Guide to the Indigenous Materials at the American Philosophical Society

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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Central American materials, John Alden Mason Papers

Culture:

Maya

Language:English | Spanish

Date:1926-1959

Type:Text | Still Image

Extent:Circa 455 leaves; circa 635 pages; photographs

Description: The Central America materials, John Alden Mason Papers include correspondence regarding linguistic, archaeological, and ethnological work in Mexico and Guatemala; meetings; etc. Regarding archaeological work in Guatemala, Mexico, and Panama. Regarding Piedras Negras, Guatemala; Chichen Itza; archaeological work in Guatemala and Mexico. Regarding archaeological work in Guatemala, Mexico, and Texas. Regarding Pima; Yaqui; Piedras Negras, Guatemala; Maya glyphs and architecture; archaeological work in Guatemala, Mexico, and British Honduras. The bulk of the material is from 1933-1939 and concerns archaeological work at Piedras Negras, Guatemala. Some discussion of the Mayan calendar, the ruins at Yaxchilan, Mexico, and a 1953 expedition to the Caracol Ruins, Honduras. Scholarly materials: Article for [Lilly de Jongh] Osborne's handbook of Guatemala regarding the ruins of Piedras Negras, Guatemala. A paper entitled, "Los cuatro grandes filones linguisticos de Mexico y Centroamerica" for the International Congress of Americanists, Mexico, August 1939. A paper read at meeting of the American Anthropological Association, December 1938, on the genetic classification of Middle American languages. Bibliographies of books and a few manuscripts on Indians of Central America, Mexico, and South America; letter from Zelig Harris to Mason; Mason's reply. Paper sent to Mason to be read at the meeting of the American Anthropological Association. Discusses Hokan-Siouan Phylum, Tarascan, Macro-Otomanguean Phylum, Macro-Penutian Phylum, and Macro-Chibchan Phylum. Notes on genetic relationships and geographic distribution. Mostly from published sources. A compilation and juxtaposition of various opinions. A talk given before Sociedad de geografia e historia de Guatemala regarding the architecture of Piedras Negras. English original which was translated into Spanish for publication in Anales 15 (December 1938): pages 202-216. A paper "Middle American Linguistics, 1955" by Norman A. McQuown; draft of a paper by Mason discussing that of McQuown; a copy of Mason's paper as delivered at the meeting of the American Anthropological Association, November 17, 1955, Boston; a copy of Mason's paper as corrected for correspondence with Robert J. Weitlaner and Gordon R. Willey.

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

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Guna materials, Eugenics Record Office Records

Culture:

Guna includes: Kuna, Cuna, Dule

Language:English

Date:1924-1925

Contributor:Marsh, Richard Oglesby

Subject:Eugenics | Panama--History | Colombia--History | Anthropometry

Type:Still Image | Text

Genre:Photographs | Essays

Extent:2 folders

Description: The Eugenics Record Office Records consist of 330.5 linear feet of materials relating to the ERO, founded in 1910 for the study of human heredity and as a repository for genetic data on human traits. The Eugenics Record Office Papers (1670-1964) contain trait schedules, newspaper clippings, manuscript essays, pedigree charts, article abstracts, reprints, magazine articles, bibliographies, photographs, hair samples, postcard pictures, card files, and some correspondence which document the projects of the Eugenics Record Office during the thirty-four years of its operation. Kuna (formerly Cuna) materials include thirty-seven black and white 3 ¼" square silver gelatin photographs of the so-called "White Indians of Panama" located in Series I. Trait Files, Box $65, Folder "A:9861. White Indians - San Blas Coast" (1924-1925). As detailed in the accompanying World's Work article "Blond Indians of the Darien Jungle," Richard Olgesby Marsh photographed Kuna albinos in their village in 1924, and also encountered albinos among the indigenous peoples of mainland Panama. References to "White Indians" and "Albino Indians of Panama" also refer to the Kuna, who live in the San Blas Islands off the coast of Panama and who have the highest rate of albinism of any ethnic community in the world. Before geneticists discovered the DNA chromosome responsible, Marsh believed that the Kuna were descended from Vikings who arrived in the Americas before Columbus, and convinced the U.S. government to pressure Panama to set up the current autonomous governing structure of the Kuna. Folder "A:97728. Central America" (1925), also in Box #65, contains a list of seven individuals titled "Skin Color...San Blas Indians."

