Melvin R. Gilmore, noted ethnologist and author, laid the groundwork for present-day analytical cultural ethnology. The Valley, Nebraska native was graduated from Cotner College, Lincoln, in 1903 and later taught biology there while a part-time student at the University of Nebraska. He received his master's from the University in 1909 and his doctorate in botany in 1914. Gilmore's field of interest was ethnobotany, a study of native Americans and their environment.
When Gilmore was employed at the Nebraska State Historical Society, 191l-16, his work centered around caring for the Museum. He pursued his interest in ethnobotany, and, on land in Lincoln owned by the Nebraska State Historical Society, Gilmore raised plants known to be grown by native Americans. In 1914 he accompanied White Eagle, an elderly Pawnee Indian, to central Nebraska and recorded information about many abandoned village sites which were identified by White Eagle. Continuing his interest in the Pawnee, Gilmore conducted interviews in Oklahoma about Pawnee traditions.
From 1916 to 1923 Gilmore was curator at the State Historical Society of North Dakota at Bismarck. He served on the staff of the Museum of the American Indian in New York from 1913 to 1928. He was curator of ethnology at the University of Michigan from 1929 to 1939. He recorded ritualistic ceremonies of the Arikara tribe in 1924. While in New York and in Michigan, he created ethnobotanical gardens.
The author of various works on botany and on Indian life, Gilmore's best known work was Use of plants by Indians of the Missouri River Region. He died on July 25, 1940 at Lincoln.