Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Manuscripts
Date:
1950-1951
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Plains series contains Harrington's Mandan, Hidatsa, and Crow research. The materials primarily consist of comparative vocabulary, comparative grammar, ethnographic notes, texts, and grammar. Small selections of Oto, Quapaw, Shawnee, Arikara, and Sioux terms are interspersed among the vocabulary and grammatical notes.
The vocabulary section (former B.A.E. ms. 6009pt.) is semantically arranged and covers eighteen categories. Carl R. Sylvester (abbreviated "Syl.") provided the Hidatsa terms and the Mandan came from Mark Mahto. There are comparatively few Crow terms. The material contains substantial linguistic elaborations; some ethnographic observations are also included, particularly in the plant vocabulary. While in Billings, Montana, Harrington evidently planned to rehear a Crow clan and relationship vocabulary copied from Robert H. Lowie's Notes on the Social Organization and Customs of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Crow Indians (1917). Few expressions, however, were reheard (former B.A.E. ms. 6003). Hidatsa material is sometimes identified by the term "Hir." Presumably Harrington was using Hira'tsa, an orthography variously applied in his notes to the language, people, or "ancient" village of Hidatsa. This interchange of "d" and "r" occurs elsewhere in the field notes--Chiwe-dhe for Chiwere, for example. The etymology of the name Hidatsa is apparently vague; there are some pertinent references to this subject among the mythology and tradition notes.
As with the vocabulary notes, there is more information on Hidatsa and Mandan than on Crow in Harrington's grammatical material. Phonetics and morphology are covered, with subcategories labeled by Harrington. This series was formerly catalogued as part of B.A.E. ms. 6009.
Also among Harrington's files is an article titled "New Materials in the Coracle of the Mandan Indians," which he submitted for publication in the American Anthropologist. He obtained most of the information from Crowsheart on September 26, 1950, and from Crowsheart's daughter, Annie Eagle, both of whom lived on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. The content of the final draft is almost entirely ethnographic. The notes, however, indicate an attempt to provide a linguistic treatment of the subject, with Hidatsa and Crow comparisons from Sylvester and Mahto. This article (former B.A.E. ms. 6008) was not published.The route of Harrington's trip to Crowsheart's home and a bus trip from Brunswick to Kansas City are described in detail. There is a brief section on mythology and traditions (former B.A.E. ms. 6009pt.).
There is also a small set of reading notes from Washington Matthews' Ethnography and Philology of the Hidatsa Indians (1877) that deals mainly with the name "Missouri River." Additional information covers names of persons, a bibliography, and a few unsorted notes (former B.A.E. ms. 6009pt.). Other miscellaneous material was labeled "Rejects" by Harrington, including an interview in Bismark with a Mrs. Rubia, who had a Hidatsa mother and a Mandan father.
Biographical / Historical:
Between July and December 1950, John P. Harrington spent time at the Crow Indian reservation in southern Montana and at Fort Berthold in North Dakota. He returned to Washington on December 19 and spent from then until March 9, 1951, reporting on his fieldwork. The bulk of information was elicited from Carl R. Sylvester, a Hidatsa Indian, and from Mark Mahto, a Mandan. He interviewed Mahto's ninety-four-year-old father-in-law, Crowsheart, on September 26, 1950, after which he drafted a proposed article on Mandan coracles, or bullboats. In 1951 he tried unsuccessfully to secure Bureau of American Ethnology backing for the construction of a coracle, under Crowsheart's direction, for display in the National Museum.
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.
This subseries of the Notes and writings on special linguistic studies series contains material that supplement Harrington's Plains field notes.
The miscellaneous material on the tribes of the Plains consists of a mix of biographical, ethnographic, and linguistic data. The notes which are largely undated appear to have been written in the late 1930s and the 1940s. There are five pages of linguistic notes on Kiowa, and three are in the hand of Parker McKenzie. There are also carbon copies of two typed pages of a word list in an orthography which is not Harrington's. There are ten pages of notes labeled "Dakota," "Sioux," or "Siouan." Two of the sheets give Delaware, Chippewa, Natick, and Cree comparisons. There is one page each of miscellaneous vocabulary on Arapaho (from A. L. Kroeber), Hidatsa, and Wichita; a page of information on the tribe name "Blackfeet" from John G. Carter dated September 21, 1938; and a photograph caption on the Omaha.
