Carl E. Guthe

{{Infobox academic|image=File:Carl-E-Guthe.jpg|birth_date=June 1, 1893|birth_place=Kearney, Nebraska, US|death_date=July 24, 1974|death_place=Knoxville, Tennessee, US|alma_mater={{ubl|University of Michigan|Harvard University}}|discipline=anthropology|work_institutions=University of Michigan|known_for=Philippine Collection}}

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, in 1893, son of Karl Eugen Guthe, Professor of Physics and Dean of the Graduate Department of the University of Michigan, and Clara Belle née Ware of Grand Rapids, Michigan.{{cite journal |url = http://um2017.org/faculty-history/faculty/carl-eugen-guthe/carl-guthe-leaves-campus-take-albany-post%E2%80%A8 |title = Carl Guthe Leaves Campus To Take Albany Post |journal = The Michigan Alumnus |issue = 188 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20151031124529/http://um2017.org/faculty-history/faculty/carl-eugen-guthe/carl-guthe-leaves-campus-take-albany-post%E2%80%A8 |archivedate = 31 October 2015 |url-status = dead}}{{cite journal |url = http://um2017.org/faculty-history/faculty/karl-eugen-guthe/bio-1 |title = Karl Eugen Guthe |journal = The Michigan Alumnus |issue = 74–78 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20141129053859/http://um2017.org/faculty-history/faculty/karl-eugen-guthe/bio-1 |archivedate = 29 November 2014 |url-status = dead}} Within a year his family moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, when his father took a position at the University of Michigan.{{Cite web |last=Lindblad |first=J. K. Purdom |title=Carl Eugen Guthe Papers |url=https://findingaids.lib.umich.edu/catalog/umich-bhl-851379 |publisher=Bentley Historical Library |accessdate=13 December 2024}} He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1914, then went on to receive two degrees in anthropology from Harvard University – an M.A. in 1915 and a Ph.D. in 1917.

Career

Guthe assisted Alfred Kidder with his excavations at Pecos, New Mexico; their efforts to ship the skeletons found there to the Peabody Museum at Harvard resulted in their being suspected of espionage.{{cite journal| journal = Kiva| volume = 68| issue = 2| date = Winter 2002| title = Archaeological Innocence at Pecos in 1917–1918| last = Thompson| first = Raymond Harris| pages = 123–127| doi = 10.1080/00231940.2002.11758471}}

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. He created the Society for American Archaeology and began publishing the American Antiquity journal.{{cite web| url = http://www.lsa.umich.edu/ummaa/about/history/carleguthe_ci| accessdate = 20 November 2014| title = Carl E. Guthe| publisher = University of Michigan| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20141129042610/http://www.lsa.umich.edu/ummaa/about/history/carleguthe_ci| archivedate = 29 November 2014| url-status = dead}}

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.{{Cite web |title=Carl Eugen Guthe's Expeditions · The Philippines and the University of Michigan, 1870–1935 · Philippines |url=https://philippines.michiganintheworld.history.lsa.umich.edu/s/exhibit/page/Carl_Guthe_Expeditions |accessdate=13 December 2024 |website=philippines.michiganintheworld.history.lsa.umich.edu}}{{cite journal| journal = American Anthropologist| year = 1927| volume = 29| issue = 1| doi = 10.1525/aa.1927.29.1.02a00040| last = Guthe| first = Carl E.| title = The University of Michigan Philippine Expedition| pages = 69–76| url= https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75181/1/aa.1927.29.1.02a00040.pdf| doi-access= free}} 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.{{cite book|last1=Solheim|first1=William|title=The archaeology of central Philippines: A study chiefly of the Iron Age and its relationships|date=2002|publisher=Bureau of Print}}

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. 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.{{cite web| url = http://www.ur.umich.edu/9394/Jun20_94/9.htm| title = OBITUARIES Karl F. Guthe| date = 20 June 1994| work = The University Record| publisher = The Regents of 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.{{Cite journal |last=Sinopoli |first=Carla M. |date=2013 |title=New Research on an Old Collection: Studies of the Philippine Expedition ("Guthe") Collection of the Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24569878 |journal=Asian Perspectives |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=1–11|jstor=24569878 }}

References

External links

{{Gutenberg author | id=41637| name=Carl E. Guthe}}

Category:1893 births

Category:1974 deaths

Category:University of Michigan alumni

Category:Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni

Category:University of Michigan faculty

Category:20th-century American anthropologists