John Peabody Harrington, 1884-1961

John Harrington was an inexhaustible man who's main interests were in linguistics and anthropology. He attended Stanford University and received his B.A. in 1905. He left his graduate work at the Universities of Leipzig and Berlin to pursue his field studies of the California Indian languages. Many years later he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by the University of California. He worked 18 hour days studying anthropology and spent much of his time in the field perfecting the phonetics of several different languages.

Harrington was born in Waltham, Massachusetts on April 29th. The son of Elliot A. Harrington, a prominent lawyer, and Mary L. Peabody, he was raised in a very cultured home. Harrington never married, though he was an attractive man. He had a strong desire for anonymity and never possessed a telephone. Only a few of his closest friends knew his home address and when he felt it was becoming too well known, he changed it. Harrington spent many years as a high school teacher and took his vacations studying the Chumash, Yuma and Mojave Indians. He was so dedicated to his work he gradually gave up all social life he'd ever known.

He was a fine publicist and wrote over one hundred poems. Along with his field notes, Harrington's written works can be literally measured by the ton. His phenomenal memory for linguistics, ethnology and people failed him in such things as storage places for his field notes and various bank accounts. When asked about them, he stated he had simply forgotten all about them. John Harrington was an extraordinary man who will be remembered for quite sometime for both his peculiar habits and his accomplishments in the fields of ethnology and linguistics.

References:
This picture reprinted by permission of the American Anthropological Association from American Anthropologist vol 65 1963
www.biography.com
American Anthropologist vol 65 1963 by the American Anthropological Association.

Written by: Nikki Akins