Andrew H. "Bud" Whiteford

Andrew H. "Bud" Whiteford’37, an internationally known anthropologist who inspired legions of young people to pursue careers and interests in anthropology, died on Oct. 16, 2006, in Florida. He was 93.

Whiteford started out as an archaeologist and later pursued social anthropology, earning M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago. At Beloit, he taught anthropology from 1943 to 1974 and served as department chair from 1944 to 1955. He was the enterprising director of the Logan Museum of Anthropology during nearly all of his tenure.

Whiteford’s research and field work was prolific and multi-faceted in focus. It included the material cultures of the Native American Southwest and the cultural heritage of people in Spain and Latin America, especially Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico. His long-range community studies of the residents of Popayan, Colombia—an important urban center to which he returned from the 1940s to the mid-1970s—yielded a book titled Two Cities of Latin America: A Comparative Description of Social Classes (1964). It became required reading for many students of Latin American anthropology, sociology, and political science. He also made recordings of Colombian music in the 1950s as a result of his long association with Popayan.

After retiring from Beloit, Whiteford went on to serve as a visiting professor at Michigan State University, Texas Tech University, and the University of New Mexico and worked with collections around the country. Beloit awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1981, in recognition of his many contributions to the College.

During the latter part of his career, Whiteford was associated with the School of American Research in Santa Fe, N.M., serving as an interim director and research curator of its Indian Arts Research Center. He was a research associate of the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian and the New Mexico Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. He published numerous articles and several books, including Southwestern Indian Baskets, Their History and Their Makers (1988) and the popular North American Indian Arts, which has gone through some 20 printings and is illustrated by artist and fellow Beloiter O.V. Shaffer’50.

Whiteford married Marion "Marnie" Salmon’37 in 1939. She survives, as do four children, three of whom are anthropologists and college professors like their father. Scott’65, Michael’67, and Linda’69 Whiteford all hold Ph.D. degrees in anthropology; daughter Laurie Whiteford Richards is an urban planner.

Memorial gifts will be directed to the Mouat-Whiteford Endowed Research Fund at Beloit College. Contact Denise LaMaster for more information at 608-363-2650 or lamaster@beloit.edu.

Published in Beloit College magazine.