Harrington was a Bureau of American Ethnology ethnologist involved in the study of over one hundred American tribes. His speciality was linguistics. Most of the material concerns California, southwestern, northwestern tribes and includes ethnological, archeological, historical notes; writings, correspondence, photographs, sound recordings, biological specimens, and other types of documents. Also of concern are general linguistics, sign language, writing systems, writing machines, and sound recordings machines. There is also some material on New World Spanish, Old World languages. In addition, there are many manuscripts of writings that Harrington sketched, partially completed, or even completed but never published. The latter group includes not only writings about anthropological subjects but also histories, ranging from a biography of Geronimo to material on the history of the typewriter. The collection incorporates material of Richard Lynch Garner, Matilda Coxe Stevenson, and others. In his field work, Harrington seems sometimes to have worked within fairly firm formats, this especially being true when he was "rehearing" material, that is in using an informant to verify and correct the work of other researchers. Often, however, the interviews with informants (and this seems to have been the case even with some "rehearings") seem to have been rather free form, for there is a considerable intertwining of subjects. Nevertheless, certain themes frequently appear in his work, including annotated vocabularies concerning flora and fauna and their use, topography, history and biography, kinship, cosmology (including tribal astronomy), religion and philosophy, names and observations concerning neighboring tribes, sex and age division, material culture, legends, and songs. The fullness of such materials seems to have been limited only by the time Harrington had to spend with a goup and the knowledge of his informants.
Arrangement:
(Some of the titles are tentative). Papers relating to Alaska/Northwest Coast, including (1) Aleut; (2) Tlingit/Eyak; (3) Northern Athapascan (Beaver, Carrier, Chipewyan, Sarsi, Sekani, Cree); (4) Nicola/Thompson; (5) Lummi/Nespelem; (6) Duwamish; (7) Chimakum/Clallam; (8) Makah/Quileute; (9) Quinault/Chehalis/Cowlit; (10) Chinook/Chinook Jargon; (11) "Kwalhioqua-Tlatskanai"; (12) Tillamook, (13) Alsea/Siuslaw/Coos; (14) Southwest Oregon Athapascan (Chasta Costa, Chetco, Upper Coquille, "Gold Beach", Smith River, Tolowa, Tutini, Upper Umpqua), (14) Galice/Applegate; (15) Takelma, general and miscellaneous;
(16) Klamath; (17) Wiyot/Yurok/Mattole; (18) Coast Yuki/Northern and Central Pomo/Kato; (19) Coast Miwok; (20) Lake and Coast Miwok/Southeastern Pomo/Wappo; (21) Nisenan/Northern Sierra Miwok; (22) Southern Pomo/Central Sierra Miwok; (23) Karok/Shasta/Konomihu; (24) Chimariko/Hupo; (25) Achomawi/Atsugewi/Wintu/Yana; (26) Chamariko/Achomawi/Atsugewi/Wintu/Yana; (27) Costanoan (Chocheno, Mutsun, Tumsen); (28) Salinan (Antoinano, Migueleno); (29) Yokuts (Chunut, Tachi, Wikchamni, Yawdanchi, Yawelmani, Koyeti); (30) general and miscellaneous; papers relating to southern California and the Basin area,
including (31) Chumash (Barbareno, Cruzeno, Ineseno, Obispeno, Purisimeno, Ventureno); (32) Chauilla; (33) Chemehuevi; (34) Gabrielino; (35) Juaneno; (36) Kitanemuk; (37) Luiseno; (38) Serrano; (39) Tubatulabal; (40) Diegueno; (41) Mohave/Yuma; (42) general and miscellaneous; papers relating to the Southwest, including (43) Apache; (44) Hopi; (45) Jemez; (46) Acoma/Laguna; (47) Cochiti; (48) Navaho; (49) Pima/Papago; (50) Illeta; (51) Taos; (52) Picuris; (53) Tewa; (54) Zuni; (55) general and miscellaneous; papers relating to the Plains, including (56) Comanche; (57) Caddo/Pawnee/Wichita; (58) Dakota/Lakota; (59) Hidatso/Mandan/Crow;
(92) general and miscellaneous; notes and writings on special linguistic studies, including (93) correspondence; (94) financial records; (95) personal records; (96) poetry; (97) newspaper clippings; (98) printed material/reprints/photostats/microfilm; (99) maps; (100) photographs (101) sound recordings; (102) botanical specimens
Joseph S. Danner, Edward S. Davis, Ella C. Deloria, Frances Densmore, Paul Desiardins, Lydia Dornherr, Harry W. Dorsey, Frederick Huntington Douglas, David C. Dozi, Edward P. Dozi, Robert Drak Aitken), Rose S. Gaffney, David E. Gales, S. H. Gapp, Clark M. Garber, Lucrlson Fenton, Jesse Walter Fewkes, Reginald G. Fisher, Barbara Freire-Marreco (see also Barbara Aitken), Rose S. Gaffney, David E. Gales, S. H. Gapp, Clark M. Garber, Lucretia Garcia, Maria Garcia, Paul Garcia, Walter C. Garwick, William Gates, Ja Gapp, Clark M. Garber, Lucretia Garcia, Maria Garcia, Paul Garcia, Walter C. Garwick, William Gates, James A Geary, Otto William Geist,
