A dictionary of the Abnaki language in North America Pub. from the original manuscript of the author. With an introductory memoir and notes by John Pickering
This subseries of the Northeast/Southeast series contains John P. Harrington's Algonquian research. It consists primarily of material he collected; there is very little original data, most of which are undated. The topics covered are Cheyenne grammar, Fox linguistic notes, Menominee grammar, Miami-Peoria grammar, Mohegan-Pequot-Montauk vocabulary, Montagnais miscellaneous notes, Nanticoke-Conoy-Unalachtigo linguistic notes, Ojibwa linguistic notes, Potawatomi linguistic notes, and comparative and miscellaneous notes.
The Cheyenne material consist of two pages of grammatical excerpts from Rodolphe Petter's English-Cheyenne Dictionary (1915).
The Fox notes stem from conversations which Harrington had with Truman Michelson on the Fox syllabary and grammar. One note is dated September 24, 1924; others are undated. One page gives the etymology of the word Chicago and a Potawatomi equivalent. Phonetic material (former B.A.E. MS 6021 pt. and 6025pt.) is based on William Jones's "Algonquian (Fox)" (1911). A bibliography is included, mainly on Michelson's publications and manuscripts which he submitted to the B.A.E.
The Menominee files contain a phonetic key from Leonard Bloomfield's Menomini Texts (1928), a short report on a conversation with Michelson (former B.A.E. MS 6025pt. and 6030), and a brief description of Menominee tentshaking was excerpted from W. J. Hoffman's The Menomini Indians (1896).
Miami-Peoria vocabulary were copied from Albert Gatschet's B.A.E. manuscripts 3025 and 3026b. (Those entries marked 3026b are no longer listed as part of that B.A.E. manuscript.)
An 1890 copy of a 1798 Montauk vocabulary taken by John Lyon Gardiner was loaned to Harrington by Foster H. Saville. There are also a three-page typescript of this manuscript and several pages of a Mohegan-Pequot bibliography.
For Montagnais, there are three bibliographical notes. Two placenames came from J.N.B. Hewitt in November 1926.
Reading notes on Nanticoke, Conoy, and Unalachtigo were taken principally from Speck's The Nanticoke and Conoy Indians . .. (1927) and from Hodge's "Handbook" (1907). Some linguistic and ethnohistoric material is included and there is a brief bibliography.
Ojibwa forms the largest portion of this subseries. It includes notes from a joint interview conducted most likely in 1940 with C. F. Voegelin and his informant, Gregor McGregor, who was technically considered a speaker of Ottawa. There are also notes Harrington took of Voegelin's lecture at the University of Michigan on June 25, 1940 (former B.A.E. MS 6020pt.). There is a slight emphasis on placenames in an otherwise random vocabulary. From James Hammond Trumbull's Notes on Forty Algonkin Versions of the Lord's Prayer (1873), Harrington copied the Southern Chippeway version (pp. 74 -75) and penciled in a slightly different English translation. A final potpourri of undated notes includes a miscellaneous vocabulary from secondary sources and a few pages of grammatical material. The etymologies of several Ojibwa words are briefly developed. Frederic Baraga's A Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language is the most frequently cited source (former B.A.E. MS 6020pt. and 6025pt.).
The Potawatomi files contain material from Harrington's interview with Chief Simon Kahquados in Blackwell, Wisconsin (n.d.) with whom he recorded general ethnographic information, particularly regarding the loss of Potawatomi lands due to Indian Office policies and illegal acts of the Menominee. A brief vocabulary is included. Unrelated to this interview is a Potawatomi phoneme chart.
Comparative material includes reading notes regarding the earliest appearances of certain Algonquian phonetic sounds. Harrington consulted primarily the works of Sir Isaac Pitman, Jean Claude Mathevet (Nipissing, Abnaki), and Silas Tertius Rand (Micmac). Additional peripheral bibliographical information is identified in the notes. The only date recorded is March 26, 1951. There are other scattered reading notes with Menominee, Cree, Fox, and Ojibwa phonetic comparisons, based mainly on Leonard Bloomfield's Menomini Texts (1938) and Plains Cree Texts (1934). One page of Arapaho terms was copied from Kroeber.
