James Murie
James Murie was a Skidi Pawnee born in Nebraska in 1862, during a tumultuous period marked by conflict with the Sioux. He was among the early Native Americans to attend Hampton Institute in Virginia, which had recently opened its doors to Indigenous students alongside its original mission to educate African Americans. Murie's education was largely shaped through his interactions with professional anthropologists, allowing him to act as an intermediary in the documentation of Pawnee traditions. His collaborations began in the early 20th century, notably with ethnologist Alice Cunningham Fletcher, contributing to significant studies of Pawnee culture, including their Hako Ceremony.
Murie's work included recording firsthand data and ceremonial texts, leading to his involvement in the typescript "The Pawnee: Society and Religion of the Skidi Pawnee" with George A. Dorsey. He made notable contributions to the recording of Pawnee oral traditions, including the autobiography of a Skidi priest, which was critical in studying the Pawnee language. Though Murie published only one original work during his lifetime, he left a lasting legacy through his posthumously published monograph "Ceremonies of the Pawnee," which was significant for documenting Indigenous practices and beliefs. His life and work highlight the intersection of Native American culture and anthropological scholarship.
James Murie
- Born: 1862
- Birthplace: Grand Island (now in Nebraska)
- Died: 1921
- Place of death: Unknown
Category: Ethnographer
Tribal affiliation: Skidi Pawnee
Significance: Murie collaborated with anthropologists and later wrote his own anthropological works about the Pawnee
James Murie, a Skidi Pawnee of mixed blood, was born in Nebraska in 1862. At that time, Nebraska was still a scene of Pawnee struggle with their traditional enemies, the Sioux. As a youth, Murie was among the first Native Americans to attend Hampton Institute in Virginia. Originally founded to encourage secondary education for blacks, the institute had only recently been opened to Native Americans.
Murie’s advanced training was gained not in school but by association with professional anthropologists who were interested in Pawnee traditions but lacked language training to do field work without a native intermediary. Murie’s situation paralleled that of other Native Americans, such as George Hunt (a Kwakiutl), who worked with Franz Boas; George Bushotter (a Sioux), who collaborated with James O. Dorsey; and Cleaver Warden (Arapaho), who, like Murie, worked with George A. Dorsey.
Murie’s earliest contribution to anthropological studies was near the beginning of the twentieth century, when he served as an informant to Alice C. Fletcher, who wrote the first major works on the Pawnees, including, in 1904, a detailed description of their unique Hako Ceremony.
Thereafter, Murie became more involved in noting down firsthand data, including ceremonial texts, either on his own or working with other anthropologists. The first product of his collaborative ventures was a typescript entitled, “The Pawnee: Society and Religion of the Skidi Pawnee,” written jointly with George A. Dorsey between 1905 and 1907. By this date, Murie and Dorsey had begun a project that was unique for its time. They recorded the autobiography of an elderly Skidi priest on wax cylinders. These were transcribed and translated by Murie and served as a basis for the first systematic study of phonemic distinctions in Pawnee.
When he died in 1921, Murie’s name as sole author had appeared on one original work only—three volumes of transcribed Pawnee mythology. After 1912, however, he had written (during a period in which he collaborated with anthropologist Clark Wissler, working at the same time for the U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology) a major monograph entitled Ceremonies of the Pawnee. This would be published posthumously by the Smithsonian Institution.