Collection:Eugenics Record Office Records (Mss.Ms.Coll.77)

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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)

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Iñupiat materials, ACLS collection

Culture:

Iñupiat includes: Инупиаты, Iñupiaq

Language:Chukchi | English | Inupiatun, North Alaskan | Yupik, Central Siberian

Date:1899; 1905; 1935

Contributor:Boas, Franz, 1858-1942 | Francis, Alfred G.

Subject:Ethnography | Kinship | Linguistics | Social life and customs | Alaska--History

Type:Still Image | Text

Genre:Drawings | Vocabularies

Extent:50 pages; 18 drawings

Description: The Iñupiat materials in the ACLS collection consist of three items in the "Eskimo" section of the finding aid. Boas' "Comparative word list of Alaskan Eskimo [Iñupiat], Siberian Eskimo [Yupik], and Chukchee" (item E1.1) includes vocabulary from Utqiagvik ("Point Barrow") and the Seward Peninsula. Alfred Francis' "Kungmit Eskimo vocabulary" (item E1.2) consists of an approximately 300-word list recorded at Kotzebue, including terms for animals, kinship, parts of the body, natural objects, and other terms. Finally, Boas' "Drawings for 'Property Marks of Alaskan Eskimo'" (item E1a.5) includes drawing from which illustrations for Boas' 1899 article on this topic were made.

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

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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)

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Mexico materials, John Alden Mason Papers

Culture:

Wichí includes: Mataco (pej.)

Zapotec includes: Zapoteco, Zapoteca

Tohono O'odham includes: Papago

Tepecano

Tlapanec includes: Me'phaa, Tlapaneco

Úza includes: Chichimeca-Jonaz

Purépecha includes: Tarascan (pej.), P'urhépecha

Otomi includes: Hñahñu, Ñuhu, Ñhato, Ñuhmu

Pame includes: Xi'úi

Popoluca includes: Nundajɨypappɨc, Soteapanec, Popoloca

Nahua

Mazahua includes: Hñatho

Matlatzinca includes: Matlatzinco

Mazatec includes: Ha Shuta Enima, Mazateco

Karankawa

Huastec includes: Téenek, Wastek, Huasteco, Huaxtec, Wasteko

Chatino includes: Kitse Cha'tño

Chinantec includes: Chinanteco, Yolox, Yetla

Cuitlatec includes: Cuitlateco

Cuicatec includes: Cuicateco

Amuzgo includes: Amochco, Amoxco, Ñuuñama

Language:English

Date:1913-1966;

Type:Still Image | Text

Extent:165 pages; Circa 300 items;

