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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A vocabulary in the Mingo tongue taken from the mouth of William Sack, a Canistogo Indian. . . and memorandum book

Culture:

Susquehannock includes: Conestoga

Mingo

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Language:English | Susquehannock | Tuscarora | Mohawk | Seneca

Date:1757, 1764-1771

Contributor:Sack, William | Tāyāhaōndeate ("Indian Peter")

Subject:Pennsylvania--History | Linguistics | Seven Years' War, 1756-1763 | Trade

Type:Text

Genre:Notebooks | Vocabularies

Extent:1 vol., 8 p. (vocabulary); 58 p. (memorandum book)

Description: Notebook with memorandum book, Fort Augusta, 1757-1771. Reference is made to Edward Shippen, Jr.; includes 6 pages of vocabulary identified as "Mingo", which may be Susquehannock or Seneca, then 1 page each of Tuscarora and Mohawk numerals; all copied in Indian vocabularies (Mss.497.In2). Memorandum book carries list of obligations, November 1764 - May 4, 1771. The vocabulary was taken from William Sack, a Conestoga Indian, in January 1757 at Fort Augusta in the midst of the Seven Years' War. Sack would later become a controversial figure in Pennsylvania history. The Paxton Boys claimed he was a murderer and used his presence in the Conestoga's camp as pretext for their assault on the Conestoga Indians. The manuscript then changes to the financial transactions of an unknown individual running from 1764 to 1771, although some evidence suggests that Edward Burd kept this memorandum book and vocabulary. This section runs 58 pages. It does not appear to containing any information on Indigenous languages, but may potentially contain information relevant to research Indigenous and settler interactions during this period.

Collection:A vocabulary in the Mingo tongue taken from the mouth of William Sack, a Canistogo Indian. . . and memorandum book (Mss.497.3.V852m)

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Cayuga materials, Floyd G. Lounsbury Papers

Culture:

Tuscarora includes: Ska:rù:rę'

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Oneida includes: Onyota'a:ka

Onondaga includes: Onöñda'gega'

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Cherokee

Cayuga includes: Gayogohó:no

Date:1946-1989

Subject:Religion | Rites and ceremonies | Linguistics | Kinship | Ethnography

Type:Text | Sound recording

Extent:1 linear foot

Description: The Cayuga materials in the Lounsbury Papers are located primarily in the "Cayuga" section of Series II, which contains extensive field notes and transcriptions made by both Lounsbury and Michael Foster of Cayuga stories and speeches given by Alexander General, Howard Skye, and Mrs. George Green, along with related discussions. See also Series VII, Audio Recordings, which includes some recordings featuring the Thanksgiving Address and the Condolence ceremony. See also correspondence in Series I, which includes Michael K. Foster's work on Cayuga Midwinter ceremonies, William Sturtevant's work with Oklahoma Seneca-Cayuga, and Marius Barbeau's materials on Cayuga and Tuscarora.

Collection:Floyd G. Lounsbury Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.95)

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Comparative Haudenosaunee materials, Frans M. Olbrechts papers

Culture:

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Date:circa 1930

Contributor:Olbrechts, Frans M., 1899-1958

Subject:Linguistics

Type:Text

Genre:Vocabularies

Extent:56 pages, 100 card slips, 1 box

Description: The Olbrechts papers contains three items focused on comparisons of Iroquoian languages, all located in Series I. The "Comparative relative pronouns" notebook contains word comparison tables with terms from Cherokee, Tuscarora, Mohawk, Oneida, Huron, Wyandot, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and "Pr." Two folders titled "Comparison of Iroquois languages" contains with comparative vocabulary, as does a large lexical file box with 1000+ slips.

Collection:Frans M. Olbrechts papers (Mss.497.3.OL2)

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Comparative vocabularies of several Indian languages

Culture:

Unkechaug includes: Unquachog

Tuscarora includes: Ska:rù:rę'

Shawnee

Oneida includes: Onyota'a:ka

Onondaga includes: Onöñda'gega'

Ojibwe includes: Ojibwa, Chippewa, Ojibway

Mohican includes: Mahican, Muhhekunneuw

Miami includes: Myaamiaki

Nanticoke

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Cree includes: Nēhiyaw, Cri

Cayuga includes: Gayogohó:no

Cherokee

Chickasaw

Choctaw includes: Chahta

Creek

Chitimacha

Algonquin

Atakapa includes: Atacapa

Date:n.d., 1792-1808?; 1802-1808

Contributor:Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826

Subject:Linguistics

Type:Text

Genre:Vocabularies

Extent:1 volume

Description: 4 pages of words from Jefferson's standard form, with equivalents in Mohiccon and three other languages numbered as 1, 6, 7 (Mohiccon), and 8. A comparative vocabulary of 22 languages, arranged tabularly to follow Jefferson's standard printed vocabulary form. Languages include Delaware, Unami, Monsi, Chippewa, Knisteneaux, Algonquin, Tawa, Shawanee, Nanticoke, Mohiccon, Unkechaug, Oneida, Cayuga, Onondaga, Miami, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Tuscarora, Chetimacha, and Atacapa.

