Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Portfolios
Songs
Date:
1927-1939
Scope and Contents:
Material includes manuscript "Winnebago Music," 362 typed pages, 50 illustrations (filed separately in original prints file, Bureau of American Ethnology File, Number 3261 part), transcriptions of 205 Winnebago songs, and 2 flute melodies (ca. 116 pages) marked "ready for publication" and submitted November 28, 1939; and original copies of 205 Winnebago songs received from the Densmore estate, ca. 1962. This manuscript was compiled from various Winnebago manuscripts submitted by the author to the Bureau of American Ethnology at intervals, 1927-1940.
Contents:
"Winnebago Music." Contains material from 14 Winnebago manuscripts formerly submitted. Revised in final form for publication November, 1940 by Miss Densmore. 362 pages numbered 1 through 318 with some pages having several sub-letters. The manuscript contains an 83 page section on "The Peyote Cult". "Winnebago Music." Carbon copy of unpublished manuscript, pages 220-240. This manuscript is a brief resume of F. Densmore's work with Winnebago songs and dances. No date appears on the manuscript but it could not have been written before 1940. Tabulated analyses from the various Winnebago manuscripts in the following list were sent to F. Densmore, returned by F. Densmore, July 19, 1939, and not refiled with the manuscript to which they belong. Now filed together in 1st envelope.
Old Manuscript Number 2974, "14 Winnebago songs used in the treatment of the sick." 10 page manuscript, 7 page descriptive analysis of songs. Material was collected at Galesville, Wisconsin, November 23, 1927.
Old Manuscript Number 2986, "22 Winnebago songs of the Winter Feast." 22 page manuscript. Submitted April 21, 1928.
Old Manuscript Number 3029, "28 Winnebago war songs." 34 page manuscript including descriptive analysis of songs. Material collected in Trempeleau and near Galesville, Wisconsin, October 1927. Submitted November 26, 1928.
Old Manuscript Number 3106, "Origin-song of the dice game and other Winnebago songs." 11 page manuscript, 7 page descriptive analysis. Submitted December 15, 1928.
Old Manuscript Number 3107, "13 Winnebago songs connected to the recent war, and 17 tables showing a comparison between songs of the Pawnee and songs of the Chippewa, Sioux and other tribes." 11 page manuscript, 9 page descriptive analysis. Submitted January 26, 1929.
Old Manuscript Number 3115, "19 Winnebago songs connected with legends, games and dances." 14 page manuscript, 11 page descriptive analysis. Material collected near Black Falls, Wisconsin, September 1928 and submitted to the Bureau of American Ethnology March 2, 1929. Also "data concerning two Winnebago drumsticks and a pair of Menominee "striking sticks." 1 page, 1 illustration. 3/5/1929
Old Manuscript Number 3156, "12 Winnebago songs of games and dances." 17 page manuscript including descriptive analyses of 12 songs. Material collected Tomah, Wisconsin and near Wisconsin Rapids, June 26, 1930.
Old Manuscript Number 3178 "Songs for a spirit of the dead, and other Winnebago songs." (36 pages analysis, 9 sheets transcriptions, 4 small photos, recorded on the old catalog card are not present. Material collected at Dallas on Wisconsin River, October 31, 1930.
Old Manuscript Number 3179 "Winnebago songs of the Water-spirit and Night-spirit bundles." 21 page manuscript including descriptive analysis. (24 pages tabulated analysis, 9 sheets transcriptions, 2 photos of John Smoke, recorded on old catalog card are not present) Submitted September 20, 1930.
Old Manuscript Number 3198 "Winnebago songs of the Medicine Lodge: Buffalo Feast and Fish Dance." 28 page manuscript including descriptive analysis. (Tabulated analysis, transcriptions and 2 illustrations recorded on the old catalog card are not present) Material collected at Red Wing, Minnesota, September 1930. Submitted June 27, 1931.
Old Manuscript Number 3201 "(14) Pueblo (Hopi, Zuni), Navaho and Winnebago Songs." 21 page manuscript including descriptive analysis. (Transcription, tabulated analysis and illustrations recorded on old catalog card are not present.) Submitted October 16, 1931.
Old Manuscript Number 3205 "The Peyote Cult and Treatment of the Sick among the Winnebago Indians." 44 page typed manuscript including descriptive analysis of 17 songs, 1 original diagram of Peyote lodge, drawn by Yellowbank, and 8" X 10" photo of musical instruments, and 4 photo illustrations (Bureau of American Ethnology # 3261-b,27,28,29,30). (Transcriptions and tabulated analysis recorded on old catalog card are not present.) Submitted October 16, 1931.
Old Manuscript Number 3229 (pt) "Winnebago, Iroquois, Pueblo (Zuni and Cochiti), and British Columbia (Nitinat, Fraser and Thompson River) songs, with catalog numbers of 143 songs." Catalog numbers of song numbers 1981-2123 is the only remaining part of this manuscript. (60 page manuscript, recorded on old catalog card, was separated at intervals. The Iroquois section was pulled August 1955 and is now filed Bureau of American Ethnology Manuscript # 3378. The Pueblo section was pulled August 1955 and now filed Bureau of American Ethnology Manuscript # 4482 (old number 3229 part). The British Columbia Section was pulled August 1955 and is now filed Bureau of American Ethnology Manuscript # 3371 (old number 3229 part). All this material accounts for pages 35-60 of the 60 page manuscript. The first 25 pages must have refered to the Winnebago and perhaps a comparative analysis of the songs of these different tribes, but these 25 pages have not been located.
