Matilda Coxe Stevenson
Overview
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
ethnologist
Ethnology
Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.-Scientific discipline:Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct...
, born at San Augustine, Tex.
San Augustine, Texas
San Augustine is a city in San Augustine County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,475 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of San Augustine County and is situated in East Texas.-Geography:San Augustine is located at ....
In 1872 she was married to James Stevenson, an ethnologist (died 1888), with whom she spent 13 years in explorations of the Rocky Mountain
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
region.
After 1889 she was on the staff of the Bureau of American Ethnology
Bureau of American Ethnology
The Bureau of American Ethnology was established in 1879 by an act of Congress for the purpose of transferring archives, records and materials relating to the Indians of North America from the Interior Department to the Smithsonian Institution...
of the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
. Mrs. Stevenson explored the cave, cliff, and mesa ruins of New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, studied all the Pueblo
Pueblo people
The Pueblo people are a Native American people in the Southwestern United States. Their traditional economy is based on agriculture and trade. When first encountered by the Spanish in the 16th century, they were living in villages that the Spanish called pueblos, meaning "towns". Of the 21...
tribes of that State, and in 1904-10 made a special study of the Taos and Tewa Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
.
She was the author of:
- Zuñi and the Zuñians (1881)
- Religious life of the Zuñi Child (1887)
- The Sia, Zuñi Scalp Ceremonials (1890)
- Zuñi Ancestral Gods and Masks (1898)
- (1904) The Zuñi Indians: Their Mythology, Esoteric Fraternities, and Ceremonies
For another perspective on Mrs.
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