Guide to the Indigenous Materials at the American Philosophical Society

Description: This volume contains extracts of Benjamin Smith Barton's "New Views of the Origin of the Tribes and Nations of America" (Philadelphia, 1797), with additions by Peter S. Du Ponceau. The bulk of the volume is comprised of word list of 54 words with equivalents listed in a range of 50-70 languages. While Barton listed no authority, Du Ponceau cited sources. Languages with words listed include Chitimacha, Atakapa, Cherokee, Osage, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Nottoway, Kansa, Omaha, Dakota, Pawnee, Nanticoke, Gros Ventres, Miami, Mi'kmaq, Seminole, Quapaw, Yuchi, Delaware, Ojibwe, Shawnee, Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, Oneida, Tuscarora, Natches, Wyandot, Creek, Mahican, Mohegan, and many others. The word list includes the terms for God, heaven, and sky, as well as various terms relating to kinship, parts of the body, weather, and more. The volume also includes notes on sounds of the Otomi (Othomi) observations on declension; observations about the Omaha, Kansa, Oto, Arkansas, and Missouri languages; and notes on symbol and sound. Also includes a newspaper clipping of a review (in German) of Barton's "New Views" that appeared in "Göttingische Anzeigen von gelehrten Sachen," June 17, 1799.

Collection:A comparative vocabulary of Indian languages (Mss.497.B28)

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A general description of the sea-coasts, harbours, lakes, rivers, etc. of the province of West Florida

Culture:

Choctaw includes: Chahta

Language:English

Date:1769

Contributor:Gauld, George

Subject:Geography | Trade

Type:Text

Genre:Essays

Extent:1 volume

Description: Admiralty surveyor. Mentions southern tribes and Indian trade.

Collection:A general description of the sea-coasts, harbours, lakes, rivers, etc. of the province of West Florida (Mss.917.59.G23)

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A New England pioneer among the Oneida Indians, 1926

Culture:

Oneida includes: Onyota'a:ka

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Language:English

Date:1926

Contributor:Dean, James, 1748-1823 | Deane, S. N. (Sidney Norton), 1878-1943

Subject:Folklore | Indian captivities | Missions | Religion

Type:Text

Genre:Essays | Lectures | Microfilms

Extent:1 reel

Description: Read before the Northampton Historical Society on January 28, 1926, this typescript essay presents the life of a man who was raised by Oneida Indians, missionary and interpreter James Dean (1748-1823) of Westmoreland, New York. It contains a version of the Oneida creation myth. Original in possession of Benjamin D. Meritt, Princeton, N.J.

Collection:A New England pioneer among the Oneida Indians, 1926 (Mss.Film.1101)

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A topographic memoir on East and West Florida, 1818

Culture:

Seminole includes: Yat'siminoli

Language:English

Date:1818

Contributor:Young, Hugh, -1822

Type:Text

Genre:Microfilms | Memoirs | Itineraries | Travel narratives

Extent:125 pages

Description: Hugh Young was an army officer and topographical engineer accompanying General Andrew Jackson's army in its operations against the Seminoles. This memoir includes sections on East Florida's boundaries, physical characteristics, navigation, Native customs, Spanish settlements, African Americans, agricultural products, and climate. Also included are itineraries for East and West Florida. One chapter is devoted to the Seminole and other aboriginal inhabitants of Florida, and includes names, numbers, settlements, war and treaties, councils, marriage, trade, amusement, etc. (pages 48-73). Printed, Boyd (1934). Original document owned by Francis W. Rawle, Albany, circa 1954. Also found on this reel is Benjamin Hawkins' Journal of occurrences in the Creek agency from January to the conclusion of the conference and treaty at Fort Williamson, 1802 (Film 692a).

Collection:A topographic memoir on East and West Florida, 1818 (Mss.Film.692b)

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A vocabulary in the Mingo tongue taken from the mouth of William Sack, a Canistogo Indian. . . and memorandum book

Culture:

Susquehannock includes: Conestoga

Mingo

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Language:English | Susquehannock | Tuscarora | Mohawk | Seneca

Date:1757, 1764-1771

Contributor:Sack, William | Tāyāhaōndeate ("Indian Peter")

Subject:Pennsylvania--History | Linguistics | Seven Years' War, 1756-1763 | Trade

Type:Text

Genre:Notebooks | Vocabularies

Extent:1 vol., 8 p. (vocabulary); 58 p. (memorandum book)

Description: Notebook with memorandum book, Fort Augusta, 1757-1771. Reference is made to Edward Shippen, Jr.; includes 6 pages of vocabulary identified as "Mingo", which may be Susquehannock or Seneca, then 1 page each of Tuscarora and Mohawk numerals; all copied in Indian vocabularies (Mss.497.In2). Memorandum book carries list of obligations, November 1764 - May 4, 1771. The vocabulary was taken from William Sack, a Conestoga Indian, in January 1757 at Fort Augusta in the midst of the Seven Years' War. Sack would later become a controversial figure in Pennsylvania history. The Paxton Boys claimed he was a murderer and used his presence in the Conestoga's camp as pretext for their assault on the Conestoga Indians. The manuscript then changes to the financial transactions of an unknown individual running from 1764 to 1771, although some evidence suggests that Edward Burd kept this memorandum book and vocabulary. This section runs 58 pages. It does not appear to containing any information on Indigenous languages, but may potentially contain information relevant to research Indigenous and settler interactions during this period.