There are also two sets of historical documents which were sent to Harrington under cover of a letter from Alice M. Reading dated December 17, 1931. The first (formerly cataloged B.A.E. manuscript 6043) is a typescript of a portion of the journal which Pierson B. Reading kept for the period May to November 1843 when he traveled from the Missouri River to Monterey, California. The second item (former ms. 6044) is an original copy of a letter from Tom Hill to P. B. Reading dated July 20, 1851. The writer, an Indian, mentions meeting Delawares; Shawnees, including his cousin, Benjamin Kiser; the "Nistcoop" tribe at The Dalles; Nez Perces, including Chief Red Wolf; and Cayuse.
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.
Army Medical Museum photographs prepared under the supervision of John Shaw Billings and Washington Matthews, and created by superimposing images of several skulls for comparative purposes. Each image has a caption that includes tribal or racial identification, number of skulls photographed, photograph number, negative number, and data on photographic technique.
The collection represents of Aleut, Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Dakota, Eskimo, Hidatsa, Navajo, Oglala, Ojibwa, Paiute, Piegan, Ponca, Wichita, African American, Hawaiian, people, and people of San Miguel and San Nicholas Islands (California).
Biographical/Historical note:
The United States Army Medical Museum (AMM, renamed the National Museum of Health and Medicine in 1989) was established by US Army Surgeon General William A. Hammond in 1862. Its initial focus was on collecting specimens of unusual pathology, mostly taken from victims of the American Civil War. By 1867, the museum had expanded to include medical, microsopical, anatomical, comparative anatomics, and other sections. The anatomical collection grew in part as a result of Circular No. 2 of 1867, which authorized military medical officers to collect cranial specimens from deceased Native Americans. Additionally, the AMM made an arrangement with the Smithsonian Institution, by which the Smithsonian transferred their collection of human remains in exchange for ethnological artifacts. AMM photographed and measured many of the specimens in its collection as part of the museum's anthropological research.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 6A
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Additional Army Medical Museum photographs of skulls can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 6B, Photo Lot 73-26C, Photo Lot 78-42, Photo Lot 83-41, and Photo Lot 97.
The National Anthropological Archives holds microfilm of the papers of Washington Matthews, circa 1864-1905, and records concerning skeletal material transferred to the Smithsonian Institution from the Army Medical Museum.
See others in:
United States Army Medical Museum composite photographs of skulls, circa 1884-1885
Portraits of Native Americans made by Charles Milton Bell in his Washington, DC studio. Depicted individuals include Red Cloud, Oglala; Spotted Tail, Brule; Quanah Parker, Comanche; Nawat, Arapaho; Scabby Bull, Arapaho; Wolf Robe, Cheyenne; D. W. Bushyhead, Cherokee; John Jumper, Seminole; Plenty Coups, Crow; Rushing Bear, Arikara; Gall, Hunkpapa; John Grass, Sihasapa; Lean Wolf, Hidatsa; Chief Joseph, Nez Perce; and Lone Wolf, Kiowa; as well as people associated with Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show. The collection also includes copies of some images by other photographers, including G. G. Rockwood and F. T. Cummins.
Biographical/Historical note:
Charles Milton Bell (circa 1849-1893) was the youngest member of a family of photographers that operated a studio in Washington, DC, from around 1860-1874. Bell established his own studio on Pennsylvania Avenue in 1873 and it rapidly became one of the leading photography studios in the city. Bell developed the patronage of Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, who sent Native American visitors to the studio to have their portraits made. Bell also made photographs of Native Americans for the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of American Ethnology.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 80, NAA MS 4661
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Copy prints previously filed in MS 4661 have been relocated and merged with Photo Lot 80. These are also copy prints of Bell negatives that were acquired from Boyce and form part of this collection.
