author
Albert Ernest Jenks
1869–1953
A pioneer of American anthropology, he helped build the field at the University of Minnesota and explored subjects ranging from Indigenous foodways to ancient human remains. His work helped bring anthropology into public and academic life in the early 20th century.
1 Audiobook
The Bontoc Igorot
by Albert Ernest Jenks
About the author
Albert Ernest Jenks was an American anthropologist and longtime professor at the University of Minnesota. He is especially remembered for helping establish the university’s Department of Anthropology in 1918 and serving as its first chair, shaping the study of anthropology there for decades.
His research ranged widely, which was typical of early anthropology. He wrote on wild rice gathering in the Upper Great Lakes, studied human origins, and became known for identifying the ancient remains often called “Minnesota Woman,” discovered near Pelican Rapids, Minnesota.
Jenks also worked with the United States Bureau of American Ethnology, and his career reflects a period when anthropology was expanding quickly in universities, museums, and public institutions. Today, he is mainly remembered as an influential early scholar who helped give the discipline a firmer place in American higher education.