Collection:Comparative vocabularies of several Indian languages (Mss.497.J35)

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Haudenosaunee materials, Floyd G. Lounsbury Papers

Culture:

Shawnee

Nottoway includes: Cheroenhaka

Mohawk includes: Kanienʼkehá꞉ka

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Hopi

Cayuga includes: Gayogohó:no

Cherokee

Catawba includes: Iswa

Bororo

Date:1862; 1913-1996

Type:Text | Sound recording

Description: The Haudenosaunee materials in the Lounsbury Papers are vast in scope ranging from ceremonial recordings in Series VII to secondary sources in Series II to Lounsbury's own linguistic work among the Haudenosaunee (see notes on Mohawk, Cayuga, Seneca, Oneida, and Onondaga materials). The correspondence, in Series I, includes notes by Marius Barbeau on six Iroquoian language varieties, a recording of the Condolence Ceremony recited by George Thomas, Gordon Day's work on Iroquois place names in Vermont, William Fenton's work on Iroquois-Cherokee linguistic relations, a manuscript of Mary Haas' comments on FGL's "Iroquois-Cherokee Linguistic Relations," George Harnell's work on Iroquois culture, Gunther Michelson's work on Iroquois place names, James Pendergast's study of longhouse construction and LaSalle's 1669-1670, Morris Swadesh's notes on the Caughnawaga Iroquois in Brooklyn, NY, Elisabeth Tooker on Iroquois cosmology, a manuscript of Iroquois grammar by Carl Voeglin, William Wykoff's study of Iroquois prehistory.

Collection:Floyd G. Lounsbury Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.95)

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Material on Iroquois Dialects and Languages

Culture:

Tuscarora includes: Ska:rù:rę'

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Oneida includes: Onyota'a:ka

Onondaga includes: Onöñda'gega'

Mohawk includes: Kanienʼkehá꞉ka

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Cayuga includes: Gayogohó:no

Cherokee

Date:1950

Subject:Folklore | Linguistics | New York (State)--History | Ontario--History

Type:Sound recording

Genre:Autobiographies | Conversations | Stories

Extent:7 sound tape reels (4 hr., 25 min.) : DIGITIZED

Description: This collections consists of texts in several Iroquoian languages (Cayuga, Cherokee, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, Tuscarora) recorded and played back to other speakers to test the mutual intelligibility of the languages for various speakers. The recordings comprise numerous texts in these languages, administered mutual intelligibility tests, stories, and conversations, all predominantly untranslated. Originally recorded on wire in the fall of 1950 at various locations in the United States and Canada. Later copied to sound tape reels. The Native speakers involved in these recordings are as follows. The Cayuga language speaker was Jane Owl, recorded at Cattaraugus Indian Reservation (N.Y.) The Cherokee speaker was David Owl, recorded at Cattaraugus Indian Reservation (N.Y.) The Mohawk speakers were Ernest Benedict and Sadie Curlyhead, recorded at Akwesasne (Saint Regis), and Ernest Benedict and Mr. & Mrs. Charles Benedict, recorded at Akwesasne (Cornwall, Ontario). The Oneida speakers were Harry Antone, Betsy Antone, Rosa Antone, Billy Antone, and Mr. & Mrs. Chapman Schanandoah, recorded at the Onondaga Indian Reservation (N.Y.), and Albert Christian, recorded at Nedrow (N.Y.) The Onondaga speakers were Louis Lyons, recorded at the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation (N.Y.), and George Thomas, Jr., Percy Smoke, Thomas Lewis, Pat Homer, and Floyd Henhawk, recorded at the Onondaga Indian Reservation (N.Y.) The Seneca speakers were as follows: Annie Lyons, recorded at the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation (N.Y.); a Mr. & Mrs. Smith, recorded at the Oneida Nation of the Thames in southwestern Ontario; Richard Johnny John, Colline Johnny John, Amos Johnny John, Lena Snow, Kenneth Snow, Albert Jones, Hubert Cusick, Lynn Dowdy, Henry Redeye, Elver Jacobs, and Mr. & Mrs. Laurence Jimerson, recorded at the Allegany Indian Reservation (N.Y.); Jesse Cornplanter and Solon Skye, recorded at the Tonawanda Indian Reservation (N.Y.) The Tuscarora speakers were Nellie Gansworth and William Mt. Pleasant, recorded at the Tuscarora Indian Reservation (N.Y.) (NOTE: This material has been digitized and can be accessed online for free by users not physically at the APS Library through a login and password. Please see our Audio Access Page for information on how to request these materials.)

