Garfield, Viola (1899–1983)

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Garfield, Viola (1899–1983)

American cultural anthropologist. Name variations: Viola Edmundson Garfield. Born Viola Edmundson, 1899; died 1983; dau. of William Henry Edmundson and Mary Louanna (Dean) Edmundson; earned teaching certificate at Bellingham Normal School (now Western Washington University) l University of Washington, BA, 1931, MA; Columbia University, PhD, 1939; m. Charles Garfield, 1924.

While working with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, taught Tsimshian children at New Metlakatla (southeastern Alaska); conducted fieldwork at New Metlakatla on Tsimshian marriage pattens; studied with Franz Boas and Ruth Benedict at Columbia University; served as associate professor at University of Washington; published classics of North Pacific ethnography, including works on economics of slavery, Angoon clans, trans-Pacific moieties, and totem poles and mythology; known largely for definitive studies of Tsimshian in British Columbia and Alaska.