Underhill, Ruth Murray (1883–1984)
Underhill, Ruth Murray (1883–1984)
American ethnographer and author. Born Ruth Murray Underhill, Aug 22, 1883, in Ossining, NY; died Aug 1984 in Denver, CO; dau. of Abram Sutton Underhill (lawyer) and Anna Murray Underhill (both Quakers and pacifists); Vassar College, AB, 1905; attended London School of Economics and University of Munich; Columbia University, PhD, 1939; m. Charles Crawford (div.).
At Columbia University, provided with funding by Franz Boas for research among the Papago; assisted in recording the 1st published life history of a Southwestern Indian woman, Maria Chona, which was issued as Autobiography of a Papago Woman (1936); worked in various capacities with Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA); taught in anthropology department at University of Denver (1948–52); taught at New York State Teachers College in New Paltz (now State University of New York College at New Paltz) and Colorado Women's College. Other works include White Moth (novel, 1920); Singing for Power (1938); The Northern Paiute Indians of California and Nevada (1941); Red Man's America (1953); and Red Man's Religion (1965).