Guide to the Indigenous Materials at the American Philosophical Society

Description: Materials relating to Speck's research and other professional activities. Items include Speck's notes taken during graduate work at Columbia University under Franz Boas, and utilized for his own anthropology courses at the University of Pennsylvania; Speck's miscellaneous notes comprising circa 500 bibliographic cards and reading notes sorted out by tribe and/or language, dealing with tribes and countries in which Speck did no field work [other entries of this type are to be found among the various groups of materials in the Speck collection, according to tribe]; correspondence concerning exhibits and specimens for the Chicago World's Fair and for the Exposition of Indian Tribal Arts in New York City; two letters from Boas regarding the work of the Committee on Research in Native American Languages; correspondence regarding topics such as the double-curve motif, family hunting areas, indigenous foods and cooking methods, wampum, silverwork, birch-bark technique, baskets, Speck's research and publications, the research and publications of others, obtaining indigenous material cultural specimens for Speck, purchases of indigenous material culture specimens (baskets, masks, etc.) from Speck, Speck's identification of items in the Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford University, Speck's bibliography, and Speck's obituary; letters requesting copies of Speck's publications, or acknowledging the transmission of publications between Speck and others; copies and/or drafts of several of Speck's presentations and publications, including "Lectures on Primitive Religion," "Land Ownership Among Hunting Peoples in Primitive America and the World's Marginal Areas," "Review of Lowie's Introduction to Cultural Anthropology," and "The Double-Curve Motive in Northeastern Algonquian Art"; a bibliography of Speck's publications through 1942; rough drafts of miscellaneous papers, 1928-1948; Speck's notes on topics such as crane posture; Birket-Smith's 1946 "Plan for Circumpolar Research"; ten distribution maps for circumpolar culture traits, colored in with crayon to show distribution of traits including divination and miracle shamanism, sweat bath, turtle Atlas myth and world-tree concept, bone divination, bear veneration, curative power of mystic words and formulae, dog-ancestor myth, dog as soul leader, curvilinear patterns, and confession to cure taboo violation; and a prepublication manuscript of Hallowell's "The nature and function of property as a human institution" with additions and corrections.

Collection:Frank G. Speck Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.126)

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Nanticoke materials, Frank G. Speck Papers

Culture:

Tuscarora includes: Ska:rù:rę'

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Onondaga includes: Onöñda'gega'

Oneida includes: Onyota'a:ka

Mohawk includes: Kanienʼkehá꞉ka

Nanticoke

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Cayuga includes: Gayogohó:no

Language:English | Nanticoke

Date:1914-1943

Contributor:Speck, Frank G. (Frank Gouldsmith), 1881-1950 | Boas, Franz, 1858-1942 | Mooney, James, 1861-1921

Type:Text

Genre:Correspondence | Notes

Extent:3 folders

Description: Materials relating to Speck's study of Nanticoke language, history, and culture. Includes Speck's miscellaneous Nanticoke notes, comprising a letter from Wes (?) to Speck, June 24, 1943, concerning Nanticoke J. Barton Cheyney to Speck, October 31, no year, concerning Delaware-white-Nanticoke relations; James Mooney to Speck, February 15, 1916, concerning Speck's Nanticoke article (1915); Franz Boas to Speck, March 29, 1916, on same subject. [See also Speck (1915).] Other materials include a document describing a meeting of Delaware, Nanticoke, and Canadian Iroquois in the presence of Speck and recounting injustices suffered by Native peoples in the United States and Canada [see also #1755] and Speck's notes on the Tuscarora in Canada, which include names for the Nanticokes in Cayuga, Tuscarora, Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga, and Oneida; notes on wampum, folklore, and the Canadian Tuscarora; and some Nanticoke vocabulary.

