Anna Hadwick Gayton (September 20, 1899–September 18, 1977)[1] was an American anthropologist, folklorist, and museum curator.
She is most recognized for her role in "compiling and analyzing Californian Indian mythology" and was elected President of the American Folklore Society in 1950.
[2] Gayton was born on September 20, 1899, in Santa Cruz, California.
[3] In 1928, Gayton completed her PhD in anthropology under Alfred L. Kroeber and Robert H. Lowie and a minor in psychology under Edward C. Tolman.
Gayton was the first woman to receive a PhD in anthropology from Berkeley.
[2] Her dissertation was titled 'The Narcotic Plant Datura in Aboriginal American Culture'.
[3] During her studies, she served as an editorial assistant to the journal American Anthropologist.
[3] As part of her research for her PhD, Gayton conducted fieldwork with the Yokuts and Western Mono peoples: she would go on to publish nine essays based upon Yokuts and Mono myth and oral tradition.
[2] From 1925-1926, prior to receiving her degree, Gayton worked with Kroeber as a Museum Research Assistant in Peruvian archaeology, focusing on the Uhle pottery collections.
From 1925-1929, she conducted an investigation of the "political life" of the Yokuts and Western Mono peoples in the San Joaquin valley of California, focusing on reconstructing the childhoods of those born in the mid-19th century.
This investigation, taking an "ecological approach" to Indigenous politics, was the first of its kind.
[1] During the 1930s, Gayton became active in the American Folklore Society (AFS).
[3] During this period, Gayton had commenced a study of the Feast of the Holy Spirit among Azorean Portuguese of California, aided by a Guggenheim Fellowship awarded to her in 1947.
[4] She has been hailed as a "pioneer advocate of comparative folklore studies".
[2] In 1948, Gayton joined the staff of the Department of Decorative Art at the University of California, Berkeley.
The main focus of her research became Peruvian textiles in the university's collections, work begun by her predecessor in the Department of Decorative Art, Lila M O'Neale.
[3] Gayton continued this research into ancient Peruvian costume as the (unpaid) curator of textiles at Berkeley's Robert H. Lowie Museum of Anthropology (now Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology).
She was particularly associated with ancient materials collected by the archaeologists Max and Charlotte Uhle.
[3] In 1965, toward the end of her career, Gayton worked as the Vice President of the Institute of Andean Studies.
"Culture-Environment Integration: External References in Yokuts Life".
Berkeley; Los Angeles: University of California Press.
"Early Paracas Style Textiles From Yauca, Peru".