Guide to the Indigenous Materials at the American Philosophical Society

Description: This entry is intended to encompass materials relating to James M. Crawford's interest in and study of Native North American languages. These items tend to be too general, too diffuse, or too vague in nature to easily fit under clear cultural or linguistic umbrellas. In Series III-D. Works by Crawford--Other, these items include "A Brief Account of the Indian Tribes of Northeast Georgia" (1962), a paper Crawford submitted in his Linguistics 170 class at Berkeley; Crawford's largely negative review of "Native Americans and Their Languages" by Roger Owen (1978); a typed copy of Crawford's "A Phonological Comparison of the Speech of Two Communities in California: East Bay and El Centro" (1964); typed drafts (with handwritten sections and penciled edits) of Crawford's "The Phonological Sequence ya in Words Pertaining to the Mouth in Southeastern and Other Indian Languages," which appeared in the volume “Studies in Southeastern Indian Languages,” which he edited (1975); and three folders pertaining to Crawford's other work on the edited volume “Studies in Southeastern Indian Languages,” including drafts, edits, notes, etc., of the preface and introduction Crawford wrote for the volume as well as exhaustive notes on bibliographic sources for several indigenous languages, including Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Natchez, Apalachee, Houma, Creek (Mukogean), Hitchiti, Seminole, Mobilian Jargon, Mikasuki, Alabama, Quapaw, Atakapa, Chitimacha, Timucua, Yuchi, Tuscarora, etc. (1970s). In Series IV-D. Research Notes & Notebooks—Other, items include a folder titled “Columbus Museum,” dated to July 1969, with research notes pertaining to Yuchi, Choctaw, Alabama-Koasati, Cherokee, etc., including the names and addresses of many potential language consultants for Yuchi, Shawnee, Catawba, Cherokee, etc., including some of the same people he visits in 1976 as described in “Mobilian Search—Notebook”; a folder labeled “Dialect Study (El Centro, East Bay),” with mostly handwritten notes and drafts pertaining to his "A Phonological Comparison of the Speech of Two Communities in California: East Bay and El Centro" (1964); “Haas Miscellany,” containing an Algonquian language chart attributed to Haas and two scraps of paper pertaining to her; “Miscellany,” containing notes on Maricopa, Digueno, Cocopa, Koasati, etc., as well as a plant specimen identified as Euphorbia chamaesyce; “Numerals from Indian Languages,” containing undated notes on numerals in Natchez, Muskogean, Hokan, Pomoan, Yukian, Wintun, Salinan, Esselen, Chumash, etc.; “Reconnaissance of Southeastern Indian Languages—Notebook,” a 1969 field notebook of a research trip mentioning numerous language consultants (Mrs. Rufus George, Yuchi and Cherokee, and Claude Medford, Creek?, prominent among them) and possible consultants, Choctaw, Seminole, Mikasuki, Cherokee, Lumbee, Creek, Chitimacha, Chickasaw, Shawnee, Yuchi, Tunica, Biloxi, Natchez, etc. people and languages, and commentary about relations between various groups, especially with Oklahoma groups [This item appears to be related to Crawford's research into the see also Mobilian materials]; “Mrs. Terrell—Notebook,” which contains a notebook of unidentified indigenous words elicited from consultants Mrs. Terrell and Mrs. Fletcher in April-May 1969; and “Unidentified,” containing sheets with a text in an unidentified indigenous language and its English translation. In Series VI. Course Material, there is a folder of materials relating to Crawford's coursework at Berkley, including “American Indian Languages--Linguistics 170 [1962]” as well as some Native North American material in an undated folder labeled “Seminars: 290a Theory; 290g American Indian Languages; Dialectology 216; 225; 130 Phonology—Notebook.” In Series II. Subject Files, there are materials relating to Crawford's research into to Mobilian, Cocopah, and Yuchi in “American Council of Learned Societies”; materials relating to his work in bilingual education under Title VII, particularly with the Yuchi in Oklahoma, in “Bilingual Education”; news clippings related to the work of Crawford and others in “Clippings”; records of payments to indigenous language consultants in “Informants' Receipts”; materials relating to Crawford's work with the Southeastern Indian Language Project via application materials in “National Science Foundation #1” and “National Science Foundation #2”; one folder of readers' reviews (pre-publication) and another folder of post-publication reviews of “Studies in Southeastern Indian Languages”; and a grant proposal to do field work to study Yuchi in Sapulpa, Oklahoma in “University of Georgia—Grant Proposal,” in which Crawford outlines not only his proposed study but some historical information about Yuchi people and language. Finally, Series I. Correspondence contains many exchanges about Crawford's work on Native North American languages. Most of this correspondence revolves around Crawford's submission of papers and articles to academic conferences and publishers. The most interesting items include a letter from Ilona May (Thomas) Keyaite, the daughter of a Cocopah consultant; letters and notes about 1735 drawings of Yuchi and Creek Indians in Georgia in a folder labelled “Sturtevant, William C.” [1977-1978]. This series also includes various letters and notes from the University of Georgia recognizing Crawford's professional accomplishments and awards, and a few letters documenting the difficult publication history of the volume on Southeastern Indian Languages.

