During his studies at Columbia, Frachtenberg became a student of
Franz Boas, often called the father of American anthropology.[3] Frachtenberg's research centered around some of the subdivisions of what later became the
Penutian language group, and he received a PhD from Columbia in 1910 for his work on the
Coosan languages.[1][4]
In late 1917, after returning from Salem to Washington, D.C., Frachtenberg was abruptly fired from his job at BAE for making comments derogatory to the government of the United States,[7] at a time of heightened
nationalism and
World War I. Franz Boas tried to defend him,[8] but the Secretary of the Smithsonian,
Charles Walcott, dismissed him because he believed the comments were "inimical to the public welfare." He did not, however, consider the comments disloyal, or treasonous.[9]
Frachtenberg had immigrated from then
Austria-Hungary, part of the
Central Powers. Ironically, after his termination from BAE, Frachtenberg joined the
United States Army and attained the rank of lieutenant colonel by the time of his discharge in 1920.[1]
While conferring with Jewish leaders in
Waterloo, Iowa, in 1930, Frachtenberg became ill. He died a few days later from pneumonia at the age of 47.[10][11][12][13]
Published work
Andrade, Manuel J.; & Frachtenberg, Leo J. (1931). Quileute texts. Columbia University contributions to anthropology (Vol. 12). New York: Columbia University Press.
Bernstein, Jay H. (2002) "First Recipients of Anthropological Doctorates in the United States, 1891–1930" American Anthropologist 104 (2): 551-564
Frachtenberg, Leo J. (1913). Coos texts. California University contributions to anthropology (Vol. 1). New York: Columbia University Press. (Reprinted 1969 New York: AMS Press).
Frachtenberg, Leo J. (1914). Lower Umpqua texts and notes on the Kusan dialect. California University contributions to anthropology (Vol. 4, pp. 141–150). (Reprinted 1969, New York: AMS Press).
Frachtenberg, Leo J. (1922). Coos: An illustrative sketch. In Handbook of American Indian languages (Vol. 2, pp. 297–299, 305). Bulletin, 40, pt. 2. Washington:Government Print Office (Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology).
Penaloza-Patzak, Brooke. “Quiet Invader? Anthropologist Leo Frachtenberg and the Politics of Biting Your Tongue in Wartime America,” in Quiet Invaders Revisited: Biographies of Twentieth Century Immigrants to the United States. Transatlantica 11. Guenter Bischof (ed.). Innsbruck: Studien Verlag, 2018, 65–78.