Biography:

Anthropologist specializing in Eskimo prehistory. Born– April 9, 1899, Geneva. Parents– Henry Bascom and Anna Sophie (Neville) Collins. Married– Carolyn Walker, November 26, 1931. Children– One. Education– Millsaps College, A.B., 1922; George Washington University, A.M., 1925. Worked with National Geographic Society,1922; and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, 1923-24; worked at the Smithsonian Institution, 1924-1967; began as an aide in the Division of Ethnology and retired as Senior scientist  in the Office of Anthropology. Led many Smithsonian and National Geographic expeditions to various parts of the world. Founding member of the Arctic Institute of North America; active in the International Congress of Ethnological and Anthropological Sciences; member Anthropological Society of Washington and the Society for American Archaelogy.  Received a gold medal from the Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letters, 1936; awarded the honorary Sc. D. by Millsaps College, 1940. Died October 21, 1987.

Source:

Smithsonian website; Encyclopedia Arctica (online; Dartmouth College Library).

Publication(s):

Archaeology of St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. Washington, D.C.; Smithsonian Institution, 1937.

Arctic Area. Mexico; Instituto Panamericano de Geografia e Historia, 1954.

Excavations at a Prehistoric Indian Village Site in Mississippi. Washington, D.C.; Smithsonian Institution, United States National Museum, 1932.

The Origin and Antiquity of the Eskimo. Washington, D.C.; U. S. Government Printing Office, 1951.

Prehistoric Art of the Alaskan Eskimo. Washington, D.C.; Smithsonian Institution, 1929.

Joint_Publication(s):

The Aleutian Islands; Their People and Natural History. Washington, D.C.; Smithsonian Institution, 1945.

The Far North; 2000 Years of American Eskimo and Indian Art. Washington, D.C.; National Gallery of Art, 1973.

Inua; Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo. Washington, D.C.; Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982.

Editor:

Science in Alaska. S.l.; Arctic Institute of North America, 1950.

Papers;

Specimens and photos related to the work of Henry Bascom Collins, including several tapes of oral history, are held by the Archives Department of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.