Dorothy Keur

Dorothy L. Keur (née Strouse; 1904–1989) was an American cultural anthropologist specializing in Navajo and Netherlands cultures. She was a professor at Hunter College and was the president of the American Ethnological Society from 1974 to 1979.

Early life

Dorothy Louise Strouse was born on February 13, 1904, in New York City. Keur was an only child; her father was a cutter and buyer of necktie silks, while her mother was a homemaker and fundamentalist Protestant who had missionary ambitions for her daughter. At the time, higher education degrees were uncommon among women, but Keur was motivated to pursue a degree from Hunter College with the motivation of her teachers at Morris High School (Bronx); she graduated from Hunter College in 1925.

Higher education and early career

During her undergraduate program, she formed a close relationship with Professor Edward Sanford Burgess, and when she graduated, she was offered a laboratory assistant position in his group. Half of her salary was returned each month to Burgess so that he could purchase Indian artifacts for the college. One of her duties as laboratory assistant became daily visits to the American Museum of Natural History as educational trips for students. During one particular visit, Henry Fairfield Osborn, president of the Museum, observed her interactions with the students and was so impressed by her faculty for anthropological studies that he urged her to pursue higher education. Encouraged by Osborn, Keur obtained a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University in 1928. Within only one year of her graduation, new archaeological data disproved her thesis. Dorothy and John concluded their study by publishing a monograph with the American Ethnological Society. This book was widely read in the Netherlands, and was even at one time used as a supplementary textbook for a sociology course at the University of Nijmegen