Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793-1864) was an American geographer, geologist, and ethnographer who served as United States Indian agent at Sault Ste. Marie and later as superintendent of Indian affairs for the Michigan Territory. Much of what he published about Ojibwe story and language reached him through his wife, Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, of Ojibwe and Scots-Irish descent, who translated and supplied tales carried down through her mother's Ojibwe family. His six-volume Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States, commissioned by Congress, remains a landmark of early American ethnology. Later scholars have faulted his accuracy and his habit of smoothing native narratives to suit genteel readers.