Guide to the Indigenous Materials at the American Philosophical Society

Description: Artist Antonio Zeno Shindler worked at the Smithsonian Institution from after the Civil War until the turn of the 20th century, specializing in ethnographic subjects. He was responsible for printing or taking a large number of photographs of American Indians exhibited there in 1869. The 95 studio portraits in the Shindler Collection were part of a suite of 301 images that comprised the first photographic exhibition at the Smithsonian, and that are documented in the catalogue Photographic Portraits of North American Indians in the Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution (1867). The individuals depicted were members of delegations sent to Washington during the years 1852, 1857-1858, and 1867-1869 from the following nations: Cherokee, Cheyenne, Chippewa (Ojibwe), Choctaw, Dakota Sioux (Brule, Miniconjou, Sans Arc, Santee, Sisseton, Two-Kettle, Yankton), Osage, Pawnee, Ponca, Potawatomi, Sac and Fox, Seminole, and Ute. Shindler printed the earlier photographs (mostly taken by the McClees Gallery) and was photographer for the later delegations. See the finding aid for more information. All of the photographs in this collection have been digitized and are in the APS Digital Library.

Collection:A. Zeno Shindler American Indian Photograph Collection (Mss.970.1.Sh6)

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Abbot-Charnay Photograph Collection

Culture:

Maya

Mixtec includes: Mixteco, Ñuù savi

Language:French

Date:1859-1882

Contributor:Charnay, Désiré, 1828-1915 | Abbot, Griffith Evans, 1850-1927

Type:Still Image | Text

Genre:Photographs

Extent:2.0 linear feet, 123 photographs

Description: A traveler, archaeologist, and photographer, Désiré Charnay (1828-1915) was one of the most important early expeditionary photographers. During his tours of Yucatan, Oaxaca, and Chiapas in 1858-1860 and 1880-1886, Charnay became one of the first to use photography in documenting the great Meso-American archaeological sites and to make ethnographic photographs of indigenous Mexicans. This collection of photographs is representative of the range of images he took of Meso-American archaeological sites during three tours of Mexico in 1858-1860 and 1880-1886. Although some of the images have suffered an unfortunate degree of fading, they convey the power and fascination that these sites held for Charnay and his contemporaries, and include some of the best early examples of the use of photography in the documentation of Mexican archaeology. The collection includes images of the sites at Tula, Teotihuacan, Iztaccihuatl, Chichen Itza, Comalcalco, and Palenque; of archaeological specimens held at the Museum of Mexico; of landscape and villages in Yucatan, Chiapas, and Oaxaca; and of a series of Lacandon, Mayan, Mixtec, and Yucatec "racial types." The collection was apparently assembled by the scientist Griffith Evans Abbot (1850-1927), who presented them to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. The 15 cartes de visite included in the collection, mostly portraits taken in Peru, Chile, and Madeira, bear an uncertain relationship to the Charnay images, and are probably present simply because they were also once owned by Abbot. All images have been digitized and are available through the APS Digital Library.

Collection:Abbot-Charnay Photograph Collection (Mss.913.72.Ab23)

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Abenaki materials, Alfred Irving Hallowell Papers

Culture:

Wolastoqiyik includes: Wəlastəkwewiyik, Malecite, Maliseet

Wabanaki includes: Wabenaki, Wobanaki

Penobscot

Innu includes: Montagnais, Mountaineer

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Atikamekw includes: Têtes-de-Boules, Têtes de Boules, Tete de Boule

Abenaki includes: Abnaki

Language:English | Abenaki, Western | French | Abenaki, Eastern

Date:1914-1930

Type:Still Image | Text

Extent:1 linear foot

Description: The Abenaki materials in the Hallowell Papers are mostly located in Series V, Research Files, in folders labled "Abenaki" and Series VI, Photographs, Subseries E "St. Francis Abenaki Album." These include linguistic, ethnographic, ethnobotanical, ceremonial knowledge, information on political organization, and historical materials. Of particular interest are a sketch of Abenaki history from 1600-1930 accompanied by detailed notes from secondary sources on 17th century Abenaki history. The linguistic materials include an analysis of how the language changed after contact with Catholic missionaries, Abenaki vocabulary related to body parts, Abenaki phonetics, and religious, medical, and kinship terminology. The ethnobotanical materials include a manuscript labled "Identity of animals and plants," and information concerning herbal medicine and its practitioners. There is a wealth of ethnographic materials that include drawings of pipes, descriptions of games, basketry and birch bark mats. There are descriptions of Abenaki music and diagrams of dances, as well as detailed descriptions of hunting techniques. Some of the genealogical materials contain lists of community members names and descriptions of marriage. Interspersed throughout the folders labled "Abenaki" in the Research Files are interlinear translations of stories such as "Man who could Find Lost Objects," "Woman and Bear Lover" and numerous other stories. The materials on hunting include topics such as the use of snow shoes, preparation of moose hide, and techniques and drawings of trapping. The collections contain important information designation hunting territories and family names. Four folders contain detailed informaiton on kinship terms. Two folders on Measurements and Genealogical data contain lists of names. The folders labled "Linguistics" in Series V contain scattered information about Abenaki grammar. In Series VI, of 160 photographs taken at St. Francis, Odanak in the Centre-du-Québec region. The Abenaki people in the photographs are identified, in most cases, and also include depictions of traditional dress, buildings, clothing, baskets, and a wide variety of material culture. The correspondence, in Series I, includes letters from Théophile Panadis; Gordon Day describing his collection of stories, recordings, vocabularies, and hunting territories. Henry Lorne Masta, one of Hallowell's Abenaki consultants, writes about culture and language. Additional correspondents may contain other Abenaki-related information.

