Hiram F. "Pete" Gregory Jr.

Dr. Hiram F. “Pete” Gregory Jr. is an archeologist and professor of four-field anthropology at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana.

Biography Gregory was born in Vidalia, Louisiana in 1937, but shortly after his birth, moved to Ferriday, Louisiana, where he spent the majority of his youth. He identifies as having Scots-Irish, German, and Native American ancestry, and he cites this as an influence on his anthropological work.

Career In 1961, after graduating from Louisiana State University, Gregory began his career as a temporary instructor at NSU, eventually accepting permanent professorship in the departments of anthropology and geography, where he remains as the university’s longest-serving employee. Having conducted excavations at the archaeological site of Los Adaes from the 1960s through the 1980s, Gregory is credited with advancing scholarship on Louisiana’s colonial history. He is also recognized for his scholarship on Native American tribes of Louisiana, produced through close ethnographic work, including land and language preservation projects, with citizens of tribes such as the Caddo Nation, the Tunica–Biloxi Tribe, and the Jena Band of Choctaws. In addition to his fieldwork and professorship, Gregory is a curator for NSU's Williamson Museum, as well as an academic advisor for the Louisiana Creole Heritage Center, the Louisiana Folklife Center, and the Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival, of which he is the co-founder.

Publications

ISBN 9780824058869 ISBN 9780807112953

ISBN 9780917898273

Awards In 1999, Gregory was the recipient of the President's Distinguished Service Award In 2016, Gregory was named Louisiana's Archaeologist of the Year by Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser and the Louisiana Office of Cultural Development In 2018, Gregory was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Louisiana Creole Heritage Center In 2019, Gregory was the recipient of Louisiana's Lifetime Contribution to the Humanities Award from Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser and the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities