Thomas Talbot Waterman

Thomas Talbot Waterman (April 23, 1885 – January 6, 1936) was an American anthropologist who studied indigenous groups in North and Central America, particularly Northern California. He is best known for being one of the anthropologists who brought Ishi to the University of California's Museum of Anthropology(later the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology).

Early life Waterman was born in Hamilton, Missouri to John Hayes Waterman and Catherine Shields Church and raised in Fresno, California. Waterman was the tenth and last child born to his family. His father was a member of the Episcopalian clergy, and Waterman was expected to follow in his footsteps. Waterman initially planned to study linguistics with a focus in Hebrew, hoping to become a clergyman as his father had.

Later, at Columbia University, Waterman completed a Ph.D. in anthropology. Kroeber advocated for Waterman's admission to the Anthropology PhD program at Columbia under Franz Boas. Waterman completed his PhD in 1913, afterwards returning to work at the University of California. He remained there in various curatorial and teaching roles until 1921.

When Ishi came to Oroville and was arrested, Waterman traveled at Kroeber's request to meet him. Waterman and Ishi at first struggled to communicate, but eventually found they both knew the Yana word for wood. After Waterman made several visits to Ishi in jail, Kroeber and Waterman were able to secure his release. Waterman took Ishi to the University of California Museum of Anthropology, then in San Francisco.

According to Nancy Rockafellar's chronology of Ishi's final years, Waterman worked regularly with Ishi between their meeting in 1911 and Ishi's death in 1916. Waterman, along with Ishi, Kroeber, and Saxton Pope went on a mapping expedition in the area of Deer Creek, Tehama County in 1914. In the summer of 1915, Waterman and his wife Grace hosted Ishi at their home for several months. As Ishi's health continued to decline, Waterman corresponded frequently with Kroeber and other colleagues about Ishi's health and treatment.

When Ishi died in 1916, Waterman was in the Bay Area, but Kroeber was not. According to Rockafellar, Waterman was "presumably present" when Ishi was autopsied by Pope and Ishi's brain was taken from his body. there is no record of Waterman objecting to the autopsy or the sending of Ishi's brain to Aleš Hrdlička at the Smithsonian. In 1927, Waterman married Ruth Dulaney. The phonetic elements of the Northern Paiute language (Berkeley: University Press, 1911)

(2012). Yurok Geography (University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology; Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1920) Source book in anthropology, (1920, with A. L. Kroeber) Waterman, T.T., 1922. The Geographical Names Used by the Indians of the Pacific Coast. American Geographical Society 12(2):175–194 Native Houses of Western North America