Collection:Frank G. Speck Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.126)

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Ojibwe materials, C. F. Voegelin Papers

Culture:

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Penobscot

Ojibwe includes: Ojibwa, Chippewa, Ojibway

Potawatomi includes: Pottawotomi, Neshnabé, Bodéwadmi

Anishinaabe includes: Anishinaabeg, Anishinabe, Nishnaabe, Anishinabek

Date:circa 1925-1967, bulk circa 1940-1941

Type:Text

Genre:Correspondence | Notes | Notebooks | Stories | Essays

Extent:32 folders

Description: Several items relating to the Ojibwe (Ojibwa, Chippewa) language have been identified in the C. F. Voegelin Papers. They are located in both Subcollection I and Subcollection II. In Subcollection I, they include relevant correspondence with John N. Seaman (regarding Chippewa fieldwork in Michigan and consultants Mr. Maidler [Medler?] and Charlie David) and a partial letter with Ojibwe text in the Unidentified folder; 6 boxes of Ojibwe notecards, 1 box of Seneca, Ojibwe and Penobscot notecards, and 2 folders of Ojibwe notes (mostly vocabulary and linguistic, but one slip notes addresses of consultants Nicholas Plain of Sarnia and Elijah Pinnance of Walpole Island--there is also, unexpectedly, a bibliography for sources on Arawakan languages at the end of Ojibwa #4) in Series II. comparative vocabularies of Ojibwe and Potawatomi ("Pottowatomi") in Series V. Research Notes Subseries V-A: Language Notes; unbound Eastern Ojibwe texts ("The Walpole Island" and others) in Series V. Research Notes, Subseries V-B: Text; and 24 folders of Ojibwe notebooks in Series VI. Notebooks. Contents of the Blackfoot and Ojibwe notebooks in this series were described in detail by Richard A. Rhodes in 1988. Blackfoot and Ojibwe notebooks are arranged in the order of Rhodes' list, a photocopy of which is filed in the first Blackfoot folder. In general the Ojibwe notebooks are full of vocabulary words and phrases on all kinds of topics, notes on various parts of speech, notes on dialects, texts both with and without English translations, etc. Several consultants are named, of which Angeline Williams is the most prominent [see Odawa entry for more on Angeline Williams]. At least some of these materials appear to be associated with the Linguistic Institute and might be the work of students. Materials in Subcollection II include correspondence with Leonard Bloomfield (letters written in Ojibwe, with some interlinear English translation) and John N. Seaman (regarding field work with Chippewa speakers in Oscoda, Michigan, including Dan Naganigan and his wife and Mrs. Silas) in Series I. Correspondence. Series II. Research Notes, Subseries III. Macro-Algonquian contains 19 folders of Ojibwe materials collected from Leonard Bloomfield, Angeline Williams, Andrew Medler, Dan Nakanikan and Mrs. John B. Silas, including dozens of texts and stories and Bloomfield's Vocabularies and notes on topics such as prefixes and suffixes and sentence structure [see finding aid for titles of texts and stories]. There are also Ojibwe examples in at least 6 folders ("Č and K," "L and M," "N and P," " Š and T," "Θ and ?" and "Specimens of Central Algonquian") of the many Comparative Algonquian notebooks in the same subseries (i.e., Macro-Algonquian). Finally, there is "Correspondence in Ojibwa: Charles F. Voegelin and Leonard Bloomfield" in Series III. Works by Voegelin, Subseries I: General works; and "Ojibwe grammar" by Leonard Bloomfield and "The Chippewa Noun System" by John N. Seaman in Series IV. Works by Others.

Collection:C. F. Voegelin Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.68)

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Ojibwe materials, Frank G. Speck Papers

Culture:

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Ojibwe includes: Ojibwa, Chippewa, Ojibway

