Elsie Clews Parsons

Infobox Person
name = Elsie Clews Parsons


image_size =
caption =
birth_date = birth date|1875|11|27
birth_place =
death_date = death date|1941|12|19
death_place =
education = Ph.D. in sociology, Columbia University (1899)
occupation = Anthropologist
spouse = Herbert Parsons
parents = [http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0812559.html Henry Clews] , Lucy Madison Worthington
children = Elsie ("Lissa," 1901), John Edward (1903), Herbert (1909), and Henry McIlvaine ("Mac", 1911).

Elsie Clews Parsons (November 27, 1875-December 19, 1941) was an American anthropologist, sociologist, folklorist, and feminist who studied Native American tribes—such as the Pueblo and Hopi—in Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico. She helped found the New School for Social Research. [Spier, Leslie, and A. L. Kroeber. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-7294(194304%2F06)2%3A45%3A2%3C244%3AECP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-S&size=LARGE "Elsie Clews Parsons"] , "American Anthropologist", New Series, Vol. 45, No. 2, Centenary of the American Ethnological Society (Apr. - Jun., 1943), pp. 244-255] She was associate editor for "The Journal of American Folklore" (1918-1941), president of the American Folklore Society (1919-1920), president of the American Ethnological Society (1923-1925), and was elected the first female president of the American Anthropological Association (1941) right before her death.cite web | last = Del Monte | first = Kathleen | coauthors = Karen Bachman, Catherine Klein, Bridget McCourt | title = Elsie Clews Parsons | work = Celebration of Women Anthropologists | publisher = University of South Florida | date = 1999-03-19 | url = http://web3.cas.usf.edu/main/depts/ANT/women/elsie/Elsieclews.html | accessdate = 2007-05-16] cite web | title = Elsie Clews Parsons Papers | publisher = American Philosophical Society | url = http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/mole/p/parsons.htm | accessdate = 2007-05-16 ]

She earned her bachelor's degree from Barnard College in 1896. She received her master’s degree (1897) and Ph.D. (1899) from Columbia University.

Every other year, the American Ethnological Society awards the "Elsie Clews Parsons Prize" for the best graduate student paper, in her honor. [cite web | title = 2007 Elsie Clews Parsons Prize for Best Graduate Student Paper | work = AESonline.org | publisher = American Ethnological Society | date = 2007-04-02 | url = http://www.aesonline.org/2007ECP | accessdate = 2007-05-16 ]

Biography

Elsie Clews Parsons was the daughter of [http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0812559.html Henry Clews] , a wealthy New York banker, and Lucy Madison Worthington. Her brother, [http://www.gis.net/~scatt/clews/clews_index.html Henry Clews, Jr.] , was an artist. In 1900, she married future three-term progressive Republican congressman Herbert Parsons, an associate and political ally of President Teddy Roosevelt. [cite web | last = Kennedy | first = Robert C | title = Cartoon of the Day | work = HarpWeek | publisher = HarpWeek, LLC | url = http://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Month=November&Date=16 | accessdate = 2007-05-16] When her husband was a member of Congress, she published two then-controversial books under the pseudonym John Main. [cite web | title = Parsons, Elsie Clews | work = Encyclopædia Britannica | publisher = Encyclopædia Britannica Online | year = 2007 | url = http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9058571 | accessdate = 2007-05-16 ]

She became interested in anthropology in 1910.

Her work "Pueblo Indian Religion" is considered a classic; here she gathered all her previous extensive work and that of other authors. [GLADYS A. REICHARD, "THE ELSIE CLEWS PARSONS COLLECTION" Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 94, No. 3, Studies of Historical Documents in the Library of the American Philosophical Society. (Jun. 20, 1950), pp. 308-309.]

Her works

Early works of sociology

*"The Family" (1906)
*"Religious Chastity"
*"The Old-Fashioned Woman" (1913)
*"Fear and Conventionality" (1914)
*"Social Freedom" (1915)
*"Social Rule" (1916)

Anthropology works

*"The Social Organization of the Tewa of New Mexico" (1929)
*"Hopi and Zuni Ceremonialism" (1933)
*" [http://books.google.com/books?id=vf10J97nm1QC Pueblo Indian Religion] " (1939)

Ethnographies

*"Mitla: Town of the Souls" (1936)
*"Peguche" (1945)

Research in folklore

*"Folk-Lore from the Cape Verde Islands" (1923)
*"Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, S.C." (1924)
*"Folk-Lore of the Antilles, French and English" (3v., 1933-1943).

ee also

* Franz Boas
* Ruth Benedict
* Margaret Mead
* Mabel Dodge Luhan
* Zora Neale Hurston
* List of Barnard College people
* History of feminism
* Pueblo Clowns
* Taos Pueblo
* Tewa
* Cape Verdean Creole
* Mandelieu-la-Napoule

References

Further reading

* cite book
title=Elsie Clews Parsons: Inventing Modern Life
first=Desley
last=Deacon
date=1999-03-01
publisher=University Of Chicago Press
isbn=0226139085
url=http://www.amazon.com/dp/0226139085/
* cite book
title=A Woman's Quest for Science: A Portrait of Anthropologist Elsie Clews Parsons
first=Peter H.
last=Hare
date=April, 1985
publisher=Prometheus Books
isbn=0879752742
url=http://www.amazon.com/dp/0879752742/
* cite book
title=Fear and Conventionality
first=Elsie Clews
last=Parsons
date=1997-06-08
publisher=University Of Chicago Press
isbn=0226647463
url=http://www.amazon.com/dp/0226647463/
* cite book
title=North American Indian Life: Customs and Traditions of 23 Tribes
first=Elsie Clews
last=Parsons
date=1992-12-31
publisher=Dover Publications
isbn=0486273776
url=http://www.amazon.com/dp/0486273776/
* cite book
title=Taos Tales
first=Elsie Clews
last=Parsons
date=1996-03-27
publisher=Dover Publications
isbn=0486289745
url=http://www.amazon.com/dp/0486289745/
* cite book
title=Tewa Tales
first=Elsie Clews
last=Parsons
date=1994-03-01
publisher=University of Arizona Press
isbn=0816514526
url=http://www.amazon.com/dp/0816514526/
* cite book
title=Wealth and Rebellion: Elsie Clews Parsons, Anthropologist and Folklorist
first=Rosemary Lévy
last=Zumwalt
date=1992-08-01
publisher=University of Illinois Press
isbn=0252019091
url=http://www.amazon.com/dp/0252019091/

External links

* [http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/mole/p/parsons.htm Elsie Clews Parsons Papers] (with a photo of Elsie)
* [http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/parsons.html Elsie Clews Parsons, The Journal of a Feminist] by Professor Catherine Lavender, City University of New York
* [http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/abcde/clewsparsons_elsie.html Elsie Clews Parsons] , Minnesota State University, Mankato
* Stacy A. Cordery. [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=10518911503267 "Review of Desley Deacon, Elsie Clews Parsons: Inventing Modern Life,"] H-Women, H-Net Reviews, November, 1998.
* [http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/06/29/reviews/970629.29luhrmat.html Working Woman] by Tanya Luhrmann, The New York Times
* [http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Elsie_Clews_Parsons Elsie Clews Parsons] , New World Encyclopedia.