Guide to the Indigenous Materials at the American Philosophical Society

Description: Materials relating to both Algonquin and related Algonquian peoples, cultures, and languages. Includes Speck's notes on artifacts found near Lake Abitibi and in the Nipissing district; his Seven Islands field notes, including texts with interlinear translations, house data, names of animals, and a letter in French from Marie Louise Ambroise; sketches and comments on shoulder blade divination (scapulimancy), including notes on deer drives (including an undated note from A. Irving Hallowell) and the distribution of artifacts among Algonquin, Naskapi, and Mistissini peoples; two field notebooks containing (1) linguistic notes and informant and population data for Waswanipi, Abitibi, Temiskaming [Timiskaming], Nipissing, Algonquian and (2) Temiskaming ethnography, Wisiledjak (Wiskyjack) [Wisakedjak, a manitou] text (in English), Temagami ethnology and texts (in English), and one Iroquois legend; general information on birch-bark containers, including 37 photographs and 40 pages of notes relating to Algonquin, Cree, Ojibwe and Ktunaxa specimens, and a letter from Bella Weitzner; and a letter from A. G. Bailey sending Speck a copy of his book on Algonquians.

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

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Anathan-Jacobs Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Collection

Culture:

Stoney includes: Nakoda

Secwépemc includes: Shuswap

Ojibwe includes: Ojibwa, Chippewa, Ojibway

Métis

Kainai includes: Káínaa, Blood

Cree includes: Nēhiyaw, Cri

Dakota includes: Dakȟóta

Blackfeet includes: Blackfoot, Niitsítapi, Siksika, Siksikaitsitapi

Anishinaabe includes: Anishinaabeg, Anishinabe, Nishnaabe, Anishinabek

Language:English

Date:1905-1910

Contributor:Jacobs, Norman Leonard, 1885-

Type:Still Image | Text

Genre:Correspondence | Photographs

Extent:1 linear foot

Description: Norman Leonard Jacobs was an engineer and surveyor with the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in Canada. The collection consists of his correspondence with Bessie Frank (later Anathan), an acquaintance from Pittsburgh. Jacobs wrote of daily life in Canadian cities like Winnipeg and Edmonton, interactions with First Nations, and daily hardships encountered in the field (extreme cold, snowblindness, and lack of food), but also spoke of his work with pride and enthusiasm. In addition to the letters, Jacobs wrote twenty-eight pages of a "Diary of a Tenderfoot." Also included in the collection are two photobooks and various loose photographs, which display various aspects of camp life, details of work sites and the Canadian landscape, and First Nations peoples. Some of the photographs are extremely faded. Native peoples mentioned include Ojibwe, Blackfoot, Cree, "Surteau" (likely Saulteaux),"Bloods" (Kainai), "Stonies" (Nakoda, or "Stoney"), as well as Native people at Tete Jaune Cache who are likely Simpcw. The images include family groups; men, women, and children fishing; men (some apparently hired by Jacobs or his company to act as guides and carriers in the field) working with an infant in a cradleboard; Ojibwe graves; tepees [tipis]; "Sioux" warriors; a sweat bath; horse races; individuals like Joe KaeKwitch, Chief Handorgan, Chief Wingard, Muskowken, etc. Most of these materials have been digitized and are available through the APS's Digital Library. Also see the finding aid for more background information on Jacobs and detailed itemized lists for both Series I. Correspondence and Series II. Graphic Materials.

Collection:Anathan-Jacobs Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Collection (Mss.SMs.Coll.13)

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Cayuga materials, George S. Snyderman Papers

Culture:

Seneca-Cayuga

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Cayuga includes: Gayogohó:no

Language:English

Date:1795, 1949, and undated

Contributor:Snyderman, George S., 1908-2000

Subject:Oklahoma--History | New York (State)--History | Ontario--History

Type:Cartographic | Text

Genre:Correspondence | Maps | Reports

Extent:3 folders

Description: The Cayuga materials in the Snyderman Papers include correspondence from Alexander General (Deskaheh) in Series I concerning "Cayuga Legends Explaining Conquest of Huronia," and a map of the Cayuga reservation from 1795 in Series II and a "Preliminary Report of the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma" manuscript in Series IV.

