Leo J. Frachtenberg

{{Infobox person

| name = Leo J. Frachtenberg

| native_name_lang = German

| image =

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1883|02|24}}

| birth_place = Czernowtz, Austria

| death_date = {{death date and age|1930|11|26|1883|02|24}}

| death_place = Waterloo, Iowa

| education = MA, PhD

| alma_mater = Columbia University

| occupation = Anthropologist, linguist, Keren Hayesod executive

| years_active = 1910–30

| spouse = Claudia E. (McDonald)}}

Leo Joachim Frachtenberg (February 24, 1883 – November 26, 1930) was an anthropologist who studied Native American languages. Frachtenberg helped write the Handbook of American Indian Languages, BAE Bulletin 40, and also wrote "Alsea Texts and Myths", BAE Bulletin 67.

Early life and education

Frachtenberg was born to Abraham Frachtenberg and Jeanette (Rottenstreich) in Czernowtz, Austria, now a city in Ukraine, on February 24, 1883. He graduated from the Imperial Royal Gymnasium, Przemysl, Austria, now in Poland, in 1904.{{cite book | title = Who Was Who in America| url = https://archive.org/details/whowaswhoinameri03peri| url-access = registration|publisher = Marquis Who’s Who|location=NJ|year=1942| isbn = 978-0837902371}}

After immigrating to the United States in 1904, Frachtenberg enrolled at Cornell University. He was awarded a Master of Arts from Columbia University in 1906 where his thesis was titled, Richard Wagner, his life and his works.{{cite web| title = Richard Wagner, his life and his works| url = http://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/4310111| date = 1906| accessdate = August 6, 2014}}

During his studies at Columbia, Frachtenberg became a student of Franz Boas, often called the father of American anthropology.{{Citation | last =Lewis | first =Herbert S. | title =Franz Boas: Boon or Bane? | journal =Reviews in Anthropology | volume =37 | pages =169–200 | date =May 22, 2008 | issue =2–3 | url = https://www.academia.edu/450971 | doi =10.1080/00938150802038968| s2cid =145679059 }} Frachtenberg's research centered around some of the subdivisions of what later became the Penutian language group, and he received a PhD from Columbia in 1910 for his work on the Coosan languages.{{cite web| title = Coos| url = http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/10245/Part_two_Bea_Ame_Eth_Bul_40.pdf?sequence=2| date = April 1910| accessdate = August 6, 2014}}

Professional career

Frachtenberg lectured in anthropology at Columbia until 1912, and in 1913 he became a "Special Ethnologist" at the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE).{{Cite web|url=https://diglib.amphilsoc.org/islandora/object/text:128653#page/1/mode/1up|title=Walcott, Charles D.: To Leo J. Frachtenberg. 1913 Feb. 13 {{!}} APS Digital Library|website=diglib.amphilsoc.org|access-date=2019-02-09}} While at BAE, he taught students at Chemawa Indian School in Salem, Oregon. From the school, he studied the ethnology of Alsea, Siletz, Quileute, Chimakum, and Shasta peoples with attention to art and religion.{{cite web | last =Briggs | first =Kara | title =Exhibition: Quileute separate fact from fiction for 'Twilight' fans | work =Vol. 4, Issue 12 | publisher =The Talking Raven | date =December 2010 | url =http://www.quileutenation.org/newsletter/december_2010.pdf | accessdate =August 6, 2014 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20150924083757/http://www.quileutenation.org/newsletter/december_2010.pdf | archive-date =September 24, 2015 | url-status =dead }}

In late 1917, after returning from Salem to Washington, D.C., Frachtenberg was abruptly fired from his job at BAE for making comments derogatory to the government of the United States,{{Cite web|url=https://diglib.amphilsoc.org/islandora/object/text:128648#page/1/mode/1up|title=Walcott, Charles D.: To Leo J. Frachtenberg. 1917 Oct. 30 {{!}} APS Digital Library|website=diglib.amphilsoc.org|access-date=2019-02-09}} at a time of heightened nationalism and World War I. Franz Boas tried to defend him,{{Cite web|url=https://diglib.amphilsoc.org/islandora/object/text:128510#page/1/mode/1up|title=Walcott, Charles D.: From Boas. 1918 Feb. 2 {{!}} APS Digital Library|website=diglib.amphilsoc.org|access-date=2019-02-08}} but the Secretary of the Smithsonian, Charles Walcott, dismissed him because he believed the comments were "inimical to the public welfare." He did not, however, consider the comments disloyal, or treasonous.{{Cite web|url=https://diglib.amphilsoc.org/islandora/object/text:128541#page/1/mode/1up|title=Walcott, Charles D.: To Boas. 1918 Feb. 4 {{!}} APS Digital Library|website=diglib.amphilsoc.org|access-date=2019-02-08}}

Frachtenberg had immigrated from then Austria-Hungary, part of the Central Powers. Ironically, after his termination from BAE, Frachtenberg joined the United States Army and attained the rank of lieutenant colonel by the time of his discharge in 1920.

Jewish welfare activities

After military service, Frachtenberg became general secretary of the Young Men's Hebrew Association in Troy, New York. He was also national field director of Keren Hayesod during the 1920s.{{cite web

| title =Leo Frachtenberg, Keren Hayesod Executive, Dead

| url = http://www.jta.org/1930/11/28/archive/leo-frachtenberg-keren-hayesod-executive-dead

| date = November 28, 1930

| accessdate = August 6, 2014}}

While conferring with Jewish leaders in Waterloo, Iowa, in 1930, Frachtenberg became ill. He died a few days later from pneumonia at the age of 47.{{cite news | title =Dr. Leo Frachtenberg, Zionist Leader, Dies | newspaper =The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle | location =Milwaukee | pages =10 | publisher =Milwaukee Jewish Federation | date =December 5, 1930 | url =https://www.newspapers.com/clip/868136/leo_frachtenberg_wisconsin_3/ | accessdate =August 15, 2014|via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}{{cite news | title =Noted Chicago Scientist Dies | newspaper =The Mason City Globe-Gazette | location =Mason City, Iowa| pages =2 | date =November 25, 1930 | url =https://www.newspapers.com/clip/868131/leo_frachtenberg_mason_iowa/ | accessdate =April 25, 2017|via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}{{cite news | title =Frachtenberg Dies in Iowa | newspaper =The Lincoln Star | location =Lincoln, Nebraska| pages =7 | date =November 25, 1930 | url =https://www.newspapers.com/clip/868135/leo_frachtenberg_lincoln_2/ | accessdate =April 25, 2017|via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}

Published work

Andrade, Manuel J.; & Frachtenberg, Leo J. (1931). Quileute texts. Columbia University contributions to anthropology (Vol. 12). New York: Columbia University Press.
Bernstein, Jay H. (2002) "First Recipients of Anthropological Doctorates in the United States, 1891–1930" American Anthropologist 104 (2): 551-564
Frachtenberg, Leo J. (1913). Coos texts. California University contributions to anthropology (Vol. 1). New York: Columbia University Press. (Reprinted 1969 New York: AMS Press).
Frachtenberg, Leo J. (1914). Lower Umpqua texts and notes on the Kusan dialect. California University contributions to anthropology (Vol. 4, pp. 141–150). (Reprinted 1969, New York: AMS Press).
Frachtenberg, Leo J. (1922). Coos: An illustrative sketch. In Handbook of American Indian languages (Vol. 2, pp. 297–299, 305). Bulletin, 40, pt. 2. Washington:Government Print Office (Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology).