Berthold Laufer (October 11, 1874 – September 13, 1934) was an anthropologist and historical geographer with an expertise in East Asian languages.
Laufer was born in Cologne in Germany to Max and Eugenie Laufer (née Schlesinger). His paternal grandparents Salomon and Johanna Laufer were adherents of the Jewish faith. Laufer had a brother Heinrich (died 10 July 1935) who worked as a physician in Cairo.
Laufer attended the Friedrich Wilhelms Gymnasium from 1884-1893. He continued his studies in Berlin (1893–1895) and completed his doctorate degree at the Iran, with special reference to the history of cultivated plants and products (1919).Berthold Laufer (October 11, 1874 – September 13, 1934) was an anthropologist and historical geographer with an expertise in East Asian languages.
Laufer was born in Cologne in Germany to Max and Eugenie Laufer (née Schlesinger). His paternal grandparents Salomon and Johanna Laufer were adherents of the Jewish faith. Laufer had a brother Heinrich (died 10 July 1935) who worked as a physician in Cairo.
Laufer attended the Friedrich Wilhelms Gymnasium from 1884-1893. He continued his studies in Berlin (1893–1895) and completed his doctorate degree at the University of Leipzig in 1897. The following year he emigrated to the United States where he remained until his death. He carried out ethnographic fieldwork on the Amur River and Sakhalin Island during 1898-1899 as part of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition. He worked as assistant in Ethnology at the American Museum of Natural History (1904–1906), became a lecturer in Anthropology and East-Asiatic Languages at Columbia University (1905–1907). The rest of his career he spent at the Field Museum in Chicago.[1] He served as the president of the History of Science Society in 1932.[2]
Laufer died on September 13, 1934 after falling from the 8th floor fire escape of the Chicago Beach Hotel in Chicago, where he lived. He had been recovering from the removal of a tumor at the time, but his widow claimed he was in good spirits, and the Coroner's jury returned an undetermined verdict.[3]
From "Lasting Impressions: Chinese Rubbings from the Field Museum" Brochure (The Field Museum of Chicago):
When Berhold Laufer came to The Field Museum in 1908, he was one of the few scholars in America who could speak and write the Chinese language fluently. He made the study of the Chinese language and culture his life's work. "I have come to love the land and the people," he once wrote. "I feel myself to be better and healthier as a Chinese than as a European." As Curator of Asian Ethnology in the Department of Anthropology at the Field, he made two major expeditions to China in 1908 and 1923, and his acquisitions form the core of the Museum's Chinese collections.
In addition to his studies in Chinese culture as such, Laufer used his knowledge of ancient Chinese writings to shed light on ancient Iran. Very little writings have survived from ancient Iran. Surviving ancient Chinese writings contain valuable information about ancient Iran, which Laufer was the first to study systematically, and which he published as Sino-Iranica: Chinese contributions to the history of civilization in ancient Iran, with special reference to the history of cultivated plants and products (1919).
When Berhold Laufer came to The Field Museum in 1908, he was one of the few scholars in America who could speak and write the Chinese language fluently. He made the study of the Chinese language and culture his life's work. "I have come to love the land and the people," he once wrote. "I feel myself to be better and healthier as a Chinese than as a European." As Curator of Asian Ethnology in the Department of Anthropology at the Field, he made two major expeditions to China in 1908 and 1923, and his acquisitions form the core of the Museum's Chinese collections.
In addition to his studies in Chinese culture as such, Laufer used his knowledge of ancient Chinese writings to shed light on ancient Iran. Very little writings have survived from ancient Iran. Surviving ancient Chinese writings contain valuable information about ancient Iran, which Laufer was the first to study systematically, and which he published as Sino-Iranica: Chinese contributions to the history of civilization in ancient Iran, with special reference to the history of cultivated plants and products (1919).
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PUBLICATIONS BY BERTHOLD LAUFER WHICH ARE IN THE FOUNDATION LIBRARY COLLECTIONS
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In chronological order of publication
The Bird Chariot in China and Europe (1906) 1 pages, 1 plate, many illustrations
A Plea for the Study of the History of Medicine and Natural Sciences (1907) 6 pages
Zur Geschichte der Brille (On the History of Spectacles) (1907) 7 pages, no illustrations
Skizze der Manjurischen Literatur (A Sketch of Manchurian Literature)(1908) 53 pages
Ein Homosexuelles Bild aus China (A Homosexual Image from China)(1909) 5 pages
Zur kulturhistorischen Stellung der chinesischen Provinz Shansi (Concerning the Position of the Chinese Province of Shansi [Shanxi] in the Context of the History of Culture)(1910) 22 pages
Chinese Grave-Sculptures of the Han Period(1911) 45 pages, 10 plates, illustrations in text Notes on Turquois in the East
(1913) (71 pages and 8 full-page plates)
History of the Finger-Print System(1913) 21 pages and seven full-page plates, in Annual Report of the Board of Regents of The Smithsonian Institution (for 1912), Washington, 1913, pp. 631-652.
The Application of the Tibetan Sexagenary Cycle(1913) 30 pages. Chinese Clay Figures, Part I: Prologomena on the History of Defensive Armor
(1914) 242 pages with many plates The Diamond: A Study in Chinese and Hellenistic Folk-Lore
(1915) 71 pages TWO COPIES (one signed by Joseph Needham) Optical Lenses. I. Burning-Lenses in China and India
(1915) 62 pages
Ethnographische Sagen der Chinesen (Ethnographical Sayings of the Chinese)(1916) 12 pages The Beginnings of Porcelain in China
(1917) 105 pages, 12 plates
Concerning the History of Finger-Prints(1917) 4 pages
Burkhan
(1917) 6 pages
(1917) 56 pages Chinese Baskets
(1919) 2 pages and 26 full-page plates
Multiple Births among the Chinese(1920) 14 pages Oriental Theatricals Guide, Part 1
(1923) 58 pages, numerous plates, some folding Tobacco and Its Use in Asia
(1924) 39 pages, 10 plates TWO COPIES Introduction of Tobacco into Europe
(1924) 66 pages Ivory in China
(1925) 78 pages with figures in text and ten plates Agate: Archaeology and Folk-Lore
(1927) 16 pages and 4 full-page plates
The Prehistory of Television(1928) 5 pages The Prehistory of Aviation
(1928) 96 pages, 12 plates The Giraffe in History and Art
(1928)100 pages Tobacco and Its Use in Africa
(1930) 45 pages, 6 plates Geophagy
(1930) 97 pages The Early History of Felt
(1930) 26 pages
Columbus and Cathay, and the Meaning of America to the Orientalist(1931) 16 pages
China and the Discovery of America(no date, but 1931) 7 pages The Domestication of the Cormorant in China and Japan
(1931) 59 pages, several plates
Paper and Printing in Ancient China(1931) 34 pages (unillustrated)
Turtle Island(1933) 5 pages
The Swing in China(1933) 12 pages
The Noria or Persian Wheel(1934) 12 pages
The Lemon in China and Elsewhere(no date, but 1934) 17 pages The American Plant Migration; Part I: The Potato
(1938) 132 pages, 6 plates plus frontispiece portrait of the author Jade: A Study in Chinese Archaeology and Religion
(second revised and enlarged edition, 1946) 370 pages