David P. McAllester

David P. McAllester
Born	1916
Died	2006
Fields	Ethnomusicology, Anthropology, Native American studies
Institutions	Wesleyan University
Alma mater	Harvard University, Columbia University
Known for	Study of Native American musics, music and anthropology.

David Park McAllester (1916–2006) was an American ethnomusicologist and Professor of Anthropology and Music at Wesleyan University, where he taught from 1947–1986. He contributed to the development of the field of ethnomusicology through his studies of Navajo and Comanche musics, and he helped to establish the ethnomusicology department and the World Music Program at Wesleyan. His recordings of Navajo and Comanche music led to the establishment of the World Music Archives at the University.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

He graduated from Harvard College in 1938 and entered the Juilliard School. However, he was doing anthropological field work during the summers at the same time and in 1940 decided not to pursue a career in music, instead enrolling in a Ph.D. program in anthropology at Columbia University.

While in New York, he joined the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and remained a member for his entire life.

With the Second World War looming, he applied for and received a deferment as a conscientious objector, and served his alternative service with the Civilian Public Service.

After the war, he returned to Columbia. He accepted a teaching position at Wesleyan University in Connecticut in 1947, while still working on his degree. He was awarded the Ph.D. in 1950.

Along with Alan Merriam, Willard Rhodes, and Charles Seeger, he founded the Society for Ethnomusicology in 1955.

He specialized in Native American music, and did field work on the Navajo reservation for many years in the summer.

He partially retired in 1979 and retired fully in 1986 to a home in the Berkshires, where he lived until he died.^[7]

External links

• Guide to the David McAllester Papers, 1940 - 1996
• David McAllester
• Behind the Scenes of the Ethnomusicology Dept., by Justin Pottle, September 22, 2009

References

1. The New Grove Dictionary of American Music, Four volumes, edited by H. Wiley Hitchcock and Stanley Sadie, London: Macmillan Press (1986)
2. The Native North American Almanac — A reference work on Native North Americans in the United States and Canada, Second edition, edited by Duane Champagne, Detroit: Gale Group (2001) — The Prominent Native North Americans section begins on page 1171
3. Reference Encyclopedia of the American Indian, 11th edition, by Barry T. Klein (entries begin on page 529), Nyack, New York: Todd Publications (2005)
4. American Men & Women of Science. A biographical directory of today's leaders in physical, biological, and related sciences, New York: R.R. Bowker
      12th edition, Two volumes (1973)
      13th edition, Seven volumes (1976)
5. Baker's Biographical Dictionaries
      Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Eighth edition, revised by Nicolas Slonimsky, New York: Macmillan Publishing Co. (1992)
      Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Classical Musicians, by Nicolas Slonimsky. New York: Schirmer Books (1997)
      Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. Ninth edition, edited by Laura Diane Kuhn (born 1953), New York: Schirmer Books (2001)
6. Fifth International Directory of Anthropologists, Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1975)
7. Who's Who in America, Marquis Who's Who
      38th edition, 1974–1975 (1974)
      39th edition, 1976-1977 (1976)
      40th edition, 1978-1979 (1978)