Diamond Jenness (1886-1969)

• Published in: ARCTIC
• Main Authors: Collins, Henry B., Taylor, Jr., William E.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Arctic Institute of North America 1970
• Subjects: Arctic Institute of North America. Icefield Ranges Research Project; Arctic Institute of North America. High Mountain Environment Project; Icefield Ranges; Yukon; St. Elias Mountains; Alaska/British Columbia/Yukon; Arctic; British Columbia; Canada; Coronation Gulf; Greenland; Stefansson; Wilkins; Arctic Institute of North America; eskimo*; Sea ice; The Arctic Institute; Alaska
• Online Access: https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/66210

Canada's most distinguished anthropologist, Dr. Diamond Jenness, formerly Chief of the Division of Anthropology, National Museums of Canada, and Honorary Associate of the Arctic Institute of North America, died peacefully at his home in the Gatineau Hills near Ottawa on 29 November, 1969. He was one of that rapidly-vanishing, virtually extinct kind - the all round anthropologist, who, working seriously, turned out first-class publications in all four major branches of the discipline: ethnology, linguistics, archaeology, and physical anthropology. One must also add a fifth: applied anthropology, a fitting designation for the series of monographs on Eskimo administration in Alaska, Canada, and Greenland which he wrote after his retirement and which were published by the Arctic Institute of North America. . [In response to an invitation to join Stefansson Arctic Expedition and study Eskimos for three years, Jenness found himself a member of the Southern Party with an assignment to study the Copper Eskimos around Coronation Gulf. These plans were interrupted due to the presence of sea ice.] On 30 September, Stefansson, with his secretary Burt McConnell, Jenness, two Eskimos, and the expedition's photographer G.H. Wilkins (later Sir Hubert Wilkins), left the Karluk near the mouth of the Colville River to hunt caribou and lay in a supply of fresh meat when it had become apparent that the ship, immobilized in the ice, could proceed no further. With two sleds, twelve dogs and food for twelve days the party set out for the mainland, but they never saw the Karluk again, for a week or so later the unfortunate vessel began her final drift westward. This was the inauspicious beginning of Jenness' arctic career. Few young anthropologists have faced such difficulties in beginning field-work in a new and unfamiliar area; yet none, surely, has emerged from the test with a more brilliant record of work accomplished. . Jenness' first winter's field-work on the Arctic coast of Alaska led to [an] impressive list of publications . ...