SAMUEL MORTON, JOSIAH NOTT, AND THE ORIGINS OF THE `AMERICAN SCHOOL': AUTHORITY, GENIUS, AND SYSTEMS-BUILDING IN NINETEENTH CENTURY ETHNOLOGY

Abstract

This thesis traces the origin and development of the "American School" of ethnology from the natural historical debate over the nature of hybridity and the definition of species between the naturalist John Bachman and the ethnologist Samuel George Morton to the posthumous management of Samuel Morton's reputation and authority by the physician and ethnologist Josiah Nott and his collaborators in Types of Mankind for the purposes of establishing themselves as ethnological authorities in their own right.