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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Algonquian materials, American Philosophical Society Archives

Culture:

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

Wampanoag includes: Wôpanâak

Shawnee

Ojibwe includes: Ojibwa, Chippewa, Ojibway

Onondaga includes: Onöñda'gega'

Nanticoke

Mohican includes: Mahican, Muhhekunneuw

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Language:English

Date:1816-1888

Contributor:Reynolds, Henry Lee | Horsford, Eben Norton, 1818-1893 | Tooker, William Wallace, 1848-1917 | Du Ponceau, Peter Stephen, 1760-1844

Subject:Labrador--History | Linguistics | Place names | Material culture

Type:Text

Genre:Correspondence | Minutes

Extent:8 items

Description: Materials relating to Alonguian languages and cultures, as well as to the publication of pieces on those subjects. Topics include an essay submitted by Reynolds on Algonquian metalsmiths; Tooker's request for a copy of Heckewelder's comparative Algonquian vocabularies for his work on Long Island place names; two letters revolving around Horsford's efforts to publish the American Philosophical Society manuscript of Heckewelder's comparative Algonquian vocabulary with his edition of Zeisberger's Onondaga dictionary; Du Ponceau on Native languages described as Huron, Delaware, Minsi, Mohicon, Natick, Chippeway, Shawanoe and Nanticoke; and two items relating to a manuscript found on the coast of Labrador which Du Ponceau presented to the APS in facsimile and which he believed to be Algonquian.

Collection:American Philosophical Society Archives (APS.Archives)

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Benjamin Smith Barton journals; notebooks

Culture:

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

Susquehannock includes: Conestoga

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Ojibwe includes: Ojibwa, Chippewa, Ojibway

Mandan includes: Nueta

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Cayuga includes: Gayogohó:no

Cherokee

Chickasaw

Language:Cayuga | English

Date:1785-1806

Contributor:Barton, Benjamin Smith, 1766-1815

Subject:Archaeology | Geography | Treaties | Warfare | Graves

Type:Text

Genre:Vocabularies

Extent:0.5 Linear feet, 2 boxes; 2 volumes

Description: A manuscript compiled from originals in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania by William L. McAtee. Concerns murder of John Armstrong by Indians; mentions Canestogae tribe, Cayahoga path, Cheerake, Chickasaw, Colonel Cresap; tuberculosis among Indians; Delawares; eloquence; Indian barrows, fortifications, and graves; Kash kask kunck; Mandan; Seneca, Six Nations (Haudenosaunee), and Captain White Eyes. Also Crave Creek mound; Wyandot, Indian sugar camp; war customs and war party; treaty of December 1784 at Fort McIntosh with Chippewa and Wyandots; Indian burning; Indian diseases. Teedyuscung; Penn's treaty with the Delaware (1682 and 1702); meaning of "Geneseo"; Seneca battle with Koghquangians (Caughnawaga); Chickasaw; specimen of a Cayuga vocabulary with same list as that used in Barton (1797).

Collection:Benjamin Smith Barton journals; notebooks (Mss.B.B284.1)

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Delaware materials, Indian and Military Affairs of Pennsylvania, 1737-1775

Culture:

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

Shawnee

Miami includes: Myaamiaki

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Language:English

Date:1740-1760

Type:Text

Genre:Correspondence | Passports | Instructions | Speeches | Reports

Extent:15 items

Description: Materials relating to Pennsylvania's relations with Delawares during the Seven Years' War era. Topics include provisions for Native allies; addresses by Native diplomats like Teedyuscung and representatives of Indians in Ohio; Teedyuscung's charges of land fraud and the Penns' rebuttal; a passport for Teedyuscung; Quaker support for Teedyuscung and involvement in Indian affairs; Quakers' address to the Governor and Council of Pennsylvania vindicating themselves from blame for Indian attacks; 1758 plans for a treaty with the Haudenosaunee and Delawares; other councils or meetings with Native individuals or groups; prices in Indian trade; sending out to Indians to bring in scalps; a first-person account, copied from and referring to other manuscripts, regarding trade on Ohio, history of Louisiana, French and Indian relations; Spangenberg's refutal of a charge that Moravian Indians are friendly with the French; instructions to Conrad Weiser for a 1754 trip to Augwick to determine sentiments of Haudenosaunee people, Delawares, Shawnees, Miamis, and Wyandots. Individuals mentioned include Iegra, Delaware George, Tanacharison, and Scarroyady.

