Guide to the Indigenous Materials at the American Philosophical Society

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Beta Israel materials, ACLS Collection

Culture:

Beta Israel

Language:English

Date:undated

Contributor:Unknown

Subject:Biography | Travel | Benin--History

Type:Text

Genre:Travel narratives | Autobiographies

Extent:9 pages

Description: The sole Beta Israel manuscript in the ACLS papers is item 3, "Autobiography of a native of Dahomey, West Africa". It is an autobiographical account from a descendant of Beta Israel from Abomey-Calavi, Dahomey (now Benin).

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

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Canada materials, Paul A. W. Wallace Papers

Language:English

Date:1961-1966

Contributor:Wallace, Paul A. W.

Subject:Biography | Canada--History

Type:Text

Genre:Correspondence

Extent:52 pages

Description: Correspondence of Paul A. W. Wallace regarding biographies of indigenous peoples for the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, with Wallace's comments on Native biographies. Wallace's correspondents include George W. Brown, Andre Vachon, Francess G. Halpenny, and Elizabeth W. Loosley.

Collection:Paul A. W. Wallace Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.64b)

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Cree materials, Paul A. W. Wallace Papers

Culture:

Cree includes: Nēhiyaw, Cri

Language:English

Date:1922-1961

Contributor:Wallace, Paul A. W. | Ahenakew, Edward

Type:Text

Genre:Correspondence | Stories

Extent:2 items

Description: Correspondence of Edward Ahenakew (1885-1961) with Paul A. W. Wallace between 1922 and 1961. Topics include Ahenakew's the desirability of his collecting ethnographic material and tales; personal matters; etc. There is also an 85-page genealogical sketch prepared by Ahenakew of his family, including a autobiographical sketch as well as biographical information regarding his parents, grandparents, and some of their collateral relatives.

Collection:Paul A. W. Wallace Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.64b)

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Delaware materials, Paul A. W. Wallace Papers

Culture:

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Language:English

Date:1936-1959

Type:Text

Genre:Correspondence | Drafts | Essays | Reports

Extent:9 items

Description: Materials relating to Paul A. W. Wallace's research and writing on topics in Delaware history and culture. Items include drafts, with corrections, of a 1952 paper on the "Delawares-as-Women Problem" read at the Iroquois Conference, Red House; Wallace's undated report on a visit with Chief Joseph Montour (Delaware) at the Six Nations Reserve, Ontario; three copies of a document titled "We are the Six Nations" regarding relations between the Delawares and Haudenosaunee; a draft of Wallace's article "Last King of the Delawares " on Chief Joseph Montour, which discusses relations between the Delawares and Haudenosaunee as well as events in Montour's life; Wallace's correspondence with Montour; Wallace's correspondence with Nicholas B. Wainwright regarding the Delawares-as-women problem; Wallace's correspondence with E. Gordon Alderfer regarding a proposed literary history of Pennsylvania and the desirability of including Indian oral literature, and the validity of Walam Olum; Wallace's correspondence with John C. Ewers regarding the true national identity of the Indian in "Portrait of a Delaware Indian" by Charles B. J. Fevret de St. Memin; and three pages by John Witthoft on the age and origin of Polly Heckewelder's "Indian doll."

Collection:Paul A. W. Wallace Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.64b)

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Harry Stevens Papers

Culture:

Shawnee

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Language:English | Shawnee

Date:1700s-1989

Contributor:Stevens, Harry R., (Harry Robert), 1914-

Type:Sound recording | Still Image | Text

Extent:40 linear feet

Description: This collection consists almost entirely of photocopies of secondary and primary materials relating to Shawnee history and culture, and the history of the Ohio River region. The majority of the materials are copies of published sources, from the 18th to 20th century, with Stevens' notes on them. The collection is organized according to the topics by which Stevens kept his copies and notes, covering a very broad range of subject matter. The audio recordings are copies of recordings (Shawnee only) housed at the Library of Congress.

Collection:Harry Stevens Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.99)

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Haudenosaunee materials, Paul A. W. Wallace Papers

Culture:

Tuscarora includes: Ska:rù:rę'

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Oneida includes: Onyota'a:ka

