John Adair

1913-1997

American (United States)

John Adair was an American anthropologist best known for his visual anthropology and his long career studying the Navajo people for decades. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1937. He served in WWII then returned to complete a doctorate at the University of New Mexico from 1946-1978. He taught at both Cornell and San Francisco State University. In the 1930's Dr. Adair was a founder of the Navajo Arts and Crafts Guild and for 7 years he was the chief anthropologist on the Cornell Navajo Field Health Project, located in Many Farms Arizona. He worked on the films "Southwestern Indian Silversmiths" (1939), "A Weave of Time", and co-wrote the book "Through Navajo Eyes: An Exploration of Film Communication and Anthropology" (1972).