Naskapi includes: ᓇᔅᑲᐱ, Iyiyiw, Skoffie

Innu includes: Montagnais, Mountaineer

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Cree includes: Nēhiyaw, Cri

Anishinaabe includes: Anishinaabeg, Anishinabe, Nishnaabe, Anishinabek

Language:English | French

Date:1927-1949

Type:Text

Genre:Notes | Correspondence | Reviews | Stories | Maps

Extent:14 folders

Description: Materials relating to Speck's study of Ojibwe language, history, and culture. Includes 15 pages of Tamagami [Temagami First Nation] myths and five texts in English; 21 pages of Matagama Ojibwe [Mattagami First Nation] notes, including a 2-page phonetic key, a letter from Speck to Samuel (i.e., James) Miller of Gogama requesting ethnographic and map data, 2 maps (one of Mattagami hunting territories), typed reading notes, and a sketch of a play for Mattagama Otcipwe [sic]; a Christmas circular letter telling the story of a Chippewa [Ojibwe] boy returning home for Dance; a copy of Speck's favorable review of Sister Bernard Coleman, "Decorative designs of the Ojibwa of northern Minnesota" [Printed, Speck (1949).]; and a brief popular account on Ojibwe hunting territories by Speck, refuting Roosevelt (1889-1896), who had denied that Indians have a sense of property, along with two pages of notes. Also includes several folders of correspondence, including correspondence with A. I. Hallowell in which Hallowell describes a field trip to the Berens River Saulteaux, Sweet Grass Cree (mentions attitude of Cree to Leonard Bloomfield), and Cold Lake Chipewyan, festivals, etc., and a letter from Speck to Hallowell with pencilled responses of Hallowell to questions asked; letters from D. H. Learmouth, a factor for Hudson's Bay Company at Waswanippi, recounting his experiences in adjudicating Matagama land inheritance and providing ethnographic data sought by Speck from Samuel (i.e., James) Miller of Gogama and data on hunting territories; letters from James E. Holden concerning unsuccessful attempts to purchase baskets at Nipigon; letters from J. Allan Burgesse regarding the Matagama Ojibwe and enclosing a drawing of a "flesher"and a list of hunting territories and biographical information on owners; a letter from Robert Solenberger concerning Tonawanda [Seneca] and Chippewa [Ojibwe] women who make baskets and giving their addresses; a letter from B. W. Thayer concerning Ojibwe beadwork found during a Minnesota field trip; a letter from Henry Woodman discussing the decline of crafts among Bear Island Indians (Temagami); a letter from Prentice Gilbert Downes about the circumboreal region, disucssing his visit to Naskapi near Davis Inlet, to Cree, and to Chippewas, along with 2 pages of notes (Speck?) in French-English, discussing changes in Indian culture; and a letter from Speck to Chief Mitchele Buckshot in Maniwaki, Quebec requesting buckskin and beadwork.

Collection:Frank G. Speck Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.126)

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Oneida materials, C. F. Voegelin Papers

Culture:

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Oneida includes: Onyota'a:ka

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Cherokee

Language:English | Oneida

Date:circa 1925-1967

Contributor:Voegelin, C. F. (Charles Frederick), 1906-1986 | Lounsbury, Floyd Glenn

Subject:Linguistics | Anthropology | Iroquoian languages

Type:Text

Genre:Correspondence | Notes

Extent:3 folders

Description: Three items relating to the Oneida language have been identified in the C. F. Voegelin Papers. In Subcollection I, there is relevant correspondence with Floyd Lounsbury (regarding Oneida, Seneca, and Cherokee work) in Series I. Correspondence; and a folder with a few pages of Oneida notes attributed to Lounsbury in Series V. Research Notes, Subseries V-A: Language Notes. In Subcollection II, is a folder of Oneida materials in Series II. Research Notes, Subseries IV. Macro-Siouan.

Collection:C. F. Voegelin Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.68)

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Penobscot materials, C. F. Voegelin Papers

Culture:

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Penobscot

Ojibwe includes: Ojibwa, Chippewa, Ojibway

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Language:English | Abenaki, Eastern

Date:circa 1930s-1960s

Contributor:Voegelin, C. F. (Charles Frederick), 1906-1986 | Siebert, Frank T. (Frank Thomas), 1912-1998

Type:Text

Genre:Correspondence | Notes | Notebooks | Stories | Translations

Extent:4 folders, 1 box

Description: The C. F. Voegelin Papers contain correspondence, notes, texts, articles, and other linguistic and ethnographic materials relating to Penobscot language and culture. These are located in both Subcollection I and Subcollection II of the Voegelin Papers. Materials in Subcollection I include correspondence with Frank Siebert (regarding his Penobscot fieldwork, particularly mourning and mortuary customs); 1 box of Ojibwa [Ojibwe], Seneca, and Penobscot notes in Series II. and Penobscot material in Ojibwe Folder #24 in Series VI. Notebooks. In Subcollection II, there is Frank Siebert's "Bumole, The Air Sprite" (a story in Penobscot and in English, sent to Voegelin in 1939) in Series II. Research Notes, Subseries III. Macro-Algonquian; and a Penobscot file in Series V. Card Files.

