18 facts about Alden Mason

John Alden Mason (14 January 1885 – 7 November 1967) was an American archaeological anthropologist and linguist.

Mason was born in Orland, Indiana, but grew stirring in Philadelphia’s Germantown. He usual his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1907 and a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley in 1911. His dissertation was an ethnographic psychoanalysis of the Salinan Amerindian ethnic activity of California. He afterward authored a number of linguistic studies, including a laboratory analysis of Piman languages. His cutting edge ethnographic works included studies of the Tepehuan.

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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 scholastic children. The balance collection consisted of 56 “Picaresque Tales” about Juan Bobo, and included such exotic titles as Juan Bobo Heats taking place his Grandmother, Juan Bobo Delivers a Letter to the Devil, Juan Bobo Throws his Brother Down a Well, and Juan Bobo refuses to Marry the Princess.

In 1922, Captain Marshall Field provided funds for an archaeological survey of Columbia. Assistant Curator Mason led the expedition that lasted until August 1923. The Field Museum of Natural History houses a amassing of correspondence, largely in the form of letters between Mason and the Curator of Anthropology, Berthold Laufer.

He is also skillfully known for his gather together classification of the languages of South America.

Mason was curator of the University Museum at the University of Pennsylvania from 1926 until his retirement in 1958.

His papers are housed at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia.

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