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

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Abenaki materials, Frank G. Speck Papers

Culture:

Wabanaki includes: Wabenaki, Wobanaki

Penobscot

Innu includes: Montagnais, Mountaineer

Abenaki includes: Abnaki

Language:English | Abenaki, Western | Abenaki, Eastern

Date:1914-1947 and undated

Contributor:Speck, Frank G. (Frank Gouldsmith), 1881-1950 | Day, Gordon M. | Adney, Edwin Tappan | Dickson, Frederick Stoever, 1850-1925

Type:Still Image | Text

Genre:Correspondence | Notes | Photographs | Poems | Stories

Extent:5 items

Description: Materials relating to Abenaki language and culture. Includes notes on a St. Francis Abenaki [Western Abenaki] conjuring lodge; miscellaneous notes about the St. Francis Abenaki including two cards of reading notes, a typed copy of an Indian poem in English from John Reade (1887), a letter from Frederick S. Dickson regarding Abenaki vocabulary, a letter from Edwin Tappan Adney concerning place names and Maine Indian shamans, and a photomechanical print of Montagnais [aka Innu] in camp; Wawenock [or Wawanoc, Eastern Abenaki] texts taken from Neptune, with interlinear translations [See also Speck (1928b).]; miscellaneous Wawenock notes on vocabulary, folklore, and population, along with a letter from J. P. Ranger about canoes, and three letters from W. C. Kendall, owner of Camp Wawenock, Lake Sebago, Maine, with information about Wawenock and his memories of Wawenock and Penobscot Indians of Maine; and a letter from Gordon M. Day seeking a bibliography and Speck's help in learning Abenaki.

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

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Acoma materials, Elsie Clews Parsons papers

Culture:

Acoma includes: Áakʾùumʾé, Keres

Language:English | Keres, Western

Date:1915-1917, 1932-1941

Contributor:Adair, John | Parsons, Elsie Worthington Clews, 1874-1941 | Stirling, Matthew Williams, 1896-1975 | White, Leslie A.

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

Type:Still Image | Text

Extent:2 notebooks, 1 photograph, 1500 loose pages,

Description: The Acoma materials in the Elsie Clews Parsons papers consist of 1 photograph in item No. 26 of Subcollection I, Series II, "Notes, manuscripts, etc." and "No. 64. Acoma material"; and in Subcollection II, Series IV, "Research Notes" there are 2 Acoma field notebooks. 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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Algonquian materials, Alfred Irving Hallowell Papers

Culture:

Wampanoag includes: Wôpanâak

Wolastoqiyik includes: Wəlastəkwewiyik, Malecite, Maliseet

Wabanaki includes: Wabenaki, Wobanaki

Passamaquoddy includes: Peskotomuhkati

Penobscot

Mashpee includes: Mattachiest, Cummaquid

Mi'kmaq includes: Micmac

Muscogee includes: Muskogee, Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek

Menominee includes: Menomini, Mamaceqtaw

Naskapi includes: ᓇᔅᑲᐱ, Iyiyiw, Skoffie

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Innu includes: Montagnais, Mountaineer

Atikamekw includes: Têtes-de-Boules, Têtes de Boules, Tete de Boule

Algonquin

Language:English | Abenaki, Eastern

Date:1920-1940

Contributor:Hallowell, A. Irving (Alfred Irving), 1892-1974

Type:Still Image | Text

Description: The materials from Algonquian speaking cultures is quite extensive, though scattered, in the A. Irving Hallowell Papers. One of the strengths is Hallowell's very fine black and white portraits of indigenous peoples located in Series VI, Subseries F, which includes images of Mashpee, Mohegan, Montagnais, Naskapi, Womponowag, Nipissing, Atikamekw, Series V contains some generalized materials such "Algoquian Cross Cousin Marriage," Speck's studies of northern Algoquian hunting territories, and Algonquin mythology and history. The folders entitled "Eastern Woodlands" in box 26 contain more culturally specific materials such as a Penobscot vocabulary list, Innu and Naswkapi material culture, and Delaware religions and ceremonies, although many of these are quite brief. The correspondence, in Series I, includes a letter from John Swanton discussing bear ceremonialism in Muscogee culture. George Herzog's correspondence includes Penobscot and Maliseet scores of war dance songs. There is also a letter from Jeffrey Zelitch, dated 1969, describing traditional ceremonies on the Lakota Rosebud reservation just before the American Indian Movement begins. George Spindler's lettter to describes a Medicine Lodge ceremony among the Menomini.

