Albert Samuel Gatschet | |
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Born | Beatenberg, Switzerland | October 3, 1832
Died | March 16, 1907 Washington, D.C., U.S. | (aged 74)
Known for | Work on Native American languages |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Ethnologist |
Sub-discipline | Linguistics |
Institutions | Bureau of American Ethnology |
Albert Samuel Gatschet (October 3, 1832, Beatenberg, Canton of Bern – March 16, 1907, Washington, D.C.) was a Swiss-American ethnologist who trained as a linguist in the universities of Bern and Berlin. He later moved to the United States and settled there in order to study Native American languages, a field in which he was a pioneer.
In 1877 he became an ethnologist with the US Geological Survey. In 1879 he became a member of the Bureau of American Ethnology, which was part of the Smithsonian Institution. In 1884, he was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society.[1]
Gatschet published his observations of the Karankawa people of Texas. His study of the Klamath people located in present-day Oregon, published in 1890, is recognized as outstanding. In 1902 Gatschet was elected as a member of the American Antiquarian Society, whose members were studying ancient and historic peoples.[2]