Born in Rockville, Maryland in 1881, to James Joseph and Emma Lillie Tolou Cooper, John Montgomery Cooper distinguished himself as a professor, administrator, theologian, and anthropologist. He was ordained in 1905, named domestic prelate in 1940, and died in 1949.
In 1897, Cooper enrolled in Saint Charles College in Ellicott City, Maryland, to begin his studies for the priesthood. Two years later, he attended the North American College in Rome, where he completed his Ph.D. in 1902 and his Doctorate of Sacred Theology in 1905. While in Europe Cooper developed an interest in archaeology. While assistant pastor of Saint Matthews in Washington between 1905 and 1918, Cooper worked with anthropologists at the Bureau of American Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution. By 1914 he had published his first anthropological study, "Analytical and Critical Bibliography of the Tribes of Tierra del Fuego".
Cooper's intellectual range and organizational abilities attracted the attention of John Burke and members of the Catholic University faculty. From 1909, Cooper taught courses in Sacred Theology at CUA. Between 1918 and 1920, Cooper worked as both director of camp and community activities and Secretary of the Committee on Women's Activities for the National Catholic War Council.
After completing his work with the NCWC, CUA invited him to teach in the Department of Sacred Theology. In 1923, Cooper began also to teach in the Department of Sociology where he introduced anthropology to the curriculum. Cooper's anthropological studies shaped his religion courses, and the religious practices of non-literate peoples increasingly informed the content of his theology and religion courses. Ultimately, Cooper led the establishment of the Department of Religious Education in 1929, the first to grant graduate degrees in religion, which he chaired until 1938.
By the mid-1920s. Cooper decided to focus his energies on anthropology. In 1926, he founded the Catholic Anthropological Conference (CAC) to promote anthropology among Catholic missionaries who, in turn collected ethnological objects for him. He edited its publications including the serial, "Primitive Man", and special reports. Two years later, CUA recognized the importance of Cooper's work by establishing the Department of Anthropology and appointing him Professor and Chair. Between 1925 and 1940, Cooper took 13 field trips to study the Native peoples of northern Ontario, Canada. During this time, Cooper developed an especially close collaboration with his student-turned-colleague, Regina Flannery Herzfeld. After suffering a heart attack in 1941, Cooper discontinued his field studies and dedicated himself to the Department of Anthropology, which he chaired until his death in 1949.
Regina Flannery Herzfeld, noted anthropologist, was born in Washington, DC in 1904 to parents Martin Markham and Regina Flannery. She was married to Karl F. Herzfeld in 1938, and passed in 2004.
Herzfeld graduated from the Academy of Holy Cross and earned her Bachelor's degree from Trinity College, Washington, DC. She was soon hired as a research assistant by John M. Cooper, and assisted him with research on, among other subjects, childcare institutions. During her time with Cooper, inspired by scholars such as Alfred V. Kidder, Herzfeld obtained a Master's degree in Anthropology from CUA in 1931, followed by Ph.D (also from CUA) in 1938.
During this time, Herzfeld also worked at the Mescalero Apache reservation in New Mexico, where she studied the traditional four-day rite for adolescent girls. This expedition resulted in her first published paper, "The Position of Women in Mescalero Apache Culture."
In Spring of 1933, Herzfeld traveled to Moose Factory, Ontario via Moosonee and James Bay in order to study the "old ways" of the Cree and Montagnais tribes. There she encountered Ellen Smallboy, a Cree woman who was born in 1852, and about whom she would write extensively. Herzfeld visited Moose Factory again in 1935, 1937 and 1938, and returned once more in 1985 to speak with descendants of her original interview subjects.
Herzfeld became Associate Professor at CUA in 1948, full Professor in 1953, and served as Chair of the Department of Anthropology between 1953 and 1969 after Cooper's death. During her tenure, not only did enrollment at the postgraduate level increase, but an undergraduate program was also introduced. During this time, Herzfeld also served as editor of "Primitive Man" and "Anthropology Quarterly", and published several books, including "An Analysis of Coastal Algonquian Culture" in 1939 and "The Gros Ventres of Montana" in 1952.
Although Herzfeld retired in 1971 after attaining Professor Emerita status, she remained extremely active in the scholarly community. She published more than ten articles after 1971 and continued to attended conferences in the field for many years. Though her vision was impaired towards the end of her life, her passion for Anthropology was not. Indeed, she was consulting with a doctoral student at the time of her death. Herzfeld died in 2004, two weeks before what would have been her 100th birthday. She is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, DC.
These papers primarily contain field notes, both handwritten and typed, recorded on 3 x 5 index cards. The notes contain textual and visual observations on the traditions, culture, language, and territories primarily of the Cree, with passing mention of other tribes such as the Blackfoot, Menomini, and Navaho. They are presented in their original order, as arranged by Regina F. Herzfeld. Series 3 is as yet unprocessed, but contains links to files extracted from floppy disks belonging to Herzfeld. A complete list of the contents of Series 3 is available on request.
Series 1 contains information on the traditions, culture, language, and territories of the Cree as observed by John M. Cooper. These materials also contain passing references to tribes such as the Blackfoot, Menomini, and Navaho.
Series 2 contains information on the traditions, culture, language, and territories of the Cree as observed by Regina F. Herzfeld.
Series 3 contains computer disks, museum objects, teaching notes, correspondence, published material, and chapter and article drafts by both Cooper and Herzfeld.
The John Montgomery Cooper And Regina Flannery Herzfeld Ethnographic Field Notes Collection consists of three series:
There are no access restrictions. The American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives would like to office sincere thanks to the Grand Council of the Crees for their cooperation in the digitization of this collection.
Special Collections of the University Libraries at The Catholic University of America:
At other institutions:
This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.
The John Montgomery Cooper And Regina Flannery Herzfeld Ethnographic Field Notes Collection was donated by the estate of Regina F. Herzfeld in three separate deposits, two in 2006 and one in 2015.
Collection processed and digitized under the direction of Paul Kelly in 2015. EAD markup completed by Paul Kelly in 2016. Content extracted from 5 1/4 floppy disks and added to finding aid by Paul Kelly in 2016. Note that folder titles are transcribed verbatim from the original index cards, and may contain errors and inconsistencies. Note also that the numbering system of series 1 and 2 reflects Herzfeld's method of organizing the materials, with each "box" representing a single cabinet drawer.
This series contains information on the traditions, culture, language, and territories of the Cree as observed by John M. Cooper. It also contains passing references to other tribes such as the Blackfoot, Menomini, and Navaho.
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This series contains computer disks, museum objects, teaching notes, correspondence, published material, and chapter and article drafts by both Cooper and Herzfeld. This finding aid lists only reformatted digital materials. For a complete inventory of the contents of this series, please email archives@mail.lib.cua.edu.
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