DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49271#0015
ORIC BATES
The last proofs of this volume were just going to press when the sad news arrived of
the death of its editor, the founder and main stay of the Harvard African studies, Oric
Bates. He died in the service of his country, a victim of pneumonia, at Camp Zachary
Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky, on October 8, 1918.
Oric Bates came from an old New England family and was born in Boston on December
8, 1883. He was brought up there and graduated at Harvard College with the class of
1905. Although careless of his prescribed work he was a wide reader and was especially
interested in classical Greece. Soon after graduating he wrote a short novel, “A Madcap
Cruise”. In 1906 he was in charge of the Egyptian department of the Boston Museum
of Fine Arts for about a year. He then went for a time to the University of Berlin and
later took part in the Nubian Expedition of the Khedival Government, the Harvard Syrian
Expedition and the Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Egyptian Expedi-
tion. In 1909 he was engaged in a Tripoli expedition, in the following year he worked in
Nubia, and then in the Libyan desert. He was later in charge of excavation in the Sudan
and again in the Libyan desert. His master and model in the field was Prof. George A.
Reisner for whom he always entertained the warmest admiration and affection.
Early in his African work, Bates had become particularly interested in the peoples of
Hamitic origin. In 1913 he published a book on the Eastern Libyans which at once
assured him a standing as a recognized authority. His earlier training had been irregular,
but he was a tireless worker and his scholarship was careful and sound, for he had learned
not to let his critical faculties be run away with by the splendid almost boyish enthusiasm
which he felt for his subject and which was one of the sources of his strength. His Berbers
remained his chief love, he studied several of their languages, and above all he delighted
in archaeological field work, but in time his interests broadened to cover everything con-
nected with the native races of Africa. In 1914 he became Curator of African Archaeology
and Ethnology in the Peabody Museum of Harvard University. To his new responsi-
bility he brought unbounded energy and devotion and he dreamed bright dreams of
making the African collection at the Peabody one of the best in the world; indeed in
the short time he was there he already made a good start. In 1917 he founded the
The last proofs of this volume were just going to press when the sad news arrived of
the death of its editor, the founder and main stay of the Harvard African studies, Oric
Bates. He died in the service of his country, a victim of pneumonia, at Camp Zachary
Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky, on October 8, 1918.
Oric Bates came from an old New England family and was born in Boston on December
8, 1883. He was brought up there and graduated at Harvard College with the class of
1905. Although careless of his prescribed work he was a wide reader and was especially
interested in classical Greece. Soon after graduating he wrote a short novel, “A Madcap
Cruise”. In 1906 he was in charge of the Egyptian department of the Boston Museum
of Fine Arts for about a year. He then went for a time to the University of Berlin and
later took part in the Nubian Expedition of the Khedival Government, the Harvard Syrian
Expedition and the Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Egyptian Expedi-
tion. In 1909 he was engaged in a Tripoli expedition, in the following year he worked in
Nubia, and then in the Libyan desert. He was later in charge of excavation in the Sudan
and again in the Libyan desert. His master and model in the field was Prof. George A.
Reisner for whom he always entertained the warmest admiration and affection.
Early in his African work, Bates had become particularly interested in the peoples of
Hamitic origin. In 1913 he published a book on the Eastern Libyans which at once
assured him a standing as a recognized authority. His earlier training had been irregular,
but he was a tireless worker and his scholarship was careful and sound, for he had learned
not to let his critical faculties be run away with by the splendid almost boyish enthusiasm
which he felt for his subject and which was one of the sources of his strength. His Berbers
remained his chief love, he studied several of their languages, and above all he delighted
in archaeological field work, but in time his interests broadened to cover everything con-
nected with the native races of Africa. In 1914 he became Curator of African Archaeology
and Ethnology in the Peabody Museum of Harvard University. To his new responsi-
bility he brought unbounded energy and devotion and he dreamed bright dreams of
making the African collection at the Peabody one of the best in the world; indeed in
the short time he was there he already made a good start. In 1917 he founded the