Guide to the Indigenous Materials at the American Philosophical Society

Description: The Suisun materials in the Harvey Pitkin papers consist of numerous word lists that Pitkin compiled from various historical and linguistic sources. In Subcollection I, Series I-B, see John Alden Mason's "Suisun vocabulary" from 1916. In Subcollection II, Subseries 4-B, there are copies of vocabularies and versions of the Lord's Prayer in Suisun. In Subcollection II, Subseries 4-C, see "Section 6: Suisun" for Pitkin's typed-up versions of all Suisun vocabularies he compiled. In Subcollection II, Series 6, see 4 sections of card slips derived from Suisun vocabularies.

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

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Taos materials, Elsie Clews Parsons papers

Culture:

Taos

Language:English | Tiwa, Northern

Date:1922-1930, 1937

Contributor:Luhan, Mabel Dodge | Douglas, Frederic H. (Frederic Huntington), 1897-1956 | Johnson, Melville | Luhan, Mabel Dodge | Parsons, Elsie Worthington Clews, 1874-1941

Subject:New Mexico--History | Religion | Rites and ceremonies | Social life and customs

Type:Still Image | Text

Genre:Correspondence | Essays | Notebooks | Photographs

Extent:23 notebooks, 70+ photographs

Description: The Taos materials in the Elsie Clews Parsons papers consist of materials found in multiple sections of the finding aid. In Subcollection I, Series II, "Notes, manuscripts, etc.", see items 7, 8, 9, and 11, which contain numerous field notebooks, item 27, which contains some photographs, and item 54, which contains corresondence and photographs on Taos dance. In Subcollection II, Series I, "Professional Correspondence," see Melville Johnson's "Taos the Brilliant," and Mabel Dodge Luhan correspondence. In Subcollection II, Series III, "Lectures and Manuscripts", see "In the Southwest," "Taos Pueblo." In Subcollection II, Series IV, "Research Notes," see "Taos - Notes." In Subcollection II, Series VIII, "Photographs and Scrapbooks," see Taos prints. Some of this material may be restricted due to cultural sensitivity or privacy concerns. Additional relevant material may appear in correspondence folders.

Collection:Elsie Clews Parsons papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.29)

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Tepecano materials, John Alden Mason Papers

Culture:

Tepecano

Huichol includes: Wixáritari

Cora includes: Naáyarite

Akimel O'odham includes: Pima

Language:English | Spanish | Tepecano

Date:1911-1913 and undated

Contributor:Mason, John Alden, 1885-1967

Type:Text | Still Image

Extent:7 items; photographs

Description: Materials relating to John Alden Mason's interest in and research on Tepecano language and culture. Items include 8 notebooks of field notes (1912-1913), containing a list of specimens purchased, texts, and notes on the language, ethnology, and archaeology, etc.; Mason's Preliminary Report as Fellow to the Escuela Internacional de Etnologia y Arqueologia Americanas (1912-1913), on continued investigations in linguistics, religion, ethnology, and mythology of the Tepecanos and in the archaeology of their region; Mason's Tepecano linguistic file, comprised of about 1000 cards with Tepecano words and sentences, with Spanish translations for most and English translations for some; Mason's "A Sketch of Tepecano Religion," which includes some comparison with religious beliefs of Huichols and Coras; a Tepecano Rain Festival Song, musical score with Tepecano lyrics; 6 pages of Tepecano verbal roots with English glosses; and Mason's miscellaneous notes on Tepecano regarding ethnology, linguistics, religion, Piman [Akimel O'odham] comparisons, etc., and including prayers with interlinear English translation (with note "work done for Boas").