Richard H. Geoghegan, Harold S. Gladwin, Pliny Earle Goddard, T. R. Goodwin, Howard W. Gorman, Blanche C. Grant, George Grasty, Louis H. Gray, Alexander Grigolia, Alexandra Gromoff, F. A. Gross, Ruther Gruber, Erwin G. Gudde, Grace Guest, Ralph Gustafson, Berard Haile, Alfred Irving Hallowell, Howard M. Hamblin, Lucile Hamner, Adelaide Harrington, Arthur Harrington, Awona Harrington, Edmund Ross Harrington, Elliot Harrington, Mark Raymond Harrington, Robert Fleming Heizer, Marta Herrera (Orozoco), Melville Jean Herskovits, Edgar Lee Hewett, George Gustave Heye,
Thomas Willing Hicks, Willard Williams Hill, William B. Hill, Philip K. Hitti, Hulda R. Hobbs (Heidel), Frederick Webb Hodge, Robert Hofsinde, W. C. Holden, Nils Homer, R. B. Horsefield, James Hovey, Grace Hudson, John W. Hudson, William Hughes, Edward P. Hunt, George Hunt, Wayne Henry (Wolf Robe) Hunt, Arnold J. Jacobins, Jean Allard Jge, George M. Lamsa, William T. Linkins, Ralph Linton, Alan Lomax, Theodore R. Lonewolf, uis Kroeber, Benjamin T. Kurtz, Walter and Hilda Kurze, Oliver LaFarge, George M. Lamsa, William T. Linkins, Ralph Linton, Alan Lomax, Theodore R. Lonewolf,
Boas Long, Ivan Alexis Lopatin, Robert Harry Lowie, Charles F. Lummis, Phoebe Maddux, Frank Marashulo, Frank Marr, John Marr, Edna P. Marsh, Gordon H. Marsh, William B. Marye, Elizabeth Mason, John Alden Mason, Anna P. Mattinger, Wayne L. Mauzy, William Ralph Maxon, Parker McKenzie, F. Romero Mendez, Clinton Hart Merriam, E. Vigo Mestres, Truman Michelson, Harry E. Miller, Ralph L. Milliken, William S. Mills, Willie Miranda, Albert Mohr, Dionisia Mondragon, Manuel Mondragon, Lucy Montgomery, Harriet Moore, Mildred C. Moore, R. E. Moore, Rosalind Moore, Carlos Morales, Marion Moreno, Sylvanus Griswold Morley, Philip A. Munz, O. J. Murie,
Roy Nash, Mrs. W. J. Nichols, Eugene A. Nida, Frans M. Olbrechts, Cornelius Osgood, Asbjorn P. Ousdal, Charles F. Outland, Henry E. Parmenter, Elsie Clews Parsons, A. W. Payne, Ellen Peace, Elizabeth Wells Pearce, Arthur B. Perkins, Mrs. Rodolphe Petter, Kenneth L. Pike, Arnold R. Pilling, Nellie B. Pipes, I. J. Pitman, J. O. Prescott, Erik Kellerman Reed, Nathaniel Julius Reich, Jane Richardson, Arthur Stanley Riggs, Frank Harold Hanna Roberts, Jr., Helen H. Roberts, Clarence M. Ruth, Everett Sanders, Edward Sapir, Charles F. Saunders, F. H. Saville, Paul Schumacher, Donald Scott, Blanche Seeley, Ettie Seeley, Elizabeth Shepley Sergeant,
A. W. Setychell, Jessie Shaw, Anna O. Shepard, Frank T. Siebert, Rita Siedenberg, Albion M. Sitton, Nich Sivonen, H. D. Skinner, Mrs. N. P. Sloan, Clement Smith, Stella Smith, Jack Snow, Maria Soto, Frank Gouldsmith Speck, Robert F. Spencer, Marjorie Spinks, Waldo C. Spraque, Winifred Stamm, Moses Steinberg Marian Stirling, Matthew Williams Stirling, William Duncan Strong, Edgar Howard Sturtevant, Georgianna Barbara Such, John R. Swanton, Turkey Tayac, Douglass Taylor, Lincoln Thompson, Morjorie L. Tichy, Janet Tietjins, Bennie Tilden, J. R. R. Tolkien, W. Cameron Townsend, George L. Trager, Lovell B. Triggs, Edwin H. Tuttle,
Ruth Underhill, Richard Fowler Van Valkenburgh, Rosendo Vargas, Charles Frederick Voegelin, Paul Vogenitz, James W. Waldo, Paul A. F. Walter, Althea Warren, Fred Washington, Thomas Talbot Waterman, Edith White, Joseph J. White, Leslie A. White, Grace T. Whiting, Robert B. Whitsett, Benjamin Lee Whorf, H. E. Williams, William L. Wonderly, Arthur Woodward, Robert W. Young, and Father Zephyrin of the Santa Barbara Mission.
Restrictions:
The John Peabody Harrington papers are open for research.
Access to the John Peabody Harrington papers requires an appointment.
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Maps
Stats (copies)
Newspaper clippings
Printed material
Photographs
Botanical specimens
Field notes
Correspondence -- 1930-1950
Financial records
Personal records
Poetry
Writings
Citation:
John Peabody Harrington papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The preferred citation for the Harrington Papers will reference the actual location within the collection, i.e. Box 172, Alaska/Northwest Coast, Papers of John Peabody Harrington, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
However, as the NAA understands the need to cite phrases or vocabulary on specific pages, a citation referencing the microfilmed papers is acceptable. Please note that the page numbering of the PDF version of the Harrington microfilm does not directly correlate to the analog microfilm frame numbers. If it is necessary to cite the microfilmed papers, please refer to the specific page number of the PDF version, as in: Papers of John Peabody Harrington, Microfilm: MF 7, R34 page 42.
