Jochelson, Waldemar, 1855-1937

Russian ethnologist and linguist noted for his studies on Siberian peoples, especially the Koryaks and Yukaghirs. Led the Siberian Division of the American Museum of Natural History's Jesup North Pacific Expedition (1900-1902).

Waldemar Jochelson (Vladimir Il'ich Iokhel'son, 1855-1937), Russian anthropologist, was in the Aleutians for eighteen months in 1909-1910: Unalaska (3 January to 9 June 1909); Attu (15 June to 9 August); Atka (10 August to 14 September); Nikolski (14 September 1909 to 3 May 1910); Unalaska again (5 May to 1 June); the Pribilofs (1 June to 20 July); and Unalaska a third time (20-26 July 1910).

Waldemar Jochelson (1855-1937), the Russian ethnographer known for his studies of the Aleut, Koryak, Yukaghir, and Yakut peoples, was born and educated in Vilna. As a student he joined the revolutionary populist and terrorist organization, the People's Will (Narodnaya Volya), was arrested in 1884 and sentenced to three years imprisonment and ten years exile in Siberia. While there Jochelson and fellow revolutionaries Waldemar Bogoras and Lev Sternberg devoted their attention to the native population, producing some of the first studies of the indigenous tribes. Their work so impressed the authorities that they were allowed to participate in the Sibiriakov Expedition (1894-1895) to the Yakut provinces of northeastern Siberia sponsored by the Imperial Russian Geographic Society. Jochelson remained in Siberia after his term of exile expired to continue his work. He participated in the Jesup North Pacific Expedition (1900-1902) and the Riaboushinsky Expedition (1909-1911) to Kamchatka and the Aleutian Islands. Beginning in 1912 he held various positions in the Russian Academy of Sciences and taught at the University of Leningrad after the Revolution. Jochelson emigrated to the United States in 1922 where he was associated with the American Museum of Natural History and the Carnegie Institute. Much of his later life was spent refining his work on the Aleut language and preparing a study of the Kamchadal people.

Waldemar Jochelson (1855-1937), the Russian ethnographer known for his studies of the Aleut, Koryak, Yukaghir, and Yakut peoples, was born and educated in Vilna.

As a student he joined the revolutionary populist and terrorist organization, the People's Will (Narodnaya Volya), was arrested in 1884 and sentenced to three years imprisonment and ten years exile in Siberia. While there Jochelson and fellow revolutionaries Waldemar Bogoras and Lev Sternberg devoted their attention to the native population, producing some of the first studies of the indigenous tribes. Their work so impressed the authorities that they were allowed to participate in the Sibiriakov Expedition (1894-1895) to the Yakut provinces of northeastern Siberia sponsored by the Imperial Russian Geographic Society. Jochelson remained in Siberia after his term of exile expired to continue his work. He participated in the Jesup North Pacific Expedition (1900-1902) and the Riaboushinsky Expedition (1909-1911) to Kamchatka and the Aleutian Islands. Beginning in 1912 he held various positions in the Russian Academy of Sciences and taught at the University of Leningrad after the Revolution. Jochelson emigrated to the United States in 1922 where he was associated with the American Museum of Natural History and the Carnegie Institute. Much of his later life was spent refining his work on the Aleut language and preparing a study of the Kamchadal people.

Waldemar Jochelson was an ethnographer and anthropologist, specializing in the Koryaks and Yukaghir of Siberia and the Aleuts and Kamchadals of Alaska. During the years 1901 to 1903, he was a leader in the Jesup North Pacific Expedition directed by Franz Boas. From 1923 to 1928, after returning to the U.S. from work in Russia, Jochelson was associated with the American Museum of Natural History.

Jochelson was born in Vilnius, Lithuania, and graduated from a Russian gymnasium. His work for revolutionary organizations led to his imprisonment, then exile to Siberia in 1888. Jochelson spent ten years studying the languages and ethnology of the native peoples, remaining in Siberia after his term of exile expired, in order to continue his work. He was a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and an associate curator at the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology in St. Peterburg, 1912-1922, and published numerous works on anthropology, ethnology and languages.

Dina Jochelson Brodskaya, 1862-1941, was a medical scholar who worked with her husband, Waldemar Jochelson, in Siberia.

Brodsky handled all of the anthropometric (physical measurements) and medical work, and most of the photography during the field work conducted by her husband. She used some of her anthropological measurements for her doctoral dissertation at the University of Zurich and also wrote of the women of northeastern Siberia. Franz Boas was the editor for much of her published work.