Collection:John Alden Mason Papers (Mss.B.M384)

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Tepehuan materials, John Alden Mason Papers

Culture:

Tohono O'odham includes: Papago

Tepecano

O'dam

Akimel O'odham includes: Pima

Date:1916-1967

Type:Text | Still Image

Extent:21 items; photographs

Description: Materials relating to John Alden Mason's interest in and research on Tepehuan language and culture. Northern Tepehuan is most prominently represented in this collection, though references to "Southern Tepehuan" indicate the presence of data on what are now distinguished as the Southeastern Tepehuan and Southwestern Tepehuan languages. Items focused on Northern Tepehuan include Mason's report from the Northern Tepehuan Linguistic Expedition, Baborigame, Chihuahua, Mexico (1951); his Northern Tepehuan linguistics file, containing circa 350 cards with words, phrases, and sentences with Spanish glosses and occasionally some Tepecano and Papago [Tohono O'odham] cognates; two 1936 notebooks on Northern Tepehuan linguistics with vocabulary and texts with Spanish glosses based on work with consultant Pedro Valencia; two 1951 notebooks on Northern Tepehuan linguistics with grammatical notes and texts from wire recordings; 20 pages of Northern Tepehuan texts with interlinear Spanish translation; 20 pages of texts relating to myths, official speeches, settling marital difficulties, etc. with interlinear Spanish 14 pages on Northern Tepehuan morphology concerned primarily with suffixes, taken from the files of Burton W. Bascom; 5 pages of Northern Tepehuan miscellaneous notes including verb conjugation labeled "Bascom" and a map; and two copies of "The Sacred Case" in Northern Tepehuan with English translation, attributed to Juan Dolores. There is one item focused on Southern Tepehuan, comprised of seven notebooks of Southern Tepehuan field notes containing grammatical notes, texts, and some transcriptions and translations of recordings at the American Philosophical Society (see also #3738). More general or comparative materials include Mason's "The Primitive Religions of Mexico" (1916), a paper read at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Tepecano prayers to accompany the paper lacking); Mason's "Notes on the Linguistic and Cultural Affiliations of the Tepehuan and Tepecano," written for the Mexican Historical Congress, Zacatecas (1948); Mason's "Tepehuan of Northern Mexico" (1958), regarding observations on the culture which were made incidental to linguistic fieldwork (includes original and two copies with maps); lists of perdones Tepehuanes and notes on same; comparative lists from Southern and Northern dialects of Tepehuan, with English glosses and comments, by Burton W. Bascom and based on his work in 1943-1944 under the auspices of the Summer Institute of Linguistics; 14 pages of kinship terms in Southern Tepehuan, Northern Tepehuan, and Tepecano with English glosses; and a notebook containing a digest of Rinaldini's Tepehuane taken from the book in the Ayer Collection, Newberry Library. Correspondence includes letters from Burton W. Bascom regarding Northern Tepehuan with some mention of Tepecano, Pima [Akimel O'odham], Papago [Tohono O'odham], and Southern Tepehuan, and including a short paper by Bascom on the Northern Tepehuan possessive -ga, a Northern Tepehuan verb list for comparison with Mason's Tepecano list, and a discussion of noun plural formation with examples; Brete R. Hart regarding receipt of material on Utaztecan, work on alphabet for Southern Tepehuan, and a brief description of Fiesta for the Dead observed at Xoconoxtle, Durango, Mexico; Phil C. Weigland regarding acculturation, history, and relations with whites in San Sebastian and Azqueltan; and a report and correspondence from John Hobgood concerning events transpiring during a visit by John Hobgood and Carroll L. Riley to Santa Maria Ocotlan: their presentation of letters, request for permission to study the Tepehuan language and customs of the village, and interactions with the villagers. Hobgood mentions Agnes McClain Howard as well as Carroll L. Riley.

Collection:John Alden Mason Papers (Mss.B.M384)

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Tesuque materials, Elsie Clews Parsons papers

Culture:

Tesuque includes: Tetsuge Owingeh

Language:English | Keres, Eastern

Date:1923, 1925

Contributor:Parsons, Elsie Worthington Clews, 1874-1941

Subject:New Mexico--History | Religion | Rites and ceremonies | Social life and customs

Type:Text

Genre:Notebooks

Extent:3 notebooks

Description: The Tesuque materials in the Elsie Clews Parsons papers consist of 3 notebooks found in Subcollection II, Series IV, "Research Notes." Some of this material may be restricted due to cultural sensitivity or privacy concerns. Additional relevant material may appear in correspondence folders.

