T. Dale Stewart's Perspective on His Career as a Forensic Anthropologist at the Smithsonian

Abstract

T. D. Stewart (1901-1997) is internationally recognized as an early leader in forensic anthropology. In a series of taped interviews in 1975 and in 1986, Stewart discusses his professional development. The interviews document his early education in Delta, Pennsylvania, his long career at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC and aspects of his many contributions to forensic anthropology. His well-known careful editorial work and exhaustive, problem-oriented research approach may have been influenced by his early training in his hometown bank and his many years of apprenticeship under Ales Hrdlicka (1869-1943). Stewart describes aspects of the difficulties of working for Hrdlicka, yet credits the work ethic established by him as a formative factor in his own prodigious productivity.