William E. Gates
| William E. Gates | |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 8, 1863 Atlanta, Georgia |
| Died | April 24, 1940 (aged 76) |
| Education | Johns Hopkins University; law degree, University of Virginia |
| Employer | Archaeology Commission of the Maryland Academy of Science, Carnegie Institution for Science, Republic of Guatemala, archaeology department, American Indian Defense Association, Tulane University |
| Known for | Researching Mayan language hieroglyphs; speaking at least 13 languages |
| Parent(s) | Katherine Appley and William H. Gates |
| Relatives | Grandfather, Horatio Gates |
William Edmond Gates (December 8, 1863 – April 24, 1940) was an American Mayanist. Most of his research focused around Mayan language hieroglyphs. He also collected Mesoamerican manuscripts. Gates studied Mayan based languages like Yucatec Maya, Ch'olti', Huastec and Q'eqchi'. Biographies state that he could speak at least 13 languages. Works and archives related to Gates reside in the collections of Brigham Young University.
Gates was born in 1863 in Atlanta, Georgia. His parents were William H. Gates (1833 in NY - 1901) and Katherine Appley. Gates' grandfather was Horatio Gates. Gates attended school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended Johns Hopkins University and University of Virginia. He graduated in 1886 with a law degree. The following year he moved to Cleveland, Ohio. He ran a printing company.
In 1898 he bought a copy of the Codex Troano. This triggered his interest in Mayan culture. In 1900 he retired from his work in printing. He relocated to San Diego, California. He became involved in theosophy. He moved to a theosophy colony called the Aryan Theosophical Colony. It was located in Point Loma, a neighborhood of San Diego. He started teaching antiquities at the colony college. While teaching, he researched and published about Mayan culture and language. He started building his own collection of Mayan documentation, including manuscripts and photographs of manuscripts. By 1910 he had published the Paris Codex. Two years later, he started exploring how comparing different Mayan languages could help make further discoveries about Mayan hieroglyphs. He departed from New Orleans in June of 1917 to visit Guatemala for archaeological research.
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