Person Record
Metadata
Name |
Cushing, Frank Hamilton |
Born |
07/22/1857 |
Deceased |
04/10/1900 |
Occupation |
Anthopologist Ethnologist |
Notes |
Anthropologist/ethnologist who led the Pepper-Hearst Excavation at Key Marco. Frank Hamilton Cushing (1857-1900) is a prominent figure in the field of anthropology. Hired as a curator in the National Museum’s Department of Ethnology at just 19 years old, Cushing was often described as a "genius" by his peers. He is probably most well known for his ethnographic fieldwork with the Zuni people of the American Southwest. Though sometimes controversial in his approach, Cushing became one of anthropology’s first practitioners of "participant observation" – the method of learning about another culture by living and taking part in it. His systematic approach to the archaeological excavation at Key Marco, including the use of a numbered grid system, was also groundbreaking for its time. Cushing battled serious health problems for most of his life and died less than four years after leaving Marco Island. Beset by illness, controversy, and financial problems after returning home, he was never able to satisfactorily complete and publish his work on Southwest Florida. The 1999 discovery of his unfinished manuscript – tucked away and thought "lost" for more than 100 years at the National Anthropological Archives – offers greater insight into Cushing’s brilliant mind and his unique perception of pre-Columbian Florida. In May 1895, Cushing was granted leave from the Bureau of American Ethnology to investigate Key Marco, with the added hopes that warm weather might improve his ailing physical condition. His personal physician, Dr. William Pepper – also the president of the University of Pennsylvania’s Archaeology Department – had been present when Durnford brought his finds to Philadelphia. Pepper wrote Cushing a "doctor’s note" and made the necessary arrangements for his trip to Florida. Cushing arrived in Punta Gorda on May 26, 1895, but had to find his own passage to Marco from there. At roughly 4pm on June 3, 1895, via the small hired sloop Florida, Cushing rounded the corner at Big Marco Pass. It wasn’t long before he was digging in Collier’s muck court. In spite of the oppressive heat, bugs, and soggy working conditions, his reconnaissance trip was so fruitful that after only two days of investigation, he vowed to return – a full-scale excavation was in order. Pepper greeted his finds with tremendous enthusiasm. Realizing the potential for further exploration, Pepper wrote to John Wesley Powell, Director of the Smithsonian’s Bureau of American Ethnology, asking for approval to send Cushing back to Florida. Permission was quickly granted, and funding was provided by the University of Pennsylvania’s Archaeology Department. Joseph Disston also volunteered the use of his schooner, the Silver Spray, a sponge-fishing vessel based out of Tarpon Springs. Since the expedition was a joint venture between the University of Pennsylvania and the Smithsonian Institution, the two parties agreed to an "equal division" of any recovered artifacts. Cushing left for Florida on December 6, 1895, but when he arrived in Tarpon Springs, the Silver Spray was away on a sponging cruise. The trip to Marco was delayed three months – until late February – but Cushing made the most of his time. With the help of his team, he excavated important archaeological sites at Safford Mound and Hope Mound in the Tarpon Springs area, now spectacular museum collections in their own right. Unfortunately, Cushing only had enough funding for three months of work, all of which were supposed to be at Key Marco. His expedition was in jeopardy until Mrs. Phebe Hearst, wife of publisher William Randolph Hearst, agreed to fund the remainder of the expedition. Thus, the Pepper- Hearst Expedition (as it is now known) finally set sail for Marco. |
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