Evon Zartman
Vogt, Jr. was born 1918 passed away in 2004. He earned his Ph.D in Chicago
in1948. When he wrote a lecture in 1995 honoring George M. Foster, he mentioned
his wife, Nan, who had gone on every field trip with him for the last fifty
years. He also spoke of his son and daughter-in-law, Terry and Mary, who have
worked with him. His main research interest was contemporary Mayan culture in Mexico and Guatemala. In general he liked to study Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize.
He both founded and resided on counsels for many anthropological organizations, and monetarily and intellectually supported causes for which he had passion. For instance in 1972, Mr. Vogt and other Harvard professors began Cultural Survival which was developing new strategies for responding directly to critical need of world's indigenous populations. He also sat on Earthwatch Institutes International Advisory Counsel and was active in the National Parks System among many other funds and functions. He was an honorary curator of Middle American Ethnology at the Peabody Museum.
Professor Vogt was a highly sought after lecturer and mentor to undergraduates and colleagues in his field; they seemed to love him for his dedication and honest experience. He started in on his major project The Harvard Chiapas Project in 1955(the study actually started in 1945 with previously mentioned George Foster and continues today) until he finally wrote a book summing up what he had learned in Zinacantan and Chamula about the Mayan people in “Tortillas for the Gods". He is credited with starting the writing down of Mayan spoken tradition. He published many scholarly articles and books.
Modern Homesteaders; The Life of a Twentieth-Century Frontier Community, 1955
Life Histories of 14 Navaho Young Men, 1956
Water Witching, U.S.A., 1959
Reader in Comparative Religion, an Anthropological Approach, 1965
People of Rimrock; a Study of Values in Five Cultures, 1966
Zinacantán: a Maya Community in the Highlands of Chiapas, 1969
Culture and Life; Essays in Memory of Clyde Kluckhohn, 1973
Bibliography of the Harvard Chiapas Project-the first twenty years, 1957-1977, 1978
Prehistoric Settlement Patterns : Essays in Honor of Gordon R. Willey, 1983
References:
“The Women of Chiapas.” (Winter 1998) http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~drclas/publications/revista/women/chiapas.htm 3Mar2003
“George Foster.” (04/04/2001) http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Anthro/foster/lecture/ 3Mar2003
“Earthwatch.” http://www.earthwatch.org/research/iac.html 3Mar2003
“Philosophical Society.” (13May 1999) http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1999/05.13/news.html 3Mar2003
“Cultural Survival.” (2002) http://www.culturalsurvival.org/newpage/about_us/history.cfm 3Mar2003
“Directory of Faculty.” http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/anthro/NewSite/People/FacultySocFrame/FacultySocFrame.html 3Mar2003
Image courtesy of Suzanne Calpestri (scalpest@library.berkeley.edu)
“Evon Vogt Picture” http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Anthro/foster/lecture/Vogt029.html 3Mar2003
Written by Jennifer Eades, 2003
Edited by Amy Landin, 2006