The Florida Journals of Frank Hamilton Cushing

These previously unpublished journals by one of the most complex and enigmatic American anthropologists, Frank Hamilton Cushing (1854-1900), offer a dramatically new perspective on his Florida explorations. Recorded during 1895-96 as he traveled the Gulf Coast, these daily personal observations add credibility to his contributions to science and anthropology and demonstrate his independent and intuitive intellect. Sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution’s Bureau of American Ethnology, Cushing’s expedition came to Florida to explore the extraordinary remains of the ancient mound-building cultures along the coast from Tarpon Springs south to Marco Island. Cushing’s discovery of the muck pond that came to be known as the fabled Court of the Pile Dwellers, located in what is now Collier County, uncovered a rich archaeological site with some of the finest examples of prehistoric native art in North America. Cushing’s monumental findings at the Key Marco site have been vitally important to a global understanding of the technological, social, and cosmological complexity of indigenous maritime societies. This collection of personal journals opens the door to new research and information for archaeologists and archaeological theory. Written by a visionary on the eve of Florida’s entry into the modern world, the journals provide a rare glimpse of the nascent field of cultural anthropology.