Collection:C. F. Voegelin Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.68)

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Seneca materials, Anthony F. C. Wallace Papers

Culture:

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Language:English

Date:1798-1977, bulk 1941-1977

Contributor:Wallace, Anthony F. C., 1923-2015 | Deardorff, Merle H., 1890-1971 | Cornplanter, Jesse J.

Type:Still Image | Text

Extent:52 folders

Description: The Anthony F. C. Wallace Papers are a vast collection of materials relating to Wallace's work at the intersection of anthropology, psychology, and history. Though further research might yield more results, approximately 52 folders of items directly pertaining to the Seneca have been identified. Seneca materials can be difficult to disentangle from the plethora of items relating to the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) and to Wallace's work on indigenous religions and cultural revitalization more generally. Researchers should therefore also see the Wallace Papers entries for the Haudenosaunee and Tuscarora and consult the finding aid for a detailed discussion of Wallace's career and for an itemized list of the collection's contents. Of the materials explicitly linked to the Seneca, many relate to Wallace's ongoing study of Seneca history and culture. This interest was the basis of several publications, most notably the landmark book "Death and Rebirth of the Seneca" (1970) as well as many articles on Handsome Lake, religion, and cultural revitalization. Such items can be found in Series I. Correspondence, Series II. Research Notes and Drafts, Series XI. Maps, and Series XII. Graphics. Of particular note is Wallace's lengthy correspondence (located in both Series I and II) with historian Merle H. Deardorff regarding Seneca history and culture. There is also some correspondence with Jesse Cornplanter. Other relevant correspondence files include those of the American Philosophical Society, Dwight Lewis Chamberlain, Norma Cuthbert, Vine Deloria, Bob Gabor, Charles Garrad, Randy Gorske, Barbara Graymont, N. Perry Jemison, Randy Alan John, Gertrude Kurath, Weston La Barre, Franklin O. Loveland, Charles Lucy, Nancy Lurie, Ernest Miller, Oscar Nephew, the New York State Library, Arthur Caswell Parker, Arthur Piepkorn, V. R. Potmis, Egon Renner, Mrs. Douglas Snook, Frank Speck, William Sturtevant, Shirley Vanatta, Paul A. W. Wallace, and Susan Williams. Other materials from Wallace's personal scholarship and interests include 3 folders of field notes from Cold Spring in 1951-1952; one folder of items relating to the Kinzua Dam controversy; five folders on the Oh-he-yoh-noh Newsletter of the Allegany Indian Reservation; several copies of and extracts from primary and secondary sources; copies of relevant articles and other and drafts of "Death and Rebirth of the Seneca" and other works. There are also original drawings by Jesse Cornplanter, copies of portraits of Seneca chiefs Cornplanter and Red Jacket, images of "The Chief Red Jacket" and "Squaw of Seneca and Papoose" from the New York Historical Society and a photo of Sarah Pierce of the Allegany Reserve (from Frank Speck) in Series XII. Graphics. Other materials relate to Wallace's work as a researcher and expert witness on behalf of Native American land claims, and include dockets, trial memoranda, and maps relating to "Seneca Nation of Indians and Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians vs. the United States." These can be found in Series IX. Indian Claims.

Collection:Anthony F. C. Wallace Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.64a)

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Seneca materials, C. F. Voegelin Papers

Culture:

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Penobscot

Ojibwe includes: Ojibwa, Chippewa, Ojibway

Oneida includes: Onyota'a:ka

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Cherokee

Language:English | Seneca

Date:circa 1930s-1960s

Contributor:Voegelin, C. F. (Charles Frederick), 1906-1986 | Preston, W. D. | Lounsbury, Floyd Glenn | Cooper, Leroy

Subject:Linguistics | Anthropology | Ethnography | Folklore | Iroquoian languages