Collection:George S. Snyderman Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.51)

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Cayuga materials, William N. Fenton papers

Culture:

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Cayuga includes: Gayogohó:no

Language:English

Date:1917, 1934-1989

Contributor:Fenton, William N., (William Nelson), 1908-2005 | Kurath, Gertrude Prokosch

Subject:New York (State)--History | Ontario--History | Politics and government | Social life and customs | Rites and ceremonies

Type:Text

Genre:Correspondence | Field notes | Diaries | Essays

Extent:.5 linear feet

Description: The Cayuga materials in the William Fenton Papers can be found in multiple sections of the finding aid. In Series I, see correspondence with "General, Chief and Mrs. Alex." Additional information may be included in other correspondences. In Series IIb, see especially "A Cayuga League Tradition." Series III includes the manuscripts "Howard Sky, 1900-1971: Cayuga Faith-Keeper, Gentleman, and Interpreter of Iroquois Culture" and "Installing a Cayuga Chief in 1945." Series IV includes Kurath's diary "Report on Cayuga Soursprings Longhouse Midwinter Festival." Series V includes Fenton's notes on "Deskaheh on Cayuga Council." In Series VI, there are photos of "Cayuga nomination strings" In Series VIII-B, see the "Iroquois Social Structure" section and in Series VIII-D see the "Cayuga Social Organization" folder with information on Myron Turkey. Additional Cayuga-related materials may be found in other folders not currently identified as Cayuga.

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

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Collection of Iroquois folklore, 1912-1918

Culture:

Tuscarora includes: Ska:rù:rę'

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Onondaga includes: Onöñda'gega'

Oneida includes: Onyota'a:ka

Mohawk includes: Kanienʼkehá꞉ka

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Cayuga includes: Gayogohó:no

Language:English

Date:1912-1918

Contributor:Waugh, F. W. (Frederick Wilkerson), 1872-1924

Subject:Folklore | Ontario--History | New York (State)--History

Type:Text

Genre:Stories

Extent:Approx. 900 p.

Description: This collection was gathered by Waugh at Six Nations Reservation from Cayuga and Onondaga informants, with a scattering of Mohawk, Oneida, Seneca, and Tuscarora. Includes 157 different items of fiction, folklore, and history. With this is a description of the Collection by Martha Champion Randle, May 1953, which contains a detailed Index. - taken from APS Proceedings, vol. 97, 5, 1953, 611-633. The original notebooks from which these typescripts were made are housed at the Canadian Museum of History, which also holds a typescript likely produced at the same time as the APS typescript.

Collection:Collection of Iroquois folklore, 1912-1918 (Mss.398.2.W353)

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Cree materials, Charles E. Fiero Papers

Culture:

Cree includes: Nēhiyaw, Cri

Language:Cree | Cree, Southern East

Date:1969

Subject:Ontario--History | Quebec--History | Minnesota--History

Type:Text

Genre:Essays | Vocabularies | Grammars | Stories

Extent:ca. 152 p.

Description: The only Cree materials in the Charles E. Fiero Papers are "A Report on Coastal Montagnais-Naskapi by Helen Hisey and Charles Fiero" in Series I, with possibly similar materials on CD in Series II. Despite being titled "Coastal Montagnais-Naskapi", this is likely Southern East Cree, as the consultants are residents of Eastmain and Moose Factory, on James Bay. Fieldwork was done at Mokahum Indian Bible School, Cass Lake, Minnesota, where Fiero was working. The material includes grammatical analysis, interlinear texts, and lexica.

Collection:Charles E. Fiero Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.187)

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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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Iroquois personal names

Culture:

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

Tuscarora includes: Ska:rù:rę'

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Oneida includes: Onyota'a:ka

Onondaga includes: Onöñda'gega'

Mohawk includes: Kanienʼkehá꞉ka

Nanticoke

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Cherokee

Cayuga includes: Gayogohó:no

Language:English | Mohawk

Date:1900-1951

Contributor:Barbeau, Marius, 1883-1969 | Cooke, Charles, 1870-1958

Type:Text

Genre:Personal names | Essays | Vocabularies | Stories

Extent:1380 pages

Description: This manuscript is an alphabetical list of about 6200 Iroquoian names, collected over 5 decades by Charles Cooke (Thawennensere), a Mohawk scholar from Wahta. Each entry includes the name in its Mohawk rendering, with phonetic spelling, gender, tribe, location, date, and clan. The name is then analyzed by radicals, with historical information about its bearer (where relevant). Cross reference to variants and from English names of Indians. Preface by Cooke, edited by C. Marius Barbeau, classifies names and gives numbers and sex. This item has been fully digitized and can be viewed online. See also an accompanying audio collection (Mss.Rec.10), listed separately in this guide, in which Cooke reads the majority of the names.

