Guide to the Indigenous Materials at the American Philosophical Society

Description: Materials relating to Speck's research and other professional activities. Items include Speck's notes taken during graduate work at Columbia University under Franz Boas, and utilized for his own anthropology courses at the University of Pennsylvania; Speck's miscellaneous notes comprising circa 500 bibliographic cards and reading notes sorted out by tribe and/or language, dealing with tribes and countries in which Speck did no field work [other entries of this type are to be found among the various groups of materials in the Speck collection, according to tribe]; correspondence concerning exhibits and specimens for the Chicago World's Fair and for the Exposition of Indian Tribal Arts in New York City; two letters from Boas regarding the work of the Committee on Research in Native American Languages; correspondence regarding topics such as the double-curve motif, family hunting areas, indigenous foods and cooking methods, wampum, silverwork, birch-bark technique, baskets, Speck's research and publications, the research and publications of others, obtaining indigenous material cultural specimens for Speck, purchases of indigenous material culture specimens (baskets, masks, etc.) from Speck, Speck's identification of items in the Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford University, Speck's bibliography, and Speck's obituary; letters requesting copies of Speck's publications, or acknowledging the transmission of publications between Speck and others; copies and/or drafts of several of Speck's presentations and publications, including "Lectures on Primitive Religion," "Land Ownership Among Hunting Peoples in Primitive America and the World's Marginal Areas," "Review of Lowie's Introduction to Cultural Anthropology," and "The Double-Curve Motive in Northeastern Algonquian Art"; a bibliography of Speck's publications through 1942; rough drafts of miscellaneous papers, 1928-1948; Speck's notes on topics such as crane posture; Birket-Smith's 1946 "Plan for Circumpolar Research"; ten distribution maps for circumpolar culture traits, colored in with crayon to show distribution of traits including divination and miracle shamanism, sweat bath, turtle Atlas myth and world-tree concept, bone divination, bear veneration, curative power of mystic words and formulae, dog-ancestor myth, dog as soul leader, curvilinear patterns, and confession to cure taboo violation; and a prepublication manuscript of Hallowell's "The nature and function of property as a human institution" with additions and corrections.

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

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Miscellaneous materials, John Wesley Powell correspondence and diary, 1871-1907

Culture:

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Language:English

Date:1878-1901

Contributor:Pilling, James Constantine, 1846-1895 | Powell, John Wesley, 1834-1902

Type:Text

Genre:Microfilms | Correspondence

Extent:5 items

Description: Correspondence from John Wesley Powell and James Constantine Pilling regarding various professional and research matters. Includes a letter from Powell to Frederick W. Putnam, wanting his collections to display in the Smithsonian (1878); a letter from Pilling to Henry W. Longfellow concerning the exact title of the first edition of Hiawatha for a bibliography of Indian linguistics (1879); letters from Pilling to to S. E. Howell concerning Indian studies and headquarters at Smithsonian (1879); a letter from Powell to G. Frederick Wright (1899); and a letter from Powell to Paul Carus concerning his plan for a book on Native American religions (1901). Originals of letters to Putnam, Longfellow, and Howell are in the Records of the Geological Survey, Rocky Mountain Survey, U.S. National Archives. Originals of letters to Wright and Carus are at the Bureau of American Ethnology, John Wesley Powell letters sent, 1897-1902.

Collection:John Wesley Powell correspondence and diary, 1871-1907 (Mss.Film.736.1)

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Navajo materials, Anthony F. C. Wallace Papers

Culture:

Navajo includes: Diné, Navaho

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Language:English

Date:circa 1974

Contributor:Wallace, Anthony F. C., 1923-2015

Subject:Anthropology | Witchcraft | Art | Religion | Material culture

Type:Text

Genre:Essays

Extent:3 folders

Description: The Anthony F. C. Wallace Papers are a vast collection of materials relating to Wallace's work at the intersection of anthropology, psychology, and history. Though further research might yield more results, three folders of materials directly pertaining to the Navajo (called "Navaho" in the finding aid) have been identified. These items are all in Series IV. Works by Wallace A. Professional and include two folders on Wallace's introduction to Evelyn Hatcher's "Visual Metaphors: A Formal Analysis of Navaho Art" (1974) and Wallace's "Psychic Unity of Iroquois and Navaho Witchcraft." See the finding aid for a detailed discussion of Wallace's long and varied career and an itemized list of the collection's contents.

Collection:Anthony F. C. Wallace Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.64a)

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Ojibwe materials, Frank G. Speck Papers

Culture:

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Ojibwe includes: Ojibwa, Chippewa, Ojibway

Naskapi includes: ᓇᔅᑲᐱ, Iyiyiw, Skoffie

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Innu includes: Montagnais, Mountaineer

