He then continued his studies in history and anthropology under the tutelage Nancy Munn, Raymond Fogelson, and George W. Stocking at the University of Chicago.
After high school, Jacknis attended Yale University and graduated summa cum laude with a B.A.
Jacknis completed his dissertation, "The storage box of tradition : museums, anthropologists, and Kwakiutl art, 1881-1981," in 1989.
Jacknis specialized in the ethnography of Native Americans, especially Indigenous people of the Northwest Coast and California.
He also extensively researched the lives of people associated with the museum, including Phoebe Hearst, Alfred Kroeber, Samuel Barrett, and Ishi.