John Adair (1913 – 1997), born in Memphis, Tennessee, is best known for work in visual anthropology, but he was also very much involved and interested in the application of anthropological insights. After serving in World War II, he moved to the University of New Mexico to finish his graduate studies, becoming the University’s first doctoral candidate in anthropology. Adair than moved to Zuni with his pregnant wife Casey and their son. His sole purpose of moving to Zuni was to gather information that he could use in his dissertation: The Veterans of World War II at Zuni Pueblo, which was never published. Adair received his PhD and was hired by Cornell University in 1948. He was asked to teach a series of field seminars in the Southwest. The studies done in the Southwest were published as the book, First Look at Strangers, in 1959. Adair joined the Cornell-Navajo Field Health Research Project at Many Farms, located on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. He, along with many other anthropologists, played an important role in this project. They were asked to provide anthropological insight, perspectives, and methodologies. Adair and two other anthropologists published a report of the project in The People’s Health in 1970 and later revised the report in 1988. Adair joined the National Institute of Mental Health where he worked from 1961 to 1964. At the conclusion of his work in the NIMH, he became Professor of Anthropology at San Francisco State University, where he remained until his retirement in 1978. He is also known for the book, Through Navajo Eyes: An Exploration in Film Communication and Anthropology, which he co-authored with fellow anthropologist Sol Worth.
