Guide to the Indigenous Materials at the American Philosophical Society

Description: Materials from a wide range of indigenous cultures around the world are scattered throughout Series V of the A. Irving Hallowell Papers. Hallowell was interested in comparative ethnology on a number of topics including Bear Ceremonialism, textiles, artistic representations of Native people, basketry, kinship, pre-history, the development of language, family and marriage, nets and netting, etc. Much of this material constitutes Hallowell's reading notes on secondary sources and his research for very broad-based studies of humanity. Geographic regions represented in Series V include Australia, Africa, Pacific Islands, Polar regions California, Northwest coast, Southwest, and Southeast. The correspondence, in Series I, includes a very interesting, brief description of Franz Boas' first visit to the Kwakwaka'wakw community of Fort Rupert by the daughter of George Hunt in a folder labled Ronald Rohmer. There is also a letter from Edward Sapir detailing Nuu-chah-nulth bear hunting and face painting as well as sketches of netting needles.

Collection:Alfred Irving Hallowell Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.26)

Go to the collection

Innu and Naskapi materials, Frank G. Speck papers

Culture:

Naskapi includes: ᓇᔅᑲᐱ, Iyiyiw, Skoffie

Innu includes: Montagnais, Mountaineer

Language:English | Innu-aimun | Naskapi

Date:1910s-1940s

Type:Moving Image | Still Image | Text

Genre:Correspondence | Maps | Photographs

Extent:1.5 linear feet; 500+ photographs; 10+ maps; 1 film

Description: The Innu and Naskapi materials in the Frank Speck Papers are extensive and found to some degree in most sectionsn of the finding aid. The majority of these materials are identified by Speck as "Montagnais-Naskapi," though they include materials relating to Innu peoples from throughout Québec and Labrador, particularly the communities in the area of Lac St-Jean (Mashteuiatsh; usually given as "Lake St. John" by Speck), St-Augustin (usually "St. Augustine" in Speck); and Naskapi communities in northern and central Labrador. The main body of field work manuscript material is found in Subcollection I, Series II, especially items II(3B1a) through II(4B13). In Series III and IV, there are approximately 500-600 photographs and lantern slides from these communities. Series V contains approximately 12 maps pertaining to Speck's research into hunting territories and place names. In Subcollection II, Series I, see correspondence from Beston, Cooper, Gusinde, Myers, Sapir, and especially the voluminous correspondence with Richard White, a trader in Labrador who provided Speck with extensive information on the Naskapi peoples of the region for decades. In Series II, there are numerous works by Speck, including draft versions of "Naskapi, the Savage Hunters of the Labrador Peninsula." Finally, in Series IV, there is a brief silent film consisting of footage taken of various Innu peoples, including Joseph Kurtness, doing various activities, such as skinning and preparing hides, and singing.

Collection:Frank G. Speck Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.126)

Go to the collection

Iroquois past and present in the state of New York, presented by the Akwesasne Mohawk counselor organization

Culture:

Tuscarora includes: Ska:rù:rę'

Seneca includes: Onöndowága

Onondaga includes: Onöñda'gega'

Oneida includes: Onyota'a:ka

Mohawk includes: Kanienʼkehá꞉ka

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Cayuga includes: Gayogohó:no

Language:English

Date:1940

Contributor:Gabor, Robert (Sagotaoala) | Fadden, Ray

Type:Still Image | Text

Genre:Posters | Drawings | Maps | Negatives

Extent:16 panels (oversized)

