Jules Henry (1904-1969), was born Jules Blumensohn, November 29, 1904 in New York.  He received a bachelor degree from College City New York in 1928, and a doctorate in anthropology from Columbia University in 1936. Dr. Jules Henry was a professor of anthropology and sociology at Washington University in St. Louis from 1947 to 1969, specializing in social anthropology and linguistics. He died in St. Louis in 1969.

At Columbia University Jules Henry studied anthropology under Franz Boas, Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict; and linguistics with Hans Uldall. In 1932, as a graduate student, he traveled to Santa Catarina, Brazil and lived with the Kaingang Indians (Xokleng Laklãnõ). Living among the community he learned to speak their language, and in 1934 wrote his doctoral dissertation on Kaingang grammar. His first monograph, Jungle People published in 1941 built upon this field research.

He married Zunia Henry in 1935, and in 1936 together they traveled to Argentina to live for fourteen months with the Pilaga Indians in the Gran Chaco. Both Jules and Zunia learned the complex Pilaga language solely by cultural immersion. From this field research came numerous articles and the co-authored book Doll Play with Pilaga Indian Children (1944).

During his career Henry served with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and held various teaching posts at Columbia University, Institute Politécnico Nacional, Mexico, and the University of Chicago, before joining the faculty of Washington University. A highly prolific author, his most widely acclaimed written work, Culture Against Man (1963), is thought by many experts to be one the most penetrating studies in American culture to date. Likewise, his books Jungle People (1941) and Pathways to Madness (1971) are often regarded as the most thorough and compelling works of their kind.

Sumia (Zunia) Lottie Gechtman Henry (1903-1998) was a gifted and professionally trained musician, who attended classes in the Department of Anthropology and the School for Social research at Columbia University. A close associate in her husband’s research endeavors, Zunia Henry was asked by the anthropology department to accompany Jules on field work to Argentina, where she recorded observations of Pilaga childhood and language. After Jules Henry’s death, Zunia Henry worked to complete his final manuscript, Pathways to Madness published in 1971. She died in St. Louis in 1998.

Source: Jules Henry Biographical Information File, University Archives