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

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Algonquian materials, C. F. Voegelin Papers

Culture:

Shawnee

Ojibwe includes: Ojibwa, Chippewa, Ojibway

Penobscot

Potawatomi includes: Pottawotomi, Neshnabé, Bodéwadmi

Mi'kmaq includes: Micmac

Meskwaki includes: Mesquakie, Musquakie, Sac, Sauk, Fox, Sac-and-Fox

Menominee includes: Menomini, Mamaceqtaw

Ktunaxa includes: Kootenai, Kootenay, Kutenai, Tonaxa

Lenape includes: Lenni-Lenape, Delaware

Cheyenne

Cree includes: Nēhiyaw, Cri

Blackfeet includes: Blackfoot, Niitsítapi, Siksika, Siksikaitsitapi

Date:circa 1930s-1960s

Subject:Linguistics | Anthropology | Algonquian languages | New England--History | Orthography and spelling

Type:Still Image | Text

Extent:25 folders, 1 box

Description: There are many materials relating to Algonquian languages in the C. F. Voegelin Papers. This entry is intended as a catch-all for materials labeled as Algonquian or Macro-Algonquian, or having to do with several Algonquian languages in a general way. Researchers should also view the entries for specific Algonquian languages and culture groups. Algonquian materials are located in both Subcollection I and Subcollection II. In Subcollection I, there is relevant correspondence with Leonard Bloomfield (regarding an inscription on a silver bracelet; Bloomfield's "Menomini Grammar"), Charles Hockett (with questions about Voegelin's article on Delaware and examples from other Algonquian languages), and Morris Swadesh (including a brief Stockbridge vocabulary and a slip of Moravian Delaware) in Series I. Correspondence; 1 box of comparative Algonquian vocabulary and grammar in Series II. and several linguistic maps (i.e., "Algonquian language text with illustrations" and "Linguistic classification of the Southern New England Algonquians"), particularly of the Potawatomi, Delaware, and Shawnee, to accompany the texts of Voegelin's work on Algonquian languages, in Series VII. Photographs. In Subcollection II, there is relevant correspondence from Eric Hamp (to Ives Goddard regarding preparation of Arapaho and Algonquian works) and Frank Speck (to Edward Sapir regarding his work on Mi'kmaq and other northern Algonquian languages and societies) in Series I. Correspondence. There is also an entire subseries devoted to Macro-Algonquian: Subseries III. Macro-Algonquian of Series II. Research Notes. This subseries contains a grammatical sketch of Algonquian by Leonard Bloomfield (135 pages of typescript with handwritten edits and 7 interleaved pages of notes by Voegelin); another "Sketch of Algonquian" by Bloomfield consisting of a notebook (approx. 45 pages) and handwritten notes (approx. 80 pages); 5 folders of notebooks focusing on beginning sounds ("Č and K," "L and M," "N and P," " Š and T," and "Θ and ?"), drawing from Pacific Coast Algonquian ("PCA"), Fox [Meskwaki], Plains Cree, Menominee, and Ojibwe; 3 folders of other comparative Algonquian notebooks organized by general nouns, body parts, kinship terms, numerals, and verbs; miscellaneous Algonquian notes; and specimens of Central Algonquian, including short texts in Fox [Meskwaki], Ojibwe, Menominee, and Plains Cree, with English translations. The rest of the material in the Macro-Algonquian folder is organized according to specific languages: Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Fox (Meskwaki), Kutenai [Ktunaxa culture], Ojibwe, Penobscot, and Shawnee. Finally, there is an article titled "Some Observations on Algonquian Phonology" in Series III. Works by Voegelin, Subseries I: General works; an incomplete typed draft of Bloomfield's "Sketch of Algonquian" in Series IV. Works by Others; and a "Linguistic map of Southern New England" in Series III. Works by Voegelin, Subseries V: American Indian Languages.

