Guide to the Indigenous Materials at the American Philosophical Society

Description: Mary Haas' Natchez file is one of her largest, and relatively little was published from it during her lifetime. She conducted fieldwork with Watt Sam, Nancy Raven and Peggy Leaf, captured in twelve field notebooks in Series 2. A large volume of texts were elicited here and later typeset, with different versions also present in Series 2. Particularly extensive is Haas' set of Natchez lexical slips, amounting to 7 boxes (likely over 10,000 slips), including (in addition to full alphabetizations) grammatical analyses and comparisons with other languages. There are some sound recordings in Series 10. Haas' fieldwork on Natchez and other neighboring languages was used as partial evidence for the Gulf hypothesis, for which comparisons are abundant also in Series 9. Additionally, Haas corresponded with a large number of linguists (Series 1).

Collection:Mary R. Haas Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.94)

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Navajo materials, ACLS collection

Culture:

Navajo includes: Diné, Navaho

Language:English | Navajo

Date:1929-1930; 1932

Contributor:Sapir, Edward, 1884-1939 | Swadesh, Morris, 1909-1967

Subject:Linguistics

Type:Text

Extent:18 notebooks (approximately 125 pages each), approximately 11,000 slips, 172 loose pages

Description: The Navajo materials in the ACLS collection include 3 items in the "Navajo" section of the finding. The largest of these is Sapir's "Navajo texts, field notes, and word lists" (item Na31.5), which includes 17 notebooks of texts with interlinear translations and a word slip file derived from these texts that numbers around 11,000 slips. There is also Sapir's "A list of Navaho stems" (item Na31.2) and Morris Swadesh's class notes (Na31.3) based on Edward Sapir's lectures on the Navaho language, containing grammatical notes, texts with translation, 175-word vocabulary, and a brief descriptive essay. In the "Yana" section of the finding aid, see also Swadesh's "Yana and Navaho notes from Edward Sapir" (item H6.1) containing class notes from Sapir's lectures on Yana, Navaho, with comparative Athapascan material. NOTE: Portions of this material may be restricted due to potential cultural sensitivity.

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

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Navajo materials, Mary R. Haas Papers

Culture:

Navajo includes: Diné, Navaho

Language:Navajo | English

Date:1971-1973, undated

Contributor:Haas, Mary R. (Mary Rosamond), 1910-1996 | Burnside, Frank | Saville-Troike, Muriel

Subject:Linguistics

Type:Text

Genre:Vocabularies | Correspondence | Field notes | Notebooks | Essays

Extent:0.1 linear feet

Description: The most significant items in Mary Haas' Navajo file are two field notebooks, totaling around 140 pages filled, from the early 1970s, possibly as part of a taught field methods class. These can be found in Series 2, name Frank Burnside as the consultant, and reference audio recordings not housed at the APS. Haas also kept short wordlists of Navajo and made comparisons between Navajo and a large variety of other Dene languages, scattered throughout Series 2 and 9, and corresponded with Muriel Saville-Troike on the language (Series 1).

Collection:Mary R. Haas Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.94)

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Nez Perce materials, ACLS collection

Culture:

Nez Perce includes: Niimíipu

Cayuse includes: Liksiyu, Natítayt

Language:English | Nez Perce

Date:1897, 1929-1930, 1935, Circa 1939

Subject:Ethnoanatomy | Botany | Geography | Linguistics | Coyote tales

Type:Text

Genre:Correspondence | Field notes | Notebooks

Extent:3 notebooks; Circa 25,150 slips; 27 pages

Description: The Nez Perce materials in the ACLS collection consist of several items, primarily found in the "Nez Perce" section of the finding aid. Noteworthy materials include 1897 field notes by Livingston Farrand (item Ps1a.7), 2 notebooks (item Ps1a.4) by Archie Phinney recorded at Fort Lapwai with his mother Wayilatpu, and grammatical analyses by Swadesh and Velten (items Ps1a.2 and Ps1a.5). There is also an extensive "Sahaptin lexicon" (author unidentified, item Ps1a.6) based largely upon Phinney's published "Nez Perce texts" (1934). In the "Cayuse" section of the finding aid, Swadesh's "Cayuse interlinear texts" (item Ps1a.1) are in the Niimi'ipuutímt language as told by Gilbert Minthorne, including one text later published by Jarold Ramsey as "Fish Hawk's Raid Against the Sioux" (in the book "Coming To Light: Contemporary Translations of the Native Literatures of North America", ed. Brian Swann, 1994, Vintage Books, New York). In the "Quinault" section, a small number Farrand's notebooks (item S2a.1) may contain some Nez Perce texts in English. Identification within the notebooks is unclear.

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

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Nez Perce materials, Phillips Fund Collection

Culture:

Nez Perce includes: Niimíipu

Language:English | Nez Perce

Date:1987-1991, 1996-1998

Contributor:Ackerman, Lillian A. (Lillian Alice) | Axtell, Horace | Baksi, Shila | James-Stern, Elizabeth | Jones, Judy A.

Type:Still Image | Text

Extent:708 pages, 3 photos

Description: The Nez Perce materials in the Phillips Fund collection consist of 4 items. Materials in this collection are listed alphabetically by last name of author. See materials listed under Ackerman, Baksi, James-Stern, and Jones.

