Blackfoot materials, C. F. Voegelin Papers

Culture:
Blackfoot includes: Niitsítapi, Siksikaitsitapi, Blackfeet
Language: English | Blackfoot
Date: circa 1930s-1960s
Contributor: Voegelin, C. F. (Charles Frederick), 1906-1986 | Lewis, Oscar, 1914-1970 | Bear Hat, Velma | Water Chief, Margaret | Sapir, Edward, 1884-1939
Subject: Linguistics | Anthropology | Ethnography | Folklore | Algonquian languages | Kinship | Social life and customs
Type: Text
Genre: Correspondence | Notebooks | Notes | Stories | Translations | Grammars
Extent: 13 folders, 2 boxes
Description: The C. F. Voegelin Papers contain correspondence, card files, notes, notebooks, Vocabularies, and other linguistic and ethnographic materials relating to Blackfoot language and culture. These are located in both Subcollection I and Subcollection II of the Voegelin Papers. Materials in Subcollection I include 2 boxes of card files (mostly vocabulary) and 2 folders of document files in Series II. Card Files. Of particular interest in Folder #1 might be some notes on vocabulary and eight pages of an incomplete letter, apparently to Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin, from someone based at the Blackfoot agency doing fieldwork under the auspices of Clark Wissler and working with Mr. Calfchild. The writer mentions societies, exogamy, kinship, reciprocity, bands, etc. Folder #2 contains child-focused material including typed texts (mostly sporadic comments) obtained from children, fragments of typed observations about children's interactions and language use, and a two-page list of 24 Blackfoot children, with their full names, ages, and sometimes notes about their fluency or references to texts and other works for which these individuals were apparently consulted. There is also a bundle of texts, mostly about Blackfoot societies and their origins, labeled "Old Bull (Shultz's Informant)" [Possibly a reference to James Willard Schultz (1859-1947)]. Continuing with Subcollection I, there is also 1 folder of undated linguistic notes in Series V. Research Notes, Subseries V-A: Language Notes; a folder containing the typed transcript of a dialogue (between children at play) between Velma Bear Hat and Margaret Water Chief in Series V. Research Notes, Subseries V-B: Text; and 3 undated folders in Series VI. Notebooks (which were described in detail by Richard A. Rhodes, Department of Linguistics at the University of California-Berkeley, in 1988, and include vocabulary, stories, work on paradigms, vowel clusters, suffixes, numerals, kinship terms, and some ethnographic information in #3). Blackfoot materials in Subcollection II include correspondence with Oscar Lewis (regarding Blackfoot culture and linguistic classfication, particularly in relation to Kutenai, and including a paper Lewis sent and Voegelin's response) and Edward Sapir (mentioning work on Blackfoot, Algonquin and Wiyot) in Series I. Correspondence; and several folders in Series II. Research Notes, Subseries III. Macro-Algonquian. The latter contain Blackfoot grammatical notes, Blackfoot prefixes, sketches of Blackfoot designs, and 8 notebooks. Blackfoot notebooks 1-7 contain stories (Blackfoot with interlinear English), Vocabularies, and names of speakers, and a separate unnumbered Blackfoot notebook contains ethnographic notes in English, though some Blackfoot terms and phrases are included.
Collection: C. F. Voegelin Papers Mss.Ms.Coll.68