Skip to main content Smithsonian Institution

Catalog Data

Creator:
Harrington, John Peabody, 1884-1961  Search this
Michelson, Truman, 1879-1938  Search this
Collection Creator:
Harrington, John Peabody, 1884-1961  Search this
Extent:
1 Item (box)
Culture:
Penobscot -- language  Search this
Fox  Search this
Cree  Search this
Anishinaabe (Chippewa/Ojibwa)  Search this
Massachusett  Search this
Menominee (Menomini)  Search this
Conoy Indians  Search this
Nanticoke  Search this
Narragansett  Search this
Shawnee  Search this
Abenaki (Abnaki)  Search this
Iroquois  Search this
Lenape (Delaware)  Search this
Muskogee (Creek)  Search this
Seminole  Search this
Alabama Indians  Search this
Choctaw  Search this
Cherokee  Search this
Wyandot  Search this
Powhatan  Search this
Algonquin (Algonkin)  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Vocabulary
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 Northeast/Southeast field notes. The file on Algonquian includes three slips of Fox, Cree, Ojibwa, and Massachusett (labeled "Natick") vocabulary in the hand of Truman Michelson; typed copies of the above; notes on Cree and Ojibwa from secondary sources; information on the growing of wild rice by the Menominee; and miscellaneous notes on placenames and tribenames regarding the Cree, Ojibwa, Conoy, Nanticoke, and Narraganset. The Shawnee/Peoria section consists of six pages of notes on Shawnee tribal divisions. Among the miscellaneous material on the Abnaki languages is a page of Penobscot vocabulary obtained from Frank Siebert in April 1940. The remaining material was compiled during fieldwork on Western Abnaki at St. Francis in 1949. There are four pages on possible informants from Charles Nolet and a page of vocabulary from "Am"; bibliographic references; and lexical and grammatical notes excerpted from the works of Joseph Laurent and Masta. For Massachusett there are three pages of miscellaneous notes with references to Trumbull's Natick Dictionary. The bulk of the file on Iroquoian consists of a typed copy of an unidentified historical text from the 1880s. It discusses the relations of the Iroquois with the Spanish, French, and English settlers in the New World. Special mention is made of Gy-ant-va-chia (Cornplanter), chief of the Seneca. The spacing of the lines of text suggests that Harrington was planning to add a translation or annotations of some kind. There are also three pages of miscellaneous notes in his hand. Most of the file on Delaware consists of information on placenames and tribenames obtained from Frank Siebert, Carl F. Voegelin, and a number of Oklahoma residents in 1940. Siebert gave both Delaware and Penobscot terms, and Unami words were given by Roy Longbone, Salley Fallleaf, and Jake Parks. Munsee forms were obtained from Josiah Montour and Jane Pattice of the Six-Nations Reserve in Ontario, Canada. Also included are a carbon copy of a typed list of possible informants and several pages of miscellaneous notes from the works of Brinton, Strachey, and Zeisberger. The section on Creek/Seminole/Alabama/Koasati/Choctaw contains twenty-one pages of vocabulary (mostly on tribenames) which Harrington obtained in an interview with James Feagin Sylestine, a speaker of the Alabama language, on April 25, 1940. The informant's home was in Livingston, Texas, although he was at the Shawnee Sanatorium at the time Harrington worked with him. The remaining miscellaneous notes were excerpted from various published and manuscript sources. They include references to Creek, Cherokee, Seminole, Alabama, and Choctaw. Miscellaneous material relating to the East consists of brief notes which Harrington copied from a number of secondary sources. There are mentions of the Huron, Wyandot, Powhatan, and Cherokee tribes, among others. Three of the pages consist of a partial typed list (alphabetically arranged K to M) of "Carolina and Virginia Algonquian" words. This list is based on that given in the commentary on the map of Raleigh's Virginia, pages 852 to 872 of The Roanoke Voyages, which was published by the Hakluyt Society in 1955.
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
Algonquian languages  Search this
Fox language  Search this
Cree language  Search this
Ojibwa language  Search this
Wampanoag language  Search this
Nanticoke language  Search this
Narragansett language  Search this
Abenaki language  Search this
Delaware language  Search this
Munsee language  Search this
Creek language  Search this
Cherokee language  Search this
Alabama language  Search this
Choctaw language  Search this
Linguistics  Search this
Names, Geographical  Search this
Names, Ethnological  Search this
Creek (Muskogee)  Search this
Indians of North America -- Northeast  Search this
Indians of North America -- Southern states  Search this
Genre/Form:
Field notes
Vocabulary
Collection 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.
Identifier:
NAA.1976-95, Subseries 8.6
See more items in:
John Peabody Harrington papers
John Peabody Harrington papers / Series 8: Notes and Writings on Special Linguistic Studies
Archival Repository:
National Anthropological Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw3cd9617a0-28a5-4c9d-a745-4da9c52b91fc
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-naa-1976-95-ref15294