Indians of North America -- California Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Vocabulary
Maps
Place:
California
Date:
1926, 1942
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Northern and Central California series contains John P. Harrington's research on Wiyot, Yurok, and Mattole. Throughout his notes, Wiyot is abbreviated Sul. for Sulaatlak and, rarely, Wiy. Yurok is abbreviated Yur. or Trin[idad] lang[uage], and Mattole is abbreviated M. or B[ear] R[iver] Mat. The Wiyot vocabulary consists of thirteen pages of numbers and terms for counting obtained during an interview with Amos Riley at Indianola on March 5, 1926. The name for Eel River is given and there are several references to two other Wiyot speakers, Jerry and Birdie James. The comparative vocabulary section consists of lexical items semantically arranged. The majority of the terms are Wiyot forms given by Birdie James and Amos Riley, although some equivalences in Yurok from James and in Mattole from Theodore Prince are interspersed. A variety of vocabulary is given, with tribenames and placenames being the most numerous. The data in these last two categories are particularly detailed and include etymologies, references to Indian trails, a few rough sketch maps, and comments on names excerpted from several secondary sources (Reichard 1925; Nomland and Kroeber 1936). Another set of files is composed of comments from Yurok and Wiyot speakers on published placename data from T. T. Waterman (1920) and Llewellyn L. Loud (1918). The first section, labeled "C. W. on Wat.," contains comments by Charlie Williams on tribenames and placenames given in the text and on associated maps (Rectangles A, B, H. I, J, K) in Waterman's "Yurok Geography." While most of the locations discussed are in the region of the Klamath River mouth, places in Tolowa, Wiyot, and Hupa territory are also mentioned. Unmarked forms are presumably Yurok names from Williams. His data were partially checked over with Birdie James, who gave both Yurok and Wiyot terms. A few comments were added by Orick Bob. The second section of rehearings is keyed to Rectangles H, I, J, and K in Waterman. Many of the placenames treated are in the Redwood Creek area near the home of Yurok speaker Orick Bob. Bob also volunteered a few terms for animals and tribes. The third section features comments of Birdie James on placenames given by Waterman, and by Loud in his "Ethnogeography and Archaeology of the Wiyot Territory." Harrington also utilized a number of maps (Belcher 1921; U. S. C. & G. S. 1940) in his work. A brief compilation of miscellaneous vocabulary found with the placename data appears at the end. To serve as a questionnaire for his work with Isaac Duncan and Johnny Jackson, Harrington gleaned placenames from Goddard's "The Bear River Dialect of Athapascan" and Nomland's "Sinkyone Notes" and "Bear River Ethnography." Many of the Mattole terms he obtained are unlabeled, making it difficult at times to determine who provided the data. Most of the placenames are from the Bear River and Mattole River regions; in addition there are a limited number from the Eel River area and beyond. Stories, miscellaneous vocabulary, and biographical notes are also included. A small section of miscellaneous notes appears at the end of the field data. Included are biographical notes on the informants and others, notes from the Hupa speaker, Dusky, a few observations by Harrington on the phonetics of the languages, general information on Gladys A. Reichard's work, and notes from a conversation with C. F. Voegelin regarding Yurok, Nootka, and Algonquian.
Supplemental material consists of copies which Harrington made of
Alfred L. Kroeber's field data. One set of notes, labeled "Yurok (collected by A. L. Kroeber, copied by J.P.H.)" consists of words and
phrases. The second group is preceded by an explanatory note which
refers to a Kroeber letter of 1906. Harrington copied vocabulary items
from a series of Kroeber's notebooks onto separate slips for further
analysis. Only sample pages of these files have been filmed to show
Harrington's format; the original field notes are located at the Bancroft
Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Biographical / Historical:
During his work on Karok in the spring of 1926, John P. Harrington recorded a brief vocabulary in Wiyot from Amos Riley of Indianola, California. It was not until sixteen years later that he returned to the area to make a more thorough study of that language and the related Yurok. He simultaneously recorded a lesser amount of Mattole data for comparison with other languages of the Northwest Coast and California which he had been recording.
John Peabody Harrington papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The preferred citation for the Harrington Papers will reference the actual location within the collection, i.e. Box 172, Alaska/Northwest Coast, Papers of John Peabody Harrington, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
However, as the NAA understands the need to cite phrases or vocabulary on specific pages, a citation referencing the microfilmed papers is acceptable. Please note that the page numbering of the PDF version of the Harrington microfilm does not directly correlate to the analog microfilm frame numbers. If it is necessary to cite the microfilmed papers, please refer to the specific page number of the PDF version, as in: Papers of John Peabody Harrington, Microfilm: MF 7, R34 page 42.
Indians of North America -- California Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Vocabulary
Place:
California -- History
Date:
1921-1930
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Northern and Central California series contains Harrington's research on Chimariko and Hupa.
A large portion of the subseries consists of field notes on Chimariko vocabulary and sentences provided by Sally Noble. Much of the information was elicited from a reading of Roland Dixon's "The Chimarika Indians and Language," (1910) and includes anatomical terms, names for plants and animals, material culture vocabulary, tribenames, and placenames. A small number of Hupa lexical terms were also obtained, evidently with reference to the work of Pliny Earle Goddard "Athapascan (Hupa)" (1911). There is a mixture of ethnographic and biographical data provided by Noble and several nonlinguistic sources.
