Letters
…use of “major” was coined by William Rainey Harper…

His piece of the action
I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed “Where the Action Was” (April/04). I was one of the 35 or so students of Sol Tax who spent some time with the Meskwaki, in the summer of 1954 (I think) and who was employed in the project part time during the ensuing academic year. Reading the article was like a flashback to a period of my life I have not thought much about for years, and it also helped me learn about the subsequent careers of several students I knew. I did not pursue anthropology as I subsequently graduated from the SSA and had a career in social work, certainly an “action”-oriented profession. I do recollect that on one occasion (and maybe more?) Sol Tax invited Helen Harris Perlman, SSA professor emerita, to speak at one of his seminars (or possibly it was the other way around). They certainly saw some commonalities.

I still have two tiles from Tama Indian Crafts in my kitchen and am sorry to hear that this project that started with such promise did not ultimately succeed.

Joe Marlin, AM’54, AM’60
Chicago

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