Description: Designer and author Ray Fadden (Aren Akweks, Tehanetorens) was a member of the Wolf Clan of the Mohawk community of Akwesasne and founder of the Six Nations Indian Museum of Onchiota, New York. As an educator, Fadden created “educational charts” to convey elements of Haudenosaunee history and culture to audiences. Early on, he enlisted the help of his son, John Fadden. Later, others were brought in to create other charts. This particular chart or poster is signed by Sagotaoala (Bob Gabor). It is comprised of four parts (photocopies of the original). Seen as a whole, the central feature of the poster is a map of Haudenosaunee territory in present-day New York State, showing the relative locations of the six nations of the Iroquois League (Haudenosaunee: Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscarora) and overlaid with drawings relating to Haudenosaunee history and culture. This central image is ringed with many more sketches, and around the edges the chart is bordered wtih different wampum belt designs. The sketches range from small and simple to fairly large and elaborate, and feature important people, events, places, material culture items, etc. from Haudenosaunee history and culture. This includes drawings of people like Hiawatha, Joseph Brant, Mary Jemison, etc.; material culture items like a water drum, body armor, pottery, etc.; scenes from daily life such as hunting, playing lacrosse, and a medicine man harvesting tobacco, etc.; more specific events like councils, warfare, a Dutch massacre of Delaware neighbors, and the arrival of the Tuscarora; and more recent happenings like Akwesasne Club Members on an outing and the role of Indian steel-workers in the construction of the "Rainbow Bridge" acress the Niagara River. Along with the 4-panel complete educational poster, there are 2 panels with miscellanous drawings along the edges, less polished and less specific than in the completed version, and 2 panels that together comprise a map of New York State and environs, and have the same kinds of drawings as the other two posters (albeit less polished than the 4-panel poster but more polished than in the other 2-panel item). Included in this folder are negatives of each of the 8 panels described.

Collection:Iroquois past and present in the state of New York, presented by the Akwesasne Mohawk counselor organization (Mss.970.3.F12i)

Go to the collection

Naskapi materials, Frank G. Speck papers

Culture:

Naskapi includes: ᓇᔅᑲᐱ, Iyiyiw, Skoffie

Innu includes: Montagnais, Mountaineer

Language:English | Innu-aimun | Naskapi

Date:1910s-1940s

Type:Moving Image | Still Image | Text

Genre:Correspondence | Maps | Photographs

Extent:1.5 linear feet; 500+ photographs; 10+ maps; 1 film

Collection:Frank G. Speck Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.126)

Go to the collection

Ojibwe materials, Alfred Irving Hallowell Papers

Culture:

Ojibwe includes: Ojibwa, Chippewa, Ojibway

Anishinaabe includes: Anishinaabeg, Anishinabe, Nishnaabe, Anishinabek

Language:English | Chippewa | Ojibwa, Northwestern

Date:1932-1949

Type:Text | Cartographic | Still Image

Description: The Ojibwe materials in the A. Irving Hallowell Papers are extensive. Hallowell focused on three regions of Ojibwe territory: Berens River in north, central Canada (Pikangikum, Pauingassi, Poplar River; Little Grand Rapids First Nations) and Lac du Flambeau in Wisconsin. Hallowell was particularly interested in psychological anthropology. Both the Berens River and Lac du Flambeau materials in Series V, for example, includes ethnographic information on taboos, incest regulations, Rorschach tests, dreams, and acculturation. Hallowell's interests in traditional knowledge are represented by descriptions of the practice of the Midewiwin religion; traditional stories about Wisakedjak and Tcakabec/Chakabesh, Memegwesiug, Windigos, and Thunderbirds. Of particular interest in the Lac du Flambeau materials are hundred of pages of family biographies in Series V and photographs with the names of community members in Series VI, Subseries B. Of particular interest in the Berens River materials are maps of traditional hunting grounds, a diagram of Ojibwe cosmology, an autobiography by Hallowell's collaborator Chief William Berens, 29 folders of "Saulteaux Indians--Myths and Tales" all in Series V. There are hundreds of photographs from the region, with many community members identified, and all digitized, in Series VI, Subseries A. The correspondence, in Series I, includes Robert Ritzenhaler's description of a shaking tent ceremony by Ojibwe in Wisconsin; a detailed account of Joseph Fiddler's trial for murdering a windigo in the folder labled Royal Canadian Mounted Police; papers sent by Morton Teicher detailing incidents of windigo in Canada (50+ pages); a letter from Frances Densmore describing a shaking tent ceremony; and several letters from Chief William Berens providing information about Ojibwe people in the photographs in Series VI.

Collection:Alfred Irving Hallowell Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.26)

Go to the collection

Portrait of Nash Harbor, Nunivak Island

Culture:

Yup'ik includes: Yupik, Yupiit, Yup'ik, Central Alaskan, Eskimo (pej.)

Language:English | Yupik, Central

Date:1995-1996

Contributor:David, Mona | Griffin, Dennis | Kiokun, Nan | Williams, George, Sr. | Williams, Elsie David

Type:Sound recording

Genre:Autobiographies | Interviews

Extent:61 sound tape reels (50 hr., 8 min.) : DIGITIZED

Description: (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:Portrait of Nash Harbor, Nunivak Island (Mss.Rec.252)