The subseries also contains Harrington's grammatical analysis of Chimariko. Many of these notes feature examples excerpted from the linguistic notes; the page numbers in brackets refer to numbered pages of the section of "original" field notes. There are also summaries of various grammatical principles in the form of charts. These sketches are followed by a short "general dictionary" of vocabulary and phrases.
As a supplement to his linguistic and grammatical notes, Harrington collected extensive textual material from Noble. Noble provided mythological texts; accounts of historical events, such as the Indian wars and encounters with whites; descriptions of an ethnological nature on various subjects, such as doctoring, tattooing, and hairdressing; and personal reminiscences. The texts were recorded in Chimariko and some have fairly detailed interlinear translations. In several instances, a synopsis in English has been filed with the text. Some notes from Martha Ziegler appear in this section.
There are also notes obtained by Harrington during his first meeting with Lucy Montgomery. Chimariko and some Hupa lexical terms were recorded for plant and animal names, age, sex, and relationship terms, material culture vocabulary, and numbers. At least a portion of the information was elicited through a rehearing of a word list furnished by C. Hart Merriam and another published by Roland B. Dixon. An unidentified publication (possibly by Parmenter) was utilized to prompt responses on bird names. Montgomery also commented on the names of several native objects that Harrington had recently collected in Karok territory.
The section on Chimariko vocabulary consists of notes presumably collected during Harrington's second stint of work with Montgomery. Harrington made frequent notes on the phonetics of Chimariko and included several Wintu equivalences, as well as scattered references of ethnographic, historical, or biographical interest.
Another section of notes obtained from Montgomery represent a fairly systematic rehearing of the linguistic data Harrington had collected from Sally Noble in 1921-1922.
The block of ethnographic notes were also obtained from Montgomery. The notes cover a wide variety of subjects: food preparation, the collection of firewood, doctoring, the medicinal use of plants, menstruation, child care, clothing, hairdressing, burial, and the manufacture and use of tools, implements, and baskets. A few pages also concern songs and vocabulary. In addition, information is provided on the Montgomery's relatives, the Round Valley Removal, and gold mining. Some data were obtained from Mrs. Ramazzena and I. N. Hamilton. A little ethnographic information pertinent to Coast Yurok was collected from Mrs. Frye.
There are also notes from an interview with Saxy Kidd. The notes consist in large part of ethnographic data from the New River and Trinity River areas. In addition, there is some plant and animal vocabulary. Most Hupa terms are given, with selected Chimariko equivalents.
Biographical / Historical:
John P. Harrington's study of Chimariko began when he spent between four and five months working with Sally Noble at her ranch on New River in Trinity County, California. Noble, a speaker of the "Trinity River" dialect of Chimariko, had previously worked with C. Hart Merriam, and joint work with her had been planned by the two anthropologists for the summer of 1921. Due to confusion concerning Harrington's whereabouts at the time the trip was scheduled, Merriam went to northern California alone in the summer. In early September, after Merriam had completed his own field work and had departed, Harrington arrived at the region, arranged to take meals with the neighboring Dailey family, and proceeded to work regularly with Noble. After amassing several thousand pages of notes, Harrington left Burnt Ranch in mid-to-Iate January 1922, intending to continue the work with Noble in May. He later learned that she had died some twenty days after his departure.
The data he gained from Noble were supplemented by a little linguistic information given by her half sister, Martha Ziegler. Nonlinguistic information was provided by Noble's son, Frank; the Daileys; Mr. and Mrs. Zack Bussell; and Mr. and Mrs. Jim Chesbro.
In the spring of 1926, during or just following his work on Wiyot and Karok, Harrington scheduled an initial interview with another Chimariko woman, Lucy Montgomery. A cousin of Sally Noble, Montgomery was then residing on the coast at Stone Lagoon. Although, by her own admission, she had stopped speaking Chimariko at age eleven, she did attempt to assist Harrington in compiling a basic vocabulary list.
Harrington's interest in Chimariko was renewed in April 1927 when he learned of Edward Sapir's efforts to locate native speakers for that language. In August and September of the same year he employed his long-time friend George W. Bayley to collect plant specimens and ethnobotanical data from Lucy Montgomery. Contact with her having been reestablished, Harrington joined Bayley in 1928 to pursue further linguistic work with her. It was on this occasion that they reheard the notes which he had obtained earlier from Noble. Montgomery's data are not highly reliable as she basically had only a passive knowledge of the language. A small section of ethnographic notes also appears to have been collected at this time.
Mrs. Zack Bussell evidently took Harrington to interview Saxy Kidd, who, according to reports, was said to speak quite a bit of Chimariko. Harrington had heard of Kidd from Sally Noble during his work in 1921-1922 and again from Edward Sapir in 1927. Sapir had discovered that what little Chimariko Kidd knew was "distorted by his Hupa phonetics." Harrington likewise obtained only a few Chimariko terms from him.
