Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Vocabulary
Galley proofs
Manuscripts
Songs
Narratives
Date:
1920-1928
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Southwest series contains Harrington's Picuris files. Virtually all of the material is related to Harrington's "Picuris Children's Stories with Texts and Songs."
Materials include handwritten drafts with interlineal English translations and written and typed notes on large sheets and slips, encompassing a brief glossary of Picuris terms (not published) and some grammatical and ethnographic elaborations. There are also notes, music, and galleys for the songs, but no notes for Helen Roberts' forty-eight page analysis among the papers. According to the field notes, a Mrs. Mullen drew the Giant and Elf illustrations facing page 326. Many of the titles were reworded in the final publication. The subseries also includes galley proofs of the manuscript. In addition, there are handwritten notes for the glossary, comments on phonetics, and notes to the printer. His notes also include some Taos comparisons, mainly based on Harry S. Budd's Taos vocabulary (B.A.E. ms. 1028). Vargas, apparently fluent in Picuris and Taos, provided the Taos terms. Translations of the Lord's Prayer and of the hymn "Nearer My God to Thee" are on file, but only the former appeared in the publication. Also included are Harrington's comments on the notes of H. J. Spinden.
Biographical / Historical:
In 1928 the Bureau of American Ethnology published John P. Harrington's "Picuris Children's Stories with Texts and Songs." Helen H. Roberts transcribed the music and wrote a detailed analysis of the songs. Harrington had proposed an interlinear translation as the most efficacious format, but the article appeared with Picuris and English on facing pages. Rosendo Vargas dictated the linguistic information and rendered the songs. Field notes indicate that Harrington worked with Vargas in the summer of 1921, having possibly laid the groundwork for these sessions late in 1920. Preparation and translation of the notes for publication began upon his return to Washington in April 1922 and they were ready by late 1924. Proofs were in hand in 1926, at which time Harrington also translated Roberts' songs.
Local Numbers:
Accession #1976-95
Local Note:
Most of these files constituted former B.A.E. Manuscripts 2298, 2300, 2301, 2302, 2303, 2304, 2305, and 2572.
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.