Old Manuscript Number 3261-a "(9) Winnebago Songs of the Peyote Ceremony." 17 page typed manuscript including descriptive analysis, 1 diagram, 3 portraits of singers now in illustration file # 3261-b:31, 33, 34). (18 page tabulated analysis and 6 page transcriptions, recorded on old catalog card, are not present, 1965) Submitted June 21, 1932.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 3261
Provenance:
Submitted by the author to the Bureau of American Ethnology at intervals, and some manuscripts received from the Densmore estate, ca. 1962.
Material comprises 56 typed pages manuscript, transcriptions of 2 songs and descriptive analyses of 2 songs. The title page of a manuscript "Songs and Instrumental Music of the Tule Indians of Panama," is filed herein. 56 pages text, 9 pages descriptive analyses, and 11 pages transcriptions, once filed under catalog number 3090, are no longer present. Possibly this manuscript was published in Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Volume 77, Number 11, "Study of Tule Music", 1926.)
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 3090
Local Note:
The following have been returned to Harrington Collection, ELM, 3/78. Another copy of "Music and Customs of the Tule Indians of Panama," found in J. P. Harrington storeroom, 4/65. "Songs and Instrumental Music of the Tule Indians of Panama." 22 page manuscript, 5 pages in the hand of J. P. Harrington, found in J. P. Harrington storeroom, 4/65.
Catalog Number 4635: (1) Tribe: Chippewa Description: Peter Gagnon (prounounced Gahn'ya). Photographer: Frances Densmore Date: 1905. (2) Chippewa Peter Gagnon with his second wife and an unidentified couple. Frances Densmore 1905. (3) Chippewa Mrs Gagnon with baby and unidentified woman (same woman in above photo). Peter Gagnon in background. Frances Densmore 1905. (4) Chippewa Joe Carribou, probably taken at Grand Marais. Frances Densmore 1905. (5) Chippewa Joe Carribou and family. Frances Densmore 1905. (6) Chippewa Joe Carribou and family. Frances Densmore 1905. (6A) Chippewa Two women of Joe Carribou's family Frances Densmore 1905. (7) Chippewa Supposed to be John (Cap) McKay, Indian Agent at Grand Portage in 1905. Woman may be Miss Densmore. (additional information, see correspondence.) Frances Densmore 1905. (8) Chippewa Joe Lewis May-maush-kow-aush. (additional information, see correspondence.) (9)--(15) Chippewa Unidentified photographs. Mr and Mrs Finger- See Davis correspondence with prints. Frances Densmore 1905.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 4635
Local Note:
Briefly referred to in Frances Densmore, "First Field Trip Among the Chippewas," and field notebook of August 1905, 1907, Manuscript File Number 4250. See also notes by G. H. Smith, from Densmore interview, received from E. Davis 1963 and filed with photos.
These papers reflect the professional lives of Alice Cunningham Fletcher (1838-1923), an ethnologist with the Peabody Museum of Harvard and collaborator with the Bureau of American Ethnology, and Francis La Flesche (1856-1923), an anthropologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology. Due to the close professional and personal relationship of Fletcher and La Flesche, their papers have been arranged jointly. The papers cover the period from 1874 to 1939. Included in the collection is correspondence, personal diaries, lectures, field notes and other ethnographic papers, drafts, musical transcriptions, publications by various authors, maps and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
These papers reflect the professional lives of Alice Cunningham Fletcher (1838-1923), an ethnologist with the Peabody Museum of Harvard University and collaborator with the Bureau of American Ethnology, and Francis La Flesche (1856-1923), an anthropologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology. Due to the close professional and personal relationship of Fletcher and La Flesche, their papers have been arranged jointly. The papers cover the period from 1874 to 1939. Included in the collection is correspondence, personal diaries, lectures, field notes and other ethnographic papers, drafts, musical transcriptions, publications by various authors, maps and photographs.
The papers have been divided into three general categories: the papers of Alice Cunningham Fletcher, the papers of Francis La Flesche, and the ethnographic research of Fletcher and La Flesche. The first two categories represent personal and professional materials of Fletcher and La Flesche. The third section holds the majority of the ethnographic material in the collection.
Of primary concern are Fletcher and La Flesche's ethnological investigations conducted among the Plains Indians, particularly the Omaha and Osage. Fletcher's Pawnee field research and her allotment work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs among the Omaha, Nez Perce, and Winnebago are represented in the collection. A substantial portion of the ethnographic material reflects Fletcher and La Flesche's studies of Native American music. Much of the correspondence in the papers of Fletcher and La Flesche is rich with information about the situation of Omaha peoples in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Also included in the collection are documents related to Fletcher's work with the Archaeological Institute of America and the School for American Archaeology. Additionally, substantial amounts of Fletcher's early anthropological and historical research are found among her correspondence, lectures, anthropological notes, and early field diaries. La Flesche's literary efforts are also generously represented.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into the following 3 series: 1) Alice Cunningham Fletcher papers, 1873-1925; 2) Francis La Flesche papers, 1881-1930; 3) Papers relating to the anthropological research of Alice Fletcher and Francis La Flesche, 1877-1939.
Series 1: Alice Cunningham Fletcher papers is divided into the following 10 subseries: 1.1) Incoming correspondence, 1874-1923 (bulk 1882-1923); 1.2) Outgoing correspondence, 1873-1921; 1.3) Correspondence on specific subjects, 1881-1925; 1.4) Correspondence between Fletcher and La Flesche, 1895-1922; 1.5) Publications, 1882-1920; 1.6) Organizational records, 1904-1921; 1.7) General anthropological notes, undated; 1.8) Lectures, circa 1878-1910; 1.9) Diaries, 1881-1922; 1.10) Biography and memorabilia, 1878-1925.
