Gladys Reichard was born in Bangor, Pennsylvania on July 17, 1893. In 1919 she graduated from Swarthmore College and received a Bachelors Degree, next she received her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1925. While at Columbia University she studied under Franz Boas. From 1926 to 1927 she attended the University of Hamburg (Germany) for her postdoctoral study.
In her earlier days she was an elementary and high school teacher. From 1923, she was a member of the faculty at Barnard College in Columbia and became a Professor in 1951. In 1932 the New York Academy of Natural Sciences awarded her the Morrison Prize for her studies on Melanesian art. She also won the Chicago Folklore Prize in 1948, being recognized for her work on Coeur d’Alene Indian Mythology.
Gladys Armanda Reichard wrote many books about her anthropological studies of the Navajo Indians. She was considered to be one of the world's foremost authorities on the Navajo, and was also one of the world’s leading anthropologists.
Her two books, Navajo Shepherd and Weaver and Spider Woman, have been praised as being “outstanding examples of technical writing at its graphic best.” Her other publications include Melanesian Design (2 Volumes, 1933), Spider Woman: A Story of Navajo Weavers and Chanters (1934), Sandpaintings of the Navajo Shooting Chant (with Franc J. Newcomb, 1937), Dezba, Woman of the Desert (1938), Navajo Medicine Man (1939), Prayer: The Compulsive Word (1944), An Analysis of Coeur d’Alene Indian Myths (1947), and Navaho Grammar (1951).
Dr. Reichard spent more than 25 years doing research in Arizona on the Navaho Indian reservation. During that time she chose to work in the more difficult and remote parts of Navaho country. She lived in Indian homes and encampments and had to learn the complex language and speak it fluently. Living with an Indian family she mastered the art of Navaho weaving in 4 summers.
On July 25, 1955 in Flagstaff, Arizona, while conducting research at the Museum of Northern Arizona, Gladys Reichard died shortly after her 62nd birthday.
References:
Reichard, Gladys A. Spider Woman: A Story of Navajo Weavers and Chanters. New Mexico: The Rio Grande Press Inc., 1968.
Reichard, Gladys A. Navaho Religion: A Study of Symbolism. New York: Bollingen Foundation Inc., 1963
Written by Kyle Greene
Edited by Marcy L. Voelker, 2007