Biography

American anthropologist and archaeologist. Walter Hough worked for the United States National Museum for nearly 50 years, from January 1886 until his death in September 1935. As a boy growing up in Morgantown, West Virginia, he began an archaeological collection consisting of a pocketful of arrowheads and worked stones and samples of the flora, fauna, and Carboniferous fossils from the district. At West Virginia University, he showed a preference for geology and, in his spare time, collected fossils for Dr J.J. Stevenson of New York, then a recognised authority on the geology of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. In 1897 he presented his collection of Carboniferous plants and invertebrates to the National Museum.

After graduating with his MA in 1884, he spent a year as schoolteacher in a boys' school in Illinois and then, in January 1886, accepted an appointment as a copyist in the division of ethnology at the United States National Museum, where he would work for the rest of his life. A year later he was appointed Aide in the same division. In 1894, the same year he received his PhD degree from his alma mater, he became Assistant Curator. He was promoted to Head Curator of the department of anthropology in 1908, Curator of Ethnology in 1910 and, finally, Head Curator of Anthropology in 1923. Considered indispensable to the museum, he never retired. Temporary contracts were created and renewed to enable him to continue his work beyond the customary age of retirement for Federal employees, until 1932 when an Executive order exempted him from compulsory retirement.

Hough joined the museum in the era of the world fairs, when the staff were wholly occupied with cataloguing collections presented to the United States by foreign governments and other exhibitors at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876. Some of these new accessions were the basis of short papers written by Hough in subsequent years. Between 1892 and 1926, the museum provided exhibition material for no fewer than 16 expositions and he played an active part in preparing exhibits for these. In 1892 he attended the Columbian Historical Exposition in Madrid as a representative of the Smithsonian Institution and a member of the United States commission; in recognition of his curatorial contributions to the exposition, the Queen Regent made him a knight of the Royal Order of Ysabel la Católica. Hough was a founder of the American Anthropological Association and a corresponding member of the Société d'Anthropologie de Paris and the Svenska Sällskapet för Antropologi och Geografi. He also belonged to the Anthropological Society of Washington, the Washington Academy of Sciences, the Archaeological Society of Washington, the American Museums Association, the International Society of American Artists, the Washington Water Color Club, and the Sons of the American Revolution.

His first fieldwork was conducted in New Mexico and Arizona in summer 1896, as an assistant to anthropologist, archaeologist and zoologist Dr Walter Fewkes, and he subsequently returned to both states a number of times for his own ethnological and archaeological research. In anthropological circles, he was best known for his studies of fire as an agent in human culture. From May 9 to July 15, 1899, he accompanied J.N. Rose on an ethnobotanical expedition to Mexico.

Sources:
N.M. Judd, 1936, "Walter Hough: An Appreciation", American Anthropologist, 38(3): 471-481.

Biography

American anthropologist and archaeologist. Walter Hough worked for the United States National Museum for nearly 50 years, from January 1886 until his death in September 1935. As a boy growing up in Morgantown, West Virginia, he began an archaeological collection consisting of a pocketful of arrowheads and worked stones and samples of the flora, fauna, and Carboniferous fossils from the district. At West Virginia University, he showed a preference for geology and, in his spare time, collected fossils for Dr J.J. Stevenson of New York, then a recognised authority on the geology of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. In 1897 he presented his collection of Carboniferous plants and invertebrates to the National Museum.

After graduating with his MA in 1884, he spent a year as schoolteacher in a boys' school in Illinois and then, in January 1886, accepted an appointment as a copyist in the division of ethnology at the United States National Museum, where he would work for the rest of his life. A year later he was appointed Aide in the same division. In 1894, the same year he received his PhD degree from his alma mater, he became Assistant Curator. He was promoted to Head Curator of the department of anthropology in 1908, Curator of Ethnology in 1910 and, finally, Head Curator of Anthropology in 1923. Considered indispensable to the museum, he never retired. Temporary contracts were created and renewed to enable him to continue his work beyond the customary age of retirement for Federal employees, until 1932 when an Executive order exempted him from compulsory retirement.