Series 2: Francis La Flesche papers is divided into the following 6 subseries: 2.11) General correspondence, 1890-1929; 2.12) Correspondence on specific subjects, 1881-1930; 2.13) Publications, 1900-1927; 2.14) Literary efforts, undated; 2.15) Personal diaries, 1883-1924; 2.16) Biography and memorabilia, 1886-1930.
Series 3: Papers relating to the anthropological research of Alice Fletcher and Francis La Flesche is divided into the following 12 subseries: 3.17) Alaska, 1886-1887; 3.18) Earth lodges, 1882, 1898-1899; 3.19) Music, 1888-1918; 3.20) Nez Perce, 1889-1909; 3.21) Omaha, 1882-1922; 3.22) Osage, 1896-1939; 3.23) Pawnee, 1897-1910; 3.24) Pipes, undated; 3.25) Sioux, 1877-1896; 3.26) Other tribes, 1882-1922; 3.27) Publications collected, 1884-1905, undated; 3.28) Photographs, undated.
Biographical / Historical:
Alice Cunningham Fletcher (1838-1923) was an ethnologist with the Peabody Museum of Harvard and collaborator with the Bureau of American Ethnology. Francis La Flesche (1856-1923) was an anthropologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology.
Chronology of the Life of Alice Cunningham Fletcher
1838 March 15 -- Born in Havana, Cuba
1873-1876 -- Secretary, American Association for Advancement of Women
1879 -- Informal student of anthropology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University
1881 -- Field trip to Omaha and Rosebud Agencies
1882 -- Assistant in ethnology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University
1882 -- Helped secure land in severalty to Omaha Indians
1882-1883 -- Begins collaboration with Francis La Flesche on the Peabody Museum's collection of Omaha and Sioux artifacts
1883-1884 -- Special Agent, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Omaha Agency
1886 -- Bureau of Education investigation of Alaskan native education
1887-1888 -- Special Disbursing Agent, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Winnebago Agency
1889-1892 -- Special Agent for allotment, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Nez Perce Agency
1890-1899 -- President, Women's Anthropological Society of America
1891-1923 -- Mary Copley Thaw Fellow, Peabody Museum, Harvard University
1892-1893 -- Department of Interior consultant, World's Columbian Exposition
1896 -- Vice-President, Section H, American Association for the Advancement of Science
1897 -- Collaborator, Bureau of American Ethnology
1899-1916 -- Editorial board, American Anthropologist
1900 -- Published Indian Story and Song from North America
1901-1902 -- Advisory committee, Anthropology Department, University of California at Berkeley
1903 -- President, Anthropological Society of Washington
1904 -- Published The Hako: A Pawnee Ceremony with James Murie
1908-1913 -- Chair, Managing Committee of School of American Archaeology
1911 -- Honorary Vice-President, Section H, British Association for Advancement of Science
1911 -- Published The Omaha Tribe with Francis La Flesche
1913 -- Chair Emeritus, Managing Committee of School of American Archaeology
1915 -- Published Indian Games and Dances with Native Songs Arranged from American Indian Ceremonials and Sports
1923 April 6 -- Died in Washington, D.C.
Chronology of the Life of Francis La Flesche
1857 December 25 -- Born on Omaha Reservation near Macy, Nebraska
1879 -- Lecture tour, Ponca chief Standing Bear
1881 -- Interpreter, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
1881-1910 -- Clerk, Bureau of Indian Affairs
1891 -- Informally adopted as Fletcher's son
1892 -- LL.B., National University Law School
1893 -- LL.M., National University Law School
1900 -- Published The Middle Five: Indian Boys at School
1906-1908 -- Marriage to Rosa Bourassa
1910-1929 -- Ethnologist, Bureau of American Ethnology
1911 -- Published The Omaha Tribe with Alice Fletcher
1921 -- Published The Osage Tribe, Part One
1922 -- Member, National Academy of Sciences
1922-1923 -- President, Anthropological Society of Washington
1925 -- Published The Osage Tribe, Part Two
1926 -- Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of Nebraska
1928 -- Published The Osage Tribe, Part Three
1932 -- Published Dictionary of the Osage Language
1932 September 5 -- Died in Thurston County, Nebraska
1939 -- Posthumous publication of War Ceremony and Peace Ceremony of the Osage Indians
Related Materials:
Additional material related to the professional work of Fletcher and La Flesche in the National Anthropological Archives may be found among the correspondence of the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) and the records of the Anthropological Society of Washington.
Sound recordings made by Fletcher and La Flesche can be found at the Library of Congress. The National Archives Records Administration hold the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), including those relating to allotments in severalty for the Nez Perce by Alice Fletcher. The Nebraska Historical Society has diaries, letters and clippings regarding the La Flesche family, including correspondence of Francis La Flesche and Fletcher. The Radcliffe College Archives holds a manuscript account of Alice Fletcher's four summers with the Nez Perce (1889-1892). Correspondence between Fletcher and F. W. Putnam is also located at the Peabody Museum Archives of Harvard University.
Separated Materials:
Ethnographic photographs from the collection have been catalogued by tribe in Photo Lot 24.
Glass plate negatives from the collection have been catalogued by tribe in the BAE glass negatives collection (Negative Numbers 4439-4515).
Provenance:
The papers of Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche have been received from an undocumented number of sources. Portions of Fletcher's ethnographic papers were donated to the archives by Mrs. G. David Pearlman in memory of her husband in 1959.
Restrictions:
The Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche papers are open for research.
Access to the Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche papers requires an appointment.
