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Marjorie Halpin
Encyclopedia
Marjorie Halpin was a U.S.-Canadian anthropologist best known for her work on Northwest Coast art and culture, especially the Tsimshian
and Gitksan peoples.
She earned an M.A. from George Washington University
in 1963. She worked for five years for the Smithsonian Institution
and in 1968 moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, to begin doctoral work at the University of British Columbia
, where she worked closely under the anthropologist Wilson Duff
.
Her 1973 Ph.D. thesis, The Tsimshian Crest System: A Study Based on Museum Specimens and the Marius Barbeau
and William Beynon
Field Notes, is considered an important early structuralist
study of Northwest Coast culture. It was also the first monograph based on systematic and theoretically engaged analysis of the unpublished Barbeau-Beynon treasure-trove of ethnographic data, for which Duff had compiled a voluminous set of summaries.
Also in 1973, she was appointed to UBC's anthropology faculty, where she served for the remainder of her career, and eventually became curator of the Northwest Coast collection at UBC's Museum of Anthropology, a collection which she helped bring to international prominence. In that capacity she worked closely with Northwest Coast artists such as Bill Reid
and Robert Davidson
.
In 1980 she did fieldwork on Tsimshian personal naming practices in Hartley Bay, B.C., working with descendants of some of Beynon's informants.
Her list of publications included a best-selling guide to totem poles, a well-known edited volume on the sasquatch, and an early study of Beynon's life and work.
In 1997, Halpin, with her colleague Margaret Seguin Anderson, did fieldwork in the Gitksan village of Gitsegukla, B.C., as part of the process of realizing her long-term ambition to publish Beynon's four volumes of fieldnotes from a 1945 totem pole raising ceremony in that community. The resulting volume, with extensive commentary and new information, was published very shortly before Halpin's death in 2000.
Also in the last year of her life, Halpin participated in a major Northwest Coast studies conference in Paris in honor of Claude Lévi-Strauss
, an event which recognized her pivotal role at the intersection of French structuralism and the study of Northwest Coast cultures.
Marjorie Myers Halpin died August 30, 2000, of cancer, at her home in White Rock, B.C., at the age of 63.
Tsimshian
The Tsimshian are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Tsimshian translates to Inside the Skeena River. Their communities are in British Columbia and Alaska, around Terrace and Prince Rupert and the southernmost corner of Alaska on Annette Island. There are approximately 10,000...
and Gitksan peoples.
She earned an M.A. from George Washington University
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
in 1963. She worked for five years for the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
and in 1968 moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, to begin doctoral work at the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
, where she worked closely under the anthropologist Wilson Duff
Wilson Duff
Wilson Duff was a Canadian archaeologist, cultural anthropologist, and museum curator.He is remembered for his research on First Nations cultures of the Northwest Coast, notably the Tsimshian, Gitxsan, and Haida, and especially for his interest in their plastic arts, such as totem poles...
.
Her 1973 Ph.D. thesis, The Tsimshian Crest System: A Study Based on Museum Specimens and the Marius Barbeau
Marius Barbeau
Charles Marius Barbeau, , also known as C. Marius Barbeau, or more commonly simply Marius Barbeau, was a Canadian ethnographer and folklorist who is today considered a founder of Canadian anthropology...
and William Beynon
William Beynon
William Beynon was a hereditary chief from the Tsimshian nation and an oral historian who served as ethnographer, translator, and linguistic consultant to many anthropologists....
Field Notes, is considered an important early structuralist
Structuralism
Structuralism originated in the structural linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure and the subsequent Prague and Moscow schools of linguistics. Just as structural linguistics was facing serious challenges from the likes of Noam Chomsky and thus fading in importance in linguistics, structuralism...
study of Northwest Coast culture. It was also the first monograph based on systematic and theoretically engaged analysis of the unpublished Barbeau-Beynon treasure-trove of ethnographic data, for which Duff had compiled a voluminous set of summaries.
Also in 1973, she was appointed to UBC's anthropology faculty, where she served for the remainder of her career, and eventually became curator of the Northwest Coast collection at UBC's Museum of Anthropology, a collection which she helped bring to international prominence. In that capacity she worked closely with Northwest Coast artists such as Bill Reid
Bill Reid
William Ronald Reid, OBC was a Canadian artist whose works included jewelry, sculpture, screen-printing, and painting. His work is featured on the Canadian $20 banknote.-Biography:...
and Robert Davidson
Robert Davidson (artist)
Robert Charles Davidson, CM, OBC , is a Canadian artist of Haida heritage. His specialties are in carving , sculpture and painting....
