Guide to the Indigenous Materials at the American Philosophical Society

Description: The Nuu-chah-nulth materials in the ACLS collection consist of a large body of various materials primarily collected by Franz Boas, Edward Sapir, George Hunt, and Morris Swadesh. The majority of the content pertains to Hupacasath and Tseshaht people in the Alberni Valley area, with the exception of the Hunt materials, which were recorded in the Yuquot area, Mowachaht territory. All of these materials are found in the "Nootka" section of the finding aid, which contains a full, detailed listing. The Boas materials consist of a lexicon of 1500+ word slips dating from the 1890s (item W2a.3). Hunt's "Nootka Tales" (item W2a.5) consist of large body of traditional stories written in English and later typed up by Sapir with additional notes. Sapir's materials comprise the bulk of this section overall. See especially his extremely voluminous "Miscellaneous Nootka material" (item W2a.18), the final item in the "Nootka" section, for which a detailed table of contents is available upon request. This set of materials includes 24 field notebooks with extensive stories (some unpublished or untranslated) and ethnographic notes, as well of 80 folders of typed up notes from the notebooks, arranged into categories. It also includes some photographs, censuses of Nuu-chah-nulth "bands" (1920-1921), and 10 folders notes derived by Sapir (and Swadesh?) from "NW Coast Sources and Archives," pertaining to the region more broadly, including information on Coast Salish culture and history. Finally, Swadesh's materials in this section include some additional ethnographic and linguistic field work, as well as extensive bodies of linguistic analysis of materials recorded by Sapir and himself. Brief passages on Comox and Pentlatch in Sapir's notes in loose folders. Detailed guide available upon request.

Collection:ACLS Collection (American Council of Learned Societies Committee on Native American Languages, American Philosophical Society) (Mss.497.3.B63c)

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Nuu-chah-nulth materials, Edward Sapir Papers

Culture:

Nuu-chah-nulth includes: Nootka, Nutka, Aht, Westcoast

Language:English

Date:1921

Contributor:Sapir, Edward, 1884-1939 | Sayachapis, Tom

Subject:British Columbia--History | Poetry

Type:Text

Genre:Poems

Extent:1 folder

Description: The Nuu-chah-nulth material in the Edward Sapir Papers consists of one poem, "A Blind, Old Indian Tells His Names," based upon Sayachapis, a Tseshaht man with whom Sapir worked during his fieldwork in the Port Alberni region. The poem in this collection is in handwritten draft form and typed out. This collection does not contain any of Sapir's linguistic or anthropological work, but consists materials relating to Sapir's literary and aesthetic writings, with some correspondence relating to the posthumous publication of his Collected Works. For Sapir's linguistic materials, see the ACLS Collection (Mss.497.3.B63c).

Collection:Edward Sapir Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.150)

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Nuu-chah-nulth materials, Susan Golla papers

Culture:

Tseshaht

Nuu-chah-nulth includes: Nootka, Nutka, Aht, Westcoast

Hupacasath includes: Hupač̓asatḥ, Opetchesaht

Language:English | Nuu-chah-nulth

Date:1960-1990

Subject:British Columbia--History | Ethnography | Linguistics | Boarding schools

Type:Sound recording | Still Image | Text

Extent:10.5 linear feet; 34 hours

Description: The Susan Golla Papers include research notes, subject files, field notes, copies of archival documents (photocopies; microfilm), audio recordings, 35 mm slides, and printed materials. The entirety of the collection concerns the Nuu-chah-nulth people of Vancouver Island, primarily the Hupacasath and Tseshaht of the Port Alberni region where Golla conducted her fieldwork in the 1970s. Series 1 contains correspondence. Series 2 contains 28 field notebooks from 1967, 1976-1979, and 1990-1991. This series also contains notes relating to work with the Tseshaht elder Mabel Taylor on translation of "The Legendary of Tseshaht," an untranslated story from Edward Sapir's field notebooks, originally told by Tom Sayachapis and recorded by Edward Sapir in November 1910. Series 5 includes an incomplete set of Ha-Shilth-Sa, the newspaper of record for the Nuu-chah-nulth communities of Vancouver Island, from 1976-1989. Series 6 includes 334 color slides of Hupacasath and Tseshaht ceremonies, 1976-1979. Includes images of singing, dancing, and bartering of wealth with gifts of food and goods at weddings and other community events. Prints also display regalia, traditional musical instruments, and the carving and raising of a pole. Series 7 includes interviews with Tseshaht elders Mabel Taylor, Margaret Shewish, Hughie Watts, on Nuu-chah-nulth language, food prepration, and Sayachapis. Additional tapes are of sessions working with Mabel Taylor on the translation of "The Legendary History of the Tseshaht." NOTE: Some portions of the field notes may be restricted due to privacy concerns surrounding personal information.

Collection:Susan Golla papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.89)