Reed’s Warm Springs Project

finalfrench.jpgReed Magazine has published online a lovely account of the Warm Springs Project of David and Kay French. Robert E. Moore writes:

The Warm Springs Project was a multi-year collaborative program of anthropological and other field research organized by David French ’39 (1918–1994), who taught anthropology at Reed from 1947 to 1988, and his colleague and wife, Kathrine S. (Kay) French (1922–2006), also an anthropologist (both held Columbia Ph.D.s). Combining outside funding from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) and the Wenner-Gren Foundation with support from the college, the Frenches brought a series of Reed students to live and work on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Central Oregon (100 miles east of Portland on the Columbia plateau). The project was active between 1950 and 1956—mostly in summer, with shorter trips during the school year when possible.

Moore is the literary executor of the French papers, and his essay beautifully evokes the conviviality, intellectual vitality, and lasting influence of the project. With modest funding, the project “left—through the subsequent activities of its participants—a remarkable impact on anthropology, and on the arts and sciences more broadly.” For example, Dell Hymes was one illustrious participant (and the essay notes many more). Moore’s essay is accompanied by pieces on Hymes, and on other folks associated with the project, including Gary Snyder. I especially liked Stephanie Snyder’s article on the Frenchs’ basement study.

2 thoughts on “Reed’s Warm Springs Project

  1. I was in the womb on the Warm Springs Reservation the last year of the project :). Of course my parents went back for many years and I have lots of memories post-birth of Warm Sprins and of Hiram Smith.

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