Hough joined the museum in the era of the world fairs, when the staff were wholly occupied with cataloguing collections presented to the United States by foreign governments and other exhibitors at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876. Some of these new accessions were the basis of short papers written by Hough in subsequent years. Between 1892 and 1926, the museum provided exhibition material for no fewer than 16 expositions and he played an active part in preparing exhibits for these. In 1892 he attended the Columbian Historical Exposition in Madrid as a representative of the Smithsonian Institution and a member of the United States commission; in recognition of his curatorial contributions to the exposition, the Queen Regent made him a knight of the Royal Order of Ysabel la Católica. Hough was a founder of the American Anthropological Association and a corresponding member of the Société d'Anthropologie de Paris and the Svenska Sällskapet för Antropologi och Geografi. He also belonged to the Anthropological Society of Washington, the Washington Academy of Sciences, the Archaeological Society of Washington, the American Museums Association, the International Society of American Artists, the Washington Water Color Club, and the Sons of the American Revolution.

His first fieldwork was conducted in New Mexico and Arizona in summer 1896, as an assistant to anthropologist, archaeologist and zoologist Dr Walter Fewkes, and he subsequently returned to both states a number of times for his own ethnological and archaeological research. In anthropological circles, he was best known for his studies of fire as an agent in human culture. From May 9 to July 15, 1899, he accompanied J.N. Rose on an ethnobotanical expedition to Mexico.

Sources:
N.M. Judd, 1936, "Walter Hough: An Appreciation", American Anthropologist, 38(3): 471-481.

Biography

American anthropologist and archaeologist. Walter Hough worked for the United States National Museum for nearly 50 years, from January 1886 until his death in September 1935. As a boy growing up in Morgantown, West Virginia, he began an archaeological collection consisting of a pocketful of arrowheads and worked stones and samples of the flora, fauna, and Carboniferous fossils from the district. At West Virginia University, he showed a preference for geology and, in his spare time, collected fossils for Dr J.J. Stevenson of New York, then a recognised authority on the geology of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. In 1897 he presented his collection of Carboniferous plants and invertebrates to the National Museum.

After graduating with his MA in 1884, he spent a year as schoolteacher in a boys' school in Illinois and then, in January 1886, accepted an appointment as a copyist in the division of ethnology at the United States National Museum, where he would work for the rest of his life. A year later he was appointed Aide in the same division. In 1894, the same year he received his PhD degree from his alma mater, he became Assistant Curator. He was promoted to Head Curator of the department of anthropology in 1908, Curator of Ethnology in 1910 and, finally, Head Curator of Anthropology in 1923. Considered indispensable to the museum, he never retired. Temporary contracts were created and renewed to enable him to continue his work beyond the customary age of retirement for Federal employees, until 1932 when an Executive order exempted him from compulsory retirement.

Hough joined the museum in the era of the world fairs, when the staff were wholly occupied with cataloguing collections presented to the United States by foreign governments and other exhibitors at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876. Some of these new accessions were the basis of short papers written by Hough in subsequent years. Between 1892 and 1926, the museum provided exhibition material for no fewer than 16 expositions and he played an active part in preparing exhibits for these. In 1892 he attended the Columbian Historical Exposition in Madrid as a representative of the Smithsonian Institution and a member of the United States commission; in recognition of his curatorial contributions to the exposition, the Queen Regent made him a knight of the Royal Order of Ysabel la Católica. Hough was a founder of the American Anthropological Association and a corresponding member of the Société d'Anthropologie de Paris and the Svenska Sällskapet för Antropologi och Geografi. He also belonged to the Anthropological Society of Washington, the Washington Academy of Sciences, the Archaeological Society of Washington, the American Museums Association, the International Society of American Artists, the Washington Water Color Club, and the Sons of the American Revolution.

His first fieldwork was conducted in New Mexico and Arizona in summer 1896, as an assistant to anthropologist, archaeologist and zoologist Dr Walter Fewkes, and he subsequently returned to both states a number of times for his own ethnological and archaeological research. In anthropological circles, he was best known for his studies of fire as an agent in human culture. From May 9 to July 15, 1899, he accompanied J.N. Rose on an ethnobotanical expedition to Mexico.

Sources:
N.M. Judd, 1936, "Walter Hough: An Appreciation", American Anthropologist, 38(3): 471-481.