Indiana University Honors a Longtime Faculty Member Who Was a Pioneer of Ethnohistory

The Glenn Black Laboratory of Archeology at Indiana University is creating a new archive of documents and other materials that encompasses 350 years of American Indian history in the midwestern United States. The archives will be named to honor Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin, who taught anthropology, history, and folklore at the university from 1943 to 1969.

Dr. Wheeler-Voegelin was born in 1903. She held bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in anthropology at Yale University. She conducted extensive research on American Indian history and culture.

In 1954, Dr. Wheeler-Voegelin founded the American Society of Ethnohistory. She served as the editor of the society’s journal, Ethnohistory, for 10 years. In 1981, the society established an award in her honor for the best book of the year on ethnohistory. Dr. Wheeler-Voegelin also was president of the American Folklore Society and was the editor of the Journal of American Folklore for five years.

Dr. Wheeler-Voegelin died in 1988 at the age of 85.