American Indian Culture and Research Journal

This article is the first biography written of Florence Shotridge (1882–1917), a Tlingit woman who was the first Indigenous American to lead an anthropological expedition alongside her husband, Louis Shotridge. Louis is a well-known Tlingit ethnographer and collector, but much of his work in his early career was accomplished in collaboration with Florence—yet she is often not mentioned in these early years of his work. This paper seeks to fill in the historical gaps on Florence’s life history and highlight her contributions to her husband’s career and the field of anthropology. I discuss her early life, the Tina’a Chilkat blanket she wove, the expositions she performed in with Louis across the United States, her career at the Penn Museum, and her death at the age of thirty-five. In addition to this paper, I have created an accompanying short film that aims to breathe new life into Florence’s story, to be shared widely in order to ensure her life and legacy extend beyond the periphery of the Penn Museum and the Tlingit community.

Link to the film Florence Shotridge (2021): https://youtu.be/dQTTGmLd63k