Erminnie A. Smith | |
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| Born | Erminnie Adelle Platt (1836-04-26)April 26, 1836 |
| Died | June 9, 1886(1886-06-09) (aged 50) |
| Resting place | New York Bay Cemetery |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | Emma Willard School |
| Known for | Published works on the Iroquois people and founder of the Aesthetic Society of Jersey City |
| Spouse | Simeon H. Smith |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Ethnography |
| Institutions | Smithsonian Institution |
Erminnie A. Smith,néeErminnie Adelle Platt (April 26, 1836– June 9, 1886) was alinguist,ethnologist,anthropologist andgeologist who worked at theSmithsonian Institution'sBureau of American Ethnology.[1][2][3] She has been called the "first woman field ethnographer"[4] and was the first female member elected to theNew York Academy of Sciences on November 5, 1877.[5]
Erminnie Smith published multiple works on thelanguage and culture of theIroquois people. She was active in cataloging their legends and employedJohn Napoleon Brinton Hewitt to assist in this work.[6] Her work on the Iroquois, along with that ofAlice Fletcher on theOmaha and other tribes, andMatilda Coxe Stevenson on theZuni people, challenged views of women's position in both indigenous North American and Victorian societies. Smith's accounts showed that Iroquois women held rights to property and other social freedoms that American and European women lacked, and that they were honored and respected for their involvement and contributions to culture, economics and ritual practice.[3]
Erminnie Adelle Platt was born April 26, 1836[7] (sometimes given as 1839),[8] inMarcellus, New York, to Joseph and Ermina Dodge Platt.[9][8] She graduated in 1853 from theTroy Female Seminary (later known as the Emma Willard School) inTroy, New York. She married Simeon H. Smith of Chicago in 1855.[9][10]
Smith spent four years in Germany while her sons attended school. During that time, she completed a degree in geology at the School of Mines,Freiburg, Saxony. Smith accumulated a private collection of geological specimens, one of the largest for its time in the United States. After her death this collection was inherited by her sons.[11]
In 1876, Smith founded theAesthetic Society of Jersey City, awomen's club which grew to over 500 members. They met to discuss topics in science, literature and art,[12] first at her home at 203 Pacific Avenue[13] and later at the LafayetteReformed Church ofJersey City.[12] Smith served as president of the women's club from 1879 to 1886, and often lectured at their monthly receptions.[11] She is frequently referred to inEchoes of the Aesthetic Society of Jersey City, a collection of poems and essays from meetings of the society.[14] Following her death, the society established an award in her honor and published a small souvenir collection with some of her poems and essays as well as memorial tributes,In Memoriam Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith.[15] In addition to the Aesthetic Society of Jersey City, Smith was a member of the women's clubSorosis.[11]
By 1880, when she was recruited by the Bureau of American Ethnology of the Smithsonian Institution inWashington, D.C., Smith was an expert on theSix Nations Iroquois Confederacy in the United States andCanada,[12] which included theCayuga,Mohawk,Oneida,Onondaga,Seneca andTuscarora people.[16] As part of her work for the Smithsonian, she published reports on Iroquois language and customs includingMyths of the Iroquois (1883).[7][17][18] Smith transcribed and classified over 15,000 words in Iroquois dialects. She was adopted into theTuscarora tribe in Canada and named Ka-tei-tei-sta-kwast (beautiful flower). The Iroquois-English dictionary she prepared was published following her death.[11]
Smith was a member of theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science[12] and served as secretary of its geology and geography section in 1885.[11]Smith became the first woman elected to theNew York Academy of Sciences, on November 5, 1877.[5] She was also a member ofthe Women's Anthropological Society of America, to which she presented "Reminiscences of Life among the Iroquois Indians in the Province ofQuebec"[19] and of theHistorical Society of New York.[11][12] Smith's other memberships included theLondon Scientific Society and theNumismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia.[11]
Erminnie Smith died at home in Jersey City, New Jersey on June 9, 1886.[11] Following a service at the Lafayette Reformed Church, she was buried inNew York Bay Cemetery.[20]
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