About Maria Czaplicka
Lived 1884 – 1921 (aged 36). Maria Czaplicka was a Polish and British anthropologist.
Return to England and death Czaplicka returned to England in 1915. She wrote a diary of her travel entitled My Siberian Year, which was published in 1916 by Mills & Boon (in their non-fiction "My Year" series); the book became very popular. In 1916, she also became the first female lecturer in anthropology at Oxford University, supported by the Mary Ewart Trust. "for her ethnographical and geographical work in Northern Siberia." In spite of this triumph, her financial future was still insecure. Her three-year fellowship at Oxford having expired in 1919, she obtained a temporary teaching position in anthropology in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Bristol. Czaplicka is buried in the Wolvercote Cemetery in Oxford.
After Hall died in 1944, some of Czaplicka's early papers were donated to the University of Pennsylvania Museum, but at least one report and a partial manuscript may be lost. Her primary papers are archived at Somerville College, Oxford. Polish museums hold a few private letters of Czaplicka to Bronisław Malinowski and Władysław Orkan, one of the most prominent Polish poets of the time.
Upon her death in 1971, Barbara Aitkin (née Barbara Freire-Marreco), a student of Marett and friend of Czaplicka's, memorialised Czaplicka with a fund at Somerville College.
Selected works Aboriginal Siberia: A Study in Social Anthropology. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1914. The Influence of Environment upon the Religious Ideas and Practices of the Aborigines of Northern Asia. Folklore. 25. pp. 34–54. 1914. "The Life and Work of N.N. Miklubo-Macklay". Man. 14. pp. 198–203, 1914. My Siberian Year. London, Mills and Boon, 1916. "Tribes of the Yenisei. The Oxford Expedition". Times Russian Supplement. 13. p. 6. 18 September 1915. Siberia and some Siberians Journal of the Manchester Geographical Soc. 32. pp. 27–42. 1916. The Siberian Colonist or Sibiriak In W. Stephens ed. The Soul of Russia. London: Macmillan. 1916 On the track of the Tungus. Scottish Geographical Magazine. 33. pp. 289–303. 1917. "Ostyaks". Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics. volume 9. pp. 289–303. 1917 "The Evolution of the Cossack Communities". Journal of the Central Asian Society. 5. pp. 42–58. 1918. "A plea for Siberia". New European. 6. pp. 339–344. 1918. The Turks of Central Asia in History and at the Present Day, An Ethnological Inquiry into the Pan-Turanian Problem, and Bibliographical Material Relating to the Early Turks and the Present Turks of Central Asia. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1918. "Poland". The Geographical Journal. 53:36. 1919. "Samoyed". Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics. volume 11. pp. 172–177. 1920 "Siberia, Siberiaks, Siberians". Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics. volume 11. pp. 488–496. 1920 The Ethnic versus the Economic Frontiers of Poland. Scottish Geographical Magazine. 36. pp. 10–16. 1920. "History and Ethnology in Central Asia". Man. 21. pp. 19–24. 1921. "Tungus". Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics. volume 12. pp. 473–476. 1921 "Turks". Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics. volume 12. pp. 476–483. 1921
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Important facts
People in Maria Czaplicka's life
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Contemporaries
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Frequently asked questions
Who was Maria Czaplicka?
Polish anthropologist (1884–1921)
When was Maria Czaplicka born?
Maria Czaplicka was born on 25 October 1884 in Warsaw.
When did Maria Czaplicka die?
Maria Czaplicka died on 27 May 1921 in Bristol.
What was Maria Czaplicka's occupation?
Maria Czaplicka was an anthropologist.
What nationality was Maria Czaplicka?
Maria Czaplicka was Polish and British.
Sources & further reading
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APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Maria Czaplicka. https://biography.guide/maria-czaplicka/
MLA: "Maria Czaplicka." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/maria-czaplicka/.
Chicago: "Maria Czaplicka." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/maria-czaplicka/.
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