Mohawk includes: Kanienʼkehá꞉ka

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Language:English

Date:1936-1967

Type:Still Image | Text

Extent:39 items

Description: Materials relating to Paul A. W. Wallace's interest in Haudenosaunee people, history, and culture. Of particular interest will be Wallace's correspondence and interviews with Haudenosaunee individuals. This includes Wallace's extensive correspondence with Ray Fadden (Tehanetorens, Aren Akweks) on subjects such as publications, the Haudenosaunee, the Akwesasne Mohawks, personal matters, etc., as well as a woodcut by John Fadden (Kahionhes) titled "The persecuted Iroquois"; Ray Fadden's "The Visions of Handsome Lake," an interpretation of Ray Fadden's wampum belt (with two drawings by John Fadden); and Ray Fadden's (Aren Akweks, Tehanetorens) "Iroquois Lesson Book-Stories for good children and bad." Interview materials include a "Six Nations Journal", containing notes on interviews with Nick Peters, Chief Joseph Montour, John Napoleon Brinton Hewitt, Isaiah Williams, Chief Hess, Chief William Loft, Alec General, and Jerry Aaron; notes, manuscripts, and interviews with William Dewaseragech Loft relating to the Haudenosaunee and to Wallace's preparation of an entry on Loft for the Dictionary of Canadian Biography; and a transcript of a talk on Haudenosaunee cosmogony and history of relations with white people attributed to the Seneca chief Cornplanter and taken from a document (circa 1822) in the Draper Collection at Princeton University. Other Native correspondents and consultants include Jesse J. Cornplanter regarding the purchase of drawings, along with five of Cornplanter's drawings: "Two Friends," "Mortise," and three untitled; Alexander J. General (Deskaheh) regarding copies of Wallace's White Roots of Peace, the identity of a Mohawk chief, the meaning of some names, and Wallace's trip for the Seventh Annual Pageant at Ohnedagowah; E. T. Montour regarding the Handsome Lake religion; Ethel Brant Montour regarding the Haudenosaunee and the Brant and Montour families; Donald Richmond regarding copying the Seth Newhouse version of Deganawidah sent to the St. Regis Mohawks; Allan Wargon regarding the film "The Longhouse People"; M. J. Jamieson regarding attendance by Wallace at the Condolence to the Dead and the Great Feast for the Dead; Arthur Einhorn (Skaroniate) regarding copies of publications, misinformation about the Iroquois, and plans for building an "Indian village"; Emily General regarding possible genealogical studies of chiefs of the Haudenosaunee, the annual pageant at Ohnedagowah, and vital statistics of Deskaheh (Hi-wyi-iss, Levi General); Bernice Minton Loft Winslow (Dawendine) regarding the Haudenosaunee, the health of her father Chief William Loft (Mohawk), publications, her poetry; Mad Bear regarding a parcel of land in Philadelphia reportedly owned by the and Robert Gabor (Sagotaoala) regarding Gabor's interest in and research on the effects of the adoption complex on the Iroquois Confederacy, his art work for Ray Fadden, circumstances under which the Delawares entered the League, etc. There is also correspondence between Wallace and other non-Native researchers including Charles E. Congdon regarding arrangements for conferences on Iroquoian studies; James T. Edward regarding a biographical sketch of Madam Montour for Notable American Women, 1607-1950; Peter Schuyler Miller regarding the Deganawidah legend; Arthur Caswell Parker regarding the Haudenosaunee and Conrad Weiser; Harvey Chalmers regarding Heckewelder's prejudice against the Haudenosaunee and its effect on Cooper, and prejudice aroused by Cooper's novels; Howard F. Comrie regarding the Iroquois Confederacy as an inspiration for the Constitution and Bill of Rights; Harry C. Durston regarding the date and place of the founding of the Five Nations Confederacy and possible influences of the Haudenosaunee on the United States Constitution; John F. Freeman regarding Ray Fadden and the Akwesasne Mohawk Counsellor Organization and mentioning Seth Newhouse, Bernice Loft, and Edward Ahenakew; Marion E. Gridley regarding The Amerindian: American Indian Review, a picture of Maria Tallchief, and role of the Delawares, Tuscaroras, and Oneidas in the American Revolution; Alfred K. Guthe regarding old photos of Iroquois costumes in the Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences; John Serres regarding the dedication of an Iroquois monument at Scarboro, Ontario and attempts to preserve Native culture; William N. Fenton regarding the Haudenosaunee, different versions of the Deganawidah legend, meanings of Indian names, archaeological work in the area to be flooded by the Kinzua Dam, political history of the Iroquois, Seth Newhouse, publications, research, fieldwork, etc.; an essay by Fenton on published and manuscript sources relating to the history of political institutions and laws of the Haudenosaunee, particularly with regard to ethnological sources, procedural methods to reach the desired goal, and expected results (published in Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 93 (1949): pages 233-238); and William A. Ritchie regarding a meeting at the American Philosophical Society, Indian trails in the Delaware Valley, and the probable date of the founding of the Five Nations Confederacy. Finally, there are Wallace's own notes, drafts, essays, etc., including notes for and a draft of "The Iroquois-A Brief Outline of their History" and "Return of Hiawatha," on the reasons for Iroquois ascendancy.