Collection:C. F. Voegelin Papers (Mss.Ms.Coll.68)

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Algonquin materials, Frank G. Speck Papers

Culture:

Rama

Omushkego includes: Cree, Swampy, Mushkegowuk, Omushkigowack

Ojibwe includes: Ojibwa, Chippewa, Ojibway

Maya

Naskapi includes: ᓇᔅᑲᐱ, Iyiyiw, Skoffie

Nipissing includes: Nbisiing

Ktunaxa includes: Kootenai, Kootenay, Kutenai, Tonaxa

Haudenosaunee includes: Iroquois, Onkwehonwe

Chibcha includes: Muysca, Muisca

Cree includes: Nēhiyaw, Cri

Algonquin

Anishinaabe includes: Anishinaabeg, Anishinabe, Nishnaabe, Anishinabek

Language:English | French

Date:1912-1941 and undated

Contributor:Speck, Frank G. (Frank Gouldsmith), 1881-1950 | Bailey, Alfred Goldsworthy | Weitzner, Bella

Type:Still Image | Text

Extent:7 items

Description: Materials relating to both Algonquin and related Algonquian peoples, cultures, and languages. Includes Speck's notes on artifacts found near Lake Abitibi and in the Nipissing district; his Seven Islands field notes, including texts with interlinear translations, house data, names of animals, and a letter in French from Marie Louise Ambroise; sketches and comments on shoulder blade divination (scapulimancy), including notes on deer drives (including an undated note from A. Irving Hallowell) and the distribution of artifacts among Algonquin, Naskapi, and Mistissini peoples; two field notebooks containing (1) linguistic notes and informant and population data for Waswanipi, Abitibi, Temiskaming [Timiskaming], Nipissing, Algonquian and (2) Temiskaming ethnography, Wisiledjak (Wiskyjack) [Wisakedjak, a manitou] text (in English), Temagami ethnology and texts (in English), and one Iroquois legend; general information on birch-bark containers, including 37 photographs and 40 pages of notes relating to Algonquin, Cree, Ojibwe and Ktunaxa specimens, and a letter from Bella Weitzner; and a letter from A. G. Bailey sending Speck a copy of his book on Algonquians.

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

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Amazonian material, Field notebooks and anthropometric data

Language:English

Date:Undated

Contributor:Boas, Franz, 1858-1942

Subject:Brazil--History

Type:Still Image

Genre:Photographs

Extent:2 photographs

Description: The Amazonian materials in the Boas Field Notebooks and Anthropometric Data collection consist of two silver prints of unidentified indigenous people of the Amazon.

Collection:Franz Boas early field notebooks and anthropometric data (Mss.B.B61.5)

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Anathan-Jacobs Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Collection

Culture:

Stoney includes: Nakoda

Secwépemc includes: Shuswap

Ojibwe includes: Ojibwa, Chippewa, Ojibway

Métis

Kainai includes: Káínaa, Blood

Cree includes: Nēhiyaw, Cri

Dakota includes: Dakȟóta

Anishinaabe includes: Anishinaabeg, Anishinabe, Nishnaabe, Anishinabek

Blackfeet includes: Blackfoot, Niitsítapi, Siksika, Siksikaitsitapi

Language:English

Date:1905-1910

Contributor:Jacobs, Norman Leonard, 1885-

Type:Still Image | Text

Genre:Correspondence | Photographs

Extent:1 linear foot

Description: Norman Leonard Jacobs was an engineer and surveyor with the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in Canada. The collection consists of his correspondence with Bessie Frank (later Anathan), an acquaintance from Pittsburgh. Jacobs wrote of daily life in Canadian cities like Winnipeg and Edmonton, interactions with First Nations, and daily hardships encountered in the field (extreme cold, snowblindness, and lack of food), but also spoke of his work with pride and enthusiasm. In addition to the letters, Jacobs wrote twenty-eight pages of a "Diary of a Tenderfoot." Also included in the collection are two photobooks and various loose photographs, which display various aspects of camp life, details of work sites and the Canadian landscape, and First Nations peoples. Some of the photographs are extremely faded. Native peoples mentioned include Ojibwe, Blackfoot, Cree, "Surteau" (likely Saulteaux),"Bloods" (Kainai), "Stonies" (Nakoda, or "Stoney"), as well as Native people at Tete Jaune Cache who are likely Simpcw. The images include family groups; men, women, and children fishing; men (some apparently hired by Jacobs or his company to act as guides and carriers in the field) working with an infant in a cradleboard; Ojibwe graves; tepees [tipis]; "Sioux" warriors; a sweat bath; horse races; individuals like Joe KaeKwitch, Chief Handorgan, Chief Wingard, Muskowken, etc. Most of these materials have been digitized and are available through the APS's Digital Library. Also see the finding aid for more background information on Jacobs and detailed itemized lists for both Series I. Correspondence and Series II. Graphic Materials.

Collection:Anathan-Jacobs Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Collection (Mss.SMs.Coll.13)