Collection:James M. Crawford Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.66)

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Highland Chontal materials, Phillips Fund Collection

Culture:

Chontal, Oaxaca includes: Tequistlatec, Tequistlateco

Language:Chontal, Highland Oaxaca | Spanish

Date:1966, 1968

Contributor:Martinez, Abram | Robles, Martin | Turner, Paul R., 1929-

Subject:Folklore | Linguistics | Oaxaca (Mexico : State)--History

Type:Text

Extent:366 pages

Description: The Highland Chontal materials in the Phillips Fund collection consist of 3 items, all listed under "Turner, Paul." This includes Turner's dissertation, "Highland Chontal Grammar," which includes interlinear texts of stories on a related recording collection. "Highland Chontal Dialect Survey" provides a detailed account of a project of Turner's for which there is an accompanying audio collection, listed separately in this guide. Finally, there is also a newspaper clipping on consultant Clemente Zarate's visit to the U.S.

Collection:Phillips Fund for Native American Research Collection (Mss.497.3.Am4)

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Mi'kmaq materials, Frank G. Speck Papers

Culture:

Wolastoqiyik includes: Wəlastəkwewiyik, Malecite, Maliseet

Wabanaki includes: Wabenaki, Wobanaki

Passamaquoddy includes: Peskotomuhkati

Mi'kmaq includes: Micmac

Cherokee

Beothuk

Language:English | Mi'kmaq

Date:1909-1949

Contributor:Speck, Frank G. (Frank Gouldsmith), 1881-1950 | Butler, Eva L. | Mechling, William Hubbs, 1888-1953 | Barlow, Steve

Type:Text

Extent:8 folders

Description: Materials relating to Mi'kmaq history, language, and culture. Includes Speck's field notes on topics such as wampum, hunting territories, Cape Breton texts, Newfoundland traditions, the Passamaquoddy, etc., as well as a map with names of Bear River Band members and one piece of birch bark with pictographs inscribed; Speck's miscellaneous notes and correspondence on topics such as consultants, specimens, hieroglyphics, linguistics, fieldwork, Mi'kmaq and Cherokee, and the Mi'kmaq mission newspaper; a text on Mi'kmaq dance with interlinear translation, notes, and a musical score; 10 pages of linguistic notes and vocabulary collected along the Miramichi River, along with 6 pages of typed copy by John Witthoft; correspondence with Mechling concerning linguistic research on the Mi'kmaq, Malecite [Malecite-Passamaquoddy], and Oaxaca languages, Mi'kmaq burials, and historic materials on Beothuk and Mi'kmaq; a brief article on a traveler's account of the Mi'kmaq in 1822; an incomplete article or set of reading excerpts taken after 1922 by Speck from John G. Millais (1907); and extracts concerning the sweat house taken by Butler from the Jesuit Relations.

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

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Miscellaneous items pertaining to the American Indian

Culture:

Wyandot includes: Huron, Wendat, Wyandotte, Huron-Wyandot

Zuni includes: A:shiwi

Timucua

Tuscarora includes: Ska:rù:rę'

Tutelo includes: Yesan

Seminole includes: Yat'siminoli

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Shawnee

Oceti Sakowin includes: Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, Sioux

Ojibwe includes: Ojibwa, Chippewa, Ojibway

Sahtú includes: North Slavey

Onondaga includes: Onöñda'gega'

Mattaponi

Meskwaki includes: Mesquakie, Musquakie, Sac, Sauk, Fox, Sac-and-Fox

Muscogee includes: Muskogee, Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek

Navajo includes: Diné, Navaho

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Karankawa

Gwich'in includes: Kutchin, Loucheux, Tukudh

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Inuit includes: Inuk, Eskimo (pej.), ᐃᓄᐃᑦ

