[1][2][3] Reichard was concerned with understanding language variation, and with connections between linguistic principles and underpinnings of religion, culture and context.

[4] Reichard attended Columbia University for her PhD, which she earned in 1925 for her grammar of Wiyot, written under Franz Boas.

[8] Julia was Reichard's primary translator and interpreter within the group, which also included master storyteller Tom Miyal.

[9] Lawrence Nicodemus, who later came to Columbia University to work with Reichard,[8] went on to develop a practical writing system for Coeur d'Alene, and to publish a root dictionary, a reference grammar, and several textbooks on the language.

[14] During the 1940s, she undertook a broader analysis of Navajo language, belief system, and religious practice which culminated in the two volume study, Navaho Religion, published in 1950 by the Bollingen Foundation.

[18] As documented by Julia Falk,[2][3] Reichard's work on Navajo in particular was the subject of conflict with other scholars at the time, particularly Edward Sapir and Harry Hoijer, and as a result has not been as often cited as theirs.

[3] She discusses the Hogan School approach in the fictionalized work Dezba, Woman of the Desert,[19] where she also reflects on the experiences Navajo speakers had with other educational institutions.

[16][21] Reichard published a variety of works relating to anthropology, linguistics, comparative religion and ethnography of art.