McClintock, Walter, 1870-1949

Walter McClintock (1870-1949), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was educated at Yale (class of '91), went to work in the family carpet business, and later worked for the Pittsburgh steel manufacturers, Jones and Laughlin. McClintock went West in 1895 to recuperate from typhoid fever, traveling in North Dakota, Wyoming, and Idaho. He returned to work but was soon back West serving with a government commission to suggest policy for the national forest reserves in Montana.

McClintock became interested in the Blackfoot Indians, and made both written and photographic records of their life and culture. He returned East in 1900 and worked in Pittsburgh, but continued visiting the Blackfoot. In 1906, He began lecturing on the Blackfoot, both in the United States and Europe,and helped develop the opera, Poia, based on Blackfoot legends. McClintock wrote many articles on Indian topics and was named curator of the McClintock Indian collection at Yale.

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