Reverend James Owen Dorsey (1848-1895) was a missionary and Bureau of American Ethnology ethnologist who conducted extensive research on Siouan tribes and languages.The papers of James Owen Dorsey comprise mostly ethnographic and linguistic materials on various tribes of the Siouan language family as well as tribes from Siletz Reservation in Oregon. These materials include texts and letters with interlineal translations; grammar notes; dictionaries; drawings; and his manuscripts. In addition, the collection contains Dorsey's correspondence, newspaper clippings, his obituaries, and reprints.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains James O. Dorsey's research and writings as a BAE ethnologist, as well as his earlier work as a missionary among the Ponca. The vast majority of the collection pertains to his research on Siouan-Catawban languages, including the Dakota and Dhegiha languages, Chiwere, Winnebago, Mandan, Hidatsa, Tutelo, Biloxi, and Catawba. His research on Athapascan, Kusan, Takilman, and Yakonan languages from his field work at Siletz Reservation are also present, as well as some notes on the Caddoan languages. Dorsey's research files include linguistic and ethnological field notes, reading notes, stories and myths, vocabularies, drawings, and unpublished and published manuscripts. The collection also contains Omaha, Ponca, Quapaw, and Biloxi dictionaries that he compiled and materials relating to his work editing Steven Riggs' Dakota-English Dictionary. Additional noteworthy materials in the collection are Teton texts and drawings from George Bushotter and drawings by Stephen Stubbs (Kansa), Pahaule-gagli (Kansa), and George Miller (Omaha). The collection also contains Dorsey's correspondence, newspaper clippings, obituaries, and his collection of reprints.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into 6 series: 1) Siouan; 2) Siletz Reservation; 3) Caddoan; 4) General Correspondence; 5) Personal Papers; 6) Miscellaneous & Reprints.
Biographical Note:
Reverend James Owen Dorsey (1848-1895) was a missionary and Bureau of American Ethnology ethnologist who conducted extensive research on Siouan tribes and languages.
Dorsey was born on October 31, 1848 in Baltimore, Maryland. He exhibited a talent for languages at an early age. At age 6 he learned the Hebrew alphabet and was able to read the language at age 10. In 1867 Dorsey attended the Theological Seminary of Virginia and was ordained a deacon of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1871. In May of that year, Dorsey traveled to the Dakota Territory to serve as a missionary among the Ponca. Plagued by ill health, Dorsey was forced to end his missionary work in August 1873. By that time, however, he had learned the Ponca language well enough to converse with members of the tribe without an interpreter.
Dorsey returned to Maryland and engaged in parish work while continuing his studies of Siouan languages. His linguistic talents and knowledge of these languages attracted the attention of Major John Wesley Powell. Powell arranged for Dorsey to work among the Omaha in Nebraska from 1878 to 1880 to collect linguistic and ethnological notes. When the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) was established in 1879, Powell recruited Dorsey to join the staff.
As an ethnologist for the BAE, Dorsey continued his research on Siouan tribes. His studies focused on languages but also included Siouan personal names, folklore, social organization, religion, beliefs, and customs. He conducted fieldwork among the Tutelo at Six Nations on Grand River in Upper Canada (1882); the Kansa, Osage, and Quapaw in Indian Territory (1883-1884); the Biloxi at Lecompte, Rapides Parish, Louisiana (1892); and again with the Quapaw at the Quapaw Mission (1894). He also worked with Native Americans that visited DC, including George Bushotter (Teton), Philip Longtail (Winnebago), Samuel Fremont (Omaha), and Little Standing Buffalo (Ponca). He also spent time at Siletz Reservation in 1884 to collect linguistic notes on the Athapascan, Kusan, Takilman, and Yakonan stocks.
In addition to his research, Dorsey helped found the American Folklore Society and served as the first vice-president of the association. He also served as vice-president of Section H of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
At the age of 47, Dorsey died of typhoid fever on February 4, 1895.
Sources Consulted
1st-16th Annual Reports of the Bureau of American Ethnology. 1881-1897.
Hewitt, J.N.B. 1895. "James Owen Dorsey" American Anthropologist A8, 180-183.
McGee, W.J. 1895. "In Memoriam." Journal of American Folklore 8(28): 79-80.
1848 -- Born on October 31 in Baltimore, Maryland.
1871 -- Ordained a deacon of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
1871-1873 -- Served as a missionary among the Ponca in Dakota Territory.
1878-1880 -- Conducted fieldwork among the Omaha in Nebraska.
1879 -- Joined the staff of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
1882 -- Conducted fieldwork among the Tutelo at Six Nations on Grand River in Upper Canada.
1883-1884 -- Conducted fieldwork among the Kansa, Osage, and Quapaw in Indian Territory.
1887 -- Worked with George Bushotter to record information regarding the language and culture of the Dakota.
1884 -- Conducted fieldwork at Siletz Reservation.
1892 -- Conducted fieldwork among the Biloxi at Lecompte, Rapides Parish, Louisiana.
1894 -- Conducted fieldwork among the Quapaw at the Quapaw Mission in Indian Territory.
1895 -- Died of typhoid fever on February 4th at the age of 47.
Restrictions:
The James O. Dorsey Papers are open for research. Access to the James O. Dorsey Papers requires an appointment
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Manuscript 4800 James O. Dorsey papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Creation of this finding aid was funded through support from the Arcadia Fund.
Digitization and preparation of additional materials for online access has been funded also by the National Science Foundation under BCS Grant No. 1561167 and the Recovering Voices initiative at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents:
Also with the file, added at Bureau of American Ethnology are an abstract of Dr. Coues' article and Cushing's remarks by J. Owen Dorsey. no date. 1 page and a copy (made 9/63) from a deteriorating original) of a note by "L.F.W.," October 8, 1881, 1 page commenting on the name, "Aguazul."
