Katherine Spencer Halpern

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Katherine Spencer Halpern
BornAugust 7, 1913
Reading, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedMarch 9, 2004 (aged 90)
Occupation(s)Anthropologist and educator
SpouseAbraham M. Halpern (1968-1985; his death)

Katherine Spencer Halpern (August 7, 1913 – March 9, 2004) was an American anthropologist and educator.

Early life[edit]

Katherine Spencer was born in Reading, Massachusetts. She earned a bachelor's degree at Vassar College in 1935, and a master's degree at the University of Chicago in 1944, and completed doctoral studies at the University of Chicago in 1952 with a dissertation titled Mythology and Values: An Analysis of Navaho Chantway Myths.[1]

Career[edit]

In 1937, Spencer and two friends spent a summer doing research in Chaco Canyon in New Mexico.[2] "I was overwhelmed by the Southwest," she recalled later. "Things just opened up for me."[3] In 1940, she co-edited A Bibliography of Navaho Indians with Clyde Kluckhohn.[4]

During and after World War II, Spencer did fieldwork in Alaska and worked in Washington, D.C.[3] She was a social work professor at Boston University from 1954 to 1970. From 1970 to 1978, she was an anthropology professor at American University. She was a fellow of the American Anthropological Association. Halpern's research included studies of Navajo conceptions of disease and medicine,[3] and of Navajo health care workers.[5]

After retiring from American University, Halpern was a researcher at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe, New Mexico, resulting in Reflection of Social Life in the Navaho Origin Myth (1983).[6] She also contributed to the catalogue for the Wheelwright's show, Woven Holy People: Navajo Sandpainting Textiles from the Permanent Collection (1982).[7] She wrote two biographies of anthropologists, Applied Anthropologist and Public Servant: The Life and Work of Philleo Nash (1983),[8] and Washington Matthews: Studies of Navajo Culture, 1880-1894 (1997, co-edited with Susan Brown McGreevy).[9]

Personal life[edit]

In 1968, Spencer married fellow anthropologist Abraham M. Halpern,[10][11] who was a widower with two sons.[12][13] He died in 1985.[14] She died in 2004, aged 90 years.[citation needed]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Halpern, Katherine Spencer (1952). Mythology and Values: An Analysis of Navaho Chantway Myths. University of Chicago, Department of Anthropology.
  2. ^ Toppo, Greg (1998-04-22). "'Desert Daughters' broke ground for women". Deseret News. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  3. ^ a b c Zoretich, Frank (1987-10-06). "Daughters of the Desert (4)". Albuquerque Journal. p. 44. Retrieved 2020-08-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Kluckhohn, Clyde; Halpern, Katherine Spencer (1940). A Bibliography of the Navaho Indians. J.J. Augustin. ISBN 9780404071349.
  5. ^ Halpern, Katherine Spencer (1971-03-01). "Navajo Health and Welfare Aides: A Field Study". Social Service Review. 45 (1): 37–52. doi:10.1086/642645. ISSN 0037-7961. S2CID 143409950.
  6. ^ Halpern, Katherine Spencer (1983). Reflection of Social Life in the Navaho Origin Myth. AMS Press. ISBN 978-0-404-15705-0.
  7. ^ Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian (1982). Woven Holy People: Navajo Sandpainting Textiles from the Permanent Collection, Forty-fifth Anniversary Exhibition, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Santa Fe, New Mexico, November 14, 1982 - March 4, 1983.
  8. ^ Halpern, Katherine Spencer (1991-01-08). Applied Anthropologist and Public Servant: The Life and Work of Philleo Nash. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-913167-28-1.
  9. ^ Halpern, Katherine Spencer; Indian, Wheelwright Museum of the American (1997). Washington Matthews: Studies of Navajo Culture, 1880-1894. University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 978-0-8263-1631-8.
  10. ^ "MS 7507 Notes on the Potawatomi language · SOVA". Smithsonian Online Virtual Archive. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
  11. ^ Saksena, Anuradha (1982-01-01). Topics in the Analysis of Causatives: With an Account of Hindi Paradigms. University of California Press. pp. xvi. ISBN 978-0-520-09659-2.
  12. ^ Halpern, A. M.; Miller, Amy (2014-11-24). Stories from Quechan Oral Literature. Open Book Publishers. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-909254-85-5.
  13. ^ "Mary Fujii Halpern Dies at 53". Oakland Tribune. 1967-06-18. p. 6. Retrieved 2020-08-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Abraham Meyer Halpern (death notice)". The Santa Fe New Mexican. 1985-10-22. p. 6. Retrieved 2020-08-02 – via Newspapers.com.
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