Guide to the Indigenous Materials at the American Philosophical Society

Description: The Mexico materials, John Alden Mason Papers include a log of a trip to Sonora, itinerary of pack trip from Yecora to Maicoba; lists of photographs; journal. Archaological materials: report on archaeological sites near Rancho Guiracoba, Sonora, Mexico with report on surface collections at six sites in southern Sonora. Notes on the Northern Extension of the Chalchihuites Culture, written for the Mexican Historical Congress, Zacatecas. Slayton Creek Excavation, regarding Mexico; the Papago [Tohono O'odham]; a dig at Slayton Creek, Delaware. Regarding archaeological, ethnological, and linguistic work in Mexico; genetic classification of languages of Central America and Mexico. Regarding internal strife in local (Durango) Indian tribe (including murders); archaeology in Durango; collection of specimens of material culture; work at Schroeder pyramid; cliff dwellings near Mezquital. Mentions Alex Krieger. Cave investigations in Durango and Coahuila, report on search conducted with Robert H. Merrill for traces of early man, particularly on the Folsom horizon. Written for Weitlaner volume. Includes description of three varieties of Cucurbita moschata; evidence in conflict with the theory that Cucurbita moschata was introduced into southern Arizona in late prehistoric or early historic times from the north and east. Regarding Maya pottery; Piedras Negras, Guatemala; archaeological work in Mexico and Guatemala; the University Museum (University of Pennsylvania); Vaillant's obituary. Includes correspondence between Mason and Sue Vaillant (Mrs. George C.) and between Mason and Charles Marius Barbeau. Linguistic materials: a list entitled, "Familias linguisticas de Mexico-idiomas y dialectos a ellas pertencientes," with the families with subdivisions: for Museo nacional de arqueologia, historia y etnologia, Anales. Includes lexical items in the various languages--Hokan, Oto-Manguren, Uto-Aztecan, and Maya-- arranged in columns; Spanish glosses. Regarding Mason's Subtiaba-Hokan-Caduveo-Mataco comparative vocabulary. Kroeber is not much impressed with the possible resemblances in Mason's list (included). Mexican linguistics, comparative vocabularies, etc., includes short comparative vocabularies for Comecrudo, Papago-Tepecano, Nahua, Huaxtec, Choctaw, Coahuiltec, Karankawa, Torkana, Atakapa, Chitimacha, Tunica; notes on Sapir's classification; other miscellaneous notes. Comparative vocabulary, includes letter from Frederick Johnson to John Alden Mason; comparative vocabulary which is number-keyed to a list of twenty-two languages and arranged in columns headed by Spanish glosses. Words lacking in some languages for almost all items. Languages include Otomi, Mazahua, Matlatzinca, Ocuiltec, Pame, Chichimeca, Cuitlateco, Mazatec, Popoluca, Chochotec (Tlapanec), Ichcateco, Trique, Chiapanec, Manque, Mixtec, Cuicatec, Amuzgo, Zapotec, Chatino, Chinantec, Tarasco, and Tlapanec. Scholarly materials: two versions of a paper, entitled, "Los Cuatro Grandes Filones Linguisticos de Mexico y Centroamerica," for the International Congress of Americanists, August 1939, Mexico. Photographs: Unidentified photographs showing people, dwellings, terrain, etc. Images of temples, excavations, crypts, jade work, etc. Includes a photograph of John Alden Mason and Burton W. Bascom from Palenque. Entire series of photographs from the Mason papers. The bulk of the images are from Mexico (Chihuahua, Durango, Sonora, etc.). Also 3 contact sheets of images from Peru. From the Durango expedition, a list of photographs; "Informes hacera de la Sierro de la Candela:" notes from Tarayre, pages 184-185; "Ruins of an agricultural colony near Zape"; possible routes of migration into Mexico; Everardo Gamiz "La Raza Pigmea," Durango, April 1934; an incomplete set of numbered photos enumerated in above list (all duplicates from museum set). A linguistic realignment north of Mexico, which gives six phyla, one "broken phylum," and two uncertain languages (for presentation at the meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Chicago, 1940) and a detailed outline of five phyla plus several unaffiliated languages.