Additional C. M. Bell photographs held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 4420, Photo Lot 24, Photo Lot 60, Photo Lot 81-44, Photo lot 87-2P, and Photo Lot 90-1.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Citation:
Photo Lot 80, Charles Milton Bell photographs of Native Americans, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Date:
1880
Biographical / Historical:
Lean Wolf is cited as being in Washington, D. C., with a Dakota delegation in June, 1880 by Garrick Mallery in the First Annual Report of the BAE, page 405. He also appears demonstrating sign language on pages 526-528 of the above study. (Photographs in BAE photographic files under Sign Language). Although in the sign language prints he is wearing different pants and headdress, he is wearing the same shirt and appears to be the same age. In Arbitrary Bell Number 276 (S.I. Negative 52515) Lean Wolf was photographed with Rushing Bear, the Arikara who was also in Washington in June 1880, and was also an informant for the Mallery study.
Local Numbers:
NAA INV.06645100
Local Note:
Black and white collodion glass negative
Place:
DC? -- Washington?
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Collection Citation:
Photo Lot 80, Charles Milton Bell photographs of Native Americans, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Date:
1880
Biographical / Historical:
Lean Wolf is cited as being in Washington, D. C. with a Dakota delegation in June, 1880 by Garrick Mallery in the First Annual Report of the BAE, page 405. He also appears demonstrating sign language on pages 526-528 of the above study. (Photographs in BAE photographic files under Sign Language). Although in the sign language prints he is wearing different pants and headdress, he is wearing the same shirt and appears to be the same age. In Arbitrary Bell Number 276 (S.I. Negative 52515) Lean Wolf was photographed with Rushing Bear, the Arikara, who was also in Washington in June, 1880, and also was an informant for the Mallery study.
Local Numbers:
NAA INV.06651600
Local Note:
Name written on original jacket.
Black and white collodion glass negative
Place:
DC? -- Washington?
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Collection Citation:
Photo Lot 80, Charles Milton Bell photographs of Native Americans, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Date:
1880
Biographical / Historical:
Lean Wolf and Rushing Bear were cited by Garrick Mallery in The First Annual Report of the BAE, 1879-80, pages 405-6, as being in Washington, D. C. in June, 1880, with a delegation. They also appear demonstrating sign language on pages 393, 492, 526-28, of above study. (photos in BAE under Sign Language). Although in the sign language prints they are wearing different pants and headdress, they appear to be about the same age as in this photograph.
Local Numbers:
NAA INV.06651600
NAA INV.10000881
Local Note:
Black and white collodion glass negative
Place:
DC? -- Washington?
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Collection Citation:
Photo Lot 80, Charles Milton Bell photographs of Native Americans, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina
Date:
1932-1958
Summary:
These are the papers of Washington, D.C. attorney James E. Curry, whose legal career included work both as a government attorney and in his own private practice. The bulk of the papers reflect his private practice in the area of Indian affairs.
Scope and Contents:
The material in the collection includes documents relating to many aspects of Curry's career but most of it relates to his work with Indian tribes and the National Congress of American Indians. For the most, the collection is made up of such materials as letters exchanged with government officials, Indians, and other attorneys; copies of legal documents; published government documents; notes; and clippings and other printed materials. Of particular significance is a subject file relating to Indian affairs. It includes material concerning affairs of Alaskan natives and the Aleut (Akutan, Pribilof Islands), Apache (including Fort Sill, Jicarilla, Mescalero, San Carlos White Mountain), Arapaho (Southern), Assiniboine (Fort Belknap, Fort Peck), Bannock (including Fort Hall), Blackfeet, Caddo, Catawba, Cherokee (Eastern), Cheyenne (Northern, Southern), Chickahominy, Chickasaw, Chippewa (including Lac Courte Oreilles), Choctaw, Cochiti, Cocopa, Coeur d'Alene, Colville, Comanche, Creek, Croatan, Crow, Dakota (Big Foot, Cheyenne River, Crow Creek, Devil's Lake, Flandreau, Fort Totten, Lower Brule, Mdewakanton, Oglala, Rosebud, Santee, Sisseton-Wahpeton, Standing Rock, Yankton), Delaware, Eskimo (including Gambell, Kiana), Flathead, Fox, Haida (including Kasaan), Havasupai, Hopi, Iroquois (Caughnawaga, Seneca, St. Regis), Isleta, Jemez, Kalilspel, Kansa (Kaw), Kickapoo, Kiowa, Klamath, Kutenai, Laguna, Lummi, Maricopa (Gila River, Salt River), Menominee, Missouria, Mohave (Fort Mohave), Mohave Apache (Fort McDowell), Muckleshoot, Navaho, Nez Perce, Niska, Nooksak, Omaha, Osage, Oto, Papago, Paiute (Fallon, Fort McDermitt), Moapa, Pyramid Lake, Shivwits, Walker River, Yerington), Pima (Gila River, Salt River), Potowatomi, Quinaielt, San Felipe, San Ildefonso, San Juan, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Sandia, Sauk, Seminole (Florida, Oklahoma), Seneca, Seri, Shawnee (Eastern), Shoshoni (including Fort Hall), Sia, Spokan, Stockbridge, Taos (Pyote clan), Tesuque, Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Arikara, and Hidatsa), Tillamook, Tlingit (including Angoon, Craig, Juneau, Kake, Ketchikan, Klawak, Klukwan, Taku, Wrangell), Tsimshian (Metlakatla), Umatilla, Ute (including Uintah-Ouray), Walapai, Washo, Wesort, Winnebago, Wyandot, Yakima, Yaqui, Yavapai, Yuma, and Zuni. There are also materials relating to Curry's work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and National Congress of American Indians, and material that reflects his interest in conditions and events in given locations (often filed by state) and in organizations with interest in Indians. The material relating to Curry's work in Puerto Rico has been deposited in the Archivo General de Puerto Rico, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena, in San Juan.
Arrangement note:
The James E. Curry Papershave been arranged into 6 series: (1) Daily Chronological Files, 1941-1955; (2) Subject Files Regarding Indian Affairs, bulk 1935-1955; (3) Miscellaneous Files Regarding Indian Affairs, bulk 1947-1953; (4) Non-Indian Affairs, n.d.; (5) Puerto Rico Work, 1941-1947; (6) Miscellany, undated.
Biographical/Historical note:
James E. Curry was trained in law in Chicago and practiced in that city from 1930 until 1936, serving part of that time as secretary of the local branch of the American Civil Liberties Union. From 1936 to 1938, he was an attorney with the United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs, being largely involved with matters of credit affecting Indians. From 1938 to 1942, he continued service with the Interior Department but worked in several capacities involving the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration, the department's Consumers' Counsel Division, and the Puerto Rico Water Resources Authority.
In 1945, Curry returned to Washington and set up private practice, also maintaining for a time an office in Puerto Rico. In Washington, he became the attorney for the National Congress of American Indians and from that time until the 1950s his practice increasingly involved representation of American Indian tribes, mostly in claims against the federal government. In this work, for a time, he was involved in business relations with a New York Law firm that included Henry Cohen, Felix Cohen, and Jonathan Bingham.
He also often worked closely with lawyers who lived near the tribes he represented, William L. Paul, Jr., of Alaska, for example. This aspect of his practice--representing Indian tribes--was largely broken up during the early 1950s when the Commissioner of Indian Affairs began to use his powers to disapprove contracts between Curry and the tribes. In 1952 and 1953, his official relationship with the National Congress of American Indians was also ended. After this, while Curry continued until his death to act as a consultant in Indian claims with which he had earlier been involved, his career and life developed in a different direction.
Related Materials:
Additional material relating to James E. Curry can be found in the records of the National Congress of American Indians, also located at the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center.
Provenance:
The Curry papers were originally donated to the National Anthropological Archives by James E. Curry's daughter Mrs. Aileen Curry-Cloonan in December 1973. In 2007 The Curry papers were transferred from the National Anthropological Archives to the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center along with several other records concerning American Indian law and political rights.
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).
Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadbast materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Genre/Form:
Notes
Letters
Clippings
Legal documents
Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); James E. Curry papers, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
