Dixon, Roland B.

Roland B. Dixon, in full Roland Burrage Dixon, (born November 6, 1875, Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.—died December 19, 1934, Cambridge, Massachusetts), U.S. cultural anthropologist who, at the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, organized one of the world’s most comprehensive and functional anthropological libraries. He also developed Harvard into a leading centre for the training of anthropologists.

Dixon’s career was spent entirely at Harvard, where he rose from assistant in anthropology (1897) to professor (1915). His initial field researches were among the American Indians of California and resulted in writings, some published jointly with the ethnologist A.L. Kroeber, on ethnography, folklore, and linguistics. A notable work is The Northern Maidu (1905). He also made field studies in Siberia, Mongolia, the Himalayas, and Oceania.

Oriented toward the organization and interpretation of anthropological facts rather than toward field work, Dixon introduced an emphasis on the interrelationship between culture and natural environment. Less a theoretician and more a cultural historian, he noted the importance of ethnic migration in cultural change. His most ambitious work is thought to be The Racial History of Man (1923), in which he attempted to classify racial types and revealed the diversity of many populations, notably the Polynesians and American Indians. Another major work, The Building of Cultures (1928), contained a meticulous examination of cultural diffusion.