William N. Fenton (1908-2005).(Obituary)

William Nelson Fenton, a fellow of the American Folklore Society and long acknowledged as the dean of Iroquoian studies, died June 17, 2005, at Cooperstown, New York, at the age of 96. Except for brief visits to the Klamath Reservation and Taos Pueblo seeking comparative insights into factionalism and a stint as visiting professor in New Zealand, his entire career was spent studying a single tribe, the Iroquois, beginning in upstate New York and expanding throughout Iroquoian territory across northeastern North America. In 1945 he was a key founder of the Iroquois Conference, which has continued to meet annually, with few gaps, for more than half a century. Fenton was the major figure in creating a community of Iroquoian scholars, including numerous Iroquois collaborators.

Fenton was born December 15, 1908, in New Rochelle, New York, to John William and Annabelle Nourse Fenton. American Indian visitors to the family farm and Seneca artifacts spurred his interest in Iroquois studies at an early age. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1931, devoted a summer to Plains archaeology, and moved to Yale University, where he received his Ph.D. in 1937. He was particularly proud to have been a student of Edward Sapir. His dissertation research on Seneca ceremonialism and herbalism was mentored by Frank Speck at the University of Pennsylvania. …