C. Loring Brace

1930-Present

            Dr. C. Loring Brace was born in 1930, in Hanover, New Hampshire to Gerald and Huldah Brace. He received his bachelor’s degree in geology at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He earned both his masters and Ph.D. at Harvard University. Brace first became interested in anthropology in ninth grade, when he was given the book Meet Your Ancestors, by Roy Chapman Andrews, for Christmas. He followed up on the book at the public library and thus began what would become his career.

Brace considers “the attempt to introduce a Darwinian outlook into biological anthropology” to be his greatest contribution to the field of anthropology. He also believes that a good anthropology program must be represented in its four sub-fields of archaeology, biological anthropology, ethnology, and linguistics. Brace is currently curator for physical anthropology at the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology in Ann Arbor. Physical anthropology is the study of human remains from archaeological sites.

He is also the author, co-author, or compiler of several books, including:

Man's Evolution: An Introduction to Physical Anthropology. C. L. Brace and M. F. Ashley Montagu. New York: Macmillan, 1965.

The Stages Of Human Evolution: Human And Cultural Origins. C. Loring Brace. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1967.

Atlas of Fossil Man. C. Loring Brace, Harry Nelson, and Noel Korn. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971.

Race and Intelligence. Edited by C. Loring Brace, George R. Gamble, and James T. Bond. Washington: American Anthropological Association, 1971.

Man In Evolutionary Perspective. Compiled by C. Loring Brace and James Metress. New York: Wiley, 1973.

Human Evolution: An Introduction to Biological Anthropology. C. L. Brace and Ashley Montagu 2nd ed. New York: Macmillan, 1977.

Atlas of Human Evolution. C. Loring Brace, et al. 2nd ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1979.

The Stages Of Human Evolution: Human And Cultural Origins. C. Loring Brace. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1979.

References:

Brace, C. Loring. Personal interview by e-mail. December 1, 1999.

University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology. Accessed December 1, 1999. http://www.umma.lsa.umich.edu

WebPals. MnSCU/PALS. Last modified October 10, 1997. Accessed December 1, 1999. (http://www.pals.msus.edu)

Written by: Erin Potter