William Wallace Tooker (1848-1917) was recognized as one of his era's leading specialists in Coastal Algonquian culture, history and place names. His interest in Native Americans grew from a childhood fascination. Discovering Indian relics near his home in eastern Long Island, he began to hunt for stone tools and other evidences of Indian life in nearby farm fields and beaches. He was a determined collector; he collected more than 15,000 artifacts. Corresponding with specialists and studying in local libraries in his spare time, he gained a reputation as one of the foremost students of eastern Long Island Indian life. Tooker began to present his papers in front of scholarly organizations such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He also published his work in such major scholarly journals as the American Anthropologist and The Archaeologist. As a prolific writer, he published 12 books, some 50 pamphlets and over 100 articles between 1888 and 1911. In 1896 he published Cockenoe-de-Long Island and the Story of His Career from the Early Records: a biography of Cockenoe, a Montauk Indian who rendered great service to settlers and the authorities of New England and New York in the latter half of the 17th century.