Botanist, Anthropologist, and Ethnobotanist, Alfred
Whiting's career took to institutions across the United States (Museum of Northern
Arizona, Michigan Ethnobotanical Laboratory, University of Oregon, Dartmouth College
Museum). This collection consists of his research materials, particularly as they
relate to his research at the Museum of Northern Arizona.
Identification:
MS-003
Language:
Materials are primarily inEnglish, but a significant portion of the collection relates
to the Hopi and Tewa languages. There are transcriptions of the vocabulary of
these languages, as well as audio recordings. Also included is a dictionary of
Walapai and Supai vocabulary.
Repository:
Museum of Northern Arizona
3101 N. Fort Valley Rd.
Flagstaff, Az 86001
928-774-5211 ext. 256 or 269
library@mna.mus.az.us
Biographical Note
Alfred Frank Whiting was born in Burlington, Vermont in 1912. After attending public
schools, Whiting enrolled at the University of Vermont where he obtained a Bachelor
of Science degree in 1933. Whiting then enrolled in graduate school at the
University of Michigan, and received an M.A. in Taxonomic Botany the next year.
In the summer of 1935, Whiting became the Curator of Biology at the Museum of
Northern Arizona. At MNA, he and Dr. Volney H. Jones, who was also from Michigan,
surveyed Hopi crop plants for the Michigan Ethnobotanical Laboratory. Whiting also
recorded Edmund Nequatewa, a Hopi who was an MNA staff member, who provided
information about the names and uses of the cultivated and wild plants Whiting and
Jones had collected on the Hopi mesas. Whiting, whose title had changed to Curator
of Botany, continued to collect Hopi crops and wild plants of the area until the
fall of 1937. At this time, he entered the University of Chicago to work on a Ph.D.
in the combined fields of botany and anthropology.
In the summer of 1938, Whiting returned to Flagstaff and completed the Ethnobotany of
the Hopi manuscript, which was published the next year in MNA Bulletin 15. Whiting
spent the next two school years working on his Ph.D. in Chicago where he met and
married Dorothy J. West. They moved to Flagstaff in September 1940 for two years
while Whiting concluded fieldwork among the Havasupai in preparation for his
dissertation on their ethnobotany. During this time, he also served as Curator at
MNA.
In July 1942, Whiting and his family moved back to Chicago where he continued his
graduate work until the fall of 1944. He then accepted an assistant professorship at
the University of Oregon in the Anthropology department. Due to World War II and
other circumstances, Whiting never finished his degree. At Oregon, Whiting taught
classes and completed curatorial work at the Oregon State Museum. At Oregon, Whiting
published the article “The Origin of Corn, an Evaluation of Fact and Theory” in
American Anthropologist.
While in Oregon, Whiting and his wife divorced, and his two sons returned with her to
Chicago. In the spring of 1947, Whiting moved to Tucson and Tumacacori and spent
several years there. At the University of Arizona and the Arizona State Museum,
Whiting researched and wrote “A Kino Triptych” and “The Tumacacori Census of 1796.”
Whiting also briefly served as a master at the Santa Cruz Valley School in
1950-1951.
In the summer of 1951, Whiting had the opportunity to be a member of the Cornell
University Cultural Seminar, which allowed international students to spend one week
with various peoples of the Southwest. A year later, Whiting was awarded a two-year
appointment as District Anthropologist for Ponape, Eastern Carolines, U.S. Trust
Territory of the Pacific Islands. While interviewing for the position, he saw
Marjorie Grant, whom he had met at the seminar the previous summer. They were soon
married and moved to the South Pacific.
Once the appointment ended, Whiting and his wife went to Guam. Marjorie stayed in
Guam and Whiting returned to the United States for a short trip. When Whiting
learned his first wife was hospitalized, he cancelled the trip back to Guam in order
to care for his two young sons. He took his sons East with him and obtained a
teaching position at a high school in Rockport, Massachusetts. After Marjorie
returned in August, they lived near Boston so she could work on her Ph.D. During the
next summer, Whiting worked at the Children’s Museum of Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Around this time, Whiting learned he had been appointed Curator of Anthropology at
Dartmouth College Museum.
At Dartmouth, he prepared new exhibits, offered guided tours for beginning sociology
classes to introduce students to physical and cultural anthropology, and taught
several classes including one on museum methods. Soon after he arrived at Dartmouth,
Whiting and his wife separated.
In 1961, Whiting was promoted to the rank of Assistant Professor and retained his
title of Curator of Anthropology. Five years later he became Adjunct Assistant
Professor in the Department of Anthropology while continuing as Curator. During his
years at Dartmouth, Whiting published numerous book reviews, articles on museology,
and articles on Hopi life. In the summer of 1974, Whiting retired and moved to
Arizona. He renewed his association with MNA where he commuted once a week from his
home in Cornville, Arizona to work on a revision of Ethnobotany of the Hopi.
During his retirement, Whiting intended to prepare his research for publication. This
was not to be, however, as Whiting was diagnosed with bone cancer in the fall of
1977 and died a few months later.