Collection:John Alden Mason Papers (Mss.B.M384)

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Nlaka'pamux materials, ACLS collection

Culture:

Nlaka'pamux includes: Nlakapamuk, Nłeʔkepmx, Ntlakyapamuk, Thompson

Language:English | Nlaka'pamuctsin

Date:1885, 1898-1918

Contributor:Teit, James Alexander, 1864-1922 | Antko | Tetlenitsa, Chief | Sapir, Edward, 1884-1939 | Boas, Franz, 1858-1942

Type:Text | Cartographic | Still Image

Extent:1000+ loose pages, 500+ slips, 23 notebooks, 1 map

Description: The Nlaka'pamux materials in the ACLS collection are located primarily in the "Thompson" section of the finding aid, which contains a full listing. They consist predominantly of ethnographic, historical, linguistic, and botanical materials recorded and assembled by James Teit from the 1890s to the 1910s and sent to Boas. Many of the material listed in the finding aid, especially those of larger size, are composed of many shorter, distinct individual manuscripts on specific topics that were gathered together into the large sets of manuscripts and assigned general titles such as "Thompson materials" or "Salish ethnographic materials". Many additional Nlaka'pamux materials can also be found in the "Salish" section of the finding aid, often intermixed among information on neighboring Interior Salish peoples. In both of these sections there are also some additional materials, generally linguistic, by Franz Boas and others.

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

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Ojibwe materials, Alfred Irving Hallowell Papers

Culture:

Ojibwe includes: Ojibwa, Chippewa, Ojibway

Anishinaabe includes: Anishinaabeg, Anishinabe, Nishnaabe, Anishinabek

Language:English | Chippewa | Ojibwa, Northwestern

Date:1932-1949

Type:Text | Cartographic | Still Image

Description: The Ojibwe materials in the A. Irving Hallowell Papers are extensive. Hallowell focused on three regions of Ojibwe territory: Berens River in north, central Canada (Pikangikum, Pauingassi, Poplar River; Little Grand Rapids First Nations) and Lac du Flambeau in Wisconsin. Hallowell was particularly interested in psychological anthropology. Both the Berens River and Lac du Flambeau materials in Series V, for example, includes ethnographic information on taboos, incest regulations, Rorschach tests, dreams, and acculturation. Hallowell's interests in traditional knowledge are represented by descriptions of the practice of the Midewiwin religion; traditional stories about Wisakedjak and Tcakabec/Chakabesh, Memegwesiug, Windigos, and Thunderbirds. Of particular interest in the Lac du Flambeau materials are hundred of pages of family biographies in Series V and photographs with the names of community members in Series VI, Subseries B. Of particular interest in the Berens River materials are maps of traditional hunting grounds, a diagram of Ojibwe cosmology, an autobiography by Hallowell's collaborator Chief William Berens, 29 folders of "Saulteaux Indians--Myths and Tales" all in Series V. There are hundreds of photographs from the region, with many community members identified, and all digitized, in Series VI, Subseries A. The correspondence, in Series I, includes Robert Ritzenhaler's description of a shaking tent ceremony by Ojibwe in Wisconsin; a detailed account of Joseph Fiddler's trial for murdering a windigo in the folder labled Royal Canadian Mounted Police; papers sent by Morton Teicher detailing incidents of windigo in Canada (50+ pages); a letter from Frances Densmore describing a shaking tent ceremony; and several letters from Chief William Berens providing information about Ojibwe people in the photographs in Series VI.

Collection:Alfred Irving Hallowell Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.26)

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Seneca materials, William N. Fenton papers

Culture:

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Language:English | Seneca

Date:Bulk 1930s-1990s

Type:Text | Still Image | Sound recording

Extent:15+ linear feet

Description: Seneca materials make up the majority of the Fenton papers and can be found throughout all sections of the collection. Series I contains correspondence with numerous people on Seneca matters. Noteworthy Seneca correspondents include Simeon Gibson, Clara Redeye, Sherman Redeye, and other individuals such as those listed above. The largest body of material is in Series V, which includes Fenton's notebooks and other documentation from field work at Allegany, Cattaraugus, Tonawanda, and Grand River, beginning in the 1930s through late in his career. This section also includes extensive card files on "Materia Medica" or ethnobotanical information, and Seneca place names. Series VI consists of over 1000 photographs, the majority of which are from Seneca communities in the 1930s-1950s. Series VII contains one audio recording of Seneca songs. Series VIII includes additional field notes and other materials derived mainly from his 1930s fieldwork. Significant portions of these materials may be restricted due to cultural sensitivity, as Fenton's materials frequently pertain to areas of sacred traditional knowledge.