Indians of North America -- Northwest Coast of North America Search this
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sound discs (vinyl)
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents:
Contents: Discs issued by The Library of Congress, as follows: 1) Library of Congress Album XXII. Songs of the Chippewa. 1950. Library of Congress Record L 22. Five 78 r.p.m. discs and descriptive leaflet. 2) Songs of the Chippewa. 1950. One 33 r.p.m. disc and descriptive leaflet. 3) Library of Congress Record L33. Songs of the Menominee, Mandan, and Hidatsa. [1953. One 33 r.p.m. disc and descriptive leaflet. 4) Library of Congress Record L32. Songs of the Nootka and Quileute. [1953. One 33 r.p.m. disc and descriptive leaflet. 5) Library of Congress Record L31. Songs of the Papago. [1953.] one 33 r.p.m. disc and descriptive leaflet.
Recorded by Nellie Barnes, and transcribed by William Howie. Text written by F. Densmore, and 1 sheet transcription. Evidently recorded by Mr Hewitt, 1932. Iroquoian section, 4 songs (dictaphone records, transcriptions and tabulated analyses) and 4 pages of 4 Iroquois songs recorded by J. N. B. Hewitt.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 3508
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Photographs depicting Potawatomi people, including copy prints of 19th century portraits as well as photographs by James A. Clifton and Dr. Robert L. Bee of Potawatomi interviewees and a Potawatomi pow wow. The collection also includes images of Potawatomi material culture, including heirloom pipes, a grave house, dice counters, a drum and Ojibwa participants in a drum presentation ceremony. Photographs are mounted for publication and have captions.
Biographical/Historical note:
James A. Clifton is a psychological anthropologist and ethnohistorian. He graduated with a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Oregon in 1960 and was the Emeritus Frankenthal Professor of Anthropology and History at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 78-46
Reproduction Note:
Copy prints probably made by Regents Press of Kansas.
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Originals for Bureau of American Ethnology copy prints can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in the Reference Prints File and the BAE Historical Negatives.
The National Anthropological Archives also holds$dJames A. Clifton's Research Files on the Kansas Potawatomi, his Report on a Survey of Potawatomi Indian Groups in Canada (MS 7198), and his revised draft of "Escape, Evasion, and Eviction: Adaptive Responses of the Indians of the Old Northwest to the Jacksonian Removal Policy in the 1830s" (MS 7395).
James Clifton photographs of Ruth Landes, a Potawatomi woman, can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Ruth Landes's papers.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Copy prints of photographs held by Chicago Historical Society and British Museum cannot be copied. Copies may be obtained from these repositories.
Photo lot 78-46, James Alfred Clifton photographs of Potawatomi people and material culture, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
(Old Number 3917) 10 sheets of original drawings of the Mid'e and 2 Mid'e diagrams reproduced in Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 45. Drawings made for F. Densmore, 1907-1908 and transmitted by her to the Bureau of American Ethnology, August 4, 1937. Also native (?) drawing of noose for catching rabbits described in the bulletin. (Specimen of noose for catching rabbit sent to U.S. National Museum, , 1964, Accession Number . (The following on micro film reel #19)-List of corrections in the text used by F. Densmore in Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletins 45 and 53 as made by Father S.J. Richards, Sprague, Ontario. (Missionary to the Indians since 1883), October 8, 1939. 17 page manuscript. Also letter from F. Densmore to Dr. Stirling returning Father Richards' manuscript. "Series of Three Chippewa Stories."--March 9, 1932. 10 pages typed. Received from Densmore estate, ca. 1962. 2272 "Chippewa customs and uses of Plants." Manuscript once filed under number 2272, not present (no further information as to number of pages, etc.) Third page of handwritten manuscript describing construction of the frame of a wigwam. Refers to negative Number 596-D-13-e, found with manuscript.
The papers of this collection are those of Herbert William Krieger (b. 1889), archaeologist and curator of the Division of Ethnology for the former United States National Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Included are correspondence, field notebooks, notes, administrative material, manuscripts of writings, printed matter, sketches, maps, photographs and other documents.
Scope and Contents:
These papers reflect the professional life of Herbert William Krieger (b. 1889), archaeologist and curator of the Division of Ethnology for the former United States National Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Included are correspondence, field notebooks, notes, administrative material, manuscripts of writings, printed matter, sketches, maps, photographs and other documents that cover the period from 1925 to 1957.
The bulk of the material concerns Krieger's archaeological work in the West Indies, primarily the Dominican Republic, where he researched intermittently from 1938 to 1953. There is also material in the collection on Krieger's work in Southeastern and Central Alaska where he was involved with the restoration and reconstruction of the Kansaan National Monument from 1926 to 1927. Material concerning the salvage archaeology performed on the Columbia River in Washington and Oregon, particularly in the area of the construction site of the Bonneville Dam, is included in the collection. Also included is work on two War Background Studies publications, one on the peoples of the Philippines, the other on the islands of the Western Pacific. The collection additionally contains Krieger's office files and collected correspondence of scholars and informants used for reference purposes.
Not represented in the collection is any phase of Krieger's personal life, nor is there any material reflecting his life prior to or since his association with the Museum.