In the category of general linguistic and ethnographic notes (former B.A.E. ms. 6025pt.), information results from various conversations with fellow linguists: Truman Michelson and J.N.B. Hewitt on September 24, 1924; Hewitt in November 1924 and November 1926; Michelson in October 1930; and Michelson and Frank G. Speck in May 1934. Under the heading "The Southern Delawares," Harrington arranged random information on the Virginia Indians, touching briefly on history and ethnography. He included some Abnaki, Cree, and Cherokee linguistic terms, as well as a general bibliography. Vocabulary material in this series (former B.A.E. MS 6025pt.) consists of terms from various Algonquian languages, most probably taken from unidentified printed sources. One note gives "The Chief from Mass[achusetts]" as an informant. One group of terms is compared with Natick words and with a vocabulary recorded by Roger Williams.
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 Northeast/Southeast series contains Harrington's research on two Delaware languages, now distinguished by linguists as Unami (in Oklahoma) and Munsee (in Ontario). Harrington, following local usage, referred to both as Delaware.
His Unami linguistic notes consist of a randomly accumulated vocabulary with some phonetic and grammatical structures interspersed. Included also are historical and cultural comments. The largest single group was apparently collected by C. F. Voegelin and is labeled "Voeg." Other smaller groups represent collections by Voegelin from individually named informants, followed by Harrington's notes from the same informants. Harrington's material consists of both new and reheard terms, with a general emphasis on developing the etymology of state names and placenames. Voegelin inserted some Munsee, Shawnee, Kaw, and Ojibwa equivalences. The Munsee terms may have been those of Frank T. Siebert, Jr., as notes indicate that Voegelin was in possession of some of Siebert's vocabulary lists, which had been collected in June 1938 from Nicodemus Peters at Smoothtown. The most substantial placename information concerns the name Wyoming.
A selection of extracts from Brinton and Anthony (1888) and a few from Truman Michelson's "Preliminary Report on the Linguistic Classification of Algonquian Tribes" (1912) contain comments by Voegelin. Scattered Abenaki comparisons were probably inserted at least a decade later. Filed with this 1940 collection are three pages of notes heard from "the old woman west of Anadarko" in June 1939.
There are also four untitled texts (former B.A.E. ms. 6023pt.) collected by Voegelin in April 1940 with partial interlinear translations by Jesse Longbone. Harrington made handwritten copies of fifteen short songs also collected by Voegelin. Although there are wide variations between Voegelin's orthography and Harrington's, these songs were apparently incorporated into Voegelin's "Word Distortions in Delaware Big House and Walam Olum Songs" (1942). There are scattered notes in English but no translations.
The Unami files also contain miscellaneous notes consisting of a few grammatical notes, correspondence, and names of persons. There are also several pages relating to the Swedish author Amandus Johnson.
Harrington also collected a variety of linguistic notes from Delaware speakers of Ontario. Raw field notes obtained from Josiah Montour and Jesse Moses in the area of Smoothtown, Ontario, include general vocabulary, tribenames, names of persons, and a few grammatical constructions. Montour also contributed Munsee origins associated with the name Wyoming. There are also materials from when Voegelin gave Harrington a list of Walam Olum terms to rehear with Josiah Montour, which Harrington presumably did in the first days of that month. Another small section of field notes contains material from Jane Pattice, Josiah Montour's sister. In addition, there are a few undated pages dealing mainly with the location of the Munsee Reserve in Canada and how to get there.
Biographical / Historical:
In April 1940, John P. Harrington and C. F. Voegelin were in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, on a joint field trip where they interviewed a number of Delaware-speaking Indians. The exact itinerary is difficult to reconstruct. Field notes and correspondence indicate that they were together in Bartlesville at least between April 8 and 20, and early in May, they were in Greencastle, Indiana, where Voegelin gave Harrington a list of Delaware terms to investigate in Smoothtown, Ontario on Six Nations Reserve. Of the two notes that locate Harrington in that vicinity, only one is dated (May 4, 1940-see "Mohawk Linguistic Notes"). It must have been a brief stop as he was in Seattle en route to Alaska on May 7.
In June 1940 Harrington and Voegelin made another trip to Oklahoma. They visited May Haas at Eufaula and Frank T. Siebert,Jr., at Oklahoma City and Norman. On that occasion they worked with a number of Delawares, Shawnees, Otoes, and others. During the first week of August, after his return to Washington, D.C., Harrington reorganized the notes for which Voegelin had requested clarification.