John Peabody Harrington papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The preferred citation for the Harrington Papers will reference the actual location within the collection, i.e. Box 172, Alaska/Northwest Coast, Papers of John Peabody Harrington, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
However, as the NAA understands the need to cite phrases or vocabulary on specific pages, a citation referencing the microfilmed papers is acceptable. Please note that the page numbering of the PDF version of the Harrington microfilm does not directly correlate to the analog microfilm frame numbers. If it is necessary to cite the microfilmed papers, please refer to the specific page number of the PDF version, as in: Papers of John Peabody Harrington, Microfilm: MF 7, R34 page 42.
Indians of North America -- California Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Vocabulary
Songs
Maps
Place:
California -- History
Date:
1914-circa 1957
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Northern and Central California series contains Harrington's research on the Yokuts.
Notes from his fieldwork in 1914 include references to residents who he thought might be able to assist him in his research, detailed descriptions of house construction and the fabrication of sleeping mats, and small sketches of pictographs which Harrington had seen in the region. Amidst the miscellaneous notes are lists of baskets which he purchased, notes on photographs he took and bibliographic references from C. Hart Merriam. Harrington also copied extracts of his field notes onto slipfiles, which he filed under a variety of subject headings. The Tachi file contains ethnographic notes from Roberto Bautista and Agnes Light as well as a few Tachi lexical items. The file labeled "Tule" consists of mixed linguistic and ethnographic data from Jim Alto and Mr. Edmundson at the Tule River Reservation and notes on the Tachi dialect recorded from Pacifico Archuleta.
The section of linguistic, ethnographic, historical, and biographical notes consists of raw field data collected by Harrington and Carobeth from twenty residents of Yokuts territory during the period 1916-1917. Topics include vocabulary, placenames, tribenames, myths, ceremonial regalia and dances, songs, and religion. The notes from Josefa Damian, marked "Jos. Mar.," feature extensive data on relationship terms, age and sex terms, and moieties in Chunut, Tachi, Tejonefio, and Wowol. The most extensive notes were recorded from Francisca Lola. The notes contain voluminous amounts of linguistic data (vocabulary and paradigms) in Koyeti, Yawdanchi, Choynok, and Tachi as well as equivalent forms in "R. C." (Rio Chiquito). The material is also rich in ethnographic detail, providing information on uses of plants (Tejon ranch specimens), ceremonies, fiestas, dances, and material culture accompanied by diagrams and sketches. In addition, there are biographical notes on informants, myths, and texts of songs.
A year after collecting his field data on Yokuts, Harrington made copies of his notes and arranged them into several sizable slipfiles. One major file was created for the Chunut and Tachi languages, and another for the Yawelmani, Koyeti, Yawdanchi, and Wikchamni languages. There are also small slipfiles for Choynok and Palewyami. The slipfiles are organized semantically; headings included are cosmography, plants, animals, "artifacts" (material culture), sociology, religion, tribenames, and placenames. They include information regarding plant speciments collected by Harrington at the Tejon Ranch.
An additional step that Harrington took in the analysis of his Yokuts field data was the development of an outline grammar of the Yawelmani dialect. He extracted vocabulary and linguistic notes from the semantically arranged slipfiles, marking the slips which he copied with a check mark or the notation "gr." The data which he extracted are largely Yawelmani, although vocabulary and sentences from Koyeti, Yawdanchi, Chunut, and Tachi are included for comparative purposes. Harrington also submitted multiple manuscripts of his Yawelmani grammar to the Bureau of American Ethnology (former B.A.E. Mss. 2973, 3041, 3047, 3048, and 3054).
Harrington's files relating to the Tejon Ranch Case contain correspondence dating from 1921 to 1924, legal documents, a copy of a census taken at the ranch, and documentary evidence from a variety of secondary sources including military records, newspaper accounts, and Senate documents. The major portion of the records consists of notes from interviews with about twenty Tejon residents. The content is primarily biographical, with placename references. In many cases the notes were taken down in the form of depositions. Harrington simultaneously recorded lengthy Yokuts myth texts as well as stories in English and Spanish. Information from a number of the informants was formerly cataloged as B. A. E. ms. 3046. There is also a carbon copy of a "Report on Tejon Indians, Kern County, California" submitted by Herbert V. Clotts, Acting Superintendent of Irrigation, to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs on January 15, 1918.
Records relating to sound recordings pertain to songs performed by five Yokuts speakers and two Kitanemuks. The songs were recorded on wax by Harrington in Yokuts territory during the periods 1916-1917. The cylinders were sent to ethnomusicologist Helen H. Roberts in 1921 to review. The bulk of this section contains her lengthy notes on the texts of songs, accompanied by musical transcriptions.
The final section of this subseries consists of miscellaneous notes. There are notes from interviews and correspondence with information on boat construction, a sketch map received in a 1925 letter, notes relative to a conversation with J.N.B. Hewitt in 1926, notes from an interview with Angel Sanchez and Bill Skinner, and information from Roberts on song text. There are also copies of Harrington's own field notes and notes on secondary sources.
Biographical / Historical:
John P. Harrington worked on the Yokuts language a number of times during his forty years of fieldwork in California. This study certainly matches the breadth of the data for Karok and Salinan and is surpassed in volume only by his output for Costanoan and Chumash.
Harrington's first contact with the so-called "Tulareno" people occurred in late September to early October 1914 on a two-week trip to the San Joaquin Valley. At that time he made short visits to the Santa Rosa rancheria near Lemoore, to the Tule Indian Reservation near Porterville, and to Bakersfield as part of a dialect survey. A limited amount of additional data was obtained in 1914 and 1915 during the course of his work on Salinan and Chumash. Migueleno speaker Pacifico Archuleta, whose wife, Suncion, was Yokuts, gave a limited Tachi vocabulary, and Rosario Cooper, an Obispeno speaker, also provided several words.
