Indians of North America -- Northwest Coast of North America Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Manuscripts
Vocabulary
Place:
Oregon -- Languages
Washington (State) -- Languages
Date:
1939-circa 1942
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Alaska/Northwest Coast series consists of field notes labeled "Kwalhioqua-Tlatskanai" by Harrington, but they do not represent reliable original data for these related neighboring languages. They are, rather, attempts by speakers of other Washington and Oregon languages to recall or suggest the appropriate Athapascan forms. Materials include notes from rehearings of Boas and Goddard's "Vocabulary of an Athapascan Dialect of the State of Washington"; L.J. Frachtenberg's "Willapa" vocabulary; J. Wickersham's "Qwal-ow-its" or "Kwil-low-its" vocabulary; E.S. Curtis' article "The Willapa"; Curtis' Willapa vocabulary; and A.C. Anderson's "Klatskanai" vocabulary. There are also a few miscellaneous notes on the names, ancestry, and location of Washington and Oregon residents capable of commenting on Kwalhioqua and Tlatskanai. In addition, these files contain Harrington's rought outlines for articles and an abstract of a story regarding the origin of the Kwalhioqua and their relationship with other tribes.
Biographical / Historical:
John P. Harrington first became interested in Kwalhioqua-Tlatskanai in the fall of 1939 when he used a photostat of Boas and Goddard's (1924) "Vocabulary of an Athapascan Dialect of the State of Washington" and a hand-copy of Alexander Caulfield Anderson's (1857) "Klatskanai" vocabulary as parts of a "questionnaire" for obtaining the northern Athapascan languages of British Columbia and Alberta. He soon realized that the study of these isolated languages of the Willapa and Chehalis Rivers region would be significant in his continuing survey of Athapascan along the Pacific coast. As he expressed it later in a letter to B.A.E. chief Matthew W. Stirling: "This Kwalhioqua-Tlatskanay language is vital to connecting the Chilcos [Chilcotins] with the Hupas, is the only half-way link.."
Therefore, after his return to the United States he began a serious investigation of the extinct languages and even attempted to locate individuals who might have heard the languages spoken as children. He used a variety of Kwalhioqua and Tlatskanai vocabularies in manuscript and published form as a basis for elicitation. In January 1940 while staying in Seattle with Melville and Elizabeth Langdon Jacobs, he questioned Tlingit speaker Thomas Skeek, a native of Kake, Alaska, regarding Tlatskanai. A month later he asked Upper Umpqua (UU) speaker John Warren (J.W.) of Grand Ronde for his impressions of the two more northerly situated languages.
This aspect of Harrington's work on the Northwest Coast was continued upon his return to the area in 1942. Those from whom he hoped for the greatest results were Lizzie Johnson and Minnie Case, two Upper Chehalis speakers he worked with at Oakville, Washington. Lizzie Johnson (Liz.) was the daughter of Mary Judson who had been an informant for James Wickersham and Leo J. Frachtenberg around 1900 and June 1910 respectively. Minnie Case (Min.) was a niece of Mrs. Judson and had been married to Willie Andrew of Tahola whose father was reportedly "pure Tlatskanai." She also claimed to have spoken Kwalhioqua as a very young child, although Harrington felt the language must have been Tlatskanai due to the location of her home in Clatsop County, Oregon.
Another Washington state resident interviewed in the matter was Emma Luscier (Em.).
He also interviewed a number of speakers of Oregon languages, including Clara Pearson, Wolverton Orton (Wolv.), Lucy Smith, and Coquille Thompson (Thomp.).
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.
"Note the striped material [characteristic of the Ahtena] and leggings with attached moccasins [on the baby]. This card came from the Copper Valley Store in Copper Center, [Alaska], 1958. But I think we saw them in Chitina [Alaska] too in 1957." Information from C. McClellan to J.C. Scherer, letter November 30, 1970 in NAA files.
Bekk'aatu̳gh ts'u̳hu̳ney = Stories we live by : traditional Koyukon Athabaskan stories / told by Catherine Attla ; introduction by Chad Thompson with Eliza Jones ; transcribed by Eliza Jones ; translated by Eliza Jones and Chad Thompson ; illustrated by Cindy Davis
Indians of North America -- California Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Vocabulary
Place:
California -- History
Date:
1921-1930
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Northern and Central California series contains Harrington's research on Chimariko and Hupa.