In Oklahoma, Harrington visited the city of Bartlesville; the towns of Dewey and Copan; and Claremore, the location of the Indian Health Services Hospital. Among the people he interviewed were Mabel Bobb Beaver (Mabel) and Henry Duncan Beaver (Duncan); Sally and John Fallleaf (spelled "Fall-Leaf" by Harrington); Annie (Mrs. Lb.) and Jesse Longbone (Jesse, Jes) and his brothers Roy and William (William Lb.); Jake Parks; and Mr. and Mrs. Joe Washington and their son Fred (Mrs. Wash., Fred Wash.). In Ontario, those he interviewed included Josiah Montour, his seventy-five-year-old sister Jane Pattice, and Jesse Moses.
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.
Grammatical sketch of the ancient Abnaki outlined in the dictionary of Fr. Sebastian Râle, S.J. Part I.--The Abnaki noun ... Read at the meeting of the ... Society, at Portland, December 23, 1882
Grammatical sketch of the ancient Abnaki outlined in the dictionary of Fr. Sebastian Râle, S.J. [microform] Part I, The Abnaki noun / by Rev. Michael Charles O'Brien ; read at the meeting of the Maine Historical Society, at Portland, December 23, 1882
Indian good book made by Eugene Vetromile ... for the benefit of the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, St. John's, Micmac, and other tribes of the Abnaki Indians. This year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight. Old-town Indian village, and Bangor
Indian good book made by Eugene Vetromile ... for the benefit of the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, St. John's, Micmac, and other tribes of the Abnaki Indians. This year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven. Old-town Indian village, and Bangor
Indian good book made by Eugene Vetromile for the benefit of the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, St. John's, Micmac, and other tribes of the Abnaki Indians. This year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six. Old-town Indian village, and Bangor
Truman Michelson's handwritten linguistic notes on various Algonquian languages from his work with students at Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania during the winter of 1911-1912. The notes include information about the students he worked with, vocabulary, grammar, and an Arapaho text. Mary Belgarde and Patrick Azure provided information on Turtle Mountain Chippewa (which Michelson determined is Cree); Dorothy Morse on Northern Chippewa (near Duluth); Flora Masta on Abenaki; Grover Allen (a Kickapoo) on Potawatomi; Louise Kitchikum (likely Kachicum) on Menominee; and Bruce Groesbeck on Northern Arapaho.
Arrangement:
Notes are organized by language.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 2703
Local Note:
Title changed from "Materials relating to various Algonquian languages" 4/15/2014.
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Vocabulary
Date:
circa 1911
Scope and Contents:
Edward Sapir's typed notes on the vocabularies of various Algonquian languages that he collected in 1911. List of languages covered: Delaware, pages 1-6; Abnaki (Pierreville), page 7-12; Malecite (Riviere du Loup, Thomas Paul), pages 13-17; Micmac, pages 18-23, Cree (Rupert's House), pages 24-25; Montagnais (Louis Clairie, Pointe Bleue), pages 26-28. There are annotations and corrections in ink in Sapir's handwriting (identified by Mary Haas, 4/58). There are also pencil additions signed by Michelson; perhaps all of the pencil additions are his.
This subseries of the Northeast/Southeast series contains Harrington's Mahican/Stockbridge research. The materials consist of comparative vocabulary, comparative grammar, comparative linguistic notes, and writings.
The vocabulary is arranged according to numerous semantic categories designated by Harrington. The basic source is Truman Michelson's Stockbridge Manuscript 2734, information from which was reheard with Mahican speakers, and compared with secondary sources and with Abenaki material rewritten or removed from his own field notes. Harrington interfiled Menominee information secured later in Washington from Al Dodge. The "Persons" category is quite rich in biographical information. Webb Miller apparently identified for Harrington the subjects of some of his old photographs, although the prints were not found with the notes. There are two pages taken from an old family record listing the names Pye, Bennett, Moon, and Turkey, the dates ranging from 1845 to 1865. Harrington evidently began another (possibly later) semantic organization of the Michelson notes. Other secondary sources used as a basis for comparison are Brinton and Anthony (1888), James Trumbull's Natick Dictionary (1903), and Frederic Baraga's A Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language (1853).
A set of grammatical notes is also based on MS 2734 but it is not as well developed as the vocabulary material. Only a few notes deal with phonetics. There is more information on verbs and numerals than on any other morphological category.
