John Alden Mason (January 14, 1885 – November 7, 1967) was an American archaeological

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms an ...

and

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingu ...

. Mason was born in

Orland, Indiana Orland is a town located in the northwest corner of Steuben County, Indiana in Millgrove Township at the intersection of State Road 120 and State Road 327. The population was 434 at the 2010 census. History Orland is recognized as the first ...

, but grew up in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

Germantown Germantown or German Town may refer to: Places Australia * Germantown, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region United States * Germantown, California, the former name of Artois, a census-designated place in Glenn County * G ...

. He received his undergraduate degree from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

in 1907 and a doctorate from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

in 1911. His dissertation was an

ethnographic Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...

study of the

Salinan The Salinan are a Native American tribe whose ancestral territory is in the southern Salinas Valley and the Santa Lucia Range in the Central Coast of California. Today, the Salinan governments are now working toward federal tribal recognition ...

Amerindian ethnic group of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. He also authored a number of linguistic studies, including a study of

Piman languages Piman (or Tepiman) refers to a group of languages within the Uto-Aztecan family that are spoken by ethnic groups (including the Pima) spanning from Arizona in the north to Durango, Mexico in the south. The Piman languages are as follows (Campbe ...

. His later ethnographic works included studies of the Tepehuan. The first series of Juan Bobo stories published in the U.S. occurred in 1921. They appeared in the '' Journal of American Folklore'' under the title ''Porto Rican Folklore'', and were collected by Mason from Puerto Rican school children. The story collection consisted of 56 "Picaresque Tales" about

Juan Bobo Juan Bobo is a folkloric character on the island of Puerto Rico. For nearly two centuries a collection of books, songs, riddles and folktales have developed around him. Hundreds of children's books have been written about Juan Bobo in English ...

, and included such exotic titles as ''Juan Bobo Heats up his

Grandmother Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually-reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic gra ...

'', ''Juan Bobo Delivers a Letter to the

Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

'', ''Juan Bobo Throws his

Brother A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-famili ...

Down a Well'', and ''Juan Bobo refuses to Marry the

Princess Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subs ...

.'' In 1922, Captain Marshall Field provided funds for an archaeological survey of Colombia. Assistant Curator Mason led the expedition that lasted until August 1923. The Field Museum of Natural History houses a collection of correspondence, largely in the form of letters between Mason and the Curator of Anthropology, Berthold Laufer. He is also well known for his comprehensive classification of the languages of South America.Mason, J. Alden. 1950. The languages of South America. In: Julian Steward (ed.), ''Handbook of South American Indians'', Volume 6, 157–317. (

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...

Bureau of American Ethnology The Bureau of American Ethnology (or BAE, originally, Bureau of Ethnology) was established in 1879 by an act of Congress for the purpose of transferring archives, records and materials relating to the Indians of North America from the Interior D ...

Bulletin 143.) Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. Mason was curator of the

University Museum A university museum is a repository of collections run by a university, typically founded to aid teaching and research within the institution of higher learning. The Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford in England is an early example, o ...

at the

from 1926 until his retirement in 1958.His papers are housed at the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

References

Sources

John Alden Mason Papers
at the

Project Muse
* "Descendants of Capt. Hugh Mason in America", by Edna W. Mason, 1937 * "Who Was Who in America", Vol. 10 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, John Alden 1885 births 1967 deaths Anthropological linguists American Mesoamericanists 20th-century Mesoamericanists Mesoamerican archaeologists Linguists of Mesoamerican languages Scientists from Philadelphia People from Orland, Indiana University of Pennsylvania alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Linguists of Salinan Linguists of Uto-Aztecan languages Linguists of indigenous languages of the Americas Paleolinguists 20th-century American anthropologists American Anthropologist editors

See also

References

Sources