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Timeline
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1935
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Born in Cleveland, Ohio on February 16; raised
by her mother, Florence (Mann) and stepfather
Norman Siegal as well as her
grandmother Sofie
Mann; the Siegals move to Los Angeles,
California when she is a teenager
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1954
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Marries
Lee Myerhoff, psychologist; they have two
sons: Nicholas (b. 1968) and Matthew (b.1971); they
divorce in 1982
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1958
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Receives BA in Sociology from University of
California at Los Angeles
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1963
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Receives Masters Degree in Human Development at
University of Chicago.
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1965
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Begins fieldwork on the Huichol Indians of
Northern Mexico; is the first non-Huichol, together
with Peter Furst, to embark
on the peyote hunt ,a sacred annual
pilgrimage.
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1968
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Receives doctorate in Anthropology for her
dissertation on Huichol ritual from University of
California at Los Angeles; becomes an assistant
professor of Anthropology at the University of
Southern California where she wins various awards
for her
creative
teaching.
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1972
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Begins
fieldwork
on elderly Jews at the Israel Levin Center
in Venice, California.,
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1974
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Publishes her first book, Peyote Hunt: The
Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians, which is
nominated for a National Book Award.
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1976
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Becomes full professor at USC and Chair of
Anthropology Department; heads the department until
1980 and develops innovative graduate program in
Visual Anthropology.
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1977
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Completes film
Number Our
Days
with director Lynne Littman, depicting
her research at the Israel Levin Center; wins an
Oscar for best short documentary; co-edits
Secular Ritual: Forms and Meaning.
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1979
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Publishes the book
Number Our Days , the culmination
of her work at the Israel Levin Center; receives
excellent reviews for her work including selection
as one of the year's ten best Social Science books
by the New York Times; begins teaching
occasional workshops in New York on performance,
life histories, ritual and storytelling at NYU and
the Hunter/Brookdale Center for the Aging
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1980
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Organizes "Life
not Death in Venice," an ambitious
exhibit
at USC featuring the work of elderly
Jewish artists and celebrating shetl culture
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1981
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Helps adapt Number Our Days for the
stage, performed at the Mark Taper Forum.
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1982
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Begins studying and filming the Jewish community
in Fairfax, California.
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1984
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Diagnosed with cancer, Myerhoff asks director
Lynn Littman to collaborate on the Fairfax film;
they focus In
Her Own
Time
on Myerhoff's experiences with the
Hasidic community as they try to heal her; co-edits
The Feminization of America: How Women's Values
are Changing Our Public and Private Lives.
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1985
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Died in Los Angeles of lung cancer on January 7,
at age 49
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