Among correspondents whose letters are included are Franz BOAS, C. U. CLARK, John COLLIER, L. S. CRESSMAN, Frances DENSMORE, Philip DRUCKER, John EWERS, Jesse W. FEWKES, Melville HERSKOVITS, William H. HOLMES, Walter HOUGH, Neil M. JUDD, A. L. KROEBER, Otis MASON, Frank M. SETZLER, Herbert J. SPINDEN, T. D. STEWART, Matthew STIRLING, William Duncan STRONG, T. T. WATERMAN, Waldo WEDEL, Alexander WETMORE, and Clark WISSLER.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Arrangement:
OUTGOING LETTERS, 1925-1955: Box 1
INCOMING LETTERS, 1925-1957: Boxes 2, 3
COLLECTED CORRESPONDENCE USED AS REFERENCES, 1892-1957: Box 3
OFFICE FILE, 1929-1957: Boxes 4, 5, 6, 7
MATERIAL RELATING TO SOUTHEAST AND CENTRAL ALASKA, 1926-1927: Box 8
MATERIAL CONCERNING THE COLUMBIA RIVER REGION, 1927-1955: Boxes 8, 9
MANUSCRIPTS AND NOTES ON THE ISLANDS OF THE WESTERN PACIFIC, 1943: Boxes 10, 11, 12, 13
MATERIALS RELATING TO THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, 1942: Box 14
MATERIAL CONCERNING THE WEST INDIES, 1938-1953: Boxes 15, 16, 17, 18, 19
MISCELLANY, 1925-1957: Boxes 20, 21
PRINTED, PROCESSED AND EXTRACTED MATERIAL, 1884-1957: Boxes 22, 23, 24
Herbert William Krieger joined the staff of the United States National Museum's Department of Anthropology as assistant curator of ethnology in 1924, and he became curator of ethnology in 1925. In spite of his position, much of his field work was carried out in archaeology. In 1927, for the Bureau of American Ethnology, he examined the feasibility of restoring Old Kasaan on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, and carried out archaeological reconnaissance along the Columbia River. In the following year, he continued reconnaissance work, first along the middle Yukon River and then, again, along the Columbia. In the former area, he also collected a few random notes on living Athapascan Indians and in both areas he carried out several excavations.
In 1934, for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Public Works Administration, he carried out salvage archaeological work near Bonneville, Oregon. As a pastime, during the 1930s, he carried out reconnaissance along the lower Potomac River. Krieger's major work, however, lay to the south among the problems of Caribbean archeology. Between 1928 and 1937 and from 1947 to 1952, he concerned himself with sites visited by Columbus and attempts to plot areas previously occupied by the Arawak, Carib, and other tribes.
His studies involved examinations of both historic and prehistoric Spanish and Indian settlements in Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, the Virgin Islands, and the Bahamas. Based on these, he published several articles and books, including Archeological and Historical Investigations in Samana, Dominican Republic, United States National Museum Bulletin 156, 1931, and Aboriginal Indian Pottery of the Dominican Republic, United States National Museum Bulletin 156, 1931. He was also a participant in several conferences concerned with the archaeology, ethnology, and history of the Caribbean area.
In addition to his field work and administrative duties as head of the Division of Ethnology, Krieger worked with the Museum's ethnological collections and published several articles based on them. He also became involved in the renovation of the division's public areas so that "the antiquated and overcrowed exhibits should be replaced by modern exhibits in which art and science are blended". Much of the effort for this was carried out by Krieger's associate curator John Canfield Ewers.
Having a special interest in the Philippines and western Oceania that grew from his early service as a teacher in Manila, Krieger also produced studies of the people of the Philippines and the islands of the western Pacific for the Smithsonian's War Backgroud Studies series during World War II. He also worked on a volume "The Islands of New Japan, " but it was never published.
December 8, 1889 -- Born in Burlington, Iowa
1907 -- Bachelor of Arts, Wartburg College, Clinton, Iowa
1908 -- Master of Arts, State University of Iowa, in German and Philosophy
1909-10 -- Fellow, University of Illinois
1911-14 -- Instructor of economics and commercial geography at the School of Commerce, Bureau of Education, Manila, Philippine Islands
1914-20 -- Bank cashier and ranch owner, Granada, Minnesota
1922-24 -- Instructor of Anthropology, University of Minnesota
1924 -- Assistant Curator, Division of Ethnology, U. S. National Museum
1925 -- Curator, Division of Ethnology, U. S. National Museum
1926-27 -- On an expedition to southeast and central Alaska, engaged in the reconstruction and restoration at the Old Kansaan National Monument
1927-35 -- Salvage archaeology along the Columbia River, primarily in the area surrounding the Bonneville Dam prior to its construction for the Department of the Interior
1938-53 -- Investigations in the Caribbean area, primarily the island of Hispaniola, Dominican Republic
1957 -- Retired from the staff of the United States National Museum and made Honorary Research Associate, U. S. N. M.
July 1, 1970 -- Died, Buried in Columbia Gardens Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia
Related Materials:
Additional material in the National Anthropological Archives that relates to Herbert Krieger can be found in the United States National Museum Manuscript and Pamphlet File, as well as among the correspondence files of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
Topic:
Houses -- North America -- Africa -- Asia -- South America Search this
Most of Ruth Landes's papers relate directly or indirectly to Landes's American Indian research, her work in Brazil, and her study of bilingualism. There is also a considerable amount of material that relates to her experiences (sometimes fictionalized) at Fisk University. There is only small amount of material related to her other interests. Her collection also has material of and relating to the Brazilian folklorist and journalist Edison Carneiro. There is also noteworthy material concerning Herbert Baldus, Ruth Benedict, Elmer C. Imes, Charles S. Johnson, and Robert E. Park. There is a large amount of printed and processed materials in the collection, mainly in the form of newspaper clippings and a collection of scholarly papers.
Scope and Contents:
This collection is mainly comprised of the professional papers of Ruth Schlossberg Landes. Included are correspondence, journals, published and unpublished manuscripts of writings, research materials including field notes and reading notes, photographs, drawings, scholarly papers and publications by other scholars, and clippings from newspapers and periodicals.
