About
Margaret Mead was a pioneering American anthropologist, born in Philadelphia in 1901. She earned her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1929 under Franz Boas. She worked at the American Museum of Natural History for over 50 years, starting in 1926. Her fieldwork in Samoa, New Guinea, Bali, and among the Omaha revolutionized the study of cultures and gender. She authored the landmark work 'Coming of Age in Samoa' (1928). She served as president of the American Anthropological Association (1960) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1975). She died in New York in 1978.
* 1901-12-16 — † 1978-11-15
Major works
- Coming of Age in Samoa (1928)ethnography
- Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies (1935)ethnography
Key milestones
- 1926Becomes assistant curator of ethnology at the American Museum of Natural History.
- 1960President of the American Anthropological Association.
- 1975Elected to the National Academy of Sciences and president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Themes
Cultural anthropologyGender and sexualityAdolescenceEthnographic fieldworkCultural relativism
Sources: findingaids.loc.gov · tumblr.amnh.org
