# Buell Quain

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{{Short description|American ethnologist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox person
|name          = Buell Quain
|image         = 
|image_size    = 
|caption       = 
|birth_name    = Buell Halvor Quain
|birth_date    = {{birth date|1912|5|31}}
|birth_place   = [Bismarck, North Dakota](/source/Bismarck%2C_North_Dakota), US
|death_date    = {{death date and age|1939|8|2|1912|5|31}}
|death_place   = [Brazil](/source/Brazil)
|alma_mater    = [University of Wisconsin - Madison](/source/University_of_Wisconsin_-_Madison)
[Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University)
|occupation    = [Ethnologist](/source/ethnology)
}}
'''Buell Halvor Quain''' (May 31, 1912 – August 2, 1939) was an American [ethnologist](/source/ethnology) who, after graduating from [University of Wisconsin–Madison](/source/University_of_Wisconsin%E2%80%93Madison) and studying as a graduate student at [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University), worked with native peoples in [Fiji](/source/Fiji) and [Brazil](/source/Brazil).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anthropologising.ca/fidji/admin.htm|title=The Effects of Limited Anthropological Theory on Problems of Fijian Administration|access-date=2008-06-18|date=2002-03-27|author=Cyril Belshaw|author-link=Cyril Belshaw|publisher=Anthropologising.ca|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080504033017/http://www.anthropologising.ca/fidji/admin.htm|archive-date=2008-05-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brazzil.com/p119jan03.htm|title=White Chief's Gone|access-date=2008-06-18|date=2003-01-19|author=Elma Lia Nascimento|publisher=Brazzil.com}}</ref> He published a total of four books, three of them posthumously.

In 1938, Quain travelled to Brazil to work with the [Kraho](/source/Krah%C3%B4) people of the Brazilian rainforest, where he also spent time in the [Trumai](/source/Trumai_people) village.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://etnolinguistica.wdfiles.com/local--files/biblio%3Amurphy-1955-trumai/Murphy%26Quain_1955_trumai.pdf|title=The Trumai Indians of Central Brazil|last=Quain|first=Buell|last2=Murphy|first2=Robert F.|publisher=J. J. Augustin|year=1955|location=Locust Valley, N.Y.}}</ref>

== Death ==
On August 2, 1939, at the age of 27, Buell Quain committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree in the Brazilian rainforest. The reason for the suicide is somewhat unclear - some reports suggested that he had written about having caught an incurable disease, but other reasons were mooted.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://bismarcktribune.com/news/columnists/curt-eriksmoen/promising-anthropologist-from-bismarck-died-young/article_9a840eac-5c79-11e0-805f-001cc4c03286.html|title=Promising anthropologist from Bismarck died young|last=ERIKSMOEN|first=CURT|work=Bismarck Tribune|access-date=2017-06-05|language=en}}</ref>

== Other ==
The mystery surrounding his death by suicide was the subject of [Brazil](/source/Brazil)ian author [Bernardo Carvalho](/source/Bernardo_Carvalho)'s 2002 novel ''Nove Noites''.

==Bibliography==
*''The Iroquois'' - 1937
*''The Flight of the Chiefs'' - 1942
*''The Trumai Indians of Central Brazil'' - 1955 (with [Robert Francis Murphy](/source/Robert_F._Murphy_(anthropologist)))
*''Fijian Village'' - 1970

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080430080759/http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/pqrst/quain_bell.html Minnesota State University]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quain, Buell}}
Category:1912 births
Category:1939 suicides
Category:1939 deaths
Category:American people of Swedish descent
Category:Columbia University alumni
Category:American ethnologists
Category:Suicides by hanging in Brazil
Category:Scientists from Bismarck, North Dakota
Category:20th-century American anthropologists

{{US-academic-scientist-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Buell Quain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buell_Quain) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buell_Quain?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.