John Edward Terrell

John Edward Terrell is an American-born anthropologist who is Regenstein Curator of Pacific Anthropology at the renowned Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois Chicago, Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and Honorary Fellow at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Early life and education – Terrell and his twin, Jane Connolly, were born in Washington, D.C. on August 15, 1942. After the war, they moved with their parents and older brother to Great Neck, N.Y. on Long Island. His family later moved over one bay to neighboring Manhasset, N.Y. in 1957, and he graduated with honors from Manhasset High School in 1960. He attended Harvard College from 1960-1964, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and with Highest Honors. He received fellowships for graduate study from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, and the Fulbright Foundation. His first research work in the Pacific Islands was in 1965 as a Fulbright Fellow to New Zealand. His first year of formal graduate studies was in the fall of 1964 and the spring of 1966 at the University of Pennsylvania. He returned to Harvard in the fall of 1966 where he gained his PhD in Anthropology. He did his dissertation field work on the island of Bougainville in the North Solomons in 1969-1970. Later he also did extensive field work in anthropology and archaeology on the Sepik Coast of Papua New Guinea.

Career – Terrell joined the staff of the Field Museum on September 2, 1971 as Assistant Curator of Oceanic Archaeology & Ethnology. He was promoted to Associate Curator of Oceanic Archaeology & Ethnology in 1976, Curator of Oceanic Archaeology & Ethnology in 1984, and Regenstein Curator of Pacific Anthropology in 2005. He has lectured widely in the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia/Pacific. He has published in all five fields of Anthropology, is the author or editor of six books, and a frequent contributor to Internet science blogs.

Personal life – John is married and has one son.