Collection:Indian and Military Affairs of Pennsylvania, 1737-1775 (Mss.974.8.P19)

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Delaware materials, Manuscripts on Indian affairs

Culture:

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

Miami includes: Myaamiaki

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Language:English

Date:1755-1759

Contributor:Thomson, Charles, 1729-1824 | Johnson, William, 1715-1774 | Post, Christian Frederick, 1710?-1785

Type:Text

Extent:10 items

Description: Various items relating to Delaware-Pennsylvania relations in the 1750s including the first and second treaties at Easton; five council meetings held at Philadelphia; journal of Christian Frederick Post in his journey from Philadelphia to the Ohio; Charles Thompson's "An enquiry into the causes of the alienation of the Delaware and Shawanese"; and a letter from Sir William Johnson to James Abercrombie regarding his peace with the Delawares. Individuals mentioned include Teedyuscung, Conrad Weiser, Robert Hunter Morris, Governor Denny, Benjamin Franklin, Governor Morris, Richard Peters, Iagrea, Captain Newcastle, Barbet ("a Mohock"), John Pumpshire ("Jersey Indian"), Scarroyady, Andrew Montour, Daniel Claus, George Croghan, and Indian messengers Nathanial, Zacharias, and Christian.

Collection:Manuscripts on Indian affairs (Mss.970.4.M415)

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Delaware materials, Selected papers, [ca. 1819-1863], relating to Benjamin Franklin

Culture:

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

Shawnee

Miami includes: Myaamiaki

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Language:English

Date:1758; 1830s; 1853

Contributor:Penn, Thomas, 1702-1775 | Sparks, Jared, 1789-1866 | Fisher, Joshua Francis, 1807-1873

Subject:Place names | Treaties | Pennsylvania--History

Type:Text

Genre:Correspondence | Treaties

Extent:3 items

Description: (1) Letter from Thomas Penn to Richard Peters. Original in copy book of Jared Sparks. Mentions advisability of James Logan ingratiating himself with Teedyuscung. (2) Letter from J. Francis Fisher to Jared Sparks. Original in Harvard College Library. Mentions his interest in deciphering Place names. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is to invite other societies to pursue this topic. (3) Treaty with the Ohio Indians at Carlisle in October, 1753. Original in Sparks manuscripts, Harvard University. A brief account, apparently by Sparks. Scarroyady, Haudenosaunee, Owendaets (Wyandots), Delawares, Shawanese, Twigtwees (Miamis) treat with Richard Peters, Isaac Norris, and Benjamin Franklin.

Collection:Selected papers, [ca. 1819-1863], relating to Benjamin Franklin (Mss.B.Sp25)

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Haudenosaunee materials, John Gottlieb Ernestus Heckewelder letters to Peter Stephen Du Ponceau

Culture:

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

Tuscarora includes: Ska:rù:rę'

Taíno includes: Arawak

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Nottoway includes: Cheroenhaka

Lokono includes: Arawak

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Dakota includes: Dakȟóta

Language:English

Date:October 7, 1820; June 4, 1818; September 21, 1818; August 12, 1818; July 1, 1819; July 15, 1820

Subject:History | Linguistics

Type:Text

Genre:Correspondence

Extent:6 letters

Description: Concerning vocabularies of Huron-Wyandot and Delaware. Mentions Steinhauer and Schulz, who has an Arawak dictionary. Heckewelder offers corrections to Du Ponceau's publication. Discusses Leatherlip's Huron-Wyandot identity. Claims Nottoway, Naudowessie, and Huron are the same. Recounts how Tuscarora broke from Haudenosaunee.