Scope and Content
The collection contains extensive ethnographic notes on Havasupai and Hopi culture
and language, including a Walapai-Supai dictionary as well as notes on Havasupai
basketry and phonetics. The Hopi materials also include a vast amount of field
research on ethnobotany, ethnozoology, clothing and artifacts. All are meticulously
organized by Whiting. Also included are a series of photographs from a 1941 trip to
Grand Canyon and surrounding areas, depicting various aspects of Havasupai life,
arts and crafts, buildings, and so on. The reels, data cartridges and CDs are audio
recordings of interviews with Jim Kewanwytewa, Edmund Nequatewa and Henry Shelton,
all members of the Hopi tribe. They cover a wide range of Hopi and Tewa vocabulary,
including words for clothing, plants, animals and foods. Also included in the
collection is a survey of Hopi arts and crafts that Whiting produced for the Indian
Arts and Crafts Board in 1942, as well as field notes and photographs on the Seri
from a 1951 trip to Tiburon Island, Mexico. It also includes some materials about
Whiting, written around the time of his death and thereafter.
Viewing restrictions were placed on particular photographs in this collection due to
the culturally sensitive nature of the subjects. These restrictions were placed by
the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office. Contact the Museum of Northern Arizona
Archivist for information on obtaining permission for viewing these images.
Conditions Governing Use
Unpublished and published manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to
publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright
holder.
Northern Arizona University Archives and Special Collections houses additional
materials collected by Alfred Whiting. The National Anthropological Archives has a
collection of Whiting material from his time in the Pacific Islands.
Controlled Access Terms
Personal Name(s)
Kewanwytewa, Jimmy,
1888-1966
Nequatewa, Edmund,
1880-1969
Pattie, James O.,
1804-1850
Whiting, Alfred
F.
Geographic Name(s)
Bacavi
(Ariz.)
Cataract Canyon
(Wayne County-San Juan County, Utah)
Materials related to the Havasupai, including "Using Fiction to Fight
Fiction," an unpublished article challenging James O. Pattie's 1826 account
of travels in an area in which he should have encountered the Havasupai but
apparently did not. The 1976-1977 materials are on a plant called Devil's
Claw and its uses by the Havasupai, including notes on specimens found in
the Museum of Northern Arizona's botany collection.
Subseries contains materials on Hopi ethnobotany, many of which are
organized by type of plant. There is also a manuscript of a book that
Whiting intended to publish, entitled Ethnobotany of the Hopi, as well
as miscellaneous materials.
Sub-subseries 3.1.1: Hopi Ethnobotany by Plant Type
Subseries contains audio recordings of Hopi and Tewa vocabulary in 7-inch
reel form, as well as copies on DAT and CD (which are contained in box
15 and box 16. Textual transcripts and notes are also included.
Subseries contains notes and a manuscript of a 1942 study conducted by
Whiting to analyze the artistic goods produced by the Hopi as well as
trends in the sales of these items
Subseries contains materials related to various aspects of Hopi culture,
including jewelry, music, family life, ritual practices and astronomy.
Also included are biographical materials related to Edmund Nequatewa. A
fictional story entitled The Bischoffs in Hotevilla is also part of the
subseries. The characters in this story are based on a family with whom
Whiting was acquainted; they had never actually been to the Hopi
Reservation.
Box
Folder
8
8
Hopi Terms of Landscape [Jimmy Kewanwytewa], undated
Box
Folder
10
4
Hopi Kachinas, Rough Draft, 1964
10
8
Hopi Tiponi (Medicine Bundles) and Clan History, 1968
Box
Folder
12
3
Hopi Jewelry, 1967
12
4
Hopi Music, 1967
12
5
Hopi Stars, 1967
Box
Folder
17
4
Autobiography of Edmund Nequatewa As Told to A.F. Whiting, 1942
17
5
Addenda to Edmund's Autobiography, 1961
17
6
Notes on Three Hopi Texts, 1935
17
7
Three Hopi Texts, 1935
17
8
Ten Hopi Essays, Texts, Etc, 1935, 1940, 1975
17
9
[Photographs of Edmund and June Nequatewa], circa 1931
Series contains diaries, field notes and photographs from a 1951 trip by
Whiting to study the Seri Indians of Tiburon Island, Mexico. Materials on
Seri artifacts at the Museum of the American Indian are also included.
Box
Folder
18
6
[Notes on Seri Trip], 1951
18
7
A Seri Diary, 1951
18
8
A Seri Diary [2nd Draft], 1951
18
9
A Seri Diary, With Photographs, 1951
18
10
Some Preliminary Notes on the Ethnobotany of the Seri, 1951
Box
Folder
19
1
Ethnobotany of the Seri, Preliminary Drafts, 1951-1957
19
2
McGee and Gentry Botanical Notes, 1951
19
3
Bibliography, 1951
19
4
Ethnozoology of the Seri [field notes], 1951
19
5-6
Seri Specimens in the Museum of the American Indian, 1958
19
7
Notes on Seri Collections [Museum of the American Indian], 1958
Materials about Alfred Whiting, including a bibliography, funeral program and
remembrances, were found in the collection. Also included is a picture book
assembled by Whiting in 1957 about the people he observed at the All-Indian
Pow-Wow in Flagstaff, entitled “Look Who’s Looking.”