Collection:Elsie Clews Parsons papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.29)

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The history of the dividing line between Virginia and North Carolina

Culture:

Saponi includes: Saponny

Catawba includes: Iswa

Language:English

Date:1728

Contributor:Byrd, William, 1674-1744 | Trist, Nicholas Philip, 1800-1874

Type:Text

Genre:Maps | Travel narratives

Extent:1 volume

Description: A finished copy, probably earlier than the Westover manuscript, from which this varies slightly. Byrd interpolated into the narrative of his tour remarks on Indian customs, religion, warfare, trade, in addition to observations on his Saponi guides. Several pages added in 1817 in hand of Nicholas Trist. Printed (from Westover manuscript) in Boyd (1929). See also Woodfin (1944).

Collection:The history of the dividing line between Virginia and North Carolina (Mss.975.5.B99h)

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The Natchez, 1840

Culture:

Natchez

Language:English

Date:1840

Contributor:Unknown

Subject:Religion | Social life and customs | Rites and ceremonies | Mississippi--History

Type:Text

Genre:Essays | Oral histories

Extent:136 pages

Description: This account of the Natchez was written at Natchez in November 1840 and appears to convey oral history of the time. The unidentified author begins by stating “it was with extreme difficulty we succeeded in procuring the information.” The document touches on Natchez history and “manners, customs, [and] traditions.” The focus of the document is on their history, however, and much of the content was relayed to the author orally by Natchez consultants. There is an extended discussion of Natchez beliefs and practices. The document contains biographical data on prominent members of the Natchez and other native peoples, such as Pushmataha.

Collection:The Natchez, 1840 (Mss.970.3.N19)

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Tlaxcaltec Nahuatl materials, Jane M. Rosenthal Papers

Culture:

Nahua

Language:Nahuatl, Central | Nahuatl (macrolanguage) | English | Spanish

Date:ca.1970-2002

Type:Text | Sound recording | Still Image

Extent:6 linear feet

Description: The majority of the Jane M. Rosenthal Papers centers on Nahuatl linguistic and anthropological research. Materials therefore appear extensively in every series. Rosenthal's own fieldwork on Tlaxcaltec (Acxotla del Monte, Tlaxcala, Mexico) spanned the 1970s and 1980s, involving the production of 17 field notebooks (Series 2 Subseries 1) with accompanying tapes (Series 10, available in the Digital Library), lexical slips (Series 7), photographs (Series 8) and much correspondence, in Spanish, with members of the Atonal and de Texis families (Series 1). Jane Hill also conducted research with many of the same consultants, works by whom (including interview transcriptions) can be found mostly in Series 5. Rosenthal also engaged with preexisting primary sources at archives in Mexico and the U.S., creating transcriptions and interlinearizations of texts (Series 2 Subseries 2), and produced several articles on Nahuatl grammar, Nahua culture and interactions with missions (Series 2 Subseries 3). Further to her own work, this collection contains much gathered material by others. In addition to that of Jane and Kenneth Hill, several drafts and publications by fellow University of Chicago student Kay A. Read on Nahua/Aztec religion appear in Series 5, and publications and commentary with other Uto-Aztecanists are scattered throughout Series 1 and 5. Rosenthal was heavily involved in the meetings of the Friends of Uto-Aztecan from its inception in 1973, many handouts from which (relating to a variety of Uto-Aztecan languages) can be found in Series 6. Her student notes, many produced by Norman McQuown (Series 3), and teaching notes (Series 4) may also be of interest.

Collection:Jane M. Rosenthal Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.129)

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Tlingit materials, Phillips Fund Collection

Culture:

Tlingit includes: Lingit, Łingit, Tlinkit

Language:English | Tlingit

Date:1959-1960, 1969, 1991-1995

Type:Text

Genre:Correspondence | Essays | Reports | Stories

Extent:842 pages

Description: The Tlingit materials in the Phillips Fund collection consist of 6 items. Materials in this collection are listed alphabetically by last name of author. See materials listed under Barbeau, Berman, Bessell, Gunther, Kan, and Thornton.

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