Moorehead, Warren King, 1866-1939

Warren King Moorehead (1866-1939) grew up in Ohio, where he cultivated a lifelong interest in archaeology and American Indians. He attended Denison University but did not complete his undergraduate studies. In his early career, he worked as a correspondent for The Illustrated American and served as the first curator of the Ohio Archaeological Society. In 1896, he began what would become a personal friendship with Robert S. Peabody, providing the latter with several American Indian artifact collections. Moorehead was subsequently chosen by Peabody to be the first curator of the Phillips Academy Department of Archaeology (Robert S. Peabody Foundation for Archaeology; Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology) in 1901, and served in that capacity until 1924, when he assumed directorship of the department. He retired in 1938, a year before his death.

Throughout his career Moorehead was a prolific excavator and writer. His large-scale archaeological surveys and excavations included the Arkansas River Valley, northwest Georgia, and coastal and interior Maine. Artifacts from these activities expanded the Department of Archaeology's collection by nearly 200,000 objects. Some of his publications were the result of these expeditions; others highlighted the artifact collections of a widespread network of collectors and antiquarians, and still others focused on the injustices of the contemporary situation of American Indians.

Moorehead also served on the federal Board of Indian Commissioners, 1908-1933, and gave talks accompanied by lantern slides on both the prehistory and more recent history of American Indians to the general public.