A large portion of the subseries consists of field notes on Chimariko vocabulary and sentences provided by Sally Noble. Much of the information was elicited from a reading of Roland Dixon's "The Chimarika Indians and Language," (1910) and includes anatomical terms, names for plants and animals, material culture vocabulary, tribenames, and placenames. A small number of Hupa lexical terms were also obtained, evidently with reference to the work of Pliny Earle Goddard "Athapascan (Hupa)" (1911). There is a mixture of ethnographic and biographical data provided by Noble and several nonlinguistic sources.
The subseries also contains Harrington's grammatical analysis of Chimariko. Many of these notes feature examples excerpted from the linguistic notes; the page numbers in brackets refer to numbered pages of the section of "original" field notes. There are also summaries of various grammatical principles in the form of charts. These sketches are followed by a short "general dictionary" of vocabulary and phrases.
As a supplement to his linguistic and grammatical notes, Harrington collected extensive textual material from Noble. Noble provided mythological texts; accounts of historical events, such as the Indian wars and encounters with whites; descriptions of an ethnological nature on various subjects, such as doctoring, tattooing, and hairdressing; and personal reminiscences. The texts were recorded in Chimariko and some have fairly detailed interlinear translations. In several instances, a synopsis in English has been filed with the text. Some notes from Martha Ziegler appear in this section.
There are also notes obtained by Harrington during his first meeting with Lucy Montgomery. Chimariko and some Hupa lexical terms were recorded for plant and animal names, age, sex, and relationship terms, material culture vocabulary, and numbers. At least a portion of the information was elicited through a rehearing of a word list furnished by C. Hart Merriam and another published by Roland B. Dixon. An unidentified publication (possibly by Parmenter) was utilized to prompt responses on bird names. Montgomery also commented on the names of several native objects that Harrington had recently collected in Karok territory.
The section on Chimariko vocabulary consists of notes presumably collected during Harrington's second stint of work with Montgomery. Harrington made frequent notes on the phonetics of Chimariko and included several Wintu equivalences, as well as scattered references of ethnographic, historical, or biographical interest.
Another section of notes obtained from Montgomery represent a fairly systematic rehearing of the linguistic data Harrington had collected from Sally Noble in 1921-1922.
The block of ethnographic notes were also obtained from Montgomery. The notes cover a wide variety of subjects: food preparation, the collection of firewood, doctoring, the medicinal use of plants, menstruation, child care, clothing, hairdressing, burial, and the manufacture and use of tools, implements, and baskets. A few pages also concern songs and vocabulary. In addition, information is provided on the Montgomery's relatives, the Round Valley Removal, and gold mining. Some data were obtained from Mrs. Ramazzena and I. N. Hamilton. A little ethnographic information pertinent to Coast Yurok was collected from Mrs. Frye.
There are also notes from an interview with Saxy Kidd. The notes consist in large part of ethnographic data from the New River and Trinity River areas. In addition, there is some plant and animal vocabulary. Most Hupa terms are given, with selected Chimariko equivalents.
Biographical / Historical:
John P. Harrington's study of Chimariko began when he spent between four and five months working with Sally Noble at her ranch on New River in Trinity County, California. Noble, a speaker of the "Trinity River" dialect of Chimariko, had previously worked with C. Hart Merriam, and joint work with her had been planned by the two anthropologists for the summer of 1921. Due to confusion concerning Harrington's whereabouts at the time the trip was scheduled, Merriam went to northern California alone in the summer. In early September, after Merriam had completed his own field work and had departed, Harrington arrived at the region, arranged to take meals with the neighboring Dailey family, and proceeded to work regularly with Noble. After amassing several thousand pages of notes, Harrington left Burnt Ranch in mid-to-Iate January 1922, intending to continue the work with Noble in May. He later learned that she had died some twenty days after his departure.
The data he gained from Noble were supplemented by a little linguistic information given by her half sister, Martha Ziegler. Nonlinguistic information was provided by Noble's son, Frank; the Daileys; Mr. and Mrs. Zack Bussell; and Mr. and Mrs. Jim Chesbro.
In the spring of 1926, during or just following his work on Wiyot and Karok, Harrington scheduled an initial interview with another Chimariko woman, Lucy Montgomery. A cousin of Sally Noble, Montgomery was then residing on the coast at Stone Lagoon. Although, by her own admission, she had stopped speaking Chimariko at age eleven, she did attempt to assist Harrington in compiling a basic vocabulary list.