Landes's field research on Candomblé in Brazil is well-represented in this collection, consisting of her field journals, writings, and photographs. Also present are Maggie Wilson's stories that were the basis for Landes's The Ojibwa Woman. Unfortunately, Landes was unable to locate her journals for her early research with the Ojibwa/Chippewa, Potawatomi, and Dakota. There are, however, field photographs of the Ojibwa/Chippewa and Potawatomi in the collection. There is also a great deal of her research on groups, especially minorities, in multilingual states with particular focus on the French of Quebec, Basques of Spain and the United States, Boers and Blacks of South Africa, the several socio-linguistic groups of Switzerland, and Acadians (Cajuns) of Louisiana. In the collection are several drafts of her unpublished manuscript on bilingualism, "Tongues that Defy the State." There is also a small amount of material about Black Jews of New York and considerable material about Landes's experience among African Americans when she taught briefly at Fisk University, including her unpublished manuscript "Now, at Athens," containing fictional and autobiographical accounts of her time at Fisk.
Reflections of other facets of Landes's professional activities are also included. Some materials concern her teaching activities, and there is also documentation of her work with the Fair Employment Practices Commission (a federal government agency during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt) and a similar private organization which immediately succeeded the FEPA; Gunnar Myrdal's research into the plight of African Americans ("The Negro in America"); the Research in Contemporary Cultures project at Columbia University; and the American Jewish Congress.
Among Landes's correspondents are Ruth Benedict, Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, Ralph Bunche, Herbert Baldus, Edison Carneiro, Sally Chilver, Frances Densmore, Sol Tax, Elmer S. Imes, Charles S. Johnson, Robert E. Park, and Hendrik W. van der Merwe.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into 6 series: (1) Correspondence, 1931-1991; (2) Research Materials, circa 1930s-1990; (3) Writings, circa 1930s-1990; (4) Teaching Materials, 1935-1975, undated; (5) Biographical and Personal Files, 1928-1988; (6) Graphic Materials, 1933-1978, undated
Biographical Note:
Ruth Schlossberg Landes was born on October 8, 1908 in New York City. Her father was Joseph Schlossberg, an activist in the Yiddish labor socialist community and one of the founders of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. She studied sociology at New York University (B.A. 1928) and social work at the New York School of Social Work, Columbia University (M.S.W. 1929). While in graduate school, Landes studied Black Jews in Harlem for her master's thesis, a topic that developed her interests in anthropology.
After graduating in 1929, she worked as a social worker in Harlem and married Victor Landes, a medical student and son of family friends. Their marriage ended after two years when she enrolled in the doctoral program in anthropology at Columbia against her husband's wishes. She kept his surname due to the stigma of being a divorced woman.
At Columbia, Landes studied under Franz Boas and Ruth Benedict, her main advisor. Under the guidance of Benedict, Landes moved away from further study of African Americans to focus on Native American communities. Upon Benedict's suggestion, Landes studied the social organization of the Ojibwa in Manitou Rapids in Ontario from 1932 to 1936 for her Ph.D. fieldwork. Her dissertation, Ojibwa Sociology, was published in 1937. Landes also contributed "The Ojibwa of Canada" in Cooperation and Competition among Primitive Peoples (1937), a volume edited by Margaret Mead. In 1938, Landes published Ojibwa Women (1938), a book written in collaboration with Maggie Wilson, an Ojibwa interpreter and informant.
In addition to studying the Ojibwa in Ontario, Landes also conducted fieldwork with the Chippewa of Red Lake, Minnesota in 1933, working closely with shaman or midé Will Rogers. Her book, Ojibwa Religion and the Midéwiwin (1968) was based largely on her research with Rogers and Maggie Wilson. In 1935 and 1936, she undertook fieldwork with the Santee Dakota in Minnesota and the Potawatomi in Kansas. Like Ojibwa Religion and the Midéwiwin, her books on the Santee Dakota and Potawatomi were not published until several years later—The Mystic Lake Sioux: Sociology of the Mdewakantonwan Sioux was published in 1968 while The Prairie Potawatomi was published in 1970. In between her field research in the 1930s and the publication of The Prairie Potawatomi, Landes returned to Kansas to study the Potawatomi in the 1950s and 1960s.
Landes's plan to continue her studies with the Potawatomi in 1937 changed when Benedict invited her to join a team of researchers from Columbia University in Brazil. Landes was to conduct research on Afro-Brazilians in Bahia, Brazil, while Walter Lipkind, Buell Quain, and Charles Wagley studied indigenous people in the Amazons. To prepare for her research, Landes was at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee in 1937 and 1938 to consult with Robert Park and Donald Pierson and to use the university's library collections of African and African American materials. During that time, Landes also held a teaching position at Fisk and lived in the non-segregated women's residence on campus. Landes later wrote "Now, at Athens," an unpublished memoir containing fictional and true accounts of her experiences at Fisk.
From 1938 to 1939, Landes conducted fieldwork on the role of Afro-Brazilian women and homosexuals in the Candomblé religion in Bahia, Brazil. Unable to move freely by herself in Brazil as a single woman, Landes was accompanied by Edison Carneiro, a Bahian journalist and folklorist. With Carneiro as her companion, Landes was allowed access to rituals and people that would have been closed off to her otherwise. Due to her association with Carneiro, a member of the Brazilian Communist Party, Landes was suspected of being a communist and was forced to leave Bahia early. Publications from her research in Brazil include "A Cult Matriarchate and Male Homosexuality" (1940) and City of Women (1947). She returned to Brazil in 1966 to study the effects of urban development in Rio de Janeiro. In 1967, a Portuguese translation of City of Women was published, a project that Carneiro had commissioned as the first director of the Ministry of Education and Culture's Special National Agency for the Protection of Folklore.
