Arthur C. Parker: Archaeologist and Ethnologist in New York (1881-1955)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Digging through the Decades: A 90-year Retrospective on American Archaeology; Biennial Gordon Willey Session in the History of Archaeology" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Arthur C. Parker was born in 1881 on the Cattaraugus Reservation in New York. Through out his career he served both as an advocate for Indigenous peoples and sites that they inhabited. His career was based on sites in NY, working with the New York State Museum and the Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences. Here, he helped to advance the discipline of archaeology by showing how museums can help to present information about past cultures. He authored many articles on NY archaeology and ethnology that are still classics today. During the Great Depression, he helped to create the WPA-funded Indian Affairs Project which helped members of the Seneca Nation create artifacts that could be used in exhibits. In 1935, he was elected the first President of the Society for American Archaeology. He retired from the Rochester Museum in 1946 continued to be active in Indian affairs until his death in 1955. In this presentation, I discuss the accomplishments of Arthur Parker and how his influences helped in creating the archaeology that we see today.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Digging through the Decades: A 90-year Retrospective on American Archaeology; Biennial Gordon Willey Session in the History of Archaeology

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51222