Harrington's interest in Chimariko was renewed in April 1927 when he learned of Edward Sapir's efforts to locate native speakers for that language. In August and September of the same year he employed his long-time friend George W. Bayley to collect plant specimens and ethnobotanical data from Lucy Montgomery. Contact with her having been reestablished, Harrington joined Bayley in 1928 to pursue further linguistic work with her. It was on this occasion that they reheard the notes which he had obtained earlier from Noble. Montgomery's data are not highly reliable as she basically had only a passive knowledge of the language. A small section of ethnographic notes also appears to have been collected at this time.
Mrs. Zack Bussell evidently took Harrington to interview Saxy Kidd, who, according to reports, was said to speak quite a bit of Chimariko. Harrington had heard of Kidd from Sally Noble during his work in 1921-1922 and again from Edward Sapir in 1927. Sapir had discovered that what little Chimariko Kidd knew was "distorted by his Hupa phonetics." Harrington likewise obtained only a few Chimariko terms from him.
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.
Indians of North America -- California Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Vocabulary
Maps
Place:
California -- History
Date:
1942-1943
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Northern and Central California series contains Harrington's research on Coast Yuki, Northern and Central Pomo, and Kato.
The section on Northern Pomo vocabulary and ethnographic notes pertain to an interview Harrington had with George Campbell. Included in the notes are Northern Pomo terms for numbers and some cultural items. Descriptions were given for the construction of the flute, drum, and musical bow and for the use of certain foods. Harrington also noted information about other residents of the area, possibly with the intention of working with them at some future time.
The comparative vocabulary files are grouped by semantic areas and consists primarily of Coast Yuki with some Northern Pomo equivalences. Many glosses are accompanied by ethnographic notes. There are a few comments on field data obtained by Dr. J.W. Hudson, a medical doctor who worked with the Indians around Ukiah.
The subseries also contains an inventory of placenames in Coast Yuki, Northern Pomo, and Kato. Most of the data came from the Sherwood speakers. The study was done in part by reeliciting names collected by Dr.J. W. Hudson, Alfred L. Kroeber (1925), and Samuel A. Barrett (1908). Harrington also appears to have referred to a Geological Survey map. Sketch maps by Jim and Lucy Cooper are included in the notes. The material dealing with the coast is arranged geographically from north to south and reaches from the southernmost Athapascan region to Coast Miwok territory. Some inland placenames from the Eel River, Sherwood, and Willits regions are included as well. The Sherwood-Coast trail is also mentioned.
In addition, there are notes from rehearings of placenames in Samuel A. Barrett's "The Ethno-Geography of the Pomo and Neighboring Indians," placename notes from J.W. Hudson; the article on Coast Yuki geography in Alfred L. Kroeber's "Handbook of the Indians of California; and Droeber's Esselen vocabulary.
Other materials include abstracts of myths written in English; biographical notes on various speakers and others; and miscellaneous notes. The miscellanous files include a few descriptive notes on the history of the area, including comments on some photographs which several of the informants showed to Harrington. The photos are not present in the collection.
Biographical / Historical:
John P. Harrington obtained data on the Coast Yuki, Northern and Central Pomo, and Kato languages by extending a trip to record Athapascan in Washington and Oregon down into the Petrolia, Ukiah, Sherwood, and Laytonville areas of northern California. The fieldwork was done during December 1942 and January 1943.
Harrington obtained a significant amount of material from a number of Pomo speakers. In the Ukiah area he located Jim Cooper and his wife, Lucy (not to be confused with Lucy Perez), both of Sherwood descent. Present at the same sessions was George Stewart, another Northern Pomo speaker, who had spent his early years at Round Valley before returning to the Sherwood region. Harrington also worked briefly on Central Pomo with Harvey James (also called James Harvey), a Point Arena man living near Ukiah.
Harrington recorded a lesser amount of Kato data during a stopover in Laytonville, where he worked with Chief Gil Ray and his sister, Martina Bell.
Additional ethnographic and general background information came from Mark A. Carpenter and his wife, from Robert and Genevieve Renick, and from Willie Sloan.
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.
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.
Dè tʹa hoti tsʹeeda = We live securely by the land : an exhibition of Dene material selected from the collections from the National Museums Scotland / [editor, Thomas D. Andrews]
