Samuel Haven

Samuel Forster Haven (May 28, 1806 – September 5, 1881)[1] was an American archeologist and anthropologist.

Samuel Haven
Born7 May 1806 
Dedham 
Died5 September 1881  (aged 75)
Alma mater
Occupation
OrganizationAmerican Antiquarian Society

Haven was born to Samuel Snr and Betsy Haven in Dedham, Massachusetts. He took a degree from Amherst College, then studied law at Harvard Law School, and then commenced a legal practice in Dedham and Lowell, Massachusetts.[1]

Haven had a keen interest in the history of New England before the Revolution, and began publishing papers in 1836. His interest then turned towards the archeology of the Americas.

In September 1837 he was appointed librarian of the American Antiquarian Society, located in Worcester, Massachusetts. He began his duties as librarian in April 1838, and in October of that same year, he was elected a member of the society.[2] Haven became one of the society's longest serving librarians from 1838 to 1881, and also served on its board of councilors from 1855 to 1881.[3] Haven was particularly interested in research of the indigenous people of North America, including those referred to as the Mound Builders.[4]

The Smithsonian Institution commissioned Haven to write a consolidation of then current archeological knowledge.[5] The Institution published Haven's Archaeology of the United States in 1855.[6] It was his only book. The result of his travels and studies, it proposed an ancient origin of the native peoples of the Americas and of their migration from Siberia.

References
  1. Wilson, James; Fiske, John, eds. (1888). Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. 3. D. Appleton and Company. p. 118.
  2. Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 1812–1849 (p. 344, 356). (1912). Worcester, MA.
  3. Dunbar, B. (1987). Members and Officers of the American Antiquarian Society. Worcester: American Antiquarian Society.
  4. Gura, P. (2012). The American Antiquarian Society, 1812–2012 : A bicentennial history. Worcester, MA: American Antiquarian Society.
  5. Murray, Tim (2007). Milestones in archaeology. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-57607-186-1. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
  6. "Public Archeology in the United States—Timeline 1784–1905". National Park Service. United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved March 7, 2012.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.