Theodora Kroeber (/ˈkroʊbər/KROH-bər; née Theodora Covel Kracaw;[a] March 24, 1897 – July 4, 1979) was an American writer and anthropologist, best known for her accounts of several Native Californian cultures.[5] Born in Denver, Colorado, Kroeber grew up in the mining town of Telluride, and worked briefly as a nurse. She attended the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), for her undergraduate studies, graduating with a major in psychology in 1919, and received a master's degree from the same institution in 1920.
Married in 1920 and widowed in 1923, she began doctoral studies in anthropology at UC Berkeley. She met anthropologist Alfred Louis Kroeber during her studies, and married him in 1926. One of her two children with Kroeber was the writer Ursula K. Le Guin. The Kroebers traveled together to many of Alfred's field sites, including an archaeological dig in Peru, where Theodora worked cataloging specimens. On their return, Alfred encouraged Theodora to continue her graduate work, but she declined, feeling she had too many responsibilities.
Kroeber began writing professionally late in her life, after her children had grown up. She published The Inland Whale, a collection of translated Native Californian narratives in 1959. Two years later she published Ishi in Two Worlds, an account of Ishi, the last member of the Yahi people of Northern California, whom Alfred Kroeber had befriended and studied between 1911 and 1916. This volume sold widely and received high praise from contemporary reviewers. Retrospective reviews were more mixed, noting Kroeber's unflinching portrayal of Californian colonization but criticizing her perspective on Ishi's treatment.
Nine years after Alfred's death in 1960, Theodora Kroeber married artist John Quinn. Kroeber published several other works in her later years, including a collaboration with her daughter Ursula and a biography of Alfred Kroeber. She served as a regent of the University of California for a year before her death in 1979. She has been described as having influenced her husband's anthropological work, and as having inspired interest in indigenous culture through Ishi in Two Worlds. A 1989 biography stated that her "great strength was as an interpreter of one culture to another".[6]
^Hines, Lori. "Finding Aid to the Theodora Kroeber Papers, 1881–1983 (bulk 1960–1979)". Online Archive of California. University of California, Berkeley. Archived from the original on April 22, 2019. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
^Clements, Forrest E.; Schenck, Sara M.; Brown, Theodora K. (October 1926). "A New Objective Method for Showing Special Relationships". American Anthropologist. 28 (4): 585–604. doi:10.1525/aa.1926.28.4.02a00010. JSTOR 661296.
^Clifford 2013, pp. 4–6.
^Cite error: The named reference Elsasser was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Buzaljko 1989, p. 187.
^Buzaljko 1989, pp. 190–191.
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TheodoraKroeber (/ˈkroʊbər/ KROH-bər; née Theodora Covel Kracaw; March 24, 1897 – July 4, 1979) was an American writer and anthropologist, best known...
and academics. After her husband's death, TheodoraKroeber wrote a biography of him, titled Alfred Kroeber: A Personal Configuration. It was published...
notably the biographical account Ishi in Two Worlds published by TheodoraKroeber in 1961. In 1865, the Yahi were attacked in the Three Knolls Massacre...
Diptera TheodoraKroeber (1897–1979), U.S. writer and anthropologist Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (1929–2017), U.S. author, daughter of Alfred L. Kroeber This...
member of the Yahi Native American people. Written by American author TheodoraKroeber, it was first published in 1961. Ishi had been found alone and starving...
on the book Ishi in Two Worlds by TheodoraKroeber which relates the experiences of her husband Alfred L. Kroeber who made friends with Ishi, thought...
Romantics and American Indian literature. He was the son of Theodora and Alfred L. Kroeber, both anthropologists. He wrote an account of his father's work...
1959 book by TheodoraKroeber. It is a retelling of nine pieces of Indigenous American folklore, along with authorial commentary. Kroeber's prose received...
ISBN 978-87-28-42752-1. Almost Ancestors: The First Californians by TheodoraKroeber and Robert F. Heizer Steele, P. R., & Allen, C. J. (2004). Handbook...
literature, for our time". Le Guin's father Alfred Louis Kroeber and mother TheodoraKroeber were scholars, and exposure to their anthropological work...
career, Macfarlane became a close friend of TheodoraKroeber, and her passion for psychology influenced Kroeber's decision to major in that discipline. University...
lack of complex characters. Le Guin's father Alfred Louis Kroeber and mother TheodoraKroeber were scholars, and exposure to their anthropological work...
writer-illustrator Ruth Robbins. Works by authors included: Ursula K. Le Guin, TheodoraKroeber, Nicolas Sidjakov, Edward Ormondroyd, Charlotte Zolotow, Anne B. Fisher...
to Anarres. Le Guin's parents, academic anthropologists Alfred and TheodoraKroeber, were friends with J. Robert Oppenheimer; Le Guin stated that Oppenheimer...
Korotayev Conrad Kottak Charles H. Kraft Grover Krantz Alfred L. KroeberTheodoraKroeber Lars Krutak Adam Kuper William Labov George Lakoff Harold E. Lambert...
(died 1965) March 15 – Jackson Scholz, sprinter (died 1986) March 24 – TheodoraKroeber, writer and anthropologist (died 1979) March 31 – Harold Houser, admiral...
their bows to the number of five, known as “the five bows incident.” TheodoraKroeber later wrote, “The presentation of the five bows was the climactic last...
inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame, died of a heart attack. TheodoraKroeber, 82, American anthropologist The millennial anniversary of the founding...
the Rise of the Scientific Movement in Seventeenth Century England TheodoraKroeber – Ishi in Two Worlds R. D. Laing – Self and Others John C. Lilly –...
singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer (b. 1945) July 4 – TheodoraKroeber, American writer and anthropologist (b. 1897) July 6 – Van McCoy, American...
(b. 1938) July 3 – Louis Durey, French composer (b. 1888) July 4 – TheodoraKroeber, American writer and anthropologist (b. 1897) July 6 Antonio María...
in Two Worlds: a Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America TheodoraKroeber 1961 Biography 3 The Last of His Tribe * 1992 Harry Hook USA Ishi in...
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