Description: The Mexico materials, John Alden Mason Papers include a log of a trip to Sonora, itinerary of pack trip from Yecora to Maicoba; lists of photographs; journal. Archaological materials: report on archaeological sites near Rancho Guiracoba, Sonora, Mexico with report on surface collections at six sites in southern Sonora. Notes on the Northern Extension of the Chalchihuites Culture, written for the Mexican Historical Congress, Zacatecas. Slayton Creek Excavation, regarding Mexico; the Papago [Tohono O'odham]; a dig at Slayton Creek, Delaware. Regarding archaeological, ethnological, and linguistic work in Mexico; genetic classification of languages of Central America and Mexico. Regarding internal strife in local (Durango) Indian tribe (including murders); archaeology in Durango; collection of specimens of material culture; work at Schroeder pyramid; cliff dwellings near Mezquital. Mentions Alex Krieger. Cave investigations in Durango and Coahuila, report on search conducted with Robert H. Merrill for traces of early man, particularly on the Folsom horizon. Written for Weitlaner volume. Includes description of three varieties of Cucurbita moschata; evidence in conflict with the theory that Cucurbita moschata was introduced into southern Arizona in late prehistoric or early historic times from the north and east. Regarding Maya pottery; Piedras Negras, Guatemala; archaeological work in Mexico and Guatemala; the University Museum (University of Pennsylvania); Vaillant's obituary. Includes correspondence between Mason and Sue Vaillant (Mrs. George C.) and between Mason and Charles Marius Barbeau. Linguistic materials: a list entitled, "Familias linguisticas de Mexico-idiomas y dialectos a ellas pertencientes," with the families with subdivisions: for Museo nacional de arqueologia, historia y etnologia, Anales. Includes lexical items in the various languages--Hokan, Oto-Manguren, Uto-Aztecan, and Maya-- arranged in columns; Spanish glosses. Regarding Mason's Subtiaba-Hokan-Caduveo-Mataco comparative vocabulary. Kroeber is not much impressed with the possible resemblances in Mason's list (included). Mexican linguistics, comparative vocabularies, etc., includes short comparative vocabularies for Comecrudo, Papago-Tepecano, Nahua, Huaxtec, Choctaw, Coahuiltec, Karankawa, Torkana, Atakapa, Chitimacha, Tunica; notes on Sapir's classification; other miscellaneous notes. Comparative vocabulary, includes letter from Frederick Johnson to John Alden Mason; comparative vocabulary which is number-keyed to a list of twenty-two languages and arranged in columns headed by Spanish glosses. Words lacking in some languages for almost all items. Languages include Otomi, Mazahua, Matlatzinca, Ocuiltec, Pame, Chichimeca, Cuitlateco, Mazatec, Popoluca, Chochotec (Tlapanec), Ichcateco, Trique, Chiapanec, Manque, Mixtec, Cuicatec, Amuzgo, Zapotec, Chatino, Chinantec, Tarasco, and Tlapanec. Scholarly materials: two versions of a paper, entitled, "Los Cuatro Grandes Filones Linguisticos de Mexico y Centroamerica," for the International Congress of Americanists, August 1939, Mexico. Photographs: Unidentified photographs showing people, dwellings, terrain, etc. Images of temples, excavations, crypts, jade work, etc. Includes a photograph of John Alden Mason and Burton W. Bascom from Palenque. Entire series of photographs from the Mason papers. The bulk of the images are from Mexico (Chihuahua, Durango, Sonora, etc.). Also 3 contact sheets of images from Peru. From the Durango expedition, a list of photographs; "Informes hacera de la Sierro de la Candela:" notes from Tarayre, pages 184-185; "Ruins of an agricultural colony near Zape"; possible routes of migration into Mexico; Everardo Gamiz "La Raza Pigmea," Durango, April 1934; an incomplete set of numbered photos enumerated in above list (all duplicates from museum set). A linguistic realignment north of Mexico, which gives six phyla, one "broken phylum," and two uncertain languages (for presentation at the meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Chicago, 1940) and a detailed outline of five phyla plus several unaffiliated languages.

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

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Miwok myths

Culture:

Miwok

Language:English | Miwok, Central Sierra

Date:Undated

Contributor:Freeland, L. S. (Lucy Shepard), 1890-1972 | Angulo, Jaime de | Berman, Howard | Williams, Thomas | Cox, Lena

Type:Still Image | Text

Genre:Essays | Stories

Extent:150 pages

Description: This collection includes manuscript and photocopied material of anthropologist and linguist Lucy S. "Nancy" Freeland, in which she records the stories told to her by Thomas Williams and Lena Cox. Also included are offprints from "The Hudson Review" of translations of these myths by linguist Jaime de Angulo (Freeman's husband). There are also documents prepared by linguist Howard Berman in preparation for the publication of these myths in "Freeland's Central Sierra Miwok Myths" (1982). The various materials are stored in four packets labeled A, B, C, and D, and bound together with string. An extremely useful cover letter in Packet A from Berman to Stephen Catlett of the APS explains the materials (what they are, provenance, who made what notations upon them) and their relationship to Freeland materials already in the APS collections; APS staff have also made relevant notes in pencil to denote where the various materials can be found. Images are primarily of Coyote, the black and white illustrations accompany the text of “Seven Indian Tales” by Jaime de Angulo. Originally printed in the Hudson Review, an offprint of the published work Indian Tales (1952).

Collection:Miwok myths (Mss.497.9.B45m)

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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)

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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)