Dr. Rex Gerald - El Paso, Texas

Rex E. Gerald was an anthropologist, teacher, and museum director at the University of Texas at El Paso. He received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona in 1951. During the Korean War he served as a physical anthropologist for the Central Identification Unit of the U. S. Army in Japan and Korea. Upon returning from the war, he enrolled in graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania where he received his M.A. in 1957. While in graduate school, he worked on excavations at Point of Pines, Arizona, Hermit's Cave, New Mexico, and Janos, Chihuahua, Mexico. In 1958, he came to El Paso and became the Director of the Centennial Museum at the University of Texas at El Paso. He served as director of the museum for 22 years, and he was the "driving force behind the museum's involvement in Contract Archaeology". Gerald received his Doctorate of Philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1975. In the 1970s, he researched Indian groups of the El Paso area. His findings were instrumental in federal recognition of the Tigua tribe of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo. Rex E. Gerald died on May 13, 1990.

Area: Central / University