Vera D. Rubin

Rubin was born in Moscow in 1911, and migrated to the United States in 1912. She was daughter of Elias Dourmashkin, editor of the Russian-language newspaper New Russian Word.https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B5_%D1%80%D1%83%D1%81%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B5_%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE

Rubin studied French Literature at New York University and graduated in 1930. Rubin went on to study anthropology at Columbia University with Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead, and Julian Steward, who served as her graduate advisor. She received her PhD from Columbia University in 1952.

In 1955, Rubin founded the Research Institute for the Study of Man (RISM), a nonprofit organization aimed at facilitating the study of anthropology in the Caribbean as well as anthropological fieldwork.{{Cite journal |last=Brown |first=Emilyn L. |last2=Giovannetti |first2=Jorge L. |date=2009 |title=A Hidden Window into Cuban History: The Carl Withers Manuscript Collection at New York University |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/97/article/392011 |journal=Caribbean Studies |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=169–192 |issn=1940-9095}}{{Cite journal |last=Schnepel |first=Ellen |date=2020 |title=In Memoriam of Lambros Comitas (1927–2020) |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/763515 |journal=Caribbean Studies |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=167–169 |doi=10.1353/crb.2020.0010 |issn=1940-9095|url-access=subscription }} Rubin purchased the building for the headquarters at 162 East 78th Street in New York City, which also housed the Library for Caribbean Research (LCR). Rubin served as director of RISM from 1955 until her death in 1985.

In 1975, Rubin and colleague Lambros Comitas published the findings of their study on marijuana smoking in Jamaica for the Center for Studies of Narcotic and Drug Abuse of the National Institute of Mental Health, Ganja in Jamaica: A Medical Anthropological Study of Chronic Marijuana Use.{{Cite journal |last=Street |first=Pamela Bolin |date=1975 |title=Review of Ganja in Jamaica: A Medical Anthropological Study of Chronic Marijuana Use |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/648119 |journal=Medical Anthropology Newsletter |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=9–11 |issn=0543-2499}} The 1970s marked a period of public interest and discourse surrounding marijuana use in the United States to which their study contributed by reporting that smoking marijuana had no significant adverse effects on users.{{Cite web |last=Sullivan |first=Walter |date=July 9, 1975 |title=Marijuana Study by U.S. Finds No Serious Harm |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/07/09/archives/marijuana-study-by-us-finds-no-serious-harm.html |access-date=November 27, 2024 |website=The New York Times}}{{Cite journal |last=Goode |first=Erich |date=1975 |editor-last=Rubin |editor-first=Vera |editor2-last=Comitas |editor2-first=Lambros |title=Effects of Cannabis in Another Culture |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1740797 |journal=Science |volume=189 |issue=4196 |pages=41–43 |issn=0036-8075}}

Among many other notable studies, Rubin oversaw a partnership between RISM and the Soviet Academy of Sciences to study aging and longevity, focusing on the longevity of a selection of inhabitants of Kentucky and Abkhazia in the Caucasus.

Rubin was president of the Society for Applied Anthropology and director of the American Orthopsychiatric Association. In 2016, the American Orthopsychiatric Association became the Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice.{{Cite web |title=Collection: American Orthopsychiatric Association records {{!}} University of Minnesota Archival Collections Guides |url=https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/11/resources/784 |access-date=2024-12-14 |website=archives.lib.umn.edu}}

Rubin married philanthropist Samuel Rubin. They had two children, Reed, and activist Cora Weiss. They later divorced.{{Cite web |last=Campbell |first=Barbara |date=December 23, 1978 |title=Samuel Rubin Dies; Arts Patron. Was 77. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/12/23/archives/samuel-rubin-dies-arts-patron-was-77-founder-of-faberge-was-a.html |access-date=November 26, 2024 |website=The New York Times}}

In 1981, Rubin was awarded an honorary DHL by Brooklyn College. She was president-elect of the Caribbean Studies Association when she died. Shortly before her death in 1985, Rubin received an honorary doctorate of philosophy from the University of the West Indies.

• {{cite thesis|title=Fifty years in Rootville : a study in the dynamics of acculturation of an Italian immigrant group in a rurban community|year=1951|publisher=Columbia University|oclc=213835566}}
• {{cite book|title=Social and cultural pluralism in the Caribbean|year=1960|oclc=869287800}}
• {{cite book|title=A selected bibliography on culture and society in the Caribbean|year=1964|oclc=61769239}}
• {{cite book|title=The non-hispanic Caribbean|year=1967|oclc=61673345}}
• {{cite book|title=We wish to be looked upon : a study of the aspirations of youth in a developing society|year=1969|oclc=781582882}}
• {{cite book|title=Ganja in Jamaica: The Effects of Marijuana Use|author1-first=Rubin|author1-last= Vera|author2-first=Lambros|author2-last=Comitas |year=1975|location=The Hague|publisher=Mouton|oclc=1501286|isbn=978-9027977311 }}
• {{cite book|title=Comparative perspectives on slavery in New World plantation societies|year=1993|oclc=31196621}}

{{Reflist}}

• “[https://www.thereedfoundation.org/rism/Rubin.html Vera D. Rubin],” Research Institute for the Study of Man: About RISM.

• [https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/archives/rism_mc_1/ Carl L. Withers Manuscript Collection]: New York University Archives.
• [https://www.thereedfoundation.org/rism/Collection.html Vera D. Rubin Papers]. Research Institute for the Study of Man (RISM) Research Collections and Archives, 1943-1985, The Reed Foundation.
• [https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/archives/rism_rg_2/ Sula Benet Papers]: New York University Archives.

• [https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/archives/rism_rg_16_j/ Records of New Perspectives on Caribbean Studies: Toward the 21st Century and Prospects for Caribbean Basin Integration (Conference held at Hunter College, CUNY, August 28-September 1, 1984)].
• [https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/archives/rism_rg_10/ Records of the Census of Mental Hospitals in the Caribbean].
• [https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/archives/rism_rg_11/ Records of the Center for Haitian Studies].
• [https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/archives/rism_rg_6/ Records of the Jamaica Peace Corps Training Program].
• [https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/archives/rism_rg_15/ Records of the Research Institute for the Study of Man's (RISM) Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Aging and Longevity Study (The Longevity Study)].
• [https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/archives/rism_rg_8/ Records of the Research Institute for the Study of Man's (RISM) Medical and Social Anthropological Research in Bolivia].
• [https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/archives/rism_rg_12/ Records of the Research Institute for the Study of Man's (RISM) Study of Chronic Marihuana Users in Jamaica (The Ganja Study)].
• [https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/archives/rism_rg_5/ Records of the Study of the Aspirations of Youth in a Developing Society (The Trinidad Study)].
• [https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/archives/rism_rg_7/. Records of the Research Institute for the Study of Man (RISM) Medical School Attitude Questionnaire (MSAQ)].
• [https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/archives/rism_vf_001/ Research Institute for the Study of Man (RISM) Vertical Files].
• [https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/archives/rism_rg_16_h/ RISM Conference Papers: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Cannabis].

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Category:1911 births

Category:1985 deaths

Category:20th-century American scientists

Category:20th-century American women scientists

Category:New York University alumni

Category:Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni

Category:American women anthropologists

Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States

Category:Jewish anthropologists

Category:20th-century American anthropologists