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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Miwok materials, Harvey Pitkin Papers

Culture:

Miwok

Date:1923-1955

Contributor:Kroeber, A. L. (Alfred Louis), 1876-1960 | Pitkin, Harvey | Swadesh, Morris, 1909-1967 | Callaghan, Catherine A.

Subject:Linguistics | California--History

Type:Text

Genre:Notebooks | Vocabularies | Dictionaries | Field notes

Description: The Miwok materials in the Harvey Pitkin Papers include linguistic and comparative materials of Coast, Plains, Lake, and Southern Sierra Miwok languages. Alfred Kroeber's notebooks on Lake Miwok can be found in Subcollection I, Series IA. Pitkin's "introduction" to Plains, Coast, and Lake Miwok is located in Subcollection I, Subseries 4-C; Pitkin's California-Oregon comparative Vocabularies of Lake, Plains; and Southern Sierra Miwok is in Subcollection II, Series 2, Subseries 5 along with Morris Swadesh's "Glottochronologic Tests Lists," which include Mariposa Miwok and Clear Lake Miwok. Catherine Callaghan field work, Plains Miwok dictionary, and reconstruction of Proto Miwok is in Subcollection II, Series 2, Subseries 5.

Collection:Harvey Pitkin Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.78)

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Pomo materials, Franz Boas Papers

Culture:

Pomo

Language:English | Pomo, Eastern | Pomo, Central

Date:circa 1907-1934

Contributor:de Angulo, Jaime | Boas, Franz, 1858-1942 | Kroeber, A. L. (Alfred Louis), 1876-1960

Subject:Kinship | California--History | Linguistics

Type:Text

Genre:Correspondence

Extent:unclear

Description: The Pomo materials in the Franz Boas Papers are of unclear total extent, though a few letters relating to Pomo languages and peoples have been identified. In the correspondence with Jaime de Angulo, see especially the letter sent by de Angulo to Boas on December 5, 1934, which details Pomo kinship terms in "Clear Lake" and "Yukaya" Pomo. Other letters in the de Angulo-Boas correspondence may contains other discussion of Pomo languages. In the correspondence with Alfred Kroeber, mentions of Pomo can be found in letters from Kroeber to Boas on December 17, 1907, and May 4, 1927, as well as letter from Boas to Kroeber on May 3, 1930. The collection may contain additional letters and correspondences of relevance beyond these that have not yet been identified.

Collection:Franz Boas Papers (Mss.B.B61)

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Wintu materials, Harvey Pitkin Papers

Culture:

Wintu includes: Northern Wintun

Takelma includes: Rogue River

Patwin includes: Southern Wintun

Maya

Miwok

Klamath

Date:1888-1953

Type:Still Image | Text | Sound recording

Description: The Wintu materials in the Harvey Pitkin Papers are extensive. Subcollection I, Series I, contains notes, notebooks, vocabularies, slip files, texts, manuscripts and phonetic tracings by Jeremiah Curtin in the late 19th century, Roland Dixon, and A.M. Halpern. Series I-B contains Pitkin's grammar slip files and vocabularies collected by Curtin. Series I-C includes Jaime de Angulo's manuscript on the Patwin language, S.A. Barrett's transcriptions and translations of speech and song recordings, Radin's "Grammatical Sketch" and Waterman's notes on Patwin phonetics. Series II-A is rich in materials collected by A.L. Krober. In Subcollection II, Pitkin's field notes are located in Series 2, Subseries 1. Subseries 2 includes Pitkin's extensive notes on his Wintu dictionary, grammar, texts, stories, and music. The manuscript of the dictionary is located in Subseries 3. There is an unpublished 416 page manuscript of stories written in both English and Wintu, songs, and transcriptions in Subseries 4. This section also includes copies of all the extant linguistic material with works by noted linguists such as Curtin, Albert Gatschet, Radin, Halpern, Morris Swadesh, Victor Golla, and J.P. Harrington. Series 6 is comprised of card file slips with comparative analyses by Pitkin of the four languages of the Wintun family.

Collection:Harvey Pitkin Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.78)

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Wintun materials, Harvey Pitkin Papers

Culture:

Wintu includes: Northern Wintun

Date:1821-1953

Subject:Linguistics | California--History | Folklore

Type:Text

Description: The Wintun materials in the Harvey Pitkin Papers include a wealth of material collected by Pitkin from other scholars as well as his own linguistic work. The work of Paul Radin, A.L. Kroeber, Jeremiah Curtin, and T.T. Waterman can be found in Subcollection I, Series I and Series II. In Subcollection II, Pitkin's field notes of stories, songs, and myths are typed but were never published. Subseries 4-B and 4-C, "Source Texts," contains creation myths collected by Curtin, works by Kroeber, Albert Gatschet, and J.P. Harrington, Vocabularies collected by Morris Swadish, C. Hart Merriam, Arroyo de la Guesta (1821). Subseries 5 includes Pitkin's work on comparative Wintun Vocabularies and Proto-Wintun as well as Kenneth Whistler's work on Proto-Wintun. Series 6 has a large number of Wintun word slips.

Collection:Harvey Pitkin Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.78)