Fred Eggan

Who was Fred Eggan?

Frederick Russell Eggan was an American anthropologist best known for his innovative application of the principles of British social anthropology to the study of Native American tribes. He was the favorite student of the British social anthropologist A. R. Radcliffe-Brown during Radcliffe-Brown's years at the University of Chicago. His fieldwork was among Pueblo peoples in the southwestern U.S. Eggan later taught at Chicago himself. His students there included Sol Tax.

His best known works include his edited volume Social Anthropology of North American Tribes and The American Indian.

His wife, Dorothy Way Eggan, whom he married in 1939, was also an anthropologist.