In November 1916 Harrington traveled to the Tejon region, ostensibly to work with Jose Juan Olivas, an inland Chumash speaker. It appears, in addition, that for a virtually uninterrupted period from that time until September 1917, Harrington (assisted by his wife, Carobeth) made an in-depth study of a number of Southern Valley and Foothills Yokuts dialects, obtaining extensive vocabularies and texts, as well as a considerable amount of ethnographic and historical data. This work took them to the valley near the Santa Rosa rancheria and to the Tule River Reservation. Harrington also made trips with informants to obtain placename data and to collect, identify, and describe botanical specimens. The observance of ceremonial rituals during that winter afforded him the opportunity of recording on wax cylinders and in writing a significant number of songs.
The flare-up of the Tejon Ranch case, which threatened to disinherit many Indians of their tribal lands, brought Harrington back to the area in February 1922. As a special temporary appointee to the Department of the Interior, he was responsible for obtaining depositions from the elderly residents of the Tejon. He simultaneously elicited additional biographical, historical, and linguistic data for his own work. The case was argued before the Supreme Court on February 28, 1924. In June of that year the court held that the Indians had abandoned the land. The decision was based on the Indians' failure to present their claim to the commission appointed under the act of March 1851 to ascertain and adjust private land claims in territory ceded by Mexico to the United States.
In the fall of 1923, he took a number of Yokuts to the Ventura County Fair to perform dances, to demonstrate house and boat building techniques, and to exhibit their crafts. He also made trips to Yokuts territory in the early 1930s and again in January 1942. These were possibly side trips made during the course of other work to follow upon the Tejon Ranch case.
John Peabody Harrington papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The preferred citation for the Harrington Papers will reference the actual location within the collection, i.e. Box 172, Alaska/Northwest Coast, Papers of John Peabody Harrington, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
However, as the NAA understands the need to cite phrases or vocabulary on specific pages, a citation referencing the microfilmed papers is acceptable. Please note that the page numbering of the PDF version of the Harrington microfilm does not directly correlate to the analog microfilm frame numbers. If it is necessary to cite the microfilmed papers, please refer to the specific page number of the PDF version, as in: Papers of John Peabody Harrington, Microfilm: MF 7, R34 page 42.
This subseries of the Notes and writings on special linguistic studies series contains material that supplement Harrington's Northern and Central California field notes. There are materials on Wiyot/Yurok/Mattole; Nisenan/Northern Sierra Miwok; Southern Pomo/Central Sierra Miwok; Plains Miwok; Karok/Shasta/Konomihu; Chimariko/Hupa; Wailaki; Achomawi/Atsugewi/Wintu/Yana; Yana/Achomawi/Wintu/Chimariko; Costanoan; Esselen; Salinan; and Yokuts. The files include notes Harrington collected from the field, covering linguistic, botanical, biographical, geographical, and ethnographic topics; notes from rehearings; notes and drafts from his papers; notes on his travels and activities; and notes from secondary sources, including field notes from Alfred Kroeber and other colleagues and notes on Sir Francis Drake's travels in California. Some of his botanical notes include scientific identifications and comments by botanist C. V. Morton of the National Herbarium. The Karok section contains labels for Karok baskets housed in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution's Department of Anthropology.
There are also some general and miscellaneous materials, notes relating to collections of artifacts, notes relating to mission records, notes from conversations, notes from secondary sources, and notes and writings collected from others. Miscellaneous material includes lists of possible informants for a number of California languages, bibliographic references, notes on boats, a list of captions for Harrington's paper "Chainfern and Maidenhair, Adornment Materials of Northwestern California Basketry," a tracing of a map labeled "Plano de la Mision San Jose, 1824," additional references to that mission, and a text. The papers contain references to the Hupa, Maidu, and Yurok tribes. Notes on artifacts pertain to collections held by others, including the George Heye collection of artifacts for the Modoc, Klamath, Pomo, Tolowa, Hupa, and Yurok tribes. Notes from conversations includes interviews with Cora DuBois, C. Hart Merriam, Carl F. Voegelin, and T.T. Waterman. Notes from his meeting with Dr. J.W. Hudson are the most extensive. The last file in the subseries consists of notes from a meeting with Ruth Underhill on January 10, 1941, and a notebook which Harrington evidently obtained from her at that time. The notebook contains class notes from a course on Maidu which Underhill had taken at Columbia University in 1932 with Hans Jorgen Uldall. Included are information on phonetics and grammar and a number of texts.
Local Numbers:
Accession #1976-95
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
John Peabody Harrington papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The preferred citation for the Harrington Papers will reference the actual location within the collection, i.e. Box 172, Alaska/Northwest Coast, Papers of John Peabody Harrington, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
However, as the NAA understands the need to cite phrases or vocabulary on specific pages, a citation referencing the microfilmed papers is acceptable. Please note that the page numbering of the PDF version of the Harrington microfilm does not directly correlate to the analog microfilm frame numbers. If it is necessary to cite the microfilmed papers, please refer to the specific page number of the PDF version, as in: Papers of John Peabody Harrington, Microfilm: MF 7, R34 page 42.