Collection:A vocabulary in the Mingo tongue taken from the mouth of William Sack, a Canistogo Indian. . . and memorandum book (Mss.497.3.V852m)

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A vocabulary of the most common words in use among the Sac and Fox Indians, n.d.

Culture:

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

Language:English | Meskwaki

Date:Undated

Contributor:Unknown

Subject:Linguistics

Type:Text

Genre:Vocabularies

Extent:27 pages

Description: This volume contains Sac [Sauk] and Fox words with their English equivalents. It likely dates to the nineteenth century. One of the more notable features of this collection is that it includes words for relatively recent inventions, such as the steam boat. A note inside the back cover states "C.S.F. to Mrs. S.," asking her to excuse the "erroz in Spelling They are not mind (sic.). written on the night of my return from a memorable Expedition."

Collection:A vocabulary of the most common words in use among the Sac & Fox Indians, n.d. (Mss.497.F11)

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A. Zeno Shindler American Indian Photograph Collection

Culture:

Ute

Seminole includes: Yat'siminoli

Ojibwe includes: Ojibwa, Chippewa, Ojibway

Osage includes: 𐓁𐒻 𐓂𐒼𐒰𐓇𐒼𐒰͘

Pawnee includes: Chaticks si Chaticks, Chatiks si Chatiks

Ponca

Potawatomi includes: Pottawotomi, Neshnabé, Bodéwadmi

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

Cherokee

Cheyenne

Choctaw includes: Chahta

Dakota includes: Dakȟóta

Language:English

Date:1852-1869

Contributor:Shindler, A. Zeno (Antonio Zeno), 1823-1899

Type:Still Image | Text

Genre:Photographs

Extent:0.5 linear feet, 96 photographs

Description: Artist Antonio Zeno Shindler worked at the Smithsonian Institution from after the Civil War until the turn of the 20th century, specializing in ethnographic subjects. He was responsible for printing or taking a large number of photographs of American Indians exhibited there in 1869. The 95 studio portraits in the Shindler Collection were part of a suite of 301 images that comprised the first photographic exhibition at the Smithsonian, and that are documented in the catalogue Photographic Portraits of North American Indians in the Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution (1867). The individuals depicted were members of delegations sent to Washington during the years 1852, 1857-1858, and 1867-1869 from the following nations: Cherokee, Cheyenne, Chippewa (Ojibwe), Choctaw, Dakota Sioux (Brule, Miniconjou, Sans Arc, Santee, Sisseton, Two-Kettle, Yankton), Osage, Pawnee, Ponca, Potawatomi, Sac and Fox, Seminole, and Ute. Shindler printed the earlier photographs (mostly taken by the McClees Gallery) and was photographer for the later delegations. See the finding aid for more information. All of the photographs in this collection have been digitized and are in the APS Digital Library.

Collection:A. Zeno Shindler American Indian Photograph Collection (Mss.970.1.Sh6)

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Abbot-Charnay Photograph Collection

Culture:

Maya

Mixtec includes: Mixteco, Ñuù savi

Language:French

Date:1859-1882

Contributor:Charnay, Désiré, 1828-1915 | Abbot, Griffith Evans, 1850-1927

Type:Still Image | Text

Genre:Photographs

Extent:2.0 linear feet, 123 photographs

Description: A traveler, archaeologist, and photographer, Désiré Charnay (1828-1915) was one of the most important early expeditionary photographers. During his tours of Yucatan, Oaxaca, and Chiapas in 1858-1860 and 1880-1886, Charnay became one of the first to use photography in documenting the great Meso-American archaeological sites and to make ethnographic photographs of indigenous Mexicans. This collection of photographs is representative of the range of images he took of Meso-American archaeological sites during three tours of Mexico in 1858-1860 and 1880-1886. Although some of the images have suffered an unfortunate degree of fading, they convey the power and fascination that these sites held for Charnay and his contemporaries, and include some of the best early examples of the use of photography in the documentation of Mexican archaeology. The collection includes images of the sites at Tula, Teotihuacan, Iztaccihuatl, Chichen Itza, Comalcalco, and Palenque; of archaeological specimens held at the Museum of Mexico; of landscape and villages in Yucatan, Chiapas, and Oaxaca; and of a series of Lacandon, Mayan, Mixtec, and Yucatec "racial types." The collection was apparently assembled by the scientist Griffith Evans Abbot (1850-1927), who presented them to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. The 15 cartes de visite included in the collection, mostly portraits taken in Peru, Chile, and Madeira, bear an uncertain relationship to the Charnay images, and are probably present simply because they were also once owned by Abbot. All images have been digitized and are available through the APS Digital Library.

Collection:Abbot-Charnay Photograph Collection (Mss.913.72.Ab23)

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Abenaki materials, ACLS collection

Culture:

Wabanaki includes: Wabenaki, Wobanaki

Abenaki includes: Abnaki

Language:Abenaki, Western | English

Date:1911

Contributor:Sapir, Edward, 1884-1939

Subject:Ethnography | Linguistics

Type:Text

Genre:Stories | Vocabularies

Extent:1 notebook

Description: The Abenaki materials in the ACLS collection are found in the "Algonkian" section of the finding aid among Sapir's "Notes on Seneca, Mohawk, Delaware, Tutelo, Abenaki, Malecite, Micmac, Montagnais, and Cree [and Algonquian]" (item I1.2), which contain vocabulary and text recorded in Pierreville (or Odanak), Quebec.

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