Dr. Frank Baker, a distinguished anthropologist and biologist, was born in 1841 in Pulaski, New York. Coming from Gloucestershire, England to New England, his ancestors came to take part in the Revolutionary War. Thomas C. Baker, his father, put him through a local, private school as a child. Frank enrolled to serve in the Civil War and was in the Thirty-seventh New York volunteers. He was then transferred to Washington in 1863 were he began to study medicine while in the government service.
On September 13, 1873 Frank married Miss May E. Cole. They went on to have six children, one of which joined the medical corps in the US expeditionary army in France (Swanton, 1919).
After receiving an M.D. from Columbia University in 1880, Baker went on to become a Professor of Anatomy at Georgetown University in 1883. For thirty-five years Frank retained the position until his death. The school bestowed him A.M., Ph.D., and LL.D. degrees between 1888 and 1914 (Swanton, 1919).
His many achievements include; Assistant Superintendent of the US Life Saving Service in 1889, Superintendent of the National Zoological Park from 1890 to 1916, one of the founders of the local anthropological, biological, and medical history societies between 1879 and 1913, President of the Anthropological Society of Washington from 1915 through 1916, President of the Association of American Anatomists in 1897, President of the Medical History Club of Washington between 1897 and 1898, Secretary of the Washington Academy of Science for twenty-one years (1890-1911), and Chairman of the Editorial Committee of the American Anthropologist between 1893 and 1891 (Swanton, 1919).
Frank participated in many different publications throughout his career. In 1881, he wrote two papers on the assassination of President Garfield. In 1890, he was one of the contributing editors of Billing’s National Medical Dictionary. Frank Baker also assisted in the publication of Funk and Wagnall’s Dictionary by giving them anatomical and medical term definitions. He provided monographs on regional anatomy to the Reference Handbook of Medical Sciences. He published The Rational Method of Teaching Anatomy in 1884, What is Anatomy? in 1887, Some Unusual Muscular Anomalies in 1887, and Nomenclature of Nerve Cells in 1896. Throughout his career, Frank continued to write. Most of his later writings were dedicated to the history of anatomy and medicine (Swanton, 1919).
Dr. Baker’s anthropological publications came during the earlier years of his life. In 1888 he wrote "Anthropological Notes on the Human Hand," American Anthropologist (Volume 1), "The Ascent of Man," American Anthropologist (Volume 3), and "Primitive Man," American Anthropologist Volume 6). Dr. Frank Baker was an acclaimed and respected anthropologist, biologist and teacher. He died on September 30, 1918 (Swanton, 1919).
Swanton, John R. & Dr. Frank Baker, American Anthropologist vol. 21, pages 186-188, Kraus Reprint Corporation, 1919
Written By: Rita Venaglia, 2001
Edited By: David Gardner 2007