The comparative linguistic notes are from Harrington's two 1949 interviews with Bernice Robinson Huntington and encompass vocabulary, grammar, ethnography, ethnohistory, and some miscellaneous information on Stockbridge persons, including something of her own background. One group is arranged alphabetically by main entry in Mahican, with Delaware, St. Francis Abenaki, Natick, Ojibwa, and Cree equivalences (if any) placed immediately following the related Mahican term. The unmarked main entries are apparently Huntington's original terms; those in ink marked Brinton and Anthony are from their 1888 dictionary; the pencil notes are St. Francis Abenaki obtained in the field and are identified by informant "codes" Am. (Alfred Miller), Den. (George Dennis); Watso (John Watso); (Oliver Obomsawin). The significance of the numbered divider pages was not documented. Another group designated "B2" probably refers to the fall rehearing with Bernice Huntington and is confined chiefly to St. Francis Abenaki and Menominee equivalences. Some new information from Huntington, especially changes in orthography, may have been interfiled. A third group contains Huntington's comments on Mathew S. Henry's Vocabulary. ... It represents an attempt to organize Henry's material according to a semantically arranged vocabulary and a brief grammar touching on phonetics and morphology. Harrington crossed out St. Francis Abnaki comparisons and, according to a field note, copied them for use elsewhere. He also incorporated some of Huntington's (B2) terms.
This subseries also contains a draft and notes relating to his unpublished manuscript, "Seven Mahican Texts Recorded by Truman Michelson". Harrington excerpted the texts verbatim from the Michelson MS 2734, including Michelson's interlinear Mahican translations and free English versions. The draft contains a short vocabulary culled from the texts which Harrington arranged semantically. He provided some Mahican historical background and explained certain orthographic changes made to update Michelson's spelling and to facilitate pronunciation. An eighth text in English only was given to Michelson by Sterling Peters. There is informative bibliographical material both in the body of the draft and in the separate section devoted to this category.
Biographical / Historical:
The first evidence of John P. Harrington's interest in studying the Mahican language surfaced in January 1930 correspondence. (At this time, he used the names Mahican and Mohegan interchangeably.) In September 1930 he tried to interest Bernard Hoffmann of Santa Barbara, California, to fund a Wisconsin field trip in a search for Stockbridge vocabulary, legends, songs, placenames, tribenames, history, etc. He hoped to find native speakers who could rehear terms from early manuscripts and publications.
Between 1930 and 1949, Harrington secured copies of or made reading notes from some of these manuscripts, most of which are clearly identified in the field notes. The most exhaustively reheard and reorganized body of material consists of terms and text copied from the Stockbridge linguistic notes and texts recorded by Truman Michelson in 1914 (B.A.E. MS 2734). Harrington's notes and correspondence reveal a diligent search for those informants of Michelson who might still be living in the Stockbridge, Wisconsin, area in the hope that they would be willing to work with him.
In 1949, Harrington arrived at the Stockbridge Reservation on April 16 and remained there until April 23. Mr. Arvid E. Miller drove him around the area and introduced him to numerous other Millers, most of whom supplied linguistic and ethnohistoric information. His first introduction to Bernice Metoxen Robinson Huntington (sometimes erroneously spelled Robertson) took place at this time. In 1914, at the age of about thirty-seven, she had been one of Michelson's informants. She had also worked with Frank T. Siebert,Jr., in 1935 and 1936. She was a black adopted by the Mahicans with whom she lived from earliest childhood; she learned Menominee in school. Harrington's first meeting with her was unsuccessful, the second more cordial and fruitful, and about the last week of October 1949, on a subsequent trip to Wisconsin, he was able to hear and rehear with her a substantial amount of Mahican linguistics. He found another excellent informant in Webb Miller. Most of the notes are of a comparative nature, particularly comparisons with the two Abenaki dialects and with Delaware. This fell into place rather easily as Harrington was in various cities of Maine, in Quebec, and in Albany, N.Y., between April 24 and October 24 taking notes from St. Francis and Penobscot Abenaki speakers. He extracted Delaware terms from Daniel G. Brinton and Albert S. Anthony's A Lenape-English Dictionary (1888), and from the unpublished manuscript of Mathew S. Henry, Vocabulary of Words in Various Indian Dialects of the United States (ca. 1861). In November and December while traveling between New York and Washington for other reasons, he carried most of these notes with him and began the work of sorting and rearranging, which continued on and off in Washington at least until 1952. Other equivalent terms are in Menominee and were supplied by interviews in Washington with Al Dodge, an employee of the Interior Department. Ojibwa and Pequot terms are mainly from secondary sources.
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.