Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793-1864)

Source

Ethnologist and geologist

Travels. Born in Watervliet, New York, and educated as a mineralogist and glassmaker, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft originally intended to become a federal superintendent of mines for the Missouri Territory. However, like many natural scientists who journeyed West, he developed an interest in North American geography and ethnology. Schoolcraft eventually received an appointment as an Indian agent on the northwestern frontier, a position that gave him extensive contact with Western lands and peoples. In 1820 he toured with a party that located the source of the Mississippi River. In 1831-1832 Schoolcraft led a second expedition there. Geographers regarded his account of this trip, published two years later, as one of the major geographic works of the decade. Schoolcraft also recorded examples of Indian folklore, which provided material for fiction writers such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Ethnological Work. Schoolcraft’s observations of Indian life lacked the systematic approach of early anthropologists such as Lewis Henry Morgan. His eclectic interests proved useful for how he collected massive amounts of information. However, unwilling to venture into more theoretical approaches, Schoolcraft never suggested how his findings could be integrated into some larger purpose. His weaknesses became more evident following his 1847 commission by the U.S. government to collect materials relating to the history, present conditions, and future prospects of Indian tribes. Schoolcraft confronted an awesome task with this project, which demanded the better part of a decade to compile. Some reviewers praised his six-volume work for its research but criticized Schoolcraft for how he provided little overall guidance for policymakers. To his credit, any attempt to generalize about all of North America’s indigenous peoples and recommend policy measures would have been flawed, revealing whites’ meager understanding of Indian heterogeneity. Yet Schoolcraft’s array of data marked one of the first holistic efforts to comprehend Indian cultures, one often utilized by later scholars and historians.

Source

Richard G. Bremer, Indian Agent and Wilderness Scholar: The Life of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (Mt. Pleasant: Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University, 1987).