Choctaw includes: Chahta

Cherokee

Calusa

Apache includes: Inde

Caddo

Language:English

Date:1939-1945; 1947-Circa 1961; 1951-1962;

Contributor:Gillespie, John Douglas | Marriott, Alice, 1910-1992

Type:Text | Still Image

Genre:Grammars | Musical scores | Newspaper clippings | Photographs

Extent:Circa 350 volumes; 75 photographs; 75 newspaper clippings; 70 manuscripts

Description: This collection pertains principally to the Cherokees of North Carolina and Oklahoma and to their language, ethnography, folklore, archeology, history, music, etc. Includes Indian studies and correspondence by Gillespie, notes on Indian dances and linguistics, bibliographies, publications of the Archaeological Society of Brigham Young University, and newspaper clippings. Also comprised of materials on: Apache, Calusa, Chippewa, Choctaw, Delaware, Eskimo, Fox, Haudenosaunee, Karankawa, Gwich'in, Mattaponi, Muskogee, Navajo, Onondaga, Sauk, Seminole, Seneca, Shawnee, Sioux, Slave, Timucua, Tuscarora, Tutelo, Wyandot, and Zuni. Contains: Gillespie, "A grammar of western dialect of Cherokee language of the Iroquoian family," 1949-1954 (131 pages); "Miscellaneous material on the Cherokee Indians and language"; "Miscellaneous items pertaining to the American Indian."

Collection:Miscellaneous items pertaining to the American Indian (Mss.497.3.G41)

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Names of various trees, shrubs, and plants in the language of the Lennape

Culture:

Nottoway includes: Cheroenhaka

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Date:1840

Contributor:Heckewelder, John Gottlieb Ernestus, 1743-1823 | Kampman, Christian Frederick, 1708-1808 | Turner, Edie | Wood, John, ca. 1775-1822

Subject:Botany | Linguistics

Type:Text

Genre:Newspaper clippings | Vocabularies

Extent:1 volume, 11 p.

Description: This small manuscript volume contains a brief vocabulary written down by John Wood "from an old Indian Woman of the name of Edie Turner the 4th of March 1820"; together with newsclipping, Petersburg, Virginia, March 17, identifying informant and relating Nottoway, Powhatan and Welsh. The vocabulary is listed by semantic categories "Of the Universe; Of the Human Species; Of Animals; Vegetable Kingdom; Division of Time; Domestic Essays; Adjectives; Verbs." Marginal comparisons with Tuscarora, Onondaga, Wyandot, Delaware, etc., probably by Peter S. Du Ponceau. [See also letters of Jefferson to Du Ponceau, July 7, 1820; Du Ponceau to Jefferson, July 12, 1820.] This item is bound with a list of the Latin and botanical names of the plants, prepared by Christian Frederick Kampman, and with John Wood, "Vocabulary of the language of the Nottoway Tribe of Indians..." (1820).

Collection:Nottoway, Lenape, and Algonquian vocabularies (Mss.497.3.W85)

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Narragansett materials, Frank G. Speck Papers

Culture:

Language:English | Narragansett

Date:1916-1926

Contributor:Speck, Frank G. (Frank Gouldsmith), 1881-1950 | Delabarre, Edmund Burke, 1863-1945

Type:Text

Genre:Notes | Correspondence | Newspaper clippings

Extent:2 folders

Description: Materials relating to Speck's study of Narragansett language, history, and culture. Includes a one-page report on "Physical measurements of the Narragansett male," based on an individual described as 1/4 Nehantic and 1/2 Brotherton (Narragansett); and Speck's miscellaneous Narragansett notes, comprised of a comparative vocabulary of Massachusetts, Narragansett, Mohegan, Pequot, and Naugatuck (approximately 30 items), 3 vocabulary lists on cards, 1 page of names, and a letter from Edmund B. Delabarre to Speck, May 6, 1920, regarding the author's preference of Cherokee to Narragansett as explanation of origin of characters on Rhode Island stone. Images note: newspaper clipping photographs peace pipe, native attire, tipi.

