James Verne Dusenberry (April 7, 1906 – December 16, 1966) 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

Verne Dusenberry was born in

Corning, Iowa Corning is a city in Quincy Township, Adams County, Iowa, Quincy and Jasper Township, Adams County, Iowa, Jasper Townships, Adams County, Iowa, Adams County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,564 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

on April 7, 1906. 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 The Pend d'Oreille or Pend d'Oreilles ( ), also known as the Kalispel (), are Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau. Today many of them live in Montana and eastern Washington of the United States. The Kalispel peoples referred to their pr ...

chief and given the name "Many Grizzly Bears". After working his way through college and dealing with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

, he earned a job located on the

Flathead Indian Reservation The Flathead Indian Reservation, located in western Montana on the Flathead River, is home to the Bitterroot Salish (tribe), Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai (tribe), Kootenai, and Pend d'Oreilles (tribe), Pend d'Oreilles tribes – also known as the ...

. 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

Robert M. Pirsig Robert Maynard Pirsig (; September 6, 1928 – April 24, 2017) was an American writer and philosopher. He is the author of the philosophical books ''Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inq ...

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."Verne Dusenberry, Lynne Dusenberry Crow ''The Montana Cree: A Study in Religious Persistence'' 1998 p8

Publications

* ''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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dusenberry, James Verne 1906 births 1966 deaths People from Corning, Iowa People from Glendive, Montana Montana State University faculty University of Montana faculty Stockholm University alumni 20th-century American anthropologists