Landes returned to New York in 1939, working briefly as a researcher for Gunnar Myrdal's study of African Americans. Unable to obtain a permanent position at a university, she worked in several other short term positions throughout most of her career. During World War II, Landes was a research director for the Office of the Coordinator for Inter-American Affairs (1941) and consultant for President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fair Employment Practices Committee on African American and Mexican American cases (1941-44). In 1945, Landes directed a program created by Pearl S. Buck and a group of interdenominational clergy to analyze pending New York anti-discrimination legislation. She moved to California the following year to work for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Welfare Council on a study of race and youth gangs. After her contract ended, she moved back to New York and was hired as a contract researcher for the American Jewish Congress (1948-50). She also participated in Columbia University's Research in Contemporary Cultures (1949-51), studying Jewish families. She coauthored with Mark Zborowski, "Hypothesis concerning the Eastern European Jewish Family." From 1951 to 1952, Landes spent a year in London, funded by a Fulbright fellowship to study colored colonial immigrants and race relations in Great Britain.
After her fellowship ended, Landes returned to the United States and held short term appointments at several universities. She taught at the William Alanson White Psychiatric Institution in New York (1953-54), the New School for Social Research in New York (1953-55), University of Kansas (1957, 1964), University of Southern California (1957-62), Columbia University (1963), Los Angeles State College (1963), and Tulane University (1964). At Claremont Graduate School, Landes helped to develop and direct the Claremont Anthropology and Education Program (1959-62).
It was not until 1965 that Landes obtained a permanent faculty position at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario; she was recruited for the position by Richard Slobodin. Due to Ontario's age retirement law, Landes was forced to retire in 1973 at the age of 65. She continued to teach part-time until 1977, when she became professor emerita.
Landes passed away at the age of 82 on February 11, 1991.
Sources Consulted
Cole, Sally. 2003. Ruth Landes: A Life in Anthropology. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.
Chronology
1908 October 8 -- Born Ruth Schlossberg in New York City
1928 -- B.A. in sociology, New York University
1929 -- M.S.W., New York School of Social Work, Columbia University
1929-1931 -- Social worker in Harlem Married to Victor Landes
1929-1934 -- Studied Black Jews in Harlem
1931 -- Began graduate work in anthropology at Columbia University
1932-1936 -- Studied the Ojibwa in Ontario and Minnesota (in field periodically)
1933-1940 -- Research Fellow, Columbia University
1935 Summer-Fall -- Studied the Santee Sioux (Dakota) in Minnesota
1935-1936 -- Studied the Potawatomi in Kansas
1935 -- Ph.D., Columbia University
1937 -- Instructor, Brooklyn College
1937-1938 -- Instructor, Fisk University
1938-1939 -- Studied Afro-Brazilians and Candomblé in Brazil, especially at Bahia
1939 -- Researcher on Gunnar Myrdal's study, "The Negro in America"
1941 -- Research Director, Office of Inter American Affairs, Washington, D.C.
1941-1945 -- Representative for Negro and Mexican American Affairs, Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC), President Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration
1944 -- Interim Director, Committee Against Racial Discrimination, New York
1946-1947 -- Researcher, study of Mexican American youth, gangs, and families, Los Angeles Metropolitan Council
1948-1951 -- Researcher, American Jewish Congress, New York
1949-1951 -- Research consultant, study on Jewish families in New York for Research in Contemporary Cultures Project, Columbia University
1951-1952 -- Fulbright Scholar, to study colored colonial immigration into Great Britain
1953-1954 -- Lecturer, William Alanson White Psychiatric Institution, New York
1953-1955 -- Lecturer, New School for Social Research, New York
1956-1957 -- Married to Ignacio Lutero Lopez
1957 Summer -- Visiting Professor, University of Kansas
1957-1958 -- Visiting Professor, University of Southern California
1957-1965 -- Consultant, California agencies (Department of Social Work, Bureau of Mental Hygiene, Department of Education, Public Health Department) and San Francisco Police Department
1958-1959 -- Director, Geriatrics Program, Los Angeles City Health Department
1959-1962 -- Visiting Professor and Director of Anthropology and Education Program, Claremont Graduate School
1962 -- Extension Lecturer, University of California, Los Angeles and University of California, Berkeley
1963 -- Extension Lecturer, Columbia University Extension Lecturer, Los Angeles State College
1963-1965 -- Consultant, International Business Machines (IBM)
1964 January-June -- Visiting Professor, Tulane University
1964 Summer -- Field work with Potawatomi in Kansas Professor, University of Kansas
1965-1975 -- Professor at McMaster University
1966 -- Studied urban development in Rio de Janeiro
1968-1975 -- Studied bilingualism and biculturalism in Spain, Switzerland, South Africa, United States, and Canada (in Spain and the United States concentrated on Basques)
1975 -- Became part-time faculty member at McMaster University
1977 -- Professor Emerita, McMaster University
1978 -- Award of Merit from the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay
1991 February 11 -- Died in Hamilton, Ontario
1991 -- Establishment of the Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund at Research Institute for the Study of Man (RISM)
Related Materials:
Correspondence from Ruth Landes can be found in the William Duncan Strong Papers, the Leonard Bloomfield Papers, and MS 7369. The Ruth Bunzel Papers contains a copy of a grant application by Landes.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Ruth Landes in 1991.
