William Cameron Townsend (l896–l982)

Cameron Townsend at Occidental College, 1917.

"Not since the third century has there been a man like Cameron Townsend who attempted so much, and saw so many dreams realized in his lifetime," declared Kenneth L. Pike, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee. He called them "dreams" but they were more on the order of hard-nosed intentions. One objective was to stimulate the study of every single minority language in the world not yet analyzed or recorded. Another was to enable every people, wherever they were, to establish and control their own communal identities. Townsend saw tremendous progress toward accomplishing both goals in his lifetime. 

One of his dreams, the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), which he founded, has grown from a small summer linguistics training program with two students to a staff of over 5,500 coming from over 60 countries. SIL's linguistic investigation exceeds 2,590 languages spoken by over 1.7 billion people in nearly 100 countries.

Cakchiquel friends of the Townsends in the village of Cajagualten, Guatemala, 1924.

Townsend's contribution to the academic community and his encouragement to members of small ethnic groups to understand their own personal worth cannot be measured. The world of science along with multiplied segments of humanity owe great gratitude to Townsend.