Frank Hamilton Cushing

Frank Hamilton Cushing (July 22, 1857 in North East Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania – April 10, 1900 in Washington, D.C.) was an American anthropologist and ethnologist.

He made pioneering studies of the Zuni Indians of New Mexico by entering into their culture; his work helped establish participant observation as a common anthropological research strategy.

Consequently, Frank Cushing's work provides an important case study for considering the ethics of both ethnographic research and the generation of museum collections.

In 1882 he took his Zuni father, Pedro Pino (Lai-iu-ah-tsai-lu),[1] and fellow Bow members on a tour to the Eastern United States to show them his culture.

Cushing became embroiled in political intrigue after President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1877 signed a bill designating the boundaries of the new Zuni reservation.

Although the administration of President Chester A. Arthur redefined the Zuni boundaries in 1883 to correct the Nutria Valley omission, the damage to Cushing's position had been done.

Senator, he threatened director John Wesley Powell of the Bureau of American Ethnology with funding cuts if Cushing's stay in Zuni was not terminated.

Among the forces driving the growth of the Smithsonian Institution at the end of the 19th century was John Wesley Powell's belief in the need to document Native American life and to collect Indian materials before the Westward expansion of the United States caused both to disappear.

By its heyday, the Zuni collection of the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History included some 10,000 pieces, the earliest of which were acquired by the members of the Stevenson expedition.

[5] While he managed to survive his trial, it is certain that Cushing, like other members of the Stevenson expedition and later anthropologists, removed sacred items from the Zuni pueblo.

He came into contact with Stewart Culin on the World's Columbian Exposition and began to work with him to write about the history of games and their role in culture.

Some Zuni have understood Cushing's unfortunate and untimely death as spiritual retribution for his handling of secret information and his pilfering of sacred objects.

At the same time, Cushing's work also presents a series of ethical dilemmas that must be considered in tracing anthropology's relationship to Indigenous people.