Collection:Phillips Fund for Native American Research Collection (Mss.497.3.Am4)

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Nisga'a materials, ACLS collection

Culture:

Nisga'a includes: Nass, Nisgha, Nishga, Nishka, Niska, Nisqa'a

Language:English | German | Nisga'a

Date:circa 1894; After 1911; 1920

Contributor:Boas, Franz, 1858-1942 | Matheson, G. | Sapir, Edward, 1884-1939 | Schulenburg, A. C. | Stirling, Matthew Williams, 1896-1975

Subject:Biography | Linguistics

Type:Text

Extent:Circa 3,300 slips, 241 pages, 4 notebooks

Description: The Nisga'a materials in the ACLS collection consist primarily of materials in the "Nass (Nisga'a)" section of the finding aid. The earliest item (Pn5b.3) is a roughly 500-word Nisga'a-English list compiled by Boas from his own work and that of Schulenberg's "Die Sprache der Zimshian-Indianer." There are subsequent texts and vocabularies recorded by Boas, Sapir, and Stirling within this section. Also included is the first half of a Nisga'a-German dictionary compiled by Boas (item Pn5b.4), and an extensive lexicon by Stirling numbering over 3000 word slips (item Pn5b.1). In the "Tsimshian" section of the finding aid, see also Boas' "Texts and word lists in Tsimshian, Ts'ets'aut, and Nisga'a" (item Pn5a.5), which includes original field notes, texts (most published), song texts, musical scores, and some shorthand notes. Overall, material described in the collection as "Nass" or "Nass River" is Nisga'a, though some may be intermixed among Tsimshian materials.

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

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Nlaka'pamux materials, ACLS collection

Culture:

Nlaka'pamux includes: Nlakapamuk, Nłeʔkepmx, Ntlakyapamuk, Thompson

Language:English | Nlaka'pamuctsin

Date:1885, 1898-1918

Contributor:Teit, James Alexander, 1864-1922 | Antko | Tetlenitsa, Chief | Sapir, Edward, 1884-1939 | Boas, Franz, 1858-1942

Type:Text | Cartographic | Still Image

Extent:1000+ loose pages, 500+ slips, 23 notebooks, 1 map

Description: The Nlaka'pamux materials in the ACLS collection are located primarily in the "Thompson" section of the finding aid, which contains a full listing. They consist predominantly of ethnographic, historical, linguistic, and botanical materials recorded and assembled by James Teit from the 1890s to the 1910s and sent to Boas. Many of the material listed in the finding aid, especially those of larger size, are composed of many shorter, distinct individual manuscripts on specific topics that were gathered together into the large sets of manuscripts and assigned general titles such as "Thompson materials" or "Salish ethnographic materials". Many additional Nlaka'pamux materials can also be found in the "Salish" section of the finding aid, often intermixed among information on neighboring Interior Salish peoples. In both of these sections there are also some additional materials, generally linguistic, by Franz Boas and others.

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

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Nomlaki materials, Harvey Pitkin Papers

Culture:

Nomlaki includes: Noamlakee, Nomelaki, Central Wintun

Language:Nomlaki | English | Wintu

Date:1936-1963

Subject:Linguistics

Type:Text

Genre:Vocabularies | Field notes | Grammars

Description: The Nomlaki materials in the Harvey Pitkin Papers include Vocabularies, vocabularies in Series I collected by Pitkin and other linguists. Subcollection II, subseries 4-B contains Pitkin's filed notes. Subseries 4-C is composed of stories, vocabularies, and grammars collected by other linguists that Pitkin was using to contrast Nomlaki and Wintu. Some of the more prominent anthropologists in this series include Morris Swadesh and Jeremiah Curtis and A.M. Halpern. There are also some name slips in Series 6, subseries I, "Northern Wintu."

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

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Nongatl materials, ACLS collection

Culture:

Nongatl

Language:English | Wailaki

Date:1902-1903, 1907-1908

Contributor:Goddard, Pliny Earle, 1869-1928 | Mr. Pete | Mrs. Pete

Subject:Ethnography | California--History | Linguistics | Place names

Type:Text

Genre:Field notes | Notebooks | Stories | Vocabularies

Extent:23+ notebooks

Description: The Nongatl materials in the ACLS collection consist mainly of 23 notebooks (item Na20h.1) in the "Nongatl" section of the finding aid. These were recorded by Goddard at Van Dusen Fork and Mad River from consultants Pete and Mrs. Pete, and include Vocabularies, texts with partial translations, narrative of family migration, Mad River place names, and material on Big Bend and Mad River settlements. In the "Hupa" section of the finding aid, Goddard's "Field notes in California Athabascan languages" (item Na.2) also include some Nongatl texts and ethnographic information.

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

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Nuu-chah-nulth materials, Mary R. Haas Papers

Culture:

Nuu-chah-nulth includes: Nootka, Nutka, Aht, Westcoast

Language:Nuu-chah-nulth | English

Date:1930s-1970s

Contributor:Haas, Mary R. (Mary Rosamond), 1910-1996 | Swadesh, Morris, 1909-1967 | Sapir, Edward, 1884-1939

Subject:Linguistics

Type:Text

Extent:1.0 linear feet

Description: Mary Haas' Nuu-chah-nulth (“Nootka”) file is extensive, with the majority of the volume being several thousand index cards of lexica in Series 9, including comparison with especially Ditidaht. Haas' first fieldtrip was with Morris Swadesh in the early 1930s to document Ditidaht songs, and Ditidaht frequently appears alongside Nuu-chah-nulth across the entire collection, as well as featuring briefly in a notebook from that early fieldtrip (Series 2). Much of the remaining material is directly from Morris Swadesh and Edward Sapir in the dedicated Series 2 Subseries ‘Nuu-chah-nulth', including annotations of a copy of Sapir's field notebook, and a long paper on Nuu-chah-nulth aspect. Haas also authored works including "The Structure of Stems and Roots in Nootka-Nitinat", notes for which are in Series 2.

Collection:Mary R. Haas Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.94)