Ethnologist and Geologist

Travels.

Born in Watervliet, New York, and educated as a mineralogist and glassmaker, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft originally intended to become a federal superintendent of mines for the Missouri Territory. However, like many natural scientists who journeyed West, he developed an interest in North American geography and ethnology. Schoolcraft eventually received an appointment as an Indian agent on the northwestern frontier, a position that gave him extensive contact with Western lands and peoples. In 1820 he toured with a party that located the source of the Mississippi River. In 1831-1832 Schoolcraft led a second expedition there. Geographers regarded his account of this trip, published two years later, as one of the major geographic works of the decade. Schoolcraft also recorded examples of Indian folklore, which provided material for fiction writers such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Ethnological Work

Schoolcraft's observations of Indian life lacked...