Guide to the Indigenous Materials at the American Philosophical Society

Description: This collection contains the bulk of correspondence between Franz Boas and his professional colleagues, though there are also other Boas collections in the library. The correspondents listed above contain some correspondence related to the culture or language listed in this entry. The largest correspondence is that of George Hunt, which took place from 1894-1933 and runs around 1000 pages. A full index for this correspondence is available upon request, and includes cross references to the locations (in other APS collections) of fieldwork and other materials referred to in the letters. Other correspondences primarily about Kwakwaka'wakw matters are that of the Cadwalladers, Dan Cranmer, John Fillmore (concerning the transcription of Boas' cylinder recordings of Kwakiutl songs), Alfred I. Hall, and C. J. Nowell. In the finding aid listings for some of these correspondents, the individual letters pertaining to this culture or language will be identified by a subject heading, though for some correspondents this indexing has not yet been completed. Some letters may contain only brief mentions of work being conducted in relation to the topic. Some additional correspondences in this collection that have not yet been indexed may also contain additional material.

Collection: Franz Boas Papers Mss.B.B61

Go to the collection