.
In 1980 she did fieldwork on Tsimshian personal naming practices in Hartley Bay, B.C., working with descendants of some of Beynon's informants.
Her list of publications included a best-selling guide to totem poles, a well-known edited volume on the sasquatch, and an early study of Beynon's life and work.
In 1997, Halpin, with her colleague Margaret Seguin Anderson, did fieldwork in the Gitksan village of Gitsegukla, B.C., as part of the process of realizing her long-term ambition to publish Beynon's four volumes of fieldnotes from a 1945 totem pole raising ceremony in that community. The resulting volume, with extensive commentary and new information, was published very shortly before Halpin's death in 2000.
Also in the last year of her life, Halpin participated in a major Northwest Coast studies conference in Paris in honor of Claude Lévi-Strauss
Claude Lévi-Strauss
Claude Lévi-Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologist, and has been called, along with James George Frazer, the "father of modern anthropology"....
, an event which recognized her pivotal role at the intersection of French structuralism and the study of Northwest Coast cultures.
Marjorie Myers Halpin died August 30, 2000, of cancer, at her home in White Rock, B.C., at the age of 63.
Works
- (1973) The Tsimshian Crest System: A Study Based on Museum Specimens and the Marius Barbeau and William Beynon Field Notes. Ph.D. thesis, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
- (1978) "William Beynon, Ethnographer, Tsimshian, 1888-1958." In American Indian Intellectuals: 1976 Proceedings of the American Ethnological Society, ed. by Margot Liberty, pp. 140–156. St. Paul: West Publishing Company.
- (1980) (ed.) (with Michael M. Ames) Manlike Monsters on Trial: Early Records and Modern Evidence. Vancouver: UBC Press. (Halpin's contributions: "Investigating the Goblin Universe," "The Tsimshian Monkey Mask and Sasquatch.")
- (1983) Totem Poles: An Illustrated Guide. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
- (1983) (ed.) (with N. Ross Crumrine) The Power of Symbols: Masks and Masquerade in the Americas. Vancouver: UBC Press. (Halpin's contributions: "The Mask of Tradition.")
- (1984) "Feast Names at Hartley Bay." pp. 57–64 In The Tsimshian: Images of the Past: Views for the Present, ed. by Margaret Seguin, pp. 57–64. Vancouver: UBC Press.
- (1984) "'Seeing in Stone': Tsimshian Masking and the Twin Stone Masks." pp. 281–307 In The Tsimshian: Images of the Past: Views for the Present, ed. by Margaret Seguin, pp. 57–64. Vancouver: UBC Press.
- (1984) "The Structure of Tsimshian Totemism." In The Tsimshian and Their Neighbors of the North Pacific Coast, ed. by Jay Miller and Carol M. Eastman, pp. 16–35. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
- (1990) (with Margaret Seguin) "Tsimshian Peoples: Southern Tsimshian, Coast Tsimshian, NishgaNisga'aThe Nisga’a , often formerly spelled Nishga and spelled in the Nisga’a language as Nisga’a, are an Indigenous nation or First Nation in Canada. They live in the Nass River valley of northwestern British Columbia. Their name comes from a combination of two Nisga’a words: Nisk’-"top lip" and...
, and Gitksan." pp. 267–284 In Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 7: Northwest Coast, ed. by Wayne Suttles, pp. 267–284. Washington: Smithsonian Institution
- (2000) (ed.) (with Margaret Anderson) (2000) PotlatchPotlatchA potlatch is a gift-giving festival and primary economic system practiced by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and United States. This includes Heiltsuk Nation, Haida, Nuxalk, Tlingit, Makah, Tsimshian, Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka'wakw, and Coast Salish cultures...
at Gitsegukla: William Beynon’s 1945 Field Notebooks. Vancouver: UBC Press.
- (2004) "Lévi-Straussian Structuralism on the Northwest Coast." In Coming to Shore: Northwest Coast Ethnology, Traditions, and Visions, ed. by Marie Mauzé, Michael E. Harkin, and Sergei Kan, pp. 91–105. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Sources
- Obituary for Marjorie Myers Halpin, Anthropology News, vol. 42, no. 5 (2001), p. 29.