Yuchi materials, James M. Crawford Papers
Culture:
Date: circa 1969-1987
Contributor: Crawford, James M. (James Mack), 1925-1989 | Fogelson, Raymond D. | Sturtevant, William C.
Subject: Linguistics | Ethnography | Anthropology | Oklahoma--History | Education
Type: Text | Three-dimensional object
Genre: Drafts | Essays | Field notes | Vocabularies | Stories | Notes | Notebooks | Disks | Disks | Correspondence
Extent: 34 folders, 45 boxes, 4 magnetic tapes
Description: Materials relating to James Crawford's interest in and research on the Yuchi language. Items in Series III-B. Works by Crawford—Yuchi include "Biloxi, Ofo, and Yuchi" [1970], a paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Anthropological Society; "Reconnaissance Among Several Indian Groups in Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana" [1969], 2 folders containing typed and edited drafts of the narrative of a research trip including itinerary, names of people contacted, names of possible informants, and vocabulary items [See related materials regarding Crawford's research trips searching for data on the Mobilian trade language]; "Timucua and Yuchi: Two Language Isolates of the Southeast" [1977], 2 folders containing typed and edited drafts of an essay published in “The Languages of North America: Historical and Comparative Assessment,” edited by Lyle Campbell and Marianne Mithun; "Yuchi" [n.d.], a 7-page Xeroxed copy of the “Yuchi” entry, focusing on history and sources, in a volume on Southeastern Indian Languages; "Yuchi" in Handbook of North American Indians [1979], 2 folders of handwritten notes, typed drafts, and other research for the Yuchi entry in the Handbook; "Yuchi Phonology" [1970s], 3 folders of handwritten and typed notes and drafts of an essay on Yuchi and "Yuchi Text with Translation" [1972], containing handwritten and typed versions of a text and translation Crawford was preparing for publication. Items in Series IV-B. Research Notes & Notebooks—Yuchi include a word list and phrases in Yuchi and English in a folder labeled “Handouts” [n.d.]; 2 pages of unidentified linguistic notes and one page listing language consultants for Yuchi, Creek, and Shawnee in a folder labeled “Informants” [n.d.]; a typed copy and Xeroxed copy of a list of phrases demonstrating Yuchi negation in a folder labeled “Negation” [n.d.]; a folder of typed and handwritten “Notes on Yuchi Syntax” [1978]; "Possible Cognates to Yuchi in Siouan, Atakapa, Yava, Maider, etc." [1971-1977], which contains 9 full sheets and 2 slips of handwritten notes comparing Yuchi, Biloxi, Ofo, Catawba, Atakapa, Maidu, Yava, Wocco, Tutelo, etc.; "Some Possible Cognates Between Yuchi and Siouan and Between Yuchi and Tunica" [1976], containing a typed three-page chart comparing Yuchi, Dakota, and Biloxi (also with some Catawba examples); a folder of “Rough Sheets” containing handwritten Yuchi linguistic notes and charts; two five-inch floppy discs and a dot matrix print-out in a folder labeled “Yuchi Data” [1985]; and a folder of handwritten and typed Vocabularies and linguistic data in “Yuchi Vocabulary by Seymour Frank” [1970]. Nine field notebooks dating to 1970, 1971, and 1973 might be of particular interest. As well as linguistic information, Crawford also kept track of his itinerary, possible language consultants, etc. Crawford's interest in the Mobilian trade language is clear from the start, as he mentions Arzelia Langley and other consultants early on in #1 before focusing on Yuchi. Interviews with Maggie Poncho and Leonard Lavan are at the end of #4 after Crawford spent most of the summer working with Yuchi consultants, and his pursuit of Mobilian resumed in the summer of 1971 with #5, when Lavan was dying and no longer recognized Crawford, but Crawford worked with members of the Langley and Medford families and continued searching for more Mobilian speakers before again spending most of the summer working with Yuchi consultants in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. In the summer of 1973, Crawford worked on Yuchi in Sapulpa again before heading to Arizona and spending the rest of the summer working on Cocopa, particularly Cocopa baby talk. Language consultants mentioned include Frank Seymour, Nancy Wildcat, Addie George, Maggie Poncho, Leonard Lavan, Claude Medford, and many more potential consultants mentioned. A tenth notebook, dated to 1987 and largely empty, records another brief trip to Sapulpa to work again with Addie George and other Yuchi consultants. These notebooks, as well as a folder labeled “Notes” that is filled with miscellaneous handwritten and typed notes relating to Crawford's research trips, work on the Yuchi language, work with Yuchi people on bilingual education, and the like, all mention numerous Yuchi and other indigenous individuals and sometimes include genealogical and family history information as well. Finally, there are 45 boxes of word slips, Yuchi—English and English—Yuchi, in Series V. Card Files, and four magnetic tapes of Yuchi linguistic materials dating from 1979 to 1986 in Series IV-B, Research Notes & Notebooks—Yuchi (an Oversized series). See also: the Mobilian entry and the Linguistics entry for the Crawford Papers for related materials, including more field notes from Crawford's visits to Sapulpa and with other Yuchi consultants and materials relating to Crawford's work with bilingual education with Yuchis in Oklahoma, including a booklet titled “Euchee Mission Reunion” in “Sapulpa, Oklahoma Public Schools” in Series II. Subject Files. Finally, Series I. Correspondence contains correspondence from Raymond Fogelson with reader reports from William Sturtevant and Lew Ballard on Crawford's Yuchi entry for the Handbook of North American Indians, and Crawford's reply asking that the entry be reassigned due the years that have passed since he submitted the essay and the considerable edits required to revise the entry for and correspondence from William Sturtevant regarding attempts by Kristian Hvidt (librarian of the Danish parliament) to learn more about 1735 Georgia drawings by Baron Philipp Georg von Reck, a commissaire to the Salzburgers who settled at Ebenezer, along with Crawford's subsequent notes and drafts of a brief essay on the history and nature of the images, stressing the Yuchi and Creek elements.
Collection: James M. Crawford Papers Mss.Ms.Coll.66