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Vocabulary
Maps
Date:
circa 1907-circa 1957
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Notes and writings on special linguistic studies series contains material that supplement Harrington's Southwest field notes. The materials cover the Apache, Hopi, Zuni, and Tewa. There are also some general and miscellaneous materials.
The Apache section supplements the notes and drafts for a proposed paper on the life of Geronimo. There is an electrostatic copy of a letter from W. B. Hill to Harrington dated September 23, 1936, in which he enclosed a photograph of Robert Geronimo, the son of the Chiricahua chief. The photograph was used by Charles K. Shirley to make an ink sketch, which is present along with a caption. The Hopi file includes a pocket-sized notebook which Harrington used while conducting fieldwork during May 1926. The notebook contains a brief record of a trip from Somes Bar to Eureka with Mr. Ike, a Karok informant; an expense account for the month of May; miscellaneous personal notes and addresses; and instructions on the use of a camera and compass. Data specifically relating to Hopi include several tiny sketch maps, notes on possible informants and on dances, songs, and kachinas, and a few lexical items from Tom Povatiya (Walpi) and Otto Lomavitu (Oraibi). There are also bibliographic notes for a proposed paper on "The Sounds of the Hopi Language," probably prepared in 1946. The Zuni notes consist of four native names for plants. There are two entries each under the headings "Fungus" and "Pinacea-Pine Family." Most of the supplemental notes on Tewa consist of an alphabetical list of tribenames and placenames from "Abechiu" to "Rio Grande." This file represents a portion of the etymological material which Harrington compiled around 1910 for use in his publication "The Ethnography of the Tewa Indians." Found with this file was a set of about fifty small slips containing one vocabulary item per slip. Most of the words are anatomical terms.
General and miscellaneous materials consist of a typed slip listing residents of Acomita, Casa Blanca, Seama, and Laguna who were possible informants for early fieldwork; a two-page description of Catherine Swan, a young woman whom Harrington met at Elden Pueblo in August 1926; a message to Robert Young (ca. 1936 to 1939) regarding the format of a Navaho primer; and information on the placename "Chaco" (January to February 1946). A note on Tewa and Spanish "accentuology" and notes for a description of the Olivella River were written in the 1940s. There are also two pages of notes on Washington Matthews's paper "The Night Chant, a Navaho Ceremony" (1902) as well as numbered captions for photographs which were taken at a number of archeological excavations. These are divided into separate sections on Rito de los Frijoles, Mesa Verde, Puye, and ruins in southern Utah; one caption mentions Professor Kidder.
John Peabody Harrington papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The preferred citation for the Harrington Papers will reference the actual location within the collection, i.e. Box 172, Alaska/Northwest Coast, Papers of John Peabody Harrington, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
However, as the NAA understands the need to cite phrases or vocabulary on specific pages, a citation referencing the microfilmed papers is acceptable. Please note that the page numbering of the PDF version of the Harrington microfilm does not directly correlate to the analog microfilm frame numbers. If it is necessary to cite the microfilmed papers, please refer to the specific page number of the PDF version, as in: Papers of John Peabody Harrington, Microfilm: MF 7, R34 page 42.
Indians of North America -- California Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Volumes
Pages
Maps
Date:
1852-1853
Scope and Contents:
Includes a sketch map showing names and locations of Karok villages and the number of houses in each. Manuscript copy of the blurred pencil notes from the inside front and back covers and page [1] made by A.R. Pilling, 8/1970 and filed with manuscript.
Indians of North America -- California Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Folklore
Date:
May, 1889
Scope and Contents:
Fourteen stories have original in Curtin's hand (difficult to read), plus a typed copy; one story has typed copy only. Typed material totals 56 pages.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 269
Local Note:
These stories had been catalogued for many years as Wintun myths recorded by Powell, and are so described in Harvey Pitkin's Wintun bibliography, International Journal of American Linguistics, Volume 28, Number 1, 1962, page 47, item 48. I recognised in 1960 that the myths were in Curtin's writing, and indicated this on the microfilm copy sent to the University of California, Berkeley, April, 1960. However, in 1966 I noticed that the names of the Karok towns of Katimin and Panomnik (Panamenik), the Karok term for Coyote (piqnefitc) and the word Karok, appear throughout the stories, and consequently recatalogued the manuscripts as Karok at that time --MCB.
Indians of North America -- California Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Date:
June and July, 1889
Scope and Contents:
In schedule of John Wesley Powell's Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages. (Approximately 65 microframes.)
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 1450
Local Note:
This is apparently the original field copy, from which Number 847, a neat copy, was prepared. It includes some paradigms and other material at the end not copied into Number 847.--M.C.B., 11/61.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Citation:
Manuscript 1450, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
This subseries of the Northern and Central California series contains Harrington's research on Karok, Shasta, and Konomihu. Materials include notes on vocabulary, grammar, placenames, and basketry; biographical data on various Karok people; texts consisting of stories, myths, formulas, songs, and ethnographic accounts; notes from rehearings of secondary sources; and notes and drafts of Harrington's writings. There are also notes from his interviews with Sandybar Jim, Francisco Capitan, Fritz Hanson, Mrs. Grant, and Fannie Orcutt.
The section of Karok vocabulary is extensive and includes terms for cosmography/minerals, plants, animals, kinship, geography, material culture, and tribenames. The list of plant names also include information on botanical specimens that Harrington collected in the field. A mixture of Shasta and Karok vocabulary can be found elsewhere in the subseries, covering natural history, material culture, kinship and rank, tribenames, and placenames. Etymologies and ethnographic data can be found in both sections for some of the vocabulary.
