21 Facts About Gladys Tantaquidgeon

Gladys Iola Tantaquidgeon was a Mohegan medicine woman, anthropologist, author, tribal council member, and elder based in Connecticut.

Gladys Tantaquidgeon studied anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania with Frank Speck.

Gladys Tantaquidgeon published several books about Native American traditional medicine and healing with plants.

That year, Gladys Tantaquidgeon was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame.

Gladys Tantaquidgeon was the third of seven children born to Mohegan parents, John and Harriet Fielding Tantaquidgeon.

Gladys Tantaquidgeon was a 10th-generation descendant of the Mohegan chief Uncas, who was prominent in the colonial era.

In childhood, Gladys Tantaquidgeon learned traditional practices, beliefs, and lore from nanus, respected women elders.

Gladys Tantaquidgeon started studying with her aunt in 1904, specializing in traditional herbal medicine, and attending classes in local schools.

In 1919, at the age of 20, Gladys Tantaquidgeon attended the University of Pennsylvania to study anthropology.

When Gladys Tantaquidgeon was old enough, Speck invited her to study with him at Penn; he arranged housing for her with foreign students at his home in Swarthmore, enrolled her in classes, and enlisted her as a fieldwork assistant to broaden her understanding of Native American cultures.

Gladys Tantaquidgeon later did field work related to the Lenape and other eastern Algonquian tribes.

Gladys Tantaquidgeon expanded her knowledge of traditional pharmacopeia by researching herbal medicine practices among many related East Coast tribes.

From 1934 to 1947, at the time of the Indian Reorganization Act and the Indian New Deal under the administration of President Franklin D Roosevelt, Tantaquidgeon started work with the US Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Gladys Tantaquidgeon was hired in 1934 under the Wheeler-Howard Act to administer social service benefits for Indians.

In 1938 Gladys Tantaquidgeon transferred to the Indian Arts and Crafts Board to serve as a "Native Arts Specialist".

Gladys Tantaquidgeon developed ways for tribes to revive their cultural practices.

Part of Gladys Tantaquidgeon's job was to encourage the restoration of these and other previously prohibited traditional practices.

In 1931, Gladys Tantaquidgeon worked with her brother Harry, a former chief, and father John to found the Gladys Tantaquidgeon Indian Museum.

Gladys Tantaquidgeon worked full-time at the museum for the next 50 years, until 1998.

Gladys Tantaquidgeon published several books in her lifetime about traditional herbal medicine.

Gladys Tantaquidgeon preserved numerous records and tribal correspondence in boxes under her bed.