Collection:Paul A. W. Wallace Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.64b)

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Ndau materials, ACLS Collection

Culture:

Zulu includes: AmaZulu

Ndau

Kwakwaka'wakw includes: Kwakiutl

Language:Ndau | English | Kwak'wala | German

Date:1921, 1947, undated

Contributor:Boas, Franz, 1858-1942 | Simango, Columbus Kamba | Rumberger, Joseph Paul | Hunt, George

Type:Text

Extent:218 p., ca. 1850 slips and 39 notebooks

Description: All Ndau materials in the ACLS collection are by C. Kamba Simango working with Franz Boas in the 1920s, or are derived from this. Three sets of texts (items AfBnd.4, AfBng.1 and AfBng.2) written by Simango describe topics including general home life, food, childrearing, marriage, religion and beliefs about death, and some autobiography. Some texts appear to have been later published as "Tales and Proverbs of the Vandau of Portuguese South Africa" (1922). The text items also include lexica, marginalia by Boas, a song, kinship terms and an illustration, and item AfBnd.4 "Texts on Ndau culture" also includes description of George Hunt's Kwak'wala language work. Item AfBnd.3 "Ndau lexica and ethnographic slips" contains ethnographic notes of mostly unidentified topics, but especially witchcraft, and 39 short notebooks of mostly Chindau lexica. The two main Chindau lexica (both "Chindau lexicon", items AfBnd.1 and AfBnd.2) total around 1700 slips. Zulu culture is also sporadically referenced in the above items. Finally, "An Analysis of Chindau, A Bantu Language of South East Africa" (item AfBnd.5) is an MA thesis by Joseph Rumberger derived from these materials. Boas published "Ethnographische Bemerkungen über die Vandau" in Zeitschrift Für Ethnologie 55(1), 1923 (in German) describing his work with Simango.

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

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Nisga'a materials, ACLS collection

Culture:

Nisga'a includes: Nass, Nisgha, Nishga, Nishka, Niska, Nisqa'a

Language:English | German | Nisga'a

Date:circa 1894; After 1911; 1920

Contributor:Boas, Franz, 1858-1942 | Matheson, G. | Sapir, Edward, 1884-1939 | Schulenburg, A. C. | Stirling, Matthew Williams, 1896-1975

Subject:Biography | Linguistics

Type:Text

Extent:Circa 3,300 slips, 241 pages, 4 notebooks

Description: The Nisga'a materials in the ACLS collection consist primarily of materials in the "Nass (Nisga'a)" section of the finding aid. The earliest item (Pn5b.3) is a roughly 500-word Nisga'a-English list compiled by Boas from his own work and that of Schulenberg's "Die Sprache der Zimshian-Indianer." There are subsequent texts and vocabularies recorded by Boas, Sapir, and Stirling within this section. Also included is the first half of a Nisga'a-German dictionary compiled by Boas (item Pn5b.4), and an extensive lexicon by Stirling numbering over 3000 word slips (item Pn5b.1). In the "Tsimshian" section of the finding aid, see also Boas' "Texts and word lists in Tsimshian, Ts'ets'aut, and Nisga'a" (item Pn5a.5), which includes original field notes, texts (most published), song texts, musical scores, and some shorthand notes. Overall, material described in the collection as "Nass" or "Nass River" is Nisga'a, though some may be intermixed among Tsimshian materials.

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

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Papers on Iroquois personal names, 1914

Culture:

Tuscarora includes: Ska:rù:rę'

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Oneida includes: Onyota'a:ka

Onondaga includes: Onöñda'gega'

Mohawk includes: Kanienʼkehá꞉ka

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Cayuga includes: Gayogohó:no

Date:1914

Contributor:Beauchamp, William Martin, 1830-1925

Type:Text

Genre:Microfilms | Notes | Essays

Extent:1 reel

Description: Collected by William Martin Beauchamp, an Episcopal clergyman, in 1909, these names were taken from treaties, delegations, and other documents and are often accompanied by English translations as well as biographical information. Includes "Sketches of Onondagas of Note," "Names given to whites," and "Names of Iroquois, exclusive of Onondagas." Originals at the Onondaga Historical Association, Syracuse Public Library, Syracuse, NY.

Collection:Papers on Iroquois personal names, 1914 (Mss.Film.643)

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Sahaptin field notes

Culture:

Walla Walla includes: Waluulapam, Natítayt

Yakama includes: Yakima

Umatilla includes: Natítayt

Tayx

Sahaptin includes: Shahaptin

Molala includes: Molalla, Molale

Nez Perce includes: Niimíipu

Colville includes: sx̌ʷyʔiɬpx

Date:ca. 1953-1969

Type:Text

Extent:2 reels; 18 notebooks and ca. 380 loose pages

Description: Fieldnotes across the Plateau region, especially in Pendleton OR (near the Umatilla Reservation), Nespelem WA (in the Colville Reservation), and Toppenish WA (Yakama Reservation), between 1963 and 1969, supplemented by materials collected from other recent secondary sources. Copies held by the APS were privately microfilmed by Bruce Rigsby; the APS does not possess the originals. Notebooks 1-8 mostly represent work at and around the Umatilla Reservation in 1963, and notebooks 9-18 were recorded mostly near the Colville and Yakama reservations, 1964 onwards. The notebooks contain elicited lexica, with some texts, and details on the knowledge and use of languages by specific individuals. The loose notes at the end are mostly texts. A full inventory of the notebooks and notes, with individual contributor, place and language information, is in the collection finding aid.

Collection:Sahaptin field notes (Mss.Film.1261)