William W. Howells, Leading Anthropologist, Is Dead at 97

Howells worked as a researcher at the American Museum of Natural History until 1939, when he accepted an assistant professorship at the University of Wisconsin. Commissioned a lieutenant in the Navy in 1943, he was assigned to naval intelligence in Washington and served until the end of the war, when he returned to Wisconsin as an associate professor. He became a full professor by 1948.