Collection:Material on Iroquois Dialects and Languages (Mss.Rec.13)

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Names of various trees, shrubs, and plants in the language of the Lennape

Culture:

Nottoway includes: Cheroenhaka

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Date:1840

Contributor:Heckewelder, John Gottlieb Ernestus, 1743-1823 | Kampman, Christian Frederick, 1708-1808 | Turner, Edie | Wood, John, ca. 1775-1822

Subject:Botany | Linguistics

Type:Text

Genre:Newspaper clippings | Vocabularies

Extent:1 volume, 11 p.

Description: This small manuscript volume contains a brief vocabulary written down by John Wood "from an old Indian Woman of the name of Edie Turner the 4th of March 1820"; together with newsclipping, Petersburg, Virginia, March 17, identifying informant and relating Nottoway, Powhatan and Welsh. The vocabulary is listed by semantic categories "Of the Universe; Of the Human Species; Of Animals; Vegetable Kingdom; Division of Time; Domestic Essays; Adjectives; Verbs." Marginal comparisons with Tuscarora, Onondaga, Wyandot, Delaware, etc., probably by Peter S. Du Ponceau. [See also letters of Jefferson to Du Ponceau, July 7, 1820; Du Ponceau to Jefferson, July 12, 1820.] This item is bound with a list of the Latin and botanical names of the plants, prepared by Christian Frederick Kampman, and with John Wood, "Vocabulary of the language of the Nottoway Tribe of Indians..." (1820).

Collection:Nottoway, Lenape, and Algonquian vocabularies (Mss.497.3.W85)

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Notes on Onondaga and Tuscarora; . . . Mohawk suffixes

Culture:

Tuscarora includes: Ska:rù:rę'

Oneida includes: Onyota'a:ka

Onondaga includes: Onöñda'gega'

Mohawk includes: Kanienʼkehá꞉ka

Cayuga includes: Gayogohó:no

Language:Oneida | Mohawk | Cayuga | Tuscarora | Onondaga

Date:1951

Contributor:Barbeau, Marius, 1883-1969 | Cooke, Charles, 1870-1958

Subject:Linguistics

Type:Text

Genre:Grammars | Vocabularies

Extent:2 volumes

Description: Onondaga verbs, possessive pronouns, nouns, Cartier's vocabulary, and compound pronouns, obtained August 5, 1951, at Ohsweken, Ontario, from Onondaga informant; Tuscarora word list, similar to above, but with equivalents for many items in Oneida, Mohawk, and Cayuga, obtained from a multilingual informant, August 10-21, 1951; and list of Mohawk suffixes obtained from Charles Cooke, August 21, 1951.

Collection:Notes on Onondaga and Tuscarora; . . . Mohawk suffixes (Mss.497.2.B235)

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Onondaga materials, Floyd G. Lounsbury Papers

Culture:

Onondaga includes: Onöñda'gega'

Date:1834-1888; 1938-1978

Subject:Religion | Folklore | Ethnography | Rites and ceremonies | Music

Type:Text | Sound recording

Description: The Onondaga materials in the Lounsbury collection include a French-Onondaga from 1860 in Series II. There are numerous audio recordings including that of a Condolence Ceremony and the Feast of the White Dog (Guy-wee-oo) in Series VII. (These recordings are restricted due to cultural sensitivity.) The correspondence, in Series I, includes Harold Blau's mention of a recording in Onondaga of part of Handsome Lake's code, William Fenton's work with Howard Sky on the Goldenweiser version of the Great Law of Peace in Onondaga, Michael Foster's description of collecting versions of the Thanksgiving Address in Onondaga, Cara Richards on Onondaga recordings.

Collection:Floyd G. Lounsbury Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.95)