Type:Text

Extent:12 folders, 1 box

Description: The C. F. Voegelin Papers contain notes, texts, articles, and other linguistic and ethnographic materials relating to Seneca language and culture. These are located primarily in Subcollection I of the Voegelin Papers. Materials in Subcollection I include relevant correspondence with Floyd Lounsbury (regarding Oneida, Seneca, and Cherokee work) in Series I. Correspondence; 1 box of Ojibwa [Ojibwe], Seneca, and Penobscot notes in Series II. "Seneca I" with W.D. Preston in Series III. Works by Voegelin, Subseries III-B: Works Authored by Voegelin; a folder of Seneca linguistic notes in Series V. Research Notes, Subseries V-A: Language Notes; 7 folders of unbound Seneca texts and grammatical notes in Series V. Research Notes, Subseries V-B: Text; and 2 folders of Seneca notebooks in Series VI. Notebooks. Each of the latter two folders contains one of Voegelin's field notebooks, only partially full, and identify Leroy Cooper as his consultant.

Collection:C. F. Voegelin Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.68)

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Seneca materials, Frank G. Speck Papers

Culture:

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Language:English | Seneca

Date:1921-1949

Type:Still Image | Text

Extent:16 folders

Description: Materials relating to Speck's interest in Seneca language, history, and culture. Several folders contain correspondence, including one with six letters from Jesse Cornplanter to Speck and others on topics such as his religious beliefs and changes in the way of life; praising Speck; pay for Native consultants; sending Christmas greetings; and husk faces. Other correspondence includes letters from Charles E. Congdon concerning Coldspring Longhouse ceremonies, use of stick and post in dance, Tonawanda and Cattaraugus medicines, congratulating Speck on his Iroquois (1945), describing Alleghany ceremonials, and giving a sketch of the arrangement of participants; from James M. Luongo concerning Seneca and other specimens; from Clara Redeye transmitting a 1941 picture of four generations and sending dolls; from Spencer F. William, a Seneca writer seeking work; from Evangeline Clark sending thanks for reprints, which she had sent to Suffolk University; from Merle H. Deardorff concerning consultant Clayton White, Pennsylvania place names, Speck (1942), and a lengthy discussion of the practices of Handsome Lake adherents; and from Speck to Deardorff concerning an Iroquois conference at Allegany. Other folders contain William N. Fenton's Seneca ceremonial calendar from Coldspring, 131 pages of organized, detailed field notes on ceremonies; Congdon's 4-page essay comparing the religion of Handsome Lake with Judaism and Greco-Roman spirits; Clayton White's description of the one-year death feast; Clayton White's description of a False Face Dance at Coldspring Long House, taken for Deardorff; Speck's miscellaneous notes containing words and two letters from Sherman Redeye to Speck concerning corn-husk masks; Speck's notes on the Oklahoma Seneca with an outline of ceremonials and a chart, with special attention to dances and funerary practices; and Ferdinand Isserman's student paper "Mythology of Seneca Indians." Some of these materials may be restricted due to cultural sensitivity.

Collection:Frank G. Speck Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.126)

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Seneca materials, United States. Work Projects Administration (Pa.) Reports, 1918-1948

Culture:

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Language:English

Date:1929-1947

Contributor:Schoff, Harry L. | Cadzow, Donald A. | Skinner, Dorothy P.

Type:Text

Extent:2 items

Description: Two items relating to the excavation of Seneca-associated sites in New York and Pennsylvania under the Works Progress Administration. Skinner's 1929 "Reports of Pennsylvania Archaeological Survey," concerns the ethnological work of Dorothy P. (Mrs. Alanson) Skinner among Senecas at Quaker Bridge and Cornplanter Reservation, New York, with discussions of Frank G. Speck's field work among the Delawares and archaeological work at Clemson's Island, Pennsylvania. Schoff and Cadzow's collection of materials on the Irvine Mound Group in Warren County, Pennsylvania, consists of 100 photographs, 48 negatives, and 86 pages describing the excavations and artifacts, particularly of the Buckaloons site and the Nathaniel mound, and some letters to Edmund Carpenter from Frank M. Setzler, William N. Fenton, A. Wetmore, and Richard G. Morgan.

Collection:United States. Work Projects Administration (Pa.) Reports, 1918-1948 (Mss.913.748.Un3)