Tozzer, Alfred Marston

Alfred Marston Tozzer was born in Lynn, MA on July 4, 1877 to Samuel Clarence Tozzer, and Caroline Blanchard (Marston) Tozzer. He grew up in Lynn and after graduating from high school, attended Harvard College where he received the A.B. in 1900, the A.M. in 1901, and the Ph.D. in 1904, all three degrees in anthropology. On April 10, 1913 he married Margaret Tenney Castle of Honolulu, Hawaii, in New York. They had two daughters. The elder, Joanne, died young. The other, now Joan Tozzer Cave, grew up to stay in Cambridge.

Tozzer conducted his initial anthropological fieldwork in California and New Mexico among the Wintun and Navajo nations during his undergraduate summers in 1900 and 1901, focusing on linguistics. From 1902 to 1905 he held the American Fellowship of the Archeological Institute of America. This enabled Tozzer to spend four winters living with and studying the Lacandones of Mexico and Central America. He won their confidence and was admitted to their religious ceremonies. He published the results of his field work in A Comparative Study of the Mayas and Lacandones (1907).

From 1909 -1910, Tozzer lead a Peabody Museum expedition to Guatemala. During this expedition, he studied the ruins of Tikal and Nakum. He published material on these sites in 1911 and 1913. Tozzer's cross-disciplinary training under F. W. Putnam allowed Tozzer to move easily between archaeology and social anthropology. He served as the Director of the International School of Archeology in Mexico City in 1914 and as a result, was in Vera Cruz during the U.S. naval bombardment and its 6-month occupation by the United States Marine Corps.

During World War I, Tozzer was a captain in the Air Service. During World War II he was the director of the Honolulu branch of the Office of the Strategic Services. After World War II Tozzer returned to Harvard where he spent the rest of his professional life. He remained professionally active after his retirement, and lectured frequently. He was also a member of the Academic Board and became Secretary and Trustee of Radcliffe College in 1932. Tozzer's many devoted students went on to become pioneers in anthropology and his colleagues held him in high esteem. When the Peabody Museum's library was moved to a new facility in 1974, it was dedicated Tozzer Library in honor of his devotion to its collections and his enormous contribution to both Harvard and the field of anthropology in general.

Alfred Tozzer died beloved in his personal and professional communities on October 5, 1954.

Sources: Spinden, Herbert Joseph. "Alfred Marston Tozzer 1877-1954." Biographical Memoirs v. 30: 383-397. "Alfred Marston Tozzer 1877- 1954." American Antiquity v.21 (1955-1956): 72-80 "Alfred Marston Tozzer." American Antiquarian Society v. 64, 1954. Lothrop, S.K. "Alfred Marston Tozzer 1876-1954." American Anthropologist v.57 (1955): 614-618.

Alfred Marston Tozzer was born in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1877. Tozzer graduated from Harvard College in 1900, after which he participated in anthropological field work in Arizona, California, and New Mexico, earning his A.M. from Harvard in 1901. In 1902, Tozzer went to Central America as a Traveling Fellow of the Archaeological Institute of America. Witnessing the dredging of the Cenote of Sacrifice in Chichen Itza led by Edward Thompson kindled his interests in archaeology and anthropology of the Maya, which later became his specialty. Tozzer spent the next three winters in Lacandone, Chiapas and Campeche, and the studies there formed the basis of his Ph.D. dissertation. Tozzer received his Ph. D. from Harvard University in 1904 and the following year he began teaching at Harvard. Tozzer was appointed Associate Professor in 1920 and the next year he became Professor and remained so until his retirement in 1947. Tozzer also worked as a Curator of Middle American Archaeology and Ethnology in the Peabody Museum, leading several expeditions to Central America in the 1910's. In 1948, he was appointed Professor Emeritus.

In addition to Tozzer's contribution as an educator, he held many executive positions throughout his career, such as the Director of the International School of American Archaeology in Mexico, Department Chair of Anthropology, Director of the Harvard Alumni Association, President of the American Anthropological Association, Faculty Member and Librarian of the Peabody Museum, to name a few. He also served on the Academic Board at Radcliffe, the National Research Council, and the Social Science Research Council.

Tozzer also fulfilled his military duties for the both World Wars. During World War I, he served as a Captain of Air Services, and during World War II, as a director of the Honolulu branch of the Office of the Strategic Services. While serving in World War II, he produced works not only of military value, but also of anthropological value, most representatively his study of Okinawa.

Tozzer authored many publications, including his first scholarly publication, A comparative study of the Mayas and the Lacandones (1907), A grammar of the Maya language (1921), and Landa's Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan (1941). His monumental monograph, Chichen Itza and its Cenote of Sacrifice (1957) was published posthumously.

Tozzer married Margaret Tenney Castle (1886-1978) of Honolulu in 1913. Margaret Castle was born in 1886, the daughter of George P. Cook, founder of Castle and Cook Co. in Hawaii, a food holding company. The couple left a daughter, now Joan Tozzer Cave of Chestnut Hill, Mass., who has six children.

Sources: Philips, Phillip. 1955. " Alfred Marston Tozzer, 1877-1954." American Antiquity , 21(1) (July): 72-80. Lothrop, S.K.1955. "Alfred Marston Tozzer,1876-1954." American Anthropologist , 57(3) (June): 614-8.