Collection:Iroquois personal names (Mss.497.3.C772)

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John Kirk Townsend Indian vocabularies collection

Culture:

Walla Walla includes: Waluulapam, Natítayt

Tlingit includes: Lingit, Łingit, Tlinkit

Secwépemc includes: Shuswap

Squamish includes: Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Sko-ko-mish

Syilx includes: Okanagan, Okanogan

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

Nuxalk includes: Bella Coola, Bellacoola

Ojibwe includes: Ojibwa, Chippewa, Ojibway

Nez Perce includes: Niimíipu

Klallam includes: Clallam, S'Klallam, nəxʷsƛ̕ay̕əm

Klickitat includes: Klikitat

Ktunaxa includes: Kootenai, Kootenay, Kutenai, Tonaxa

Haida includes: X̱aayda, X̱aadas, X̱aad, X̱aat

Heiltsuk includes: Bella Bella, Haíɫzaqv

Kalapuya

Cayuse includes: Liksiyu, Natítayt

Cree includes: Nēhiyaw, Cri

Dakelh includes: Carrier, ᑕᗸᒡ

Anishinaabe includes: Anishinaabeg, Anishinabe, Nishnaabe, Anishinabek

Date:1834-1836

Type:Text

Genre:Notebooks

Extent:2 volumes

Description: This collection contains two manuscript volumes collected by the naturalist John Kirk Townsend, obtained by dictation from native speakers, people of mixed ancestry, and traders of the Hudson's Bay Company. The first volume contains a collection of multiple comparative vocabulary lists of languages of modern-day Washington, Idaho, Oregon, British Columbia, and Alaska, obtained by dictation from native speakers, people of mixed ancestry, and traders of the Hudson's Bay Company. Languages included are: "Okanagan" (N̓səl̓xcin), "Attnaha" or "Shoushwap" (Secwepemctsin), "Walla Walla (Sahaptin), "Squalyamish" (Squamish / Sḵwx̱wú7mesh ?), "Nooselalum" (Klallam / nəxʷsƛ̕ay̕əm), "Haeeltzuk" (Heiltsuk), "Billichoola" (Nuxalk), "Nass" (Nisga'a), "Haidah" (Haida), "Tongaase" (Tlingit, possibly inland variety), Nez Perce, Chinook [Jargon], "Carrier or Takelhé" (Dakelh), "Kayouse" (Cayuse), and "Kootenai" (Ktunaxa). The second volume is a collection of vocabulary lists of 19 Indigenous languages, primarily of the Pacific Northwest, re-copied from earlier notes in an orderly fashion with an index and additional introductory information on the area where each language is spoken and the source of the vocabulary. 15 of the vocabularies are re-copied out from the first volume in this collection. This volume includes the languages listed for that volume, plus Cree (possibly Plains Cree), "Kalapooyah" (Kalapuya), Klikatat (Sahaptin or Yakama), and "Seauteux" (Western Ojibwa/Ojibwe).

Collection:John Kirk Townsend Indian vocabularies collection (Mss.497.3.T66)

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Lenape materials, Frank G. Speck Papers

Culture:

Tutelo includes: Yesan

Shawnee

Pawnee includes: Chaticks si Chaticks, Chatiks si Chatiks

Nanticoke

Mohawk includes: Kanienʼkehá꞉ka

Munsee

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Cayuga includes: Gayogohó:no

Abenaki includes: Abnaki

Language:English | Delaware

Date:1895-1948

Type:Still Image | Text

Extent:57 folders

Description: Materials relating to Speck's study of Lenape (or "Delaware") history, language, and culture. Speck's correspondence with Delaware collaborators in Oklahoma relating to Lenape history, ethnographic data, linguistics, museum specimens, and reservation affairs, etc., might be of particular interest; there are also several tales related by Witapanóxwe, or War Eagle, other tales and texts (some with interlineal translation) from Josiah Montour and other unknown contributors, and 11 sketches of Lenape art designs. Other correspondence touches on Speck's efforts to collect specimens (and individuals and institutions interested in acquiring them), his efforts to collect paintings and sketches of ceremonies and designs, his fieldwork and expenses, financial support from the University of Pennsylvania and Indiana Historical Society, Shawnee data on Oklahoma Delawares, the Big House Ceremony, efforts to acquire a Delaware Big House to erect in Harrisburg, Delawares-as-women, etc. There are also at least 82 pages (in three folders) of Speck's field notes of ethnographic and linguistic data, and over 50 pages (in two folders) of Speck's miscellaneous notes (including some correspondence) on topics such as Gladys Tantaquidgeon and Lenape designs, botanical specimens, linguistic materials, museum specimens, the Walam Olum, the "Six Nation Delaware reservation", the celestial bear theme, native religion, reviews of Speck's publications, etc. Other notes cover Delaware grammar and vocabulary, Delaware clans and social organization, dualism in Delaware religion, the influence of Christianity on Delaware religion, the provenance of Delaware museum specimens obtained from Delawares in Oklahoma and Canada, biographical information on Joseph Montur and Nicodemus Peters, etc. There are also various drafts, essays, lectures and other writings by Speck on topics such as Delaware religion, ceremonies, peyote rites, designs, population, remnant populations in the east, history, place names, a Delaware bibliography and a notebook of reports to the University of Pennsylvania Research Committee on fieldwork among Oklahoma Delaware, St. Francis Abenaki, Munsee and Six Nations (Haudenosaunee) Delaware, Tutelo, Cayuga, 1931-1936.

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