James Verne Dusenberry was born on April 7, 1906, in Corning, Iowa. While a young child, his family moved to Bozeman, Montana. After he had completed high school, he attended college at Montana State College, Bozeman, where in 1927 he received his Bachelor’s Degree. Dusenberry began his working career by teaching high school English. During that time, he was becoming more interested in ethnology and would eventually return to college to get higher degrees in anthropology.
In 1935, Dusenberry was working in business His business required that he live part time in western Montana on the Flathead Indian Reservation. He also encountered the Pend d’ Oreille Indians. Dusenberry moved to Glendive, Montana, to become an English teacher at Dawson Junior College, where he eventually became Dean from 1945-1947. Dusenberry then returned to Montana State College to teach English. It was there that he introduced courses in Western Indian Literature and also served as the "Indian Specialist" for the college.
Dusenberry served as Visiting Professor of English at Northern Montana College, Havre from 1951-1953. This is when he started investigating the Cree and Chippewa Indians who live on the Rocky Boy’s Reservation. In 1953 he returned to Montana State, but continued his research and also worked for the Association for American Indian Affairs. In 1956 Dusenberry got his Master’s at the University of Montana, Missoula. He had done extensive research on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, which he wrote up for his thesis. He spent the summer of 1960 with Ake Hultkrantz and Paul Radin at Brandeis University. Hereditary Pend O'Reille chief, Mose Michelle, had made Verne Dusenberry his adopted son. This was not only an honor but it allowed Dusenberry to be accepted as a participant-observer of many religious ceremonies.
In 1962 Dusenberry received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Stockholm in Sweden. After returning from Stockholm he taught anthropology at Missoula and was an officer at the Montana Institute of Arts. He also spent part of his time teaching at Portland State College. Dusenberry then became the director of the Indian Studies Institute of the Glenbow Foundation in Calgary, Alberta, and he was also going to teach at the University of Calgary part time. But his heart was at the University of Montana and he was to return there to teach had cancer not taken his life on December 16, 1966. The Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana, holds a collection of his papers and photographs.
Dusenberry, Verne. The Rocky Boy Indians: Montana’s Displaced Persons. Helena, Montana: Montana Historical Society Press, 1954.
Former link, http://www.lib.montana.edu/collect/spcoll/findaid/85105.html. (2007) “Verne Dusenberry Papers, 1927-1966.” Montana State University Libraries University Archives, 1985: Online. Internet. 5 April. 2000.
Carling Malouf
1968 Verne Dusenberry 1906-1966. Electronic document, http://www.jstor.org/stable/671121?&Search=yes&term=verne&term=dusenberry&list=hide&searchUri=% 2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dverne%2Bdusenberry%26wc%3Don&item=4&ttl=89&returnArticleService=showArticle, accessed August 15, 2009.
Written by: Brad Bauer
Rewritten by: Lillian Dolentz, 2009