Edward Sapir 1884-1939

Born in Germany and raised and educated in the United States, Sapir came to Ottawa in 1910 to head the Division of Anthropology of the Geological Survey of Canada. This division later became the National Museum of Man. During his 15 years at the Museum he furthered the study of Canada's indigenous peoples, and contributed significantly to the understanding and classification of their languages, as well as building a national ethnographic collection. His interests included linguistics, ethnology, psychology and literature. He left an international intellectual legacy which endures to the present.