William C. Sturtevant
{{infobox academic
|birth_date=1926
|birth_place=Morristown, New Jersey
|death_date={{death date and given age|2007|03|02|80}}
|death_place=Rockville, Maryland
|discipline=anthropology, ethnology
|major_works=Handbook of North American Indians
|father=Alfred Sturtevant
|alma_mater=Yale University
|thesis_title=The Mikasuki Seminole: Medical Beliefs and Practices
|spouse={{marriage|Theda Maw|1952|1986|reason=divorced}} {{marriage|Sally McLendon|1990|reason=dath}}
|title=Curator emeritus
}}
William Curtis Sturtevant (1926 Morristown, New Jersey – March 2, 2007 Rockville, Maryland) was an anthropologist and ethnologist.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031602273.html |title=William C. Sturtevant; Expert on Indians |newspaper=The Washington Post |first=Louie |last=Estrada |date=March 17, 2007}} He is best known as the general editor of the 20-volume Handbook of North American Indians. Renowned anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss described the work as "an absolutely indispensable tool that should be found on the shelves of all libraries, public and private alike."{{Cite journal|last=Sues|first=Hans|date=Spring 2007|title=William Sturtevant Remembered|journal=Anthropology: Newsletter of the Department of Anthropology National Museum of Natural History |publisher=Department of Anthropology National Museum of Natural History|location=Washington, DC|pages=2}}
Sturtevant's career focused on Native American languages and cultures. He was particularly known for his work on the history and culture of the Florida Seminole.{{Cite web|url = http://sturtevant.com/wcs/william_curtis_sturtevant_anthropologist.html|title = William Curtis Sturtevant}} During his career, he served as the president for the [http://www.ethnohistory.org/ American Society for Ethnohistory], the American Ethnological Society, and the American Anthropological Association.
Life
He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1949, and from Yale University with a Ph.D. in 1955, where he was a student of Floyd Lounsbury. He served first as a research anthropologist for the Bureau of American Ethnology before being appointed Curator of North American Ethnology in the U.S. National Museum (later the National Museum of Natural History), Smithsonian Institution.
Sturtevant argued for the importance of material culture in anthropology, particularly in incorporating the contents of museum collections. A list of his published and unpublished work is available at the National Anthropological Archives of the Smithsonian Institution.{{Cite web|url = http://www.anthropology.si.edu/naa/fa/sturtevant.pdf|title = Register to the Papers of William C. Sturtevant}}
Family
He was the eldest son of the geneticist Alfred Sturtevant and brother of Harriet S. Shapiro. He was married to Theda Maw from 1952 to 1986; they had three children. Sturtevant remarried in 1990, to linguist Sally McLendon.{{Cite web|url=http://museumanthropology.wordpress.com/2007/03/10/william-c-sturtevant-1926-2007/|title=William C. Sturtevant (1926–2007) |last=Jackson|first=Jason Baird |editor1=Regna Darnell | editor2=Fredrick W. Gleach|date=2007-03-10|work=Celebrating a Century: The Presidents of the American Anthropological Association|publisher=American Anthropological Association: University of Nebraska Press|pages=257–260|access-date=2009-09-28|location=Lincoln, Nebraska}} Sturtevant died on March 2, 2007, from emphysema.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- Jason Baird Jackson, [http://museumanthropology.blogspot.com/2007/03/william-c-sturtevant-1926-2007.html William C. Sturtevant (1926–2007)], Museum Anthropology blog. Sunday, March 4, 2007
{{American Anthropological Association presidents|state=uncollapsed}}
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Category:Smithsonian Institution people
Category:Yale University alumni
Category:Deaths from emphysema
Category:Place of birth missing
Category:Place of death missing
Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni
Category:People from Morristown, New Jersey
Category:Linguists of Iroquoian languages