Born: 16 December 1901, United States
Died: 15 November 1978
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
The following is republished from the Library of Congress. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
1901, Dec. 16 Born, Philadelphia, Pa.
1919-1920 Attended DePauw University, Greencastle, Ind.
1923 B.A., Barnard College, New York, N.Y. Married Luther Sheeleigh Cressman (divorced 1928)
1924 M.A., psychology, Columbia University, New York, N.Y.
1925-1926 Field trip to American Samoa as a National Research Council fellow for the study of adolescent girls. Associate, Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii
1926-1969 Assistant curator (1926), associate curator (1942), and curator (1964-1969) of ethnology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, N.Y.; retired in 1969 as curator emeritus
1928 Married Reo Fortune (divorced 1935)
1928-1929 Field trip to Manus, Admiralty Islands, with Reo Fortune, as a fellow of the Social Science Research Council for a study of young children
1929 Ph. D., anthropology, Columbia University, New York, N.Y.
1930 Field trip with Reo Fortune to study the Omaha (Umonhon) Tribe of Nebraska
1931-1933 Field trip to New Guinea with Reo Fortune to study the Arapesh, Biwat (Mundugumor), and Chambri (Tchambuli) people
1936 Married Gregory Bateson (divorced 1950)
1936-1939 Field expedition with Gregory Bateson to Bali and New Guinea to study the Iatmul people
1939 Birth of daughter, Mary Catherine Bateson
1939-1941 Visiting lecturer in child study, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
1942-1945 Executive secretary, Committee on Food Habits, National Research Council, Washington, D.C.
1947-1951 Lecturer, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, N.Y.
1948-1950 Director, Columbia University Research in Contemporary Cultures, New York, N.Y.
1953 Field trip to Manus, Admiralty Islands, with Theodore and Lenora Schwartz
1954 Adjunct professor of anthropology, Columbia University, New York, N.Y.
1955-1962 Member, Board of Directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
1956-1957 President, World Federation for Mental Health
1957 Recipient, Viking Medal in General Anthropology, Wenner Gren Foundation
1957-1958 Returned to Bali with Ken Heyman
1957-1978 Visiting professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
1960 President, American Anthropological Association
1961-1978 Wrote regular feature for Redbook magazine with Rhoda Bubendey Métraux
1964-1965 Field visits to Manus, Admiralty Islands
1966-1968 Chairperson, Committee on Science in the Promotion of Human Welfare, American Association for the Advancement of Science
1967 Field visits to Manus, Admiralty Islands, to make the film “New Guinea Journal” and to New Guinea to consult with Rhoda Bubendey Métraux on the Iatmul people. Helped establish Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, N.Y.
1969 Received William Proctor Prize for Scientific Achievement, Scientific Research Society
1969-1971 Professor of Anthropology, Fordham University, New York, N.Y.
1971 Field visits to Manus, Admiralty Islands, and to New Guinea and American Samoa. Received Arches of Science Award, Pacific Science Center; Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science, UNESCO and the Government of India; and Joseph Priestley Award, Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa.
1972 Chairperson, advisory committee to the U.S. delegation to the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences. Co-chairperson, U.S. Task Force on the Future of Mankind and the Role of the Churches in a World of Science-based Technology Member, organizing committee for the IXth International Congress of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, Chicago, Ill. President, Scientists’ Institute on Public Information and the Society for General Systems Research. Special guest of secretary general, United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm, Sweden
1973 Field visit to study the Arapesh people at Hoskins Bay, New Britain
1975 President, American Assocation for the Advancement of Science. Field visit to Manus, Admiralty Islands. Member, National Academy of Sciences
1977 Field visit to Bali
1978, Nov. 15 Died, New York, N.Y.