Skip to main content Smithsonian Institution

Catalog Data

Collection Creator:
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation  Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Biographical / Historical:
Frances Theresa Densmore (1867-1957) was born in Red Wing, Minnesota to Benjamin and Sarah Densmore. Densmore began piano lessons at an early age and became exposed to American Indian music when quite young, living close to Lakota people. Densmore attended the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where she studied the organ and harmony, in addition to the piano. After Oberlin, Densmore became a church organist and taught music. Around 1890, she move to Boston to continue her studies in music. There, she learnt about Alice Cunningham Fletcher's work among the Omaha Indians. Densmore wrote to Fletcher and Fletcher quickly became Densmore's mentor. Densmore's first field work was among the Chippewa of Grande Portage, in 1905. In 1908 the Bureau of American Ethnology provided Densmore with a graphophone. Densmore's association with the BAE lasted fifty years. Densmore worked among the Cocopah, Makah, Winnebago, Lakota, Mandan and Hidatsa, Northern Ute, Nootka and Quileute, Ojibwa, Onondaga, Omaha, Apache and Navajo, Santo Domingo, Cheyenne and Arapaho, Maidu, Choctaw, Pawnee, Papago, Menominee, Chippewa, Yuma, Yaqui, Seminole, Acoma, Isleta, Cochiti, Zuni, Chitimacha and Alibamu Indian peoples. She also worked with the Tule Indians of Panama. Densmore served as a founding Officer and second Vice-President of the Society for Ethnomusicology in 1956. She recorded over 2,400 American Indian songs. She died at the age of 90.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
See more items in:
Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation records
Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation records / Series 6: Collectors
Archival Repository:
National Museum of the American Indian
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sv40017d625-d859-402a-a7fb-9cfcb3326c6b
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-nmai-ac-001-ref15733