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Spear And Spear-Thrower

Donor Name:
Estate Of John O. La Gorce  Search this
Culture:
Eskimo  Search this
Object Type:
Spear/Atlatl
Place:
Greenland
Accession Date:
16 Mar 1961
Topic:
Ethnology  Search this
Accession Number:
229198
USNM Number:
E398809-0
See more items in:
Anthropology
Data Source:
NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/364d5edd6-d046-4faa-8c90-6e413efaa808
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmnhanthropology_8427019

Eskimo Bow & 1 Arrow

Donor Name:
George Y. Nickerson  Search this
Object Type:
Bow
Place:
Greenland
Accession Date:
1 Dec 1875
Topic:
Ethnology  Search this
Accession Number:
75A00069
USNM Number:
E19512-0
See more items in:
Anthropology
Data Source:
NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/39217d09e-108c-4e5b-b921-7e8b90800929
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmnhanthropology_8354073

Kayak, Paddle, Lance Rack, & Shears

Collector:
Robert Stein  Search this
Donor Name:
U.S. Department of the Interior  Search this
Culture:
Eskimo  Search this
Object Type:
Kayak Equipment
Place:
Greenland
Accession Date:
23 Dec 1901
Topic:
Ethnology  Search this
Accession Number:
038798
USNM Number:
E214145-0
See more items in:
Anthropology
Data Source:
NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/39b25d230-f36e-4ec9-8622-65ffabc7c7ee
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmnhanthropology_8360884
Online Media:

Small Sledge

Collector:
Robert Stein  Search this
Donor Name:
U.S. Department of the Interior  Search this
Culture:
Eskimo  Search this
Object Type:
Sled
Place:
North Greenland, Greenland
Accession Date:
23 Dec 1901
Topic:
Ethnology  Search this
Accession Number:
038798
USNM Number:
E214146-0
See more items in:
Anthropology
Data Source:
NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/34b1f952d-59d0-4f93-8185-fd58993697d8
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmnhanthropology_8360885

Snowshoes (1 Pr.)

Collector:
Robert Stein  Search this
Donor Name:
U.S. Department of the Interior  Search this
Culture:
Eskimo  Search this
Object Type:
Snowshoe
Place:
Greenland (not certain)
Accession Date:
23 Dec 1901
Topic:
Ethnology  Search this
Accession Number:
038798
USNM Number:
E214147-0
See more items in:
Anthropology
Data Source:
NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/3ed882a2b-e351-4a35-941c-7a32171ddd38
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmnhanthropology_8360886
Online Media:

Harpoon

Collector:
Robert Stein  Search this
Donor Name:
U.S. Department of the Interior  Search this
Culture:
Eskimo  Search this
Object Type:
Harpoon
Place:
Greenland
Accession Date:
23 Dec 1901
Topic:
Ethnology  Search this
Accession Number:
038798
USNM Number:
E214148-0
See more items in:
Anthropology
Data Source:
NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/30cff716c-1ac7-46f5-94ba-b10b127e1494
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmnhanthropology_8360887

Harpoon-Handle

Collector:
Robert Stein  Search this
Donor Name:
U.S. Department of the Interior  Search this
Culture:
Eskimo  Search this
Object Type:
Harpoon
Place:
Greenland
Accession Date:
23 Dec 1901
Topic:
Ethnology  Search this
Accession Number:
038798
USNM Number:
E214149-0
See more items in:
Anthropology
Data Source:
NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/341065590-df50-4ae6-a885-ac95b561aa03
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmnhanthropology_8360888

William Babcock Hazen Papers

Creator:
Belknap, William W. (William Worth), 1829-1890  Search this
Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881  Search this
Greely, Adolphus Washington  Search this
Hayes, Rutherford Birchard, 1822-1893  Search this
Hazen, William Babcock, 1830-1887  Search this
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865  Search this
Sheridan, Philip Henry, 1831-1888  Search this
Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891  Search this
Webster, Daniel, 1782-1852  Search this
Names:
Lincoln, Robert Todd  Search this
Extent:
4 Cubic feet (11 boxes)
Culture:
Inuit -- Greenland  Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Cartes-de-visite
Correspondence
Diplomas
Legal documents
Military commissions
Place:
Greenland -- Exploration
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
Date:
1855-1909
Summary:
Papers document General William Babcock Hazen's military career, primarily through correspondence, photographs, and publications.
Scope and Contents:
The General William Babcock Hazen Collection, 1856-1905, consists of approximately four cubic feet of material. Collection materials include biographical, correspondence (military and family), documents on the Greely Arctic Expedition, photographs, stereographs, and material on General Hazen's book, A Narrative of Military Service.
Arrangement:
This collection is divided into six series.

Series 1, Biographical Materials, 1885-1867

Series 2, Correspondence and Military Forms 1856-1886 and undated

Series 3, Correspondence to General William Babcock Hazen, 1861-1887

Series 4, Correspondence of Hazen Family, 1858-1909

Series 5, Photographs, 1864-1881

Series 6, Publications, 1865-1886
Biographical / Historical:
General William Babcock Hazen was born September 27, 1830 in West Hartford, Vermont. Four years later, the family moved to a farm outside Hiram, Portage County, Ohio where he attended school with James A. Garfield. Hazen's goal was service in the Army, and he wrote his congressman for admission to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Hazen graduated in 1855, twenty-eighth out of a class of thirty-four.

After graduation, General Hazen was assigned as Brevet Second Lieutenant, Company D, Fourth Infantry, Redding, California. After arriving in California, he was ordered to Fort Lane in the Oregon Territory. Lieutenant Hazen was authorized to establish a command at Grand Ronde and build a blockhouse that became the post Fort Yamhill, located west of Portland, Oregon. On April 20, 1857, he was transferred to Fort Jones, California, and then ordered to join the Eighth Infantry, Fort Davis, Texas. Hazen was transferred to Fort Inge, Texas, to protect a road from San Antonio to Eagle Pass. During a chase, Hazen was wounded by a bullet that was not removed. The lingering effect of the bullet wound would cause him frequent pain.

During the period of service in Texas, Hazen reportedly gained leadership experience, practical military knowledge, and considerable confidence in his own abilities. Following twelve months of convalescence, Hazen was nominated assistant instructor of military tactics at West Point on January 28, 1861. He was promoted to First Lieutenant on April 1861 and captain on May 14, 1861. Colonel James A. Garfield influenced the appointment of Hazen as colonel in command of the newly organized forty-first Ohio Volunteer Regiment. Hazen quickly transformed the regiment's inexperienced personnel into a firmly disciplined body. The intensive training paid large dividends later in the war, and he always held the regiment in high regard.

As brigade and division commander, General Hazen led troops in many important battles and campaigns: Shiloh (Place of Peace), Stones River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Atlanta, Resaca, Picketts Mill, Jonesboro, Fort McAllister, and Bentonville. On December 13, 1864, Hazen was appointed a major general of volunteers in recognition of long and faithful service and the capture of Fort McAllister. It was after the performance of his troops at Fort McAllister that a friendly relationship developed with General William T. Sherman. With the capitulation of the Confederate armies in spring of 1865, Hazen's division and the Army of the Tennessee left North Carolina where they saw their last fighting. The destination was Washington, D.C., site of a two-day grand review of the victorious Union Armies. On May 19, 1865 Hazen was elevated to commander of the Fifteenth Corps. After a thirty day furlough, he held command of the District of Middle Tennessee until the following summer. In July 1866, Hazen returned west.

In August 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant granted Hazen indefinite leave to observe the Franco-Prussian War. He viewed several battles and personally interviewed Otto von Bismarck and General Helmut von Moltke. Observations and research convinced Hazen that the United States Army was mismanaged and lacked tactical and logistical organization.

Before returning to the Sixth Infantry command, Hazen married Mildred McLean, the twenty-one year-old daughter of prominent Cincinnati Enquirer owner Washington McLean. A son John was born in 1876, but died at the age of twenty-two in 1898.

In June 1877, Hazen was appointed military attaché to the United States Legation in Vienna, Austria, and assigned as military observer of the Russo-Turkish War that had started in April 1877.

In 1878 Colonel Stanley accused Colonel Hazen of perjury and cowardice in the Civil War and requested a court-martial. Colonel Hazen retaliated by formally requesting that Stanley be arraigned by a court-martial on charges of publishing and circulating libelous material against him. On March 19, 1879, General Sherman reluctantly recommended that both generals be arraigned by the same court-martial. The New York Tribune reported "inasmuch as by the decisions of the court-martial Hazen has secured a substantial vindication." Hazen returned to Fort Buford.

While on detached service in Washington, D.C., Hazen actively campaigned for James A. Garfield for president. On August 24, 1880, General Albert James Myer, Chief of the Army Signal Corps, died, opening up a staff position subject to presidential appointment. President Rutherford B. Hayes, after consulting with President-elect Garfield, announced the promotion of Hazen to the rank of brigadier general and appointment as chief signal officer. One of Hazen's lasting legacies in this new role was advancing the development of meteorological science in the Army Signal Corps.

In May 1880, Lady Franklin Bay in northern Canada was chosen as the site for a signal service polar station, one of several conducted by eleven nations for the first International Polar Year (1882-1883). The initial two-year expedition set out in 1881 under the command of Regular Army First Lieutenant Adolphus W. Greely, a Civil War veteran from Massachusetts. The twenty-five man party did not get relief from the long winter in 1882, and a second rescue attempt was disrupted by ice. In September 1883, Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln, decided it was too late to send another relief party and they were left to spend a third winter in the Arctic. The demoralized party was forced to march south in search of supplies and landed at Cape Sabine, spending the next eight months in desperate circumstances. In June 1884, rescuers finally reached them and found only Greely and seven others alive. The remaining expedition members froze or starved to death.

Hazen never forgave Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln for his inaction with the Greely Arctic Expedition, and in 1884 Lincoln censured Hazen for his criticism. Hazen replied to Lincoln by letter, which was returned with a warning to keep the matter private. Hazen went to the press and stated in a published account that he wrote such a letter. He immediately found himself ordered before another court-martial, resulting in a reprimand by President Chester A. Arthur for "unwarranted and captious criticism." Greely supported Hazen's position. In 1885, Hazen produced A Narrative of Military Service, a report devoted to the defense of his Civil War record and personal reputation.

Health problems-diabetes and recurring pain from his bullet wound-forced Hazen to obtain a 12-month leave of absence from his military service. On January 13, 1887, he attended a White House reception where he caught a cold. He died on January 16, 1887, at the age of fifty-six.
Provenance:
In 1985, the Smithsonian received from the Estate of Fredrick McLean Bugher, grandnephew of General Hazen's wife Mildred McLean Hazen, manuscripts and letters concerning General Hazen. Part of the collection was rescued by a private individual from a Lorton, Virginia land fill and sold to the Smithsonian in 1987 in two sections. The first section contained material about the career of General William Babcock Hazen as chief signal officer of the United States Army. The second section contained manuscript materials related to Hazen's duties on the frontier and Indian tribes covering the period of 1855 to 1860, and from 1866 to 1880. Also included are family letters and land holdings in the Midwest.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Rights situation uncertain, but most of the collection is probably in the public domain due to its age.
Topic:
Arctic regions -- Discovery and exploration -- 1880-1890  Search this
Eskimos -- Greenland  Search this
Genre/Form:
Cartes-de-visite
Correspondence -- 1850-1900
Diplomas
Legal documents
Military commissions
Citation:
William B. Hazen Papers, 1855-1909, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Identifier:
NMAH.AC.0427
See more items in:
William Babcock Hazen Papers
Archival Repository:
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep867016537-49d3-4a96-8de1-9147aeba33c3
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-nmah-ac-0427
Online Media:

Stone Lamp

Collector:
Robert Stein  Search this
Donor Name:
U.S. Geological Survey  Search this
Culture:
Eskimo  Search this
Object Type:
Lamp
Place:
Greenland
Accession Date:
6 Nov 1901
Topic:
Ethnology  Search this
Accession Number:
038630
USNM Number:
E213614-0
See more items in:
Anthropology
Data Source:
NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/3aa1777a5-15f4-49e3-b8f9-4a63bb8c5696
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmnhanthropology_8360563

Portrait (Front) of Signe Rink, Eskimo ethnologist and widow of Dr H. Rink, ex-Governor of Greenland

Photographer:
Thorkelsen, T. H.  Search this
Extent:
1 Photographic print (003 in x 004 in mounted on 003 in x 004 in)
Culture:
Norwegian  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Photographic prints
Photographs
Date:
1902
Local Numbers:
NAA INV.02869200
Local Note:
Black and white photoprint on standard card
Place:
Norway -- Oslo
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.

Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Copy prints of original photographs held by the American Philosophical Society, National Geographic Society, and National Archives cannot be copied. Copies may be obtained from these repositories.
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Collection Citation:
Photo lot 33, Portraits of anthropologists, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
See more items in:
Portraits of anthropologists
Archival Repository:
National Anthropological Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw320a009fd-1104-4f2b-8b11-2778f7f446f9
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-naa-photolot-33-ref657
Online Media:

Sealsgut Cap

Collector:
Capt Joseph G. Bruff  Search this
Captain S. N. Miller  Search this
Donor Name:
Mrs. Joseph G. Bruff  Search this
Culture:
Eskimo  Search this
Object Type:
Hat
Place:
West / Disko Bay, Greenland
Accession Date:
28 Aug 1889
Collection Date:
1836
Topic:
Ethnology  Search this
Accession Number:
022308
USNM Number:
E130801-0
See more items in:
Anthropology
Data Source:
NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/31ba94e8e-45ba-4e52-89cb-2630d4d70c11
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmnhanthropology_8336942

Summer (Kannicks) Boots (1 Pair)

Culture:
Eskimo  Search this
Object Type:
Boot
Place:
North, Greenland
Accession Date:
14 Jul 1899
Topic:
Ethnology  Search this
Accession Number:
035303
USNM Number:
E202847-0
See more items in:
Anthropology
Data Source:
NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/3c3d6f4e1-3463-45ff-912b-618016fad25f
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmnhanthropology_8355596

"Eskimos with summer tents, Greenland"

Creator:
Keystone View Company  Search this
Collection Collector:
Allen, George V.  Search this
Extent:
1 Stereograph (7 x 3.5 in.)
Culture:
Eskimos  Search this
Arctic peoples  Search this
Indians of North America -- Subarctic  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Stereographs
Scope and Contents:
The item is number V27203 of an unidentied series. The number T220 is stamped on the front.
Local Numbers:
NAA INV.09913000

OPPS NEG.94-9247
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.

Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Photo Lot 90-1, George V. Allen collection of photographs of Native Americans and the American frontier, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
See more items in:
George V. Allen collection of photographs of Native Americans and the American frontier
Archival Repository:
National Anthropological Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw3a24868ca-2729-49b7-9686-c7d18f677402
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-naa-photolot-90-1-ref1433

Eskimo girls in skin clothing

Creator:
Keystone View Company  Search this
Underwood and Underwood  Search this
Collection Collector:
Allen, George V.  Search this
Extent:
1 Stereograph (7 x 3.5 in.)
Culture:
Eskimos  Search this
Arctic peoples  Search this
Indians of North America -- Subarctic  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Stereographs
Scope and Contents:
The item is number V13331 of an unidentified series. The number 78 is stamped on the front. The description is written on the back in several languages.
Local Numbers:
NAA INV.09916300
Other Title:
"Eskimo girls in clothing made from skins in the frigid Arctic, Cape York, Greenland."
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.

Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Photo Lot 90-1, George V. Allen collection of photographs of Native Americans and the American frontier, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
See more items in:
George V. Allen collection of photographs of Native Americans and the American frontier
Archival Repository:
National Anthropological Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw31b7e5251-2e4f-41f9-a5d1-653939c6fa71
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-naa-photolot-90-1-ref1466

Eskimos of Greenland

Creator:
Underwood and Underwood  Search this
Collection Collector:
Allen, George V.  Search this
Extent:
1 Stereograph (7 x 3.5 in.)
Culture:
Kalaallit (Greenland Eskimo)  Search this
Arctic peoples  Search this
Eskimos  Search this
Indians of North America -- Subarctic  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Stereographs
Scope and Contents:
The item is number 43-4697 of an unidentified series. The description is printed on the back in several languages. The Eskimo are gathered around their summer tents.
Local Numbers:
NAA INV.09920600
Other Title:
Works and Studios
"The world's most unique inhabitants, Esquimaux and their toupiks (summer tents), Greenland."
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.

Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Eskimo Inuit  Search this
East Greenland Inuit/Tunumiit  Search this
Collection Citation:
Photo Lot 90-1, George V. Allen collection of photographs of Native Americans and the American frontier, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
See more items in:
George V. Allen collection of photographs of Native Americans and the American frontier
Archival Repository:
National Anthropological Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw3b7174c8f-01da-4ef8-a5df-777779f5b53d
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-naa-photolot-90-1-ref1509

Four Women in Costume

Collector:
Law, Homer Lycurgus  Search this
Collection Creator:
Smithsonian Institution. United States National Museum. Department of Anthropology. Division of Ethnology  Search this
Extent:
1 Photographic print (004 in x 004 in mounted on 012 in x 016 in)
Culture:
Eskimos  Search this
Arctic peoples  Search this
Indians of North America -- Subarctic  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Photographic prints
Photographs
Date:
undated
Local Numbers:
NAA INV.01638703
Local Note:
Photo 1876 or Before ?
Black and white photoprint in album
Place:
Denmark -- Greenland -- Greenland Island/Upernavik
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Citation:
Photo Lot 97 DOE Oversize: Mixed Region: NM 152563 01638703, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
See more items in:
Division of Ethnology photograph collection
Division of Ethnology photograph collection / Oversize / Oversize Mixed Region / Unspecified
Archival Repository:
National Anthropological Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw33ce5c98a-dc31-48d9-ab91-f378702ba580
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-naa-photolot-97-ref997

Frederica de Laguna papers

Creator:
De Laguna, Frederica, 1906-2004  Search this
McClellan, Catharine  Search this
Swanton, John Reed, 1873-1958  Search this
GuĂ©don, Marie Françoise  Search this
Emmons, George Thornton  Search this
Extent:
2 Map drawers
38 Linear feet (71 document boxes, 1 half document box, 2 manuscript folders, 4 card file boxes, 1 flat box, and 1 oversize box)
Culture:
Yakutat Tlingit  Search this
Tutchone  Search this
Tsimshian  Search this
Indians of North America -- Subarctic  Search this
Tlingit  Search this
Tanana  Search this
Kawchodinne (Hare)  Search this
Ahtna (Ahtena)  Search this
Northern Athabascan  Search this
Chugach  Search this
Kalaallit (Greenland Eskimo)  Search this
Indians of North America -- California  Search this
Eyak  Search this
Indians of North America -- Northwest Coast of North America  Search this
Degexit'an (Ingalik)  Search this
Arctic peoples  Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Map drawers
Field notes
Sound recordings
Place:
Alaska -- Archaeology
Aishihik (Yukon)
Angoon (Alaska)
Alaska -- Ethnology
Chistochina (Alaska)
Greenland
Copper River (Alaska)
Klukshu (Yukon)
Hoonah (Alaska)
Kodiak Island (Alaska)
Klukwan (Alaska)
Saint Lawrence River Valley
New Brunswick -- Archaeology
Yukon Island (Alaska)
Date:
1890-2004
bulk 1923-2004
Summary:
These papers reflect the professional and personal life of Frederica de Laguna. The collection contains correspondence, field notes, writings, newspaper clippings, writings by others, subject files, sound recordings, photographs, and maps. A significant portion of the collection consists of de Laguna's correspondence with family, friends, colleagues, and students, as well as her informants from the field. Her correspondence covers a wide range of subjects such as family, health, preparations for field work, her publications and projects, the Northwest Coast, her opinions on the state of anthropology, and politics. The field notes in the collection mainly represent de Laguna and her assistants' work in the Northern Tlingit region of Alaska from 1949 to 1954. In addition, the collection contains materials related to her work in the St. Lawrence River Valley in Ontario in 1947 and Catherine McClellan's field journal for her research in Aishihik, Yukon Territory in 1968. Most of the audio reels in the collection are field recordings made by de Laguna, McClellan, and Marie-Françoise Guédon of vocabulary and songs and speeches at potlatches and other ceremonies from 1952 to 1969. Tlingit and several Athabaskan languages including Atna, Tutchone, Upper Tanana, and Tanacross are represented in the recordings. Also in the collection are copies of John R. Swanton's Tlingit recordings and Hiroko Hara Sue's recordings among the Hare Indians. Additional materials related to de Laguna's research on the Northwest Coast include her notes on clans and tribes in Series VI: Subject Files and her notes on Tlingit vocabulary and Yakutat names specimens in Series X: Card Files. Drafts and notes for Voyage to Greenland, Travels Among the Dena, and The Tlingit Indians can be found in the collection as well as her drawings for her dissertation and materials related to her work for the Handbook of North American Indians and other publications. There is little material related to Under Mount Saint Elias except for correspondence, photocopies and negatives of plates, and grant applications for the monograph. Of special interest among de Laguna's writings is a photocopy of her historical fiction novel, The Thousand March. Other materials of special interest are copies of her talks, including her AAA presidential address, and the dissertation of Regna Darnell, a former student of de Laguna's. In addition, materials on the history of anthropology are in the collection, most of which can found with her teaching materials. Although the bulk of the collection documents de Laguna's professional years, the collection also contains newspaper articles and letters regarding her exceptional performance as a student at Bryn Mawr College and her undergraduate and graduate report cards. Only a few photographs of de Laguna can be found in the collection along with photographs of her 1929 and 1979 trips to Greenland.
Scope and Contents:
These papers reflect the professional and personal life of Frederica de Laguna. The collection contains correspondence, field notes, writings, newspaper clippings, writings by others, subject files, sound recordings, photographs, and maps.

A significant portion of the collection consists of de Laguna's correspondence with family, friends, colleagues, and students, as well as her informants from the field. Her correspondence covers a wide range of subjects such as family, health, preparations for field work, her publications and projects, the Northwest Coast, her opinions on the state of anthropology, and politics. Among her notable correspondents are Kaj Birket-Smith, J. Desmond Clark, Henry Collins, George Foster, Viola Garfield, Marie-Françoise Guédon, Diamond Jenness, Michael Krauss, Therkel Mathiassen, Catharine McClellan, and Wallace Olson. She also corresponded with several eminent anthropologists including Franz Boas, William Fitzhugh, J. Louis Giddings, Emil Haury, June Helm, Melville Herskovitz, Alfred Kroeber, Helge Larsen, Alan Lomax, Margaret Mead, Froelich Rainey, Leslie Spier, Ruth Underhill, James VanStone, Annette Weiner, and Leslie White.

The field notes in the collection mainly represent de Laguna and her assistants' work in the Northern Tlingit region of Alaska from 1949 to 1954. In addition, the collection contains materials related to her work in the St. Lawrence River Valley in Ontario in 1947 and Catharine McClellan's field journal for her research in Aishihik, Yukon Territory in 1968. Most of the audio reels in the collection are field recordings made by de Laguna, McClellan, and Marie-Françoise Guédon of vocabulary and songs and speeches at potlatches and other ceremonies from 1952 to 1969. Tlingit and several Athapaskan languages including Atna, Tutochone, Upper Tanana, and Tanacross are represented in the recordings. Also in the collection are copies of John R. Swanton's Tlingit recordings and Hiroko Hara's recordings among the Hare Indians. Additional materials related to de Laguna's research on the Northwest Coast include her notes on clans and tribes in Series VI: Subject Files and her notes on Tlingit vocabulary and Yakutat names specimens in Series 10: Card Files.

Drafts and notes for Voyage to Greenland, Travels Among the Dena, and The Tlingit Indians can be found in the collection as well as her drawings for her dissertation and materials related to her work for the Handbook of North American Indians and other publications. There is little material related to Under Mount Saint Elias except for correspondence, photocopies and negatives of plates, and grant applications for the monograph. Of special interest among de Laguna's writings is a photocopy of her historical fiction novel, The Thousand March.

Other materials of special interest are copies of her talks, including her AAA presidential address, and the dissertation of Regna Darnell, a former student of de Laguna's. In addition, materials on the history of anthropology are in the collection, most of which can found with her teaching materials. The collection also contains copies of photographs from the Harriman Alaska Expedition of 1899. Although the bulk of the collection documents de Laguna's professional years, the collection also contains newspaper articles and letters regarding her exceptional performance as a student at Bryn Mawr College and her undergraduate and graduate report cards. Only a few photographs of de Laguna can be found in the collection along with photographs of her 1929 and 1979 trips to Greenland.
Arrangement:
Arranged in 12 series: (1) Correspondence, 1923-2004; (2) Field Research, 1947-1968; (3) Writings, 1926-2001; (4) Teaching, 1922-1988; (5) Professional Activities, 1939-2001; (6) Subject Files, 1890-2002; (7) Writings by Others, 1962-2000; (8) Personal, 1923-2000; (9) Photographs, 1929-1986; (10) Card Files; (11) Maps, 1928-1973; (12) Sound Recordings, 1904-1973
Biographical / Historical:
Frederica Annis Lopez de Leo de Laguna was a pioneering archaeologist and ethnographer of northwestern North America. Known as Freddy by her friends, she was one of the last students of Franz Boas. She served as first vice-president of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) from 1949 to 1950 and as president of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) from 1966-1967. She also founded the anthropology department at Bryn Mawr College where she taught from 1938 to 1972. In 1975, she and Margaret Mead, a former classmate, were the first women to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Born on October 3, 1906 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, de Laguna was the daughter of Theodore Lopez de Leo de Laguna and Grace Mead Andrus, both philosophy professors at Bryn Mawr College. Often sick as a child, de Laguna was home-schooled by her parents until she was 9. She excelled as a student at Bryn Mawr College, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in politics and economics in 1927. She was awarded the college's prestigious European fellowship, which upon the suggestion of her parents, she deferred for a year to study anthropology at Columbia University under Boas. Her parents had recently attended a lecture given by Boas and felt that anthropology would unite her interests in the social sciences and her love for the outdoors.

After a year studying at Columbia with Boas, Gladys Reichard, and Ruth Benedict, de Laguna was still uncertain whether anthropology was the field for her. Nevertheless, she followed Boas's advice to spend her year abroad studying the connection between Eskimo and Paleolithic art, which would later became the topic of her dissertation. In the summer of 1928, she gained fieldwork experience under George Grant MacCurdy visiting prehistoric sites in England, France, and Spain. In Paris, she attended lectures on prehistoric art by Abbe Breuil and received guidance from Paul Rivet and Marcelin Boule. Engaged to an Englishman she had met at Columbia University, de Laguna decided to also enroll at the London School of Economics in case she needed to earn her degree there. She took a seminar with Bronislaw Malinowski, an experience she found unpleasant and disappointing.

It was de Laguna's visit to the National Museum in Copenhagen to examine the archaeological collections from Central Eskimo that became the turning point in her life. During her visit, she met Therkel Mathiassen who invited her to be his assistant on what would be the first scientific archaeological excavation in Greenland. She sailed off with him in June 1929, intending to return early in August. Instead, she decided to stay until October to finish the excavation with Mathiassen, now convinced that her future lay in anthropology. When she returned from Greenland she broke off her engagement with her fiancé, deciding that she would not able to both fully pursue a career in anthropology and be the sort of wife she felt he deserved. Her experiences in Greenland became the subject of her 1977 memoir, Voyage to Greenland: A Personal Initiation into Anthropology.

The following year, Kaj Birket-Smith, whom de Laguna had also met in Copenhagen, agreed to let her accompany him as his research assistant on his summer expedition to Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet. When Birket-Smith fell ill and was unable to go, de Laguna was determined to continue on with the trip. She convinced the University of Pennsylvania Museum to fund her trip to Alaska to survey potential excavation sites and took as her assistant her 20 year old brother, Wallace, who became a geologist. A close family, de Laguna's brother and mother would later accompany her on other research trips.

In 1931, the University of Pennsylvania Museum hired de Laguna to catalogue Eskimo collections. They again financed her work in Cook Inlet that year as well as the following year. In 1933, she earned her PhD from Columbia and led an archaeological and ethnological expedition of the Prince William Sound with Birket-Smith. They coauthored "The Eyak Indians of the Copper River Delta, Alaska," published in 1938. In 1935, de Laguna led an archaeological and geological reconnaissance of middle and lower Yukon Valley, traveling down the Tanana River. Several decades later, the 1935 trip contributed to two of her books: Travels Among the Dena, published in 1994, and Tales From the Dena, published in 1997.

In 1935 and 1936, de Laguna worked briefly as an Associate Soil Conservationist, surveying economic and social conditions on the Pima Indian Reservation in Arizona. She later returned to Arizona during the summers to conduct research and in 1941, led a summer archaeological field school under the sponsorship of Bryn Mawr College and the Museum of Northern Arizona.

By this time, de Laguna had already published several academic articles and was also the author of three fiction books. Published in 1930, The Thousand March: Adventures of an American Boy with the Garibaldi was her historical fiction book for juveniles. She also wrote two detective novels: The Arrow Points to Murder (1937) and Fog on the Mountain (1938). The Arrow Points to Murder is set in a museum based on her experiences at the University of Pennsylvania Museum and the American Museum of National History. Fog on the Mountain is set in Cook Inlet and draws upon de Laguna's experiences in Alaska. Both detective novels helped to finance her research.

De Laguna began her long career at Bryn Mawr College in 1938 when she was hired as a lecturer in the sociology department to teach the first ever anthropology course at the college. By 1950, she was chairman of the joint department of Sociology and Anthropology, and in 1967, the chairman of the newly independent Anthropology Department. She was also a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania (1947-1949; 1972-1976) and at the University of California, Berkeley (1959-1960; 1972-1973.)

During World War II, de Laguna took a leave of absence from Bryn Mawr College to serve in the naval reserve from 1942 to 1945. As a member of WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service), she taught naval history and codes and ciphers to women midshipmen at Smith College. She took great pride in her naval service and in her later years joined the local chapter of WAVES National, an organization for former and current members of WAVES.

In 1950, de Laguna returned to Alaska to work in the Northern Tlingit region. Her ethnological and archaeological study of the Tlingit Indians brought her back several more times throughout the 1950s and led to the publication of Under Mount Saint Elias in 1972. Her comprehensive three-volume monograph is still considered the authoritative work on the Yakutat Tlingit. In 1954, de Laguna turned her focus to the Atna Indians of Copper River, returning to the area in 1958, 1960, and 1968.

De Laguna retired from Bryn Mawr College in 1972 under the college's mandatory retirement policy. Although she suffered from many ailments in her later years including macular degeneration, she remained professionally active. Five decades after her first visit to Greenland, de Laguna returned to Upernavik in 1979 to conduct ethnographic investigations. In 1985, she finished editing George Thornton Emmons' unpublished manuscript The Tlingit Indians. A project she had begun in 1955, the book was finally published in 1991. In 1986, she served as a volunteer consultant archaeologist and ethnologist for the U. S. Forest Service in Alaska. In 1994, she took part in "More than Words . . ." Laura Bliss Spann's documentary on the last Eyak speaker, Maggie Smith Jones. By 2001, de Laguna was legally blind. Nevertheless, she continued working on several projects and established the Frederica de Laguna Northern Books Press to reprint out-of-print literature and publish new scholarly works on Arctic cultures.

Over her lifetime, de Laguna received several honors including her election into the National Academy Sciences in 1976, the Distinguished Service Award from AAA in 1986, and the Lucy Wharton Drexel Medal from the University of Pennsylvania in 1999. De Laguna's work, however, was respected by not only her colleagues but also by the people she studied. In 1996, the people of Yakutat honored de Laguna with a potlatch. Her return to Yakutat was filmed by Laura Bliss Spann in her documentary Reunion at Mt St. Elias: The Return of Frederica de Laguna to Yakutat.

At the age of 98, Frederica de Laguna passed away on October 6, 2004.

Sources Consulted

Darnell, Regna. "Frederica de Laguna (1906-2004)." American Anthropologist 107.3 (2005): 554-556.

de Laguna, Frederica. Voyage to Greenland: A Personal Initiation into Anthropology. New York: W.W. Norton Co, 1977.

McClellan, Catharine. "Frederica de Laguna and the Pleasures of Anthropology." American Ethnologist 16.4 (1989): 766-785.

Olson, Wallace M. "Obituary: Frederica de Laguna (1906-2004)." Arctic 58.1 (2005): 89-90.
Orthography:
This finding aid uses Ahtna as the primary term when referring to the Ahtna people. However, de Laguna consistently used the term Atna in her research and writings. The physical folder titles using de Laguna's own descriptions have not be altered.
Related Materials:
Although this collection contains a great deal of correspondence associated with her service as president of AAA, most of her presidential records can be found in American Anthropological Association Records 1917-1972. Also at the National Anthropological Archives are her transcripts of songs sung by Yakutat Tlingit recorded in 1952 and 1954 located in MS 7056 and her notes and drawings of Dorset culture materials in the National Museum of Canada located in MS 7265. The Human Studies Film Archive has a video oral history of de Laguna conducted by Norman Markel (SC-89.10.4).

Related collections can also be found in other repositories. The University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania holds materials related to work that de Laguna carried out for the museum from the 1930s to the 1960s. Materials relating to her fieldwork in Angoon and Yakutat can be found in the Rasmuson Library of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks in the papers of Francis A. Riddell, a field assistant to de Laguna in the early 1950s. Original photographs taken in the field in Alaska were deposited in the Alaska State Library, Juneau. Both the Archive of Folk Culture at the Library of Congress and the American Philosophical Library have copies of her field recordings and notes. The American Museum of Natural History has materials related to her work editing George T. Emmons' manuscript. De Laguna's papers can also be found at the Bryn Mawr College Archives.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Frederica de Laguna.
Restrictions:
Some of the original field notes are restricted due to Frederica de Laguna's request to protect the privacy of those accused of witchcraft. The originals are restricted until 2030. Photocopies may be made with the names of the accused redacted.
Rights:
Contact repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation  Search this
Anthropology -- History  Search this
Genre/Form:
Field notes
Sound recordings
Citation:
Frederica de Laguna papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Identifier:
NAA.1998-89
See more items in:
Frederica de Laguna papers
Archival Repository:
National Anthropological Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw3363424fd-e665-498b-a37c-9f4a81302a35
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-naa-1998-89
Online Media:

A wolf killed by Eskimo in employ of Commander Donald B. MacMillan March 29, 1914, near Schei Island, Greenland 80 degrees 30 feet north, 85 degrees West (Photo courtesy of Donald B. MacMillan).

Graphic artist:
American Wildlife Institute  Search this
Author:
Young, Stanley Paul  Search this
Goldman, Edward Alphonso  Search this
Physical Description:
wood (overall material)
metal (overall material)
ink (overall material)
Object Name:
electrotype block
block, electrotype
Object Type:
Electrotype
Place made:
United States: District of Columbia, Washington
Date made:
1944
Subject:
Mammals  Search this
Hunting  Search this
ID Number:
2010.0186.17
See more items in:
Work and Industry: Graphic Arts
Data Source:
National Museum of American History
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ad-657f-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmah_1409124

Handbook of North American Indians / William C. Sturtevant, general editor

Author:
Sturtevant, William C  Search this
Physical description:
v. : illustrations ; 29 cm
Type:
Books
Date:
1978
1978-
Topic:
Eskimos  Search this
Call number:
E76.2 .H36X
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_176501

Mexican Indian

Collection Creator:
HrdliÄŤka, Aleš, 1869-1943  Search this
Container:
Box 117
Box 295
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents:
Includes measurements on or from Tarasco, Cora, Tarahumara, Otomi, Pima, Chichimec, Greenland Eskimos, Costa Rica, Huastec, Huichol, Maya and Quiche, Valley of Mexico, and Aztec. Also includes a manuscript article by E.T. Haury titled "Contribution a l'Anthropologie in Nayarit."
Collection Restrictions:
Access to the Aleš Hrdlička papers requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Aleš Hrdlička papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
See more items in:
Aleš Hrdlička papers
Aleš Hrdlička papers / Series 16: Bone Studies / Crania:
Archival Repository:
National Anthropological Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw3d7d5c84e-2268-4a03-878b-eca66e712c98
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-naa-1974-31-ref2493

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