The section on Karok grammar is also fairly large. The notes include observations he made on the language while working with Fritz Hanson and Sylvester Donohue in 1926. Most of the notes were rechecked with Phoebe Maddus in 1928-1929. There are also miscellaneous vocabulary and short sentences with glosses and translations, elicited to illustrate a variety of phonetic and grammatical principles.
Harrington's notes on placenames include a set of diaries of trips he made throughout Karok territory. He also conducted a detailed study of the Konomihu region of Salmon River. Information that he gathered include etymologies, physical descriptions, locations, and related ethnographic data.
The scope of subjects covered in Harrington's ethnographic notes is broad and mostly reflect his work with Maddux. There are descriptions of life in the living house and sweat house, dress, and food preparation. Various ceremonies, dances, doctoring songs, and formulas are discussed. A wide variety of customs, practices, and beliefs, are mentioned as well as biographical information and anecdotes relating to Maddux and fellow members of her tribe.
Maddux also dictated in Karok stories, myths, formulas, and ethnographic accounts. Some include English translations or summaries. The stories include numerous tales about Coyote and other mythical figures. The formulas include prayers and recitatives, as well as chants used as medicine. The ethnographic texts concern such topics as gathering sugarpine nuts, bear hunting, and marriage customs. Partial transcriptions of Karok and Konomihu songs also form a substantial part of the textual material.
Biographical / Historical:
Much of John P. Harrington's major work of recording Karok vocabulary and ethnographic notes was undertaken during an uninterrupted period of six and one-half weeks from late March to early May 1926. Part of the work was conducted in cooperation with Helen H. Roberts, the ethnomusicologist. The principal Karok speaker that Harrington worked with at the time was Fritz Hanson, a speaker of the Katimin dialect, who was considered to be especially knowledgeable regarding material culture and tribenames. Sylvester Donohue acted as interpreter. Lesser amounts of data were given by Donohue's younger brother, Ben, and a number of other speakers.
Harrington first officially requested permission to work on the ethnology of the Karok in May 1928. In August of that year he returned to the Klamath and Salmon River area. It was at this time that he began working extensively with Phoebe Maddux. Maddux, whose mother was a native doctor, had been raised at Ishipishrihak (Ishi Pishi), a village on the northwest bank of the Klamath River opposite Katimin. While in the region, Harrington obtained sizable vocabularies of the Shasta and Konomihu languages from a Mrs. Grant (further unidentified) and her older sister, Susan Brizelle, both of whom worked with Roland B. Dixon, Jaime de Angulo, and Helen H. Roberts. Daughters of a Konomihu mother and a French father, the women apparently had also learned some Shasta from their maternal grandmother, a Cherokee, who, after her capture, had adopted the "Etna language" (Scotts Valley Shasta).
In October 1928 Harrington brought Phoebe Maddux back with him to Washington, D.C., where she remained until July of the following year when they began the return trip to the west coast via Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. During this lengthy period, Maddux reheard the Karok notes obtained from Hanson, furnished much grammatical information, dictated numerous texts, and examined many artifacts and specimens in the collections of the U. S. National Museum. In addition, she commented upon the Shasta and Konomihu notes, particularly the placename data. In April, Harrington and Maddux were authorized to meet with Franz Boas in New York City for the purpose of making several wax cylinder recordings of the Karok language. En route to Maddux's home in late July 1929, Harrington and Maddux stopped at Eureka, California, to work briefly with Fannie Orcutt, an Orleans Karok woman.
Harrington returned briefly to his study of the Shasta and Konomihu languages in October 1933 when his presence in Takelma territory facilitated a second visit with Brizelle. At that time he "touched up" his earlier notes by adding language identifications and once again rechecked the material. Brizelle's brother, Henry, and her son, Johnny, were also present at these sessions.
Nonlinguistic information was provided by Carl Langford, Harrington's host in the area, and F. B. McCann, as well as by a variety of specialists in the natural sciences. He was assisted in much of the work by George W. Bayley of Santa Barbara, a friend who had helped in the excavation of the Burton Mound some years earlier.
John Peabody Harrington papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The preferred citation for the Harrington Papers will reference the actual location within the collection, i.e. Box 172, Alaska/Northwest Coast, Papers of John Peabody Harrington, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
However, as the NAA understands the need to cite phrases or vocabulary on specific pages, a citation referencing the microfilmed papers is acceptable. Please note that the page numbering of the PDF version of the Harrington microfilm does not directly correlate to the analog microfilm frame numbers. If it is necessary to cite the microfilmed papers, please refer to the specific page number of the PDF version, as in: Papers of John Peabody Harrington, Microfilm: MF 7, R34 page 42.
Indians of North America -- California Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Glass negatives
Photographs
Date:
1894
1894
Scope and Contents:
She wears a twined basket hat and a deerskin garment decorated with long fringes of false braided work in straw, the work done in a single strand. Another print of same photo labeled "Phebe and her baby, a Klamath River Indian woman". See BAE Bulletin 94, Plate 1 for photo of Mrs. Phoebe Maddux, taken about 30 years later, which seems to be the same woman.
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Genre/Form:
Maps
Citation:
Manuscript 667, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Digitization and preparation of these materials for online access has been funded by the National Science Foundation under BCS Grant No. 1561167 and the Recovering Voices initiative at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.