Carobeth Tucker Laird
1895-1983

"Carobeth's contributions to the field of anthropology successfully combined ethnography and mythology" (Gacs 1989:205).

Selected Works by and about Carobeth Tucker Laird

Ethridge, J. M., and B. Kopala
1983  Laird Carobeth.  In Contemporary Authors 1-4:557.

Folkart, Burt
1983  Writer, Discovered at 80, Dies at 87.  Los Angeles Times, Aug. 10, 22.

Laird, Carobeth
1975  Encounter with an Angry God: Recollections of My Life with John Peabody Harrington.  Banning, Calif.: Malki Museum Press.

1976  The Chemehuevis.  Banning, Calif.: Malki Museum Press.

1984  Mirror and Pattern: George Laird's World of Chemehuevi Mythology. Banning, Calif.: Malki Museum Press.

     Interesting Websites

Linguistic Anthropology Sources

Environmental Concerns

International Journal of American Linguistics

Indigenous Education Links

Sources:

Gacs, Ute
1989  Carobeth Tucker Laird.  In Women Anthropologists: A Biographical Dictionary.  Ute Gacs, et al., eds.  Pp. 202-7.  New York: Greenwood Press.

Laird, Carobeth
1979  Limbo: A Memoir about Life in a Nursing Home by a Survivor. Novato, Calif.: Chandler & Sharp.

1976  The Chemehuevis.  Banning, Calif.: Malki Museum Press.

Home

In 1909, at the age of 14, Carobeth traveled with her parents to Mexico, where she discovered that she had a tremendous facility for languages.  It wasn't until 1915, however, that Carobeth was introduced to linguistics.  She enrolled in a summer school linguistics course that was taught by John Peabody Harrington.  Harrington, who  focused on recording the languages of the Native Americans of the western U.S., trained Carobeth. 

In 1916, Carobeth and Harrington were married, and she joined him on his first field trips through California and the Southwest.  For seven years (1916-23), she was little more than an indentured servant to her husband (Gacs 1989:203).   However, during the summer of 1919, Carobeth was sent to Arizona, where she met her future husband, George Laird, a Chemehuevi Indian.

At the Colorado River Indian Reservation, Carobeth participated and witnessed old tribal ceremonies.  After working with George Laird for four years, Carobeth divorced Harrington and married George.  For twenty years, George dictated Chemehuevi texts depicting their myths and tribal history.  At the time of George's death in 1940, Carobeth had the most complete collection of Chemehuevi myths ever recorded.

Carobeth's collection of field notes, tapes, and other memorabilia has been established at the University of California, Riverside.  A museum dedicated to Chemehuevi studies has been proposed.