Dr. Duane Harold King (May 18, 1947 – September 17, 2017) was an American writer, educator, and museum director. King wrote extensively on Native American topics with a special interest in Cherokee and linguistics. He served as the Executive Director of the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, Senior Adviser of the National Museum for the American Indian, and Director of the Helmerich Center for American Research.

Academic career

Duane Harold King was born on May 18, 1947, in

Kingsport, Tennessee Kingsport is a city in Sullivan and Hawkins counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It lies along the Holston River and had a population of 55,442 at the 2020 census. It is the largest city in the Kingsport–Bristol metropolitan area, ...

. King received his BA degree from the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

; and a MA degree and Ph.D. from the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

. He went on to found the ''Journal of Cherokee Studies'' and in his career was Executive Director at several organizations including the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee, North Carolina. He went on to work as Assistant Director of the

National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...

in New York City, and senior advisor for academic research and program outreach for the Smithsonian Institution's

in Washington, D.C.. In 1995 he moved to Los Angeles to serve as Executive Director of the

Southwest Museum The Southwest Museum of the American Indian was a museum, library, and archive located in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States, above the north-western bank of the Arroyo Seco canyon and stream. The museum ...

in Los Angeles. Later in life he was the Executive Director of the

Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art William Thomas Gilcrease (February 8, 1890 – May 6, 1962) was an Muscogee-American oilman, art collector, and philanthropist. During his lifetime, Gilcrease collected more than 10,000 artworks, 250,000 Native American artifacts and 100,000 ...

in Tulsa and promoted to the University of Tulsa's Vice President for Museum Affairs and Executive Director of the Helmerich Center for American Research. He taught at the University level throughout his life and served as the first endowed Chair in Cherokee Studies at Western Carolina University. King was honored with the "Dr. Duane H. King Memorial Visiting Scholar Fund" at the Gilcrease Museum's Helmerich Center for American Research in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He died on September 17, 2017, in

Arcadia, California Arcadia is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located about northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. It contains a series of adjacent parks consisting of t ...

Bibliography

King was associated with the following titles: * ''The Memoirs of Lt. Henry Timberlake: The Story of a Soldier, Adventurer, and Emissary to the Cherokees, 1756–1765'' (2007) * ''The Cherokee Indian Nation: A Troubled History'' (1979) * ''The Cherokee Trail of Tears'' (2007) * ''Myths of the Cherokee'' (1900) * ''Art of the Oklahoma State Capitol: The Senate Collection'' (2009) * ''The Masterworks of Charles M. Russell: A Retrospective of Paintings and Sculpture'' (Foreword, 2009) * ''Peace Medals: Negotiating Power in Early America'' (Contributor, 2012) * ''Forging a Nation: The American History Collection at Gilcrease Museum'' (2010) * ''Cherokee Nation: A History of Survival, Self Determination, and Identity'' (2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Duane H. 1947 births 2017 deaths Western Carolina University faculty People from Kingsport, Tennessee Writers from Tennessee 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers