John Beach Driggs was an American medical doctor and Episcopal missionary who spent two decades living and working among the Inupiat people of northwestern Alaska. Born in the Caribbean in 1852 to a planter family, Driggs was sent to Connecticut for his education. He went on to study medicine at the University Medical College of the University of the City of New York, graduating with his medical degree in 1880. After practicing medicine in New York City and Delaware for a decade, he accepted a missionary posting that would define the rest of his life.
In the summer of 1890, Driggs arrived at the Episcopal Church's mission station in Tig-a-ra (now Point Hope, Alaska). Serving as both a physician and a teacher, he became deeply integrated into the local community, remaining in Point Hope until at least 1910. During his long tenure, Driggs took a keen interest in the culture of the indigenous Inupiat population, specifically the Tikiġaġmiut. He carefully recorded their oral traditions, nature lore, and legends.
Driggs compiled these indigenous narratives into written form, resulting in his primary literary contribution, Short Sketches of Oldest America, published in 1905. The collection provided outside readers with a rare, sympathetic glimpse into the folklore and daily lives of the Arctic's native inhabitants during a period of rapid change. Driggs passed away in 1914, leaving behind a valuable historical and anthropological record of the region.
