Muriel Thayer Painter

Muriel Thayer Painter (6 March 1892 – March 1975) was an American anthropologist and social worker who researched and advocated for the Yaqui. Her anthropology research focused on the Yaqui Easter ceremony.

Early life and education Muriel Thayer was born on March 6, 1892, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She attended the University of Minnesota and was in the class of 1915. She was involved as a member of Kappa Alpha Theta, the Theta Epsilon Literary Society, and the Young Women's Christian Association while at the university in 1913. She later graduated from Wellesley College in 1916 with a social work degree. She was working for the Red Cross in 1920. By 1940, the couple had divorced, and Muriel Thayer Painter was living in Tucson, Arizona.

Involvement with the Yaqui In 1939, Muriel Thayer Painter accompanied Bronislaw Malinowski, a member of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Arizona to a Yaqui Easter ceremony at Pascua Yaqui Indian Village. Painter went on to attend various Yaqui Easter ceremonies and festivities every year from 1939 to 1954, taking detailed notes.

In 1944, Painter was hired as a research associate at the Arizona State Museum, which allowed her to continue her research in earnest.

Painter forged a close relationship with the Pascua Yaqui Indian Village community. While this relationship was filled with mutual respect and admiration, some Yaqui found Painter irritating because she would occasionally interrupt ceremonies to ask questions. While celebrated for her wide knowledge of the Yaqui and their culture, some aspects of Yaqui culture were intentionally shielded from her.

Painter was named the chairperson of the Tucson Chamber of Commerce's Yaqui Committee in 1942. In the 1940s and 1950s, Painter worked with the Tucson Chamber of Commerce to help the Yaqui market their Easter festivities as a tourist attraction. Before 1950, Painter had served as the Yaqui representative for the Tucson Folk Festival, when she turned over the role to a young Yaqui leader. Painter and the Yaqui's work were eventually successful and the Yaqui were federally recognized.

Painter frequently served as a liaison for other researchers visiting Tucson and the Pascua Yaqui Indian Village.

Death Painter's most significant anthropological work and only monograph was published after her death in March 1975. Revised by Edward Spicer and Wilma Kaemlein, her work was published as With Good Heart: Yaqui Beliefs and Ceremonies in Pascua Village in 1986.