author
Albert Ernest Jenks
1869–1953
A pioneering American anthropologist, he helped shape the study of cultures and early human history at the University of Minnesota. His work ranged from field research in the Philippines to investigations of ancient remains in Minnesota.
1 Audiobook
The Bontoc Igorot
by Albert Ernest Jenks
About the author
Born in 1869 and active well into the first half of the twentieth century, Albert Ernest Jenks was an American anthropologist and professor whose career became closely tied to the University of Minnesota. He is remembered as the founder of the university’s Department of Anthropology, which he led from 1918 until his retirement.
Jenks wrote on a wide range of subjects, including rice cultivation, human origins, and Indigenous cultures. One of his best-known books is The Bontoc Igorot, based on research in the Philippines, and he is also noted for identifying the ancient skeletal remains known as Minnesota Woman near Pelican Rapids.
He died in 1953, but his name still appears in the history of American anthropology because of both his teaching and his fieldwork. His career reflects an era when anthropology was expanding quickly, with scholars trying to connect archaeology, ethnography, and human prehistory in a single picture.