Cushing was born in northeast Pennsylvania in 1857 and moved with his family to New York in 1870. Among Cushing's many accomplishments were the discovery of archeological troves giving a lot of information about the Florida Indians, the exploration of abandoned Indian villages in the Southwest, the beginning of a study of prehistoric remains in Maine, and his studies of the Zuni Pueblo tribe in New Mexico. Cushing was the first to use the term 'chiefdom' and the first to attempt to explain the issue of sociopolitical complexity in societies (Exploration of Ancient Key-Dweller Pp.1).
He is best known for his work done in New Mexico with the Zuni Pueblo tribe. He discovered many new terms and techniques. Cushing was able to realize there were many different ways of doing things among different groups of people. He saw cultures instead of a culture. Cushing began his study of the Zuni Pueblo tribe in 1879 making observations of their way becoming fascinated by their living means. Cushing lived among the tribe on and off until 1886. While studying the tribe Cushing was introduced to many of the tribes’ daily routines and rituals, as well as share much of his own culture with the tribe members. The tribe not only let Cushing observe their lives, but also toured “civilized” society with Cushing. Cushing's studies and accomplishments with the tribe got a lot of attention and therefor received a great amount of recognition (People in the West Pp.1). Cushing was one of the first professionals to live with the people he was studying (Exploration of Ancient Key-Deweller Pp.1).
Cushing began his adventures as an anthropologist at the young age of thirteen. While exploring the woods near his home in western New York he uncovered some Indian artifacts, which struck his curiosity and started him on experimenting with the different styles and techniques of arrowhead making. When Cushings experiments ended in an arrowhead so perfectly completed it was hard to distinguish between it and the real thing; the American ethnological profession took a real interest in him. By the age of seventeen he had written his first scientific paper. His career as an accomplished anthropologist began to boom with this accomplishment (People in the West Pp.1-3). He was made curator of an exhibition of artifacts at Cornell University in 1875, this accomplishment, as well as his prior accomplishments caught the attention of the director at the Smithsonian Institution.
At nineteen Cushing was made curator of the ethnological department of the National Museum in Washington, D.C. In 1879 the head of the Bureau of American Ethnology, John Powell, traveled with him to New Mexico where the two of them began studies on the Zuni Pueblo. In the late 1800’s he began the last of his studies on prehistoric remains in Maine. This trip ended in his death. On April 10, 1900 he choked to death on a fishbone.
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/a_c/cushing.htm People in the West-Frank Cushing. Pp.1-3
http://www.upf.com/Spring2000/cushing.html, Exploration of Ancient Key-Dweller Remains on the Gulf Coast of Florida by Frank Cushing Pp.1-2
Written by: Steph Thorn