Eggan, Fred Russell

Eggan, Fred Russell (ĕg`gən), 1906–91, American anthropologist, b. Seattle, grad. Univ. of Chicago (Ph.B., 1927; A.M., 1928; Ph.D., 1933). A member of the faculty of the Univ. of Chicago from 1935, he served twice as chairman of school's anthropology department (1948–52; 1961–63). Eggan devoted his career to reconciling American historical ethnology with the British structural-functional method, and to applying his synthetic approach to the study of Native American kinship and social systems. He also pioneered the study of culture change in the Philippines. Among his writings are Social Organization of the Western Pueblos (1950) and The American Indian (1966).