Chinook materials, Samuel George Morton Papers
Language: English
Date: 1835; 1837
Contributor: Warren, John Collins, 1778-1856 | Townsend, John Kirk, 1809-1851
Subject: Grave robbing | Human remains | Phrenology | Mounds | Anthropometry
Type: Text
Genre: Correspondence
Extent: 3 items
Description: Letters discussing grave robbing of Indigenous ancestors' remains. Letter from John Warren Collins including a list of American Indian skulls in his collection: Chinook, Mound Builder, and Algonquian. Has cast of Guanche skull from Canary Islands. Two letters from John Kirk Townsend on September 20, 1835 concern Chinook and Klickitat ancestors' remains he is sending to Morton from Philadelphia, including disturbing descriptions of grave-robbing and the destruction of sacred sites in the midst of epidemic disease.
Collection: Samuel George Morton Papers Mss.B.M843