James Verne Dusenberry
![]() | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (April 2023) |
James Verne Dusenberry | |
---|---|
Born | April 7, 1906 |
Died | December 16, 1966 | (aged 60)
Occupation | Anthropologist |
James Verne Dusenberry (April 7, 1906 – December 16, 1966)[1] was a publicly acclaimed scholar. He is best known for his writings on and the relationships he built with many of the various Montana tribes throughout his lifetime.
Early life
[edit]Verne Dusenberry was born in Corning, Iowa on April 7, 1906.[2] When Dusenberry was young, his family moved to Montana. His interest in Native Americans grew and he soon became well-acquainted with the surrounding tribes of Montana. In 1937, he was adopted by a Pend d'Oreille chief and given the name "Many Grizzly Bears". After working his way through college and dealing with tuberculosis, he earned a job located on the Flathead Indian Reservation.
Dusenberry was previously married and had a daughter named Lynn Dusenberry, who was very involved with her father's research. She too, was well acquainted with the Montana Native tribes and assisted her father with his book.
Influence
[edit]Robert M. Pirsig was a personal friend and one of Dusenberry's supportive colleagues in the Montana State College English Department. Dusenberry appeared as a pivotal thematic figure in Pirsig's book Lila: An Inquiry into Morals. Pirsig said that "Verne was misunderstood and underestimated both as a person and as a scholar" and that he hoped the publication of Lila would "help to set the record straight."[3]
Publications
[edit]- Chief Joseph's Flight Through Montana (1952)
- The Rocky Boy Indians (1954)
- The Northern Cheyenne (1955)
- Montanans Look at their Indians (1955)
- Horn in the Ice (1956)
- The Development of Montana's Indians (1957)
- Waiting for a Day that Never Comes (1958)
- Indians and the Pentecostals (1958)
- Gabriel Nattau's Soul Speaks (1959)
- Vision Experience of a Pend d'Oreille Indian (1959)
- Notes on the Material Culture of the Assiniboine (1960)
- An Appreciation of James Willard Schultz (1960)
- The Significance of the Sacred Pipes to the Gros Ventre of Montana (1961)
- Ceremonial Sweat Lodge of the Gros Ventre Indians (1962)
References
[edit]- ^ "Accession 85015 - Verne Dusenberry Papers, ca. 1885-1966 :: Montana State University Library".
- ^ Carling Malouf (April 1968). "Verne Dusenberry 1906–1966". American Anthropologist. 1970 (2): 326–327. doi:10.1525/aa.1968.70.2.02a00090.
- ^ Verne Dusenberry, Lynne Dusenberry Crow The Montana Cree: A Study in Religious Persistence 1998 ISBN 0806130253 p8