Restrictions:
The Ruth Landes papers are open for research. The nitrate negatives in this collection have been separated from the collection and stored offsite. Access to nitrate negatives is restricted due to preservation concerns.
Access to the Ruth Landes papers requires an appointment.
Ruth Landes papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The revision of this finding aid and digitization of portions of the collection were made possible through the financial support of the Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund.
Two duplicate prints; landes_photo_chippewa_people_04 is an enlarged duplicate. Taken by Ruth Landes during her field research on the Ojibwa in Manitou Rapids, near Emo, Ontario. Landes worked closely with Maggie Wilson, a Scots-Cree woman who lived most of her life in Ojibwa communities.
Landes wrote on the verso of landes_photo_chippewa_people_03 in both ink and pencil. The writing in ink appears to be annotations made by Landes at a later date. Handwritten on verso: "[ink] IX. [pencil] Leonard Wilson & Si. [ink] Janet Leonard [pencil] Mrs. [ink]J. [pencil] Leonard [ink] 1933. [pencil] Emo, Ont. 1933. [ink] Regalia 4 her M's dnc & eagle feather."
Local Numbers:
OPPS NEG.99-10467
Image ID.landes_photo_chippewa_people_03
Image ID.landes_photo_chippewa_people_04
Collection Restrictions:
The Ruth Landes papers are open for research. The nitrate negatives in this collection have been separated from the collection and stored offsite. Access to nitrate negatives is restricted due to preservation concerns.
Access to the Ruth Landes papers requires an appointment.
Ruth Landes papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The revision of this finding aid and digitization of portions of the collection were made possible through the financial support of the Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund.
Picture postcard of Chief John Smith of Cass Lake, Minnesota. Also known as Ka-be-nah-gwey-wence and Wrinkle Meat. Handwritten on verso: "Keep this, please. -- Subtract about 50 years from his age."
Local Numbers:
Image ID.landes_photo_chippewa_people_06
Collection Restrictions:
The Ruth Landes papers are open for research. The nitrate negatives in this collection have been separated from the collection and stored offsite. Access to nitrate negatives is restricted due to preservation concerns.
Access to the Ruth Landes papers requires an appointment.
Ruth Landes papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The revision of this finding aid and digitization of portions of the collection were made possible through the financial support of the Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund.
Two photographs of same image; landes_photo_chippewa_people_07 is an enlarged duplicate. From Ruth Landes' field research on Ojibwa religion, during which she worked closely with Will Rogers, Chippewa shaman or midé, in Red Lake, Minnesota. Landes wrote on the verso of landes_photo_chippewa_people_15 in both ink and pencil. The writing in ink appears to be annotations made by Landes at a later date. Handwritten on verso: "3. [ink] III. Ojibwa Will Rogers, Pindigegizik. Red L. 1934, by RL. [pencil] Will Rogers, Red Lake 1934."
Local Numbers:
Image ID.landes_photo_chippewa_people_07
Image ID.landes_photo_chippewa_people_15
Collection Restrictions:
The Ruth Landes papers are open for research. The nitrate negatives in this collection have been separated from the collection and stored offsite. Access to nitrate negatives is restricted due to preservation concerns.
Access to the Ruth Landes papers requires an appointment.
Ruth Landes papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The revision of this finding aid and digitization of portions of the collection were made possible through the financial support of the Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund.
3 photographs of same image; landes_photo_chippewa_people_08 and 10 are enlarged duplicates. From Ruth Landes' field research on Ojibwa religion, during which she worked closely with Will Rogers, Chippewa shaman or midé, in Red Lake, Minnesota. Landes wrote on the verso of landes_photo_chippewa_people_13 in both ink and pencil. The writing in ink appears to be annotations made by Landes at a later date. Handwritten on verso: 2. [pencil] Will Rogers, Red Lake, 1934. [ink] I. Will Rogers Pindigegizik 1934. by RL, Ojibwa Red L."
Local Numbers:
Image ID.landes_photo_chippewa_people_08
Image ID.landes_photo_chippewa_people_10
Image ID.landes_photo_chippewa_people_13
Collection Restrictions:
The Ruth Landes papers are open for research. The nitrate negatives in this collection have been separated from the collection and stored offsite. Access to nitrate negatives is restricted due to preservation concerns.
Access to the Ruth Landes papers requires an appointment.
Ruth Landes papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The revision of this finding aid and digitization of portions of the collection were made possible through the financial support of the Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund.
Two duplicate prints; landes_photo_chippewa_people_09 is an enlarged duplicate. Taken by Ruth Landes during her field research on the Ojibwa in Manitou Rapids, near Emo, Ontario. Landes worked closely with Maggie Wilson, a Scots-Cree woman who lived most of her life in Ojibwa communities. Landes wrote on the verso of landes_photo_chippewa_people_18 in both ink and pencil. The writing in ink appears to be annotations made by Landes at a later date. Handwritten on verso: "[pencil] 4. Mrs. Wilson. Supported by tanning hides, beads, writes to Landes, gardens. [ink] VI. (x'n momtos[?] comments) Mrs. Maggie Wilson, Ojibwa-Cree. Emo, Ont. 1933-4. by RL."
Local Numbers:
OPPS NEG.99-10469
Image ID.landes_photo_chippewa_people_09
Image ID.landes_photo_chippewa_people_18
Collection Restrictions:
The Ruth Landes papers are open for research. The nitrate negatives in this collection have been separated from the collection and stored offsite. Access to nitrate negatives is restricted due to preservation concerns.
Access to the Ruth Landes papers requires an appointment.
Ruth Landes papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The revision of this finding aid and digitization of portions of the collection were made possible through the financial support of the Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund.