Alvin H. Morrison ’57
Alvin H. Morrison ’57 died on April 2, 2024, in Falmouth, Maine. Al graduated from Deering High School in Portland, Maine. At Dartmouth he majored in history and was in Sigma Alpha Epsilon (corresponding secretary). Al is remembered for playing his bagpipes in the Marching Band all four years. He continued his studies at Boston University, earning an M.A. in sociology and anthropology in 1964. After a brief start as a stockbroker with W.E. Hutton & Co. in Portland, Al turned to academe. He taught European history, sociology, and anthropology at Westbrook Junior College in Portland from 1960 to 1967. Al moved on to State University of New York (SUNY) where he taught anthropology, earning his Ph.D. in anthropology from SUNY Buffalo in 1974. He spent most of his career teaching anthropology, ethnomusicology, and archeology at SUNY Fredonia. His specialty was ethnohistory of natives and newcomers in northeastern North America (Wabanaki, British, French), their encounters, and outcomes from colonial trading and warfare. Al has referred to his career as “a lively life in the past lane.” He was a consultant on the landmark Maine Indian Land Claims cases. In 1980 President Jimmy Carter signed a settlement in which the Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, and Penobscot tribes received $81.5 million in reparations for land taken from the tribes. Al’s hobbies were collecting British toy soldiers and attending Celtic cultural events. With his family he enjoyed their camp in Raymond, Maine. He is survived by his wife, Florence, and daughters Ann, Jane, and Ruth.
