Opler, Morris Edward, 1907-1996

Professor of anthropology.

Born in Buffalo, N.Y. on May 16, 1907, Opler received a B.A. in sociology from the University of Buffalo in 1929, an M.A. in anthropology there in 1930, and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1933. He served as an assistant anthropologist with the Bureau of Indian Affairs from 1936-1937. He taught sociology at Reed College in Oregon from 1937-1938, then served as assistant professor of anthropology at Claremont College in California from 1938-1942. He had a Guggenheim fellowship from 1942-1943.

During World War II (from 1943-1944), Opler served as a social science analyst with the War Relocation Authority in Manzanar, Calif., site of one of the Japanese-American internment camps. In 1944 he became a social science analyst with the Office of War Information in Washington, D.C. The following year he served as deputy chief and then chief of the Foreign Morale Analysis Division with the Office of War Information, where he stayed until 1946.

After a visiting professorship at Howard University in the fall of 1945, Opler returned to academics for good in 1946. After teaching at Harvard University as an assistant professor from 1946-1948, he became professor of anthropology and South Asian studies at Cornell University, where he remained until 1969. By then a renowned author, researcher, and teacher, he went on to teach at the University of Oklahoma from 1969 until his retirement. He died on May 13, 1996, at the age of 88, in Norman, Oklahoma.