part 2. Contributions of the University of California Archaeological Research Facility No. 28. Berkeley.
- Park, Susan. 1975. The Life of Stephen Powers . In Stephen Powers, California's First Ethnologist , part 1. Contributions of the University of California Archaeological Research Facility No. 28. Berkeley.
Works
- Powers, Stephen. 1871. Afoot and Alone: A Walk from Sea to Sea by the Southern Route, Adventures and Observations in Southern California, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, etc. Columbian Book Company, Hartford, Connecticut.
- Powers, Stephen. 1975. The Northern California Indians: A Reprinting of 19 Articles on California Indians Originally Published 1872–1877 . Edited by Robert F. Heizer. Contributions of the University of California Archaeological Research Facility No. 25. Berkeley.
- Stephen Powers: Tribes of California . University of California Press, Berkeley & Los Angeles 1876, p. 21 (Retrieved August 22, 2012). , Reprint 1976
Individual evidence
- ^ Alfred L. Kroeber: Handbook of the Indians of California . Dover Publications Inc., New York 1925, p. IX.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Powers, Stephen |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American journalist and anthropologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 1840 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Waterford , Washington County (Ohio) , USA |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 2, 1904 |
| Place of death | Jacksonville (Florida) , USA |