Theodora Kroeber-Quinn was born on March 20, 1897 in Denver, Colorado to Emmett and Phebe Kracaw. She acquired her Master's Degree in 1920 in Clinical Psychology from the University of California. She was married to three different men; Clifton Brown, Alfred Kroeber and John Harrison Quinn, two of which preceded her in death. With these three men she had four children; Clifton, Theodore, Karl and Ursula LeGuin. Her first publication was in the American Anthropologist in 1926 with Forrest Clements and Sara Schenck. Whenever she was able, she accompanied her husband in the field, from which several books were produced.
She was a member of the University of California's Board of Regents in 1978, the Society of Women Geographers and the Women's Faculty Club for the University of California. She received the Silver Medal from the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco in 1961 for her Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America. Though most of Theodora's life was spent behind the scenes fabricated by her husbands, she was still noted as a talented author around the age of 63. She then had nearly two more decades to publish her works freely.
Written Works:
The Inland Whale: Nine Stories Retold from California Indian Legends; 1959
An Anthropologist Looks at History; 1963
Ishi: Last of his Tribe; 1964
A Green Christmas; 1967
Almost Ancestors: The First Californians; 1968
Alfred Kroeber:
A Personal Configuration; 1970
Carrousel; 1977
Drawn from Life: California Indians in Pen and Brush; 1977
Ishi: A Documentary History; 1979
This picture reprinted by permission of the American Anthropological Association from American Anthropologist [82,1] March 1980 Not for Reprint.
American Anthropologist [82,1] March 1980 from the American Anthropological Association.
Contemporary Authors - New Revision Series, Vol 5 p. 310
Written by Nikki Akins