William Nelson Fenton (December 15, 1908 – June 17, 2005) was an American scholar and writer known for his extensive studies of Haudenosaunee history and culture. He started his studies of the Iroquois in the 1930s and published a number of significant works over the following decades. His final work was published in 2002. During his career, Fenton was director of the New York State Museum and a professor of anthropology at the State University of New York.
Early career (1908–1955)
Fenton was born William Nelson Fenton in New Rochelle, New York, in 1908. He grew up in western New York, where the Seneca had their traditional territory. After attending local schools, he studied at Dartmouth College, where he graduated in 1931.
During the 1930s, Fenton lived among the Seneca in western New York, becoming fluent in their language and doing field studies. The Seneca nation adopted Fenton into the Hawk clan on January 26, 1934. This was the same clan that had adopted Lewis Morgan.
Fenton soon became known as a leader of studies of the Haudenosaunee. Some tribal leaders also criticized him for revealing too much material about sacred rituals.
Fenton chaired the Committee on Anthropological Research in Museums (CARM) from 1965 to 1973, during the majority of its life. CARM, a subcommittee of the American Anthropological Association, encouraged scholarly use of museums and museum collections in anthropological research. CARM also encouraged the early use of computers in documenting and inventorying museums collections across North America. In 1965, Fenton was awarded the Cornplanter Medal.
Fenton left the New York State Museum to become Professor of Anthropology at the State University of New York at Albany. He worked there until his retirement in 1979.
He died on June 17, 2005, in Cooperstown, New York, at the age of 96, on the way to the hospital.
Honours
Fenton served as President of a number of academic societies: the American Folklore Society (1959-1960), the American Ethnological Society (1959), and the American Society for Ethnohistory (1961).
He was also a member of a number of committees, including the Phillips Fund Committee of the American Philosophical Society (1975-1991) and of the American Committee of the Permanent Council of the International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (1952-1972).