William White Howells was a Physical Anthropologist born in New York on November 27, 1908. He received both his S.B. and Ph.D. degrees in Anthropology from Harvard University. William first joined the anthropology staff at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. During World War II, Howells served in the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence. Following his college professor’s death in 1934, he was named Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University.
Howells specialized in the establishment of population relationships through physical measurement. He is also known for his work in developing anthropological curricula and his popular books in the field, which have been widely translated and are extensively used in the classroom.
Howells pioneered the use of quantitative methods in the formulation and solution of morphological problems, particularly his use of cranial measurements in world population studies. His authoritative Cranial Variation in Man: A Study by Multivariate Analysis of Patterns of Difference Among Recent Human Populations compared skull measurements from 17 distinct world populations. He conducted extensive research on the peoples of Oceania.
During his teaching years, Howells' papers reporting his anthropological research with books designed for a more general audience that were simultaneously usable as texts. The success of these books has made William Howells the most widely translated of physical anthropologists.
Britannica Online, http://www.eb.com/ (Search for William Howells, subscription required)
"Howells, William W," International Encyclopedia of the Social Science (New York: 1968-1979), vol. 18 pp.328-330. David L. Sills (editor).
Written by: Sara Gorecki