This book traces the personal and intellectual histories of six remarkable women anthropologists, using a rich cocktail of archival sources.

Andrew Bank is a professor in the History Department at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. He was commissioning editor of the journal Kronos: Southern African Histories from 2001 to 2015 and is a member of the editorial board for the South African Historical Journal. He is also the co-editor of Inside African Anthropology: Monica Wilson and her Interpreters (Cambridge, 2013). His previous monographs are on slavery in Cape Town (1991) and the Bleek-Lloyd Collection of Bushman folklore (2006).

Introduction: rethinking the canon; 1. Feminizing the foundational narrative: the collaborative anthropology of Winifred Tucker Hoernle (1885-1960); 2. An adopted daughter: Christianity and anthropology in the life and work of Monica Hunter Wilson (1908-82); 3. Anthropology and Jewish identity: the urban fieldwork and ethnographies of Ellen Hellmann (1908-82); 4. 'A genius for friendship': Audrey Richards at Wits, 1938-40; 5. Historical ethnography and ethnographic fiction: the South African writings of Hilda Beemer Kuper (1911-92); 6. Feminising the discipline: the long career of Eileen Jensen Krige (1904-95); Conclusion: a humanist legacy.