Erminnie A. Smith

Erminnie A. Smith was born on April 26, 1836, in Marcellus, New York. Her parents were Joseph Platt and Ermina Dodge Platt. Back then, girls did not always get to go to school for a long time. But Erminnie's family believed in learning. She went to a special school for girls called Troy Female Seminary. She finished school there in 1853. She studied hard subjects like math and science.

In 1855, Erminnie married a man named Simeon H. Smith. He sold lumber and other goods in Chicago. They had children together, including sons. Later, her sons went to study in Germany. Erminnie decided to go too! She studied rocks and crystals at big universities there. This kind of science is called mineralogy.

The family then moved to Jersey City, New Jersey. Erminnie turned her home into a place where people came to learn. She gave talks about science. Many people came to listen. In 1876, she started a club called the Aesthetic Society. People met there to talk about science, books, art, and ideas. Sometimes 500 people came to one meeting! Even the famous writer Oscar Wilde once gave a talk there.

Through this club, Erminnie learned about a new kind of science called anthropology. This is the study of people and how they live. She became very interested in the Iroquois people, who are also called the Haudenosaunee. They lived in New York and Canada.

In 1878, a famous museum group called the Smithsonian asked Erminnie to study the Iroquois language and way of life. This made her one of the first women ever hired by the Smithsonian for science work! She traveled to Iroquois villages. She lived with the Tuscarora people. She learned their language. She wrote down their stories and traditions. She even taught some Iroquois people how to help her collect information. This was a brand new idea at the time. Erminnie collected more than 15,000 Iroquois words! This helped make a dictionary of their language. In 1883, she published her most famous book. It was called Myths of the Iroquois. It told the amazing stories and legends of the Iroquois people. Erminnie also wrote about Iroquois women. She learned that Iroquois women could own property and had many rights. This was different from most American and European women at that time. Erminnie earned many honors for her work. In 1877, she became the first woman member of the New York Academy of Sciences. She later became the first woman officer of a big science group called the AAAS. People still remember her as the first woman to do hands-on fieldwork in anthropology.

Erminnie kept working and helping her community until she died on June 9, 1886, at her home in Jersey City. She was fifty years old. She was buried in New York Bay Cemetery.

Today, people remember Erminnie A. Smith as a brave scientist. She broke rules that said women could not do important science. She helped save Iroquois stories and language for the future. Her work still helps people today.