Collection:John Gottlieb Ernestus Heckewelder letters to Peter Stephen Du Ponceau (Mss.497.3.H35o)

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Haudenosaunee materials, Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection

Culture:

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

Shawnee

Ojibwe includes: Ojibwa, Chippewa, Ojibway

Miami includes: Myaamiaki

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Cherokee

Catawba includes: Iswa

Language:English

Date:January 22, 1736; 1744-1774; November 3, 1768; March 14, 1792; 1794; March 10, 1796; August 28, 1817; October 7, 1892; November 11, 1913; November 20, 1913; 1952; 1953-1954; September 1954; Undated

Type:Text

Extent:14 items

Description: Relavent materials can be found in the finding aid under the specific dates listed. A variety of materials relating to the Haudenosaunee. Eighteenth-century materials include James Logan's treaty instructions to Conrad Weiser in 1736/7; examples of symbols used in treaty signatures by chiefs; miscellaneous items relating to treaties, Indian raids, and land transfers in Virginia;a 1768 deed of land to William Trent; using the Haudenosaunee to make peace with western tribes; Indian agents' accounts, and a journal of a survey of Moravian lands in the Erie triangle translated and edited by Paul A. W. Wallace. Nineteenth-century materials include correspondence regarding Iroquois language and an Iroquois census. Twentieth-century materials include lectures given by Wallace and Leland (on Benjamin Franklin, and on the Deerfield massacre and Eleazer Williams' claim to be the Lost Dauphin, respectively); correspondence between Newhouse and Parker about Newhouse's manuscript history of the "Five Nations Union," the Society of American Indians and possible creation of a Society of Canadian Indians; and Snyderman's essay on ethnohistory, particularly through materials at the American Philosophical Society, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Quaker Historical Association, and the Haverford College Library. Other individuals mentioned include Shekallemy, Samuel Kirkland, Alfred, Street, Captain Brant, LIttle Billy, George Hoopaugh, Jacob Harmon, John Williams, Warham Williams, Madame de Pentigny, Captain John Stoddard, and John H. Hanson.

Collection:Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection (Mss.Ms.Coll.200)

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Haudenosaunee materials, Papers, 1790-1796, on Indian affairs

Culture:

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

Shawnee

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Nanticoke

Miami includes: Myaamiaki

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Language:English

Date:1790-1976

Contributor:Pickering, Timothy, 1745-1829 | Knox, Henry, 1750-1806 | Parish, Jasper, 1767-1836 | Kirkland, Samuel, 1741-1808 | Sergeant, John, 1747-1824

Type:Text

Extent:4 reels

Description: These papers include letters, reports, minutes, memoranda, and addresses to Indian chiefs, selected from the Pickering papers from the Massachusetts Historical Society and from the Essex Institute. Includes letters and documents pertaining to Pickering, Henry Knox, John Sergeant, Jasper Parrish and Samuel Kirkland; relates to New York and Western Indian affairs, principally Iroquois, but also Nanticoke, Shawano [Shawnee], Delaware, Wyandot, Miami, Seneca. Originals at the Massachusetts Historical Society (3 reels) and Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts (1 reel). See also Fenton (1953).

Collection:Papers, 1790-1796, on Indian affairs (Mss.Film.638 & 645)

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Huron linguistic materials, 1743-1744

Culture:

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

Language:French | Wyandot

Date:1743-1744

Contributor:Potier, Pierre-Philippe, 1708-1781

Subject:Linguistics | Ethnography | Politics and government

Type:Text

Genre:Vocabularies

Extent:38 photocopies

Description: Original in Archives of the Jesuit seminary, Montreal, College Ste.-Marie. Vocabulary of Huron with French equivalents, semantically ordered (parts of body, terms of relationship, animals, etc.). List of names of occupants of Huron villages, L'ile aux bois blanc, 1747 (33 cabins); list of bands, locations, names of chiefs. Collected by missionary at Huron-Wyandot mission of Sandwich, Detroit River.

Collection:Huron linguistic materials, 1743-1744 (Mss.497.2.P845)