Guide to the Indigenous Materials at the American Philosophical Society

Description: "Journal up the Red and Washita rivers, with William Dunbar, by order of the U.S. with list of common names of some of the trees and vegetables from the River Washita." No. 2 of Explorations in the Louisiana Country. Describes mounds near Natchez and on the Ouachita. Mentions Caddo trace; Captain Jacobs, a Delaware Indian; Chickasaws, Choctaws, Osages (Little Osages and Grand Osages) and Pascagoulas; warfare and raids; and the singing of a Choctaw woman mourning a child. Printed (abstract only) as Jefferson (1806). [See also Hunter journals #473, volumes 2, 3, 4, May 27, 1804-March 29, 1805.]

Collection:Mémoire sur le district du Ouachita dans la province de la Louisianne, [1803] (Mss.917.6.Ex7)

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Caleb Swan journal extracts

Culture:

Creek

Language:English

Date:1790-1791

Contributor:Knox, Henry, 1750-1806 | Swan, Caleb

Subject:Government relations | Social life and customs

Type:Text

Genre:Journals | Notebooks | Reports

Extent:1 volume, 43 p.

Description: This volume includes the report of Caleb Swan to Henry Knox, Secretary of War (1791), in which he reports contact with and observations of the Creek Indians, while acting as deputy agent to the Creek Nation.

Collection:Caleb Swan journal extracts (Mss.B.B284.d.vol.32)

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Clatsop materials, Lewis and Clark Journals

Culture:

Clatsop includes: Klatsop

Language:English

Date:November 29-December 1, 1805

Contributor:Lewis, Meriwether, 1774-1809

Subject:Expeditions | Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806)

Type:Text

Genre:Journals

Extent:8 pages

Description: Mentions Clatsop Indians

Collection:Lewis and Clark Journals (Mss.917.3.L58)

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Collection of Peruvian manuscripts, 1790-1800, 1820

Culture:

Quechua

Inca

Language:Spanish

Date:1780-1800

Subject:Bolivia--History | Peru--History

Type:Text

Extent:26 items

Description: Items relating to the uprising of Túpac Amaru II (José Gabriel Condorcanqui) in the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru, 1781-1783. Bulk 1780-1783. Topics include the proclamation of Túpac Amaru II entitling himself Inca; the Siege of La Paz; Spanish efforts to relieve La Paz; the capture of Túpac Amaru II and his wife and family; the pardon and pension of Túpac Amaru II [as most sources indicate that he was executed in 1781, it is possible that he is here confused with others who took the name Túpac Amaru]; an affidavit given by former prisoners of Túpac Amaru II; an official copy of the sentence and execution of the indigenous leader Chabe Diego (Janos) Christoval Túpac Amaru and others; and the 1800 opinion of the Fiscal Villaba respecting the lenient and conciliatory measures to be adopted toward indigenous rebels as an alternative to persecution.

Collection:Collection of Peruvian manuscripts, 1790-1800, 1820 (Mss.980.P75)

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Dakota materials, Lewis and Clark Journals

Culture:

Dakota includes: Dakȟóta

Language:English

Date:August 9-12, 1806

Contributor:Lewis, Meriwether, 1774-1809

Subject:Expeditions | Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806)

Type:Text

Genre:Journals

Extent:7 pages

Description: Brief mention of Sioux only. Ends with Lewis being shot.

Collection:Lewis and Clark Journals (Mss.917.3.L58)

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David Brainerd diary, July 14, 1745 - November 20, 1745

Culture:

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Language:English

Date:1745

Contributor:Brainerd, David, 1718-1747

Subject:Pennsylvania--History | New Jersey--History | Missions | Religion

Type:Text

Genre:Diaries | Journals | Sermons | Travel narratives

Extent:46 pages

Description: Missionary David Brainerd spent much of his life working to convert Native peoples, particularly Stockbridge and Delaware (and Susquehanna-area) Indians, to Protestant Christianity until his death of tuberculosis in 1747. This journal from 1745 recounts Brainerd's time in western Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, and his encounters with both Native Americans and settlers. The vast majority of the journal depicts Brainerd's time in the Upper Susquehanna River Valley. Brainerd's journals and autobiography were published after his death to promote missionary efforts to Native Americans. However, scholars have determined that these published accounts were largely written by Brainerd and Jonathan Edwards in 1747, when the dying Brainerd returned to New England and resided with Edwards during his final illness. They edited Brainerd's journals to make his efforts appear more successful, hoping to spur others to follow in his footsteps. The journal held at the American Philosophical Society is an original journal that was written by Brainerd during his missionary years and differs from the one published after his death by Jonathan Edwards. See the finding aid for more information about these discrepencies.

Collection:David Brainerd diary, July 14, 1745 - November 20, 1745 (Mss.B.B74j)

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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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Diario y derrotero de los viages que ha hecho desde que salió de la Ciudad de Zaragosa en Aragón para la América, 1748-1759

Culture:

Guarani

Language:Spanish

Date:1748-1759

Contributor:Parras, Pedro José, -1788?

Type:Text

Genre:Diaries | Journals

Extent:1 volume (450 pages)

Description: A travel narrative devoted in part to travels in Spain and to descriptions of Montevideo and Buenos Aires. One half of the work is the author's relation of a trip through Paraguay, visiting various mission pueblos. He provides a general description of life, education, and Christian teaching for the Indians. Includes list of Jesuits at various missions.

Collection:Diario y derrotero de los viages que ha hecho desde que salió de la Ciudad de Zaragosa en Aragón para la América, 1748-1759 (Mss.918.P24)

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Elisha Kent Kane Papers

Culture:

Inuit includes: Inuk, Eskimo (pej.), ᐃᓄᐃᑦ

Language:English

Date:circa 1850-1857

Contributor:Kane, Elisha Kent, 1820-1857

Type:Still Image | Text

Extent:.5 linear feet

Description: Philadelphia-born adventurer Elisha Kent Kane is perhaps best remembered for his involvement in both the First and Second Grinnell Expeditions (1850-1851 and 1853-1855, respectively) in search of lost Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin. The Elisha Kent Kane Papers also deal with Kane's other travels (to China, Africa, Mexico, etc.) as well as his rather scandalous personal life. During his time in the Arctic, Kane observed local Inuit peoples, and as an incessant doodler he created hundreds of images as well as textual records. Kane's observations of Inuits are located primarily in Series IV. Bound Volumes and Series V. Graphics. Series IV includes a notebook, a letterbook (with sketches, including images of Inuits kayaking), a logbook, a notebook of specimens located in the Arctic, a meteorological journal, and a diary from the First Grinnell Expedition, and two volumes of notebooks (with meteorological observations and sketches) from the Second Grinnell Expedition. Series V contains over 200 sketches, watercolors, silhouettes, maps, and engravings of Inuits of Baffin Bay drawn by Kane during both arctic expeditions. Primarily from the first trip, images include portraits of individuals in native attire, landscapes, dwellings, hunting tools, kayaks, and encampments. As noted above, Kane's log and notebooks are also dotted throughout with sketches. Of note in the Graphics series is a watercolor of an Inuit boy netting auks. Kane's published works, "The United States Grinnell expedition in search of Sir John Franklin (1853)" and "Arctic explorations: the second expedition…(1857)," include engravings of all his original drawings. These images are referenced in the sketch file, the finding aid contains a detailed inventory, and some have been digitized and are part of the APS Digital Library. There might also be some Inuit-related material in Series I. Correspondence and Series III. George W. Corner, Notes on Elisha Kent Kane. Corner prepared a biography of Kane, and this series includes copies of letters and documents relating to Kane and his expeditions held in other libraries, as well as some of Corner's notes and drafts of writings on Kane, including a copy of A.F.C. Wallace, "An interdisciplinary approach to mental disorder among the Polar Eskimos of Northwest Greenland."

Collection:Elisha Kent Kane Papers (Mss.B.K132)