Cree includes: Nēhiyaw, Cri

Anishinaabe includes: Anishinaabeg, Anishinabe, Nishnaabe, Anishinabek

Language:English | French

Date:1927-1949

Type:Text

Genre:Notes | Correspondence | Reviews | Stories | Maps

Extent:14 folders

Description: Materials relating to Speck's study of Ojibwe language, history, and culture. Includes 15 pages of Tamagami [Temagami First Nation] myths and five texts in English; 21 pages of Matagama Ojibwe [Mattagami First Nation] notes, including a 2-page phonetic key, a letter from Speck to Samuel (i.e., James) Miller of Gogama requesting ethnographic and map data, 2 maps (one of Mattagami hunting territories), typed reading notes, and a sketch of a play for Mattagama Otcipwe [sic]; a Christmas circular letter telling the story of a Chippewa [Ojibwe] boy returning home for Dance; a copy of Speck's favorable review of Sister Bernard Coleman, "Decorative designs of the Ojibwa of northern Minnesota" [Printed, Speck (1949).]; and a brief popular account on Ojibwe hunting territories by Speck, refuting Roosevelt (1889-1896), who had denied that Indians have a sense of property, along with two pages of notes. Also includes several folders of correspondence, including correspondence with A. I. Hallowell in which Hallowell describes a field trip to the Berens River Saulteaux, Sweet Grass Cree (mentions attitude of Cree to Leonard Bloomfield), and Cold Lake Chipewyan, festivals, etc., and a letter from Speck to Hallowell with pencilled responses of Hallowell to questions asked; letters from D. H. Learmouth, a factor for Hudson's Bay Company at Waswanippi, recounting his experiences in adjudicating Matagama land inheritance and providing ethnographic data sought by Speck from Samuel (i.e., James) Miller of Gogama and data on hunting territories; letters from James E. Holden concerning unsuccessful attempts to purchase baskets at Nipigon; letters from J. Allan Burgesse regarding the Matagama Ojibwe and enclosing a drawing of a "flesher"and a list of hunting territories and biographical information on owners; a letter from Robert Solenberger concerning Tonawanda [Seneca] and Chippewa [Ojibwe] women who make baskets and giving their addresses; a letter from B. W. Thayer concerning Ojibwe beadwork found during a Minnesota field trip; a letter from Henry Woodman discussing the decline of crafts among Bear Island Indians (Temagami); a letter from Prentice Gilbert Downes about the circumboreal region, disucssing his visit to Naskapi near Davis Inlet, to Cree, and to Chippewas, along with 2 pages of notes (Speck?) in French-English, discussing changes in Indian culture; and a letter from Speck to Chief Mitchele Buckshot in Maniwaki, Quebec requesting buckskin and beadwork.

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

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Penobscot materials, Frank G. Speck Papers

Culture:

Wolastoqiyik includes: Wəlastəkwewiyik, Malecite, Maliseet

Zuni includes: A:shiwi

Tutelo includes: Yesan

Wabanaki includes: Wabenaki, Wobanaki

Penobscot

Passamaquoddy includes: Peskotomuhkati

Navajo includes: Diné, Navaho

Mi'kmaq includes: Micmac

Mohegan

Mohican includes: Mahican, Muhhekunneuw

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Abenaki includes: Abnaki

Language:English | Abenaki, Eastern

Date:1908-1947

Type:Still Image | Text

Extent:27 folders

Description: Materials relating to Speck's study of Penobscot language, history, and culture, and his preparation of his book Penobscot Man. This includes several folders of Speck's field notes, notes organized around specific topics (including data not used in Speck's published works), copies and drafts of lectures and essays, correspondence, etc. Topics include Penobscot social organization, calendar system, house furnishings, hunting morality, animal lore, religion, art, sayings, alphabet, counting and measuring, canoe-making, face-painting, texts with interlineal translations, and "Bird Lore of the Northern Indians" (a faculty public lecture at the University of Pennsylvania). Additionally, significant correspondence concerns the preparation, expenses, dissemination, and reception of his Penobscot publications. Other topics of correspondence include Ethel Gandy's monograph on Penobscot art; names of chiefs and their clans; "clown" performances outside of the southwest among the Penobscot, Iroquois [Haudenosaunee], Abenaki, and Delaware; place names; the relationship of Penobscot-Mohegan and Mahican; a comparison of Zuni-Navajo and Red Paint; Tutelo. There is a particularly large folder of Speck's miscellaneous Penobscot notes containing both a variety of notes and correspondence from Penobscot consultants as well as non-Native colleagues. These include letters from Roland E. Nelson (Needahbeh, Penobscot) concerning drum for exhibit; letters from Nelson, Franz Boas, John M. Cooper, William B. Goodwin, E. V. McCollum, and J. Dyneley Prince, all concerning Penobscot Man; Clifford P. Wilson concerning moosehair embroidery; Edward Reman concerning Norse influence on Penobscot; Carrie A. Lyford concerning moose-wool controversy and Ann Stimson's report; Ann Stimson, letter of thanks; Henry Noyes Otis concerning genealogy of Indians named Sias on Cape Cod (Speck marked this Penobscot); Princess Pretty Woman (Passamaquoddy) concerning her dress (apparently at the Penn Museum); Dorothy Ranco (Penobscot) concerning Princess Pretty Woman's dress; Roland W. Mann, concerning site of Indian occupancy according to Penobscot tradition; Ryuzo Torii, letter of introduction. Other miscellaneous items include a 5-page transcript of agreements between Indians of Nova Scotia and the English, August 15, 1749; 2 pages, transcript of agreement of July 13, 1727 (letter of transmittal, Lloyd Price to Miss MacDonald, September 24, 1936); Ann K. Stimson, Moose Wool and Climbing Powers of the American Mink; miscellaneous field notes on topics like songs, kinship, totem, medicine, and social units; and 4 pages of Penobscot words and their cultural use.

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

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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)