Indians of North America -- Northwest Coast of North America Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Vocabulary
Lecture notes
Maps
Place:
King County (Wash.)
Date:
1910
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Alaska/Northwest Coast series contains Harrington's Duwamish research. The materials primarily consist of field notes and lecture notes.
The field notes consist of small slips and 8" x 10" sheets on which Harrington recorded notes on phonetics, vocabulary, and some short sentences. A general vocabulary section--mostly nouns--covers geographical terms, animal names, material culture objects, and terms for age, sex, and religion. Each Duwamish (Duw.) word is followed by the English translation; a few comparisons are given in Snohomish and Clallam. There are larger vocabulary sections dealing with tribenames and placenames. The tribenames are Duwamish terms referring to the neighboring tribes of Puget Sound and the Olympic Peninsula--mostly other Salish groups. The placename category includes many etymologies as well as sketch maps and references to a "Big map" of Seattle Harbor.
Miscellaneous packets of field notes include biographical information on the Duwamish speakers he worked with and others, a partial bibliography, and notes labeled "< Meany." The latter were apparently personal communications from a professor at the university.
Harrington's lecture notes, evidently used for the course on "The Indians of the Northwest," contain a good deal of original field data. The notes, which were found in great disarray; have been arranged to follow fourteen categories outlined by Harrington on a heading sheet. The sections on history, potlatches, and material culture, in particular, include numerous excerpts from articles by Arthur A. Denny, Myron Eels, and Joseph A. Costello. Much of this secondary source data was checked over with an unspecified person, presumably William Rogers. His comments, labeled "Duw.," frequently appear at the bottom of a page. Notes on "The Indian placenames of King County," consist entirely of original data on places in the vicinity of Lake Washington, White River, and Cedar River. As in the corresponding vocabulary section, etymologies and sketch maps are included.
Biographical / Historical:
Johnn P. Harrington investigated the language and culture of the Duwamish (currently grouped with speakers of other Puget Sound Salish dialects as "Lushootseed") during the period June 17 to August 15, 1910 while residing in Seattle, Washington. He had come there to teach courses on "The Indians of the Northwest" and "The Science of Language" at the University of Washington summer school and to give a series of six popular lectures on "The Siberian Origin of the American Indian" under the auspices of the American Institute of Archaeology.
He studied the Duwamish language with Chief William Rogers at the reservation at Suquamish each weekend during the session. After its close, he made trips with Rogers and a man named Moore to Seattle and Renton ("homeland of the Duwamish") to record placenames. His interpreter in the work was Edward Percival.
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.