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

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Nez Perce Sign language material, 1891-1938

Culture:

Nez Perce includes: Niimíipu

Language:English | Nez Perce

Date:1891-1938; 1966

Type:Still Image | Text

Genre:Microfilms | Correspondence | Newspaper clippings | Photographs | Hymns

Extent:1 microfilm reel (121 pages, 9 photographs)

Description: This collection of materials on American Sign language is based on the work of Presbyterian missionaries in Idaho in the nineteenth century. Includes a Nez Perce hymnal; discussion and illustrations on the meaning of symbols and on the use of sign seven published works; miscellaneous clippings; photographs; and correspondence of sisters Mary and Elizabeth Crawford. The published works include the history of the Idaho mission and sign language translations by Mr. Levi W. Jonas (native Nez Perce superintendent of the Kamiah church) and In-go-nom-pa-shi. Includes over 1,500 sign language hand symbols of the Nez Perce language with thirty portraits of missionaries and Nez Perce Indians of Idaho from 1891-1938. Illustrations from different published works such as Gospel hymns in the Nez Perce language (1897); The Sign language and the invention of Mr. Lewis F. Hadley (Chicago, 1891); and Sign language; talk by In-go-nom-pa-shi. Also, clippings from various Presbyterian publications. From materials in possession of Miss Jean Rumsey.

Collection:Nez Perce Sign Language materials, 1891-1938 (Mss.Film.1226)

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Onondaga materials, Frans M. Olbrechts papers

Culture:

Onondaga includes: Onöñda'gega'

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Language:Dutch | English | Onondaga

Date:1928-1930

Contributor:Every, George V. | George, Lucenda | Olbrechts, Frans M., 1899-1958 | Williams, George | Zeisberger, David, 1721-1808

Subject:Linguistics | Medicine | New York (State)--History | Religion

Type:Still Image | Text

Extent:1.5 linear feet

Description: The Onondaga materials in the Frans Olbrechts Papers consist of numerous items, primarily concentrated in "Series II: Onondaga." Noteworthy materials in this section include several voluminous notebooks (listed as items 2-4 in the series) containing Onondaga word and phrases lists and stories. For the notebooks that make up item 3, "Langauge and Grammar," pages 694-798 contain traditional names, with translations, organized according to clan and gender. Other items in this series include notes on midwinter ceremonies, as well as 3 boxes containing a lexical file of several thousand vocabulary slips derived from the content of the notebooks. In Series I, see Item "4: Handsome Lake materials," which includes several photograpsh of Onondaga people. Item 5, "Schoon Meer," includes one newspaper clipping on Chief Albert Schanandoah of the Onondaga, dated December 8, 1929. Item"6: Comparative relative pronouns," includes Onondaga vocabulary, as does item "10: Iroquoian languages lexical files." Finally, in Series III, see items 11 and 13.

Collection:Frans M. Olbrechts papers (Mss.497.3.OL2)

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Papiamento materials, William O. Bright Papers

Culture:

Aruban

Language:Papiamento | English | Spanish

Date:1951

Contributor:Bright, William, 1928-2006 | Netherlands Information Service | Lenz, Rodolfo

Subject:Linguistics

Type:Text

Genre:Newspaper clippings | Correspondence | Stories | Drafts

Extent:1 folder

Description: William Bright copied and analyzed texts, mostly from a publication by Rodolfo Lenz, of Papiamento, and corresponded with the Netherlands Information Service on a Papiamento language newspaper (Series 4).

Collection:William O. Bright Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.142)

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Penobscot materials, Frank Siebert Papers

Culture:

Penobscot

Mi'kmaq includes: Micmac

Abenaki includes: Abnaki

Language:English | Abenaki, Eastern

Date:1669; 1678; 1725-1796; 1809-1884; 1900-1995

Type:Sound recording | Still Image | Text

Extent:12 linear feet; 3 hrs. (audio); 5 photographs

Description: The Penobscot materials in the Frank Siebert Papers are concentrated in Series III. Siebert collected census material, treaties and treaty minutes, placenames, with a strong representation of songs, stories, and linguistic materials. There are detailed notes about Indian claims in Maine and genealogical information. There are also educational materials for the teaching of the Penobscot language as well as a wealth of information on Penobscot linguistics. Series V, Siebert's notebooks, have extensive grammatical, phonetic, and vocabulary of the Penobscot language. Both Series III and V reflect Siebert's deep interest in the history of Maine and the Eastern Abenaki including archaeological, pre-history, and colonial era documents such as the Eliot Bible, which Siebert owned a rare copy in his library, which was sold at auction. Series VI and VII contain various drafts of essays on Penobscot culture, language, and history. Series XI contains 5 related photos of Louis Lolar, taken in 1933. Series XII contains approximately 3 hours of Penobscot language recordings, primarily from the 1930s and 1950s.

Collection:Frank Siebert Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.97)