Luther Cressman

1897-1994

    Luther Sheeleigh Cressman was born on October 24, 1897 near Pottstown, Pennsylvania. His father was a Pennsylvania country doctor and his mother was an educator/musician. He had six brothers.  As a child, Luther's hobbies included hunting, fishing and reading (Bishop 1994).  He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1918 at  Pennsylvania State University where he majored in the Classics and minored in English poetry. 

    Cressman became an Episcopalian priest after being very upset over all the death during WWI.  Ordained in 1923 by the church, he continued his studies at Columbia University in New York City.  While at Columbia University, Cressman earned his Masters Degree and then his Ph.D. in 1925, majoring in Sociology and minoring in Anthropology.  In 1928, Luther Cressman left the church, pursuing his career at the University of Oregon in 1929.  For six years he was as a Professor of Sociology. He then was instrumental in the development of the Department of Anthropology and was Chair of the Department from 1935 – 1963 (Bishop 1994).  While at the University of Oregon, Cressman organized the University of Oregon’s Museum of Natural History and was a founding Director of the Oregon State Museum of Anthropology (Bishop 1994).

    Luther Cressman is known as the father of Oregon anthropology for work that punched holes in the standing theories of the prehistoric Northwest.  Cressman firmly believed that early man moved from south to north along the western side of North America, not the traditional north to south beliefs (Banks-Ellis 1994).  He claimed that culture among prehistoric Oregon Indians predated known civilization.  In 1938, he discovered immaculately preserved 9,000 year old shredded sage back sandals at Fort Rock Cave, Oregon (Dana 1987).  Until radiocarbon dating verified his find, the belief was that human occupation of the far west went back no further then 4,000 years (Travis – Cline 1994).  In 1968, Cressman discovered ashes from a fire at the Fort Rock Basin that suggested humans moved from Alaska to the New World at least 30,000 years ago (Elles-Danks 1994).

    Luther Cressman and anthropologist Margaret Mead were married in 1923.  They divorced in 1927.  Later he married Dorothy “Cecilia” Loch. They were married until her death in 1977.  They were married for 49 years, raising one daughter.  In 1988 he wrote A Golden Journey: Memoirs of an Archaeologist - an autobiography dedicated to his second wife.

      He was named a Distinguished Alumnus at Penn State University where he graduated in 1918.  In 1988, he was given University of Oregon’s prestigious Charles E. Johnson Memorial Award for exceptional service to the university.  Other honors included the Guggenheim Fellowship and the John Alsop King Fellowship.

    Some of his publications include:

    Petroglyphs of Oregon (1937)

    Archaeological Researches in the Northern Great Basin (1942)

    Cultural Sequences at the Dalles Oregon: A Contribution to Pacific Northwest Prehistory (1960)

    Prehistory of the Far West: Homes of Vanished Peoples (1977)

    The Sandal and the Cave: The Indians of Oregon (1981)

    A Golden Journey: Memoirs of an Archaeologist (1988)

   

   

   

References:

Bishop B.  “Northwest Archaeologist Luther Cressman, 96, Dies.”  Eugene Register Grand 07 April 1994.

Dana T.  “ Oregon’s Luther Cressman Harbors no Regrets from Archaeological Storm.”  Oregonian 19 Mar. 1987.

Ellis B., Dank H.,  “Anthropologist Luther Cressman Dies at age 96.”  Oregonian 08 April 1994.

Travis–Cline, S.  “Remembering the Golden Journey.”  Oregon Heritage 1994.

Written by: Karen Anderson