George M. Foster

Graduate Study at Berkeley, 1935-1941

"The pre-war period of graduate study, and its distinctive style, were brought to a close by Pearl Harbor. During the war there were few students, and with peace both staff and the forms of graduate study began to change significantly. Kroeber retired in 1946, and David Mandelbaum was brought in to replace him, with John Rowe following in 1948. With the G.I. bill of rights and the surge of interest in anthropology that followed the war, the Department expanded rapidly in faculty and numbers of graduate students. Those of us who were there in the thirties look back with nostalgia at a simple, sylvan time. It was a good world, and a happy life, and we dreaded the thought of having to cut the umbilical cord to take a job." (Foster, 1976)

To see the full text, visit the Anthropology Emeritus Lecture Series at U.C. Berkeley.