Collection:William N. Fenton papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.20)

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St'at'imc materials, ACLS collection

Culture:

St'at'imc includes: Stl’atl’imx, Lillooet

Language:English | St'at'imcets

Date:1910-1921

Contributor:Boas, Franz, 1858-1942 | Sapir, Edward, 1884-1939 | Teit, James Alexander, 1864-1922

Subject:Ethnography | Linguistics | Material culture | Museum objects | Music

Type:Text

Genre:Field notes | Vocabularies

Extent:200+ pages

Description: The St'at'imc materials in the ACLS collection consist mainly of materials in the "Lillooet" section of the finding aid. These include ethnographic notes and multiple word lists recorded by Sapir, Boas, and Teit, including both Upper and Lower Lillooet. In the "Salish" section, Teit's "Salish (and Dene) ethnographic notes" (item 60) includes information on St'at'imc objects sent to the American Museum of Natural History, and Teit's "Songs from the Salish area" (item S.6) includes notes on 80 songs (some of which are St'at'imc) recorded for and sent to the National Museum of Canada (now the Canadian Museum of History). In the "Thompson" section of the finding aid, Teit's "Salish ethnographic materials" (item 61) includes some St'at'imc ethnographic information of undetermined extent.

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

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Tunica materials, Frank G. Speck Papers

Culture:

Tunica

Penobscot

Caddo

Language:English

Date:1940

Contributor:Neitzel, Robert S. | Speck, Frank G. (Frank Gouldsmith), 1881-1950 | Siebert, Frank T. (Frank Thomas), 1912-1998

Type:Text | Still Image

Genre:Correspondence | Notes | Reports | Field notes | Sketches

Extent:4 folders, 50 photos

Description: Materials relating to Speck's interest in Tunica language, history, and culture. Letters and notes from Robert Stuart Neitzel comprise the bulk of this assemblage, and include a two-page report about Tunica tanning of deer hides, together with a one-page letter of transmission and a two-page drawing; 28 pages on Tunica dances, including the green corn ceremony, along with letters about concerning field work among the Tunica and Caddo archaeology with a sketch of the digging; and 16 pages of miscellaneous notes, sketches, and correspondence on topics such as archaeology at Marksville, Louisiana (with sketches), Tunica museum specimens, phonetic transcriptions of dance names, a sketch of a Tunica scraper and hide drying frame, traps (with a sketch), Tunica tools, etc. There is also a letter to Speck from Frank Siebert concerning the linguistic field work of Mary Haas and publication of Speck's Penobscot texts. Lastly, there are about 50 photos sent to Speck by Robert Stuart Neitzel.

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

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Yuchi materials, Frank G. Speck Papers

Culture:

Yuchi includes: Euchee

Osage includes: 𐓁𐒻 𐓂𐒼𐒰𐓇𐒼𐒰͘

Natchez

Muscogee includes: Muskogee, Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek

Navajo includes: Diné, Navaho

Cayuga includes: Gayogohó:no

Language:English | Muscogee | Yuchi

Date:1904-1945

Type:Text

Genre:Correspondence | Notes | Field notes | Reports | Musical scores

Extent:5 folders

Description: Materials relating to Speck's interest in Yuchi language, history, and culture. Includes three letters from Roy H. Robinson to Speck concerning persuading Yuchis to answer questions, Cayuga earrings, a Navajo beaded necklace, Osage buffalo hide shield, etc.; a 13-page report titled "Yuchi Ethnography" on political organization, diseases, mythology, etc., based on a 1904 field trip; a folder on Yuchi and Creek dances with sheet music for songs to accompany dance, choreography, and a few vocabulary items with a folder on Yuchi and Creek songs along with 12 vocabulary slips; and 17 pages of Speck's miscellaneous Yuchi notes and correspondence, including one page concerning Yalewi, a Yuchi Indian; one card concerning peyote among Yuchi; a one-page list of names of informants, 1941; a letter from Erich von Hornbostel to Speck, concerning Yuchi songs; a letter from Ellen Allen, a Yuchi Indian, recalling Speck's visit in 1904 and Boas' visit and effort to do a Yuchi grammar with her; a letter from Carl F. Voegelin concerning Yuchi linguistics; letters from Charles Eli Sexton to the University of Pennsylvania Museum concerning Speck's Yuchi ethnography, a Yuchi informant, and connection of Natchez and Hopewell to Yuchi; and letters from Ann Rolland (Haskell Institute) concerning Yuchi museum specimens and relics of the past.

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