Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes ProCon History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture Money Videos
Frank Hamilton Cushing
Table of Contents
Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images
Cushing, Frank Hamilton
Related Questions
Read Next
Streets of Puerto Rico
Pro and Con: Statehood for Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia
The United States Supreme Court building, Washington, D.C.
14 Questions About Government in the United States Answered
Bar graph of the United States Death Toll during major events. Infogram chart.
U.S. Death Toll During Major Events
The Battle of New Orleans, by E. Percy Moran, c. 1910. Andrew Jackson, War of 1812.
26 Decade-Defining Events in U.S. History
Groups of depositors in front of the closed American Union Bank, New York City. April 26, 1932. Great Depression run on bank crowd
Causes of the Great Depression
Discover
Baseball laying in the grass. Homepage blog 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society, sports and games athletics
10 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time
Los Angeles Police Department wanted flyer on Elizabeth Short, aka the "Black Dahlia," who was brutally murdered in January 1947. The FBI supported the Los Angeles Police Department in the case, including by identifying Short through her fingerprints that
America’s 5 Most Notorious Cold Cases (Including One You May Have Thought Was Already Solved)
Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1855), founder of the house of Rothschild; lithograph by Friedrich Lieder, c. 1830.
Where Do Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories About the Rothschild Family Come From?
Santa Claus flying in his sleigh, christmas, reindeer
Was Santa Claus a Real Person?
A human Inuit skull in a stone chambered cairn in Ilulissat in Greenland. These ancient graves are pre christian and are at least 2000
14 Tough Questions Answered
Super Typhoon Noru over the western tropical Pacific Ocean as observed by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA Aqua satellite July 31 2017
What Is the Difference Between a Typhoon and a Super Typhoon?
Rural Irish landscape, Sligo, Ireland.
Why Is Ireland Two Countries?
Cushing, Frank Hamilton
Cushing, Frank Hamilton Frank Hamilton Cushing.

Frank Hamilton Cushing

American ethnographer
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites
Written and fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Article History
Quick Facts
Born:
July 22, 1857, North East, Pa., U.S.
Died:
April 10, 1900, Washington, D.C. (aged 42)
Subjects Of Study:
technology
Zuni
culture
See all related content

Frank Hamilton Cushing (born July 22, 1857, North East, Pa., U.S.—died April 10, 1900, Washington, D.C.) was an early American ethnographer of the Zuni people.

Cushing studied the Zuni culture while making a five-year stay with the tribe, during which he was initiated into the Bow Priest Society. Many of his findings are summarized in Zuñi Folk Tales (1901), Zuñi Creation Myths (1896), and My Adventures in Zuñi (1941), as well as in his treatises on native technologies, such as Zuñi Breadstuff. He was an authority on the processes by which artifacts are made, having practiced the aboriginal arts until he mastered them.

Cushing studied natural science at Cornell University. He was employed by the Smithsonian Institution’s Bureau of American Ethnology from the age of 18 until his death.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.