Biographical / Historical:
"The Aguazul or Blue Water Indians are a small out-lying band of the Hualapai or "Wood" Indians who occupy the surrounding country to the west and south."--Coues Manuscript page 11.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 900
Local Note:
Manuscript document, clerk's copy, including transmittal correspondence
General:
Previously titled: "Rough notes on the Aguazul Indians, with notes thereon by F.H. Cushing dated Whipple Barracks, Prescott, Arizona Territory, August 23, 1881"
Citation:
Manuscript 900, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
8 Prints (halftone (including one newspaper clipping))
124 Prints (circa, silver gelatin, albumen, and platinum)
50 Copy prints (circa)
3 copper printing plates
1 Color print
1 Print (wood engraving)
3 Copy negatives (glass)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Prints
Copy prints
Color prints
Copy negatives
Photographs
Date:
circa 1860s-1970
Scope and Contents note:
This collection is an artificial collection of photographs, copper plates, and a few notes, all of which depict or relate to anthropologists, many of which were associated with the Bureau of American Ethnology.
Included are portraits of Franz Boas, Q. M. Bond, Arno B. Cammerer, Frank Hamilton Cushing, Edwin Hamilton Davis, J. Woodbridge Davis, Frances Densmore, James Owen Dorsey, Philip Drucker, Jesse Walter Fewkes (including photographs of his home by Frances Densmore), Albert Samuel Gatschet, James A. Geary, De Lancey W. Gill, George Brown Goode, Horatio Hale, Henry Wetherbee Henshaw, John Napoleon Brinton Hewitt, John K. Hillers, William Henry Holmes, William Henry Jackson, Eugene Irving Knez, Alfred Louis Kroeber, Pere Albert Lacomb, Augustus Le Plongeon, James Mooney, Lewis Henry Morgan, Carl Oschsicanes, James Constantine Pilling, John Wesley Powell, Frau Signe Rink, Frank Harold Hanna Roberts, Jr., Charles C. Royce, Robert Lloyd Stephenson, James Stevenson, Matilda Coxe Stevenson, Julian Haynes Steward, Steward Struever, James Gilchrist Swan, John Reed Swanton, Edwin P. Upham, Wilcomb E. Washburn, and Gordon Randolph Willey. Groups depicted include the staff of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1936; the De Soto Commission; officers of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1885; a 1920 expedition group to Hawikuk; staff of the Great Lakes Division, United States Geological Survey, in Salt Lake City, 1882; a group at Moundville, Alabama, 1932; the University of Nebraska archeological field party, 1920; the Pecos conference, 1927; John Wesley Powell with Wild Hank, Kentucky Mountain Bill, and Jesus Aloiso; and the United States Geological Survey staff, ca. 1894.
Among photographers represented are Vernon Orlando Bailey, Blackston Studios of New York, Dana of New York, Frances Densmore, Gene Garrett, C. W. Gilbert, De Lancey W. Gill, John K. Hillers, William H. Jackson, Kets Kemethy, Paul Koby, David McDonough, H. C. Phillips, Rice of Washington, D. C., and J. A. Shuck of El Reno, Oklahoma.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 33
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Four photographs with negatives by Matilda Coxe Stevenson have been relocated to Photo Lot 23.
This collection includes photographs that have been removed from other collections in the National Anthropological Archives, including MS 4970, MS 4851, MS 4780, MS 4250, MS 4751, MS 4516, MS 4860, MS 4695, MS 4970, and MS 4558.
See others in:
Portraits of anthropologists, 1860s-1960s
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Copy prints of original photographs held by the American Philosophical Society, National Geographic Society, and National Archives cannot be copied. Copies may be obtained from these repositories.
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Citation:
Photo lot 33, Portraits of anthropologists, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
List compiled by Mooney. Includes letter from Dorsey to H.W. Henshaw, giving comparative information from other Siouan languages. October 14, 1890. Typescript and autograph letter signed. 2 pages. Also note from Gatschet to Mooney giving some Biloxi, Catawba and Tutelo comparisons. No date. Autograph letter. 1 page.
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents:
Includes marginal notes and comparative Siouan vocabulary entered by J. Owen Dorsey and 15 pages and slips of newspaper clippings and correspondence on the Catawbas from McDonald Furman, Ramsey, South Carolina, 1891-1897 and 2 pages note on the Catawbas by James Mooney and Gatschet.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 1410
Local Note:
Loose sheets pasted together with cardboard covers.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Drawing depicts man on horseback holding a pipe. Inscription reads: "The male Heyoka dreamer."
Local Numbers:
NAA INV.08729300
NAA MS.4800: 105
Funding note:
Digitization and preparation of these materials for online access has been funded through generous support from the Arcadia Fund.
Album Information:
MS 4800-105 001
Collection Restrictions:
The James O. Dorsey Papers are open for research. Access to the James O. Dorsey Papers requires an appointment
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Ledger drawings
Collection Citation:
Manuscript 4800 James O. Dorsey papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Creation of this finding aid was funded through support from the Arcadia Fund.
Digitization and preparation of additional materials for online access has been funded also by the National Science Foundation under BCS Grant No. 1561167 and the Recovering Voices initiative at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
MS 933-b Biloxi vocabulary with some cognate forms in Catawba, Santee, Yankton and Teton Dakota, Hidatsa, Kansa and Tutelo In Department of the Interior schedule
Creator:
Gatschet, Albert S. (Albert Samuel), 1832-1907 Search this
173 entries in printed U. S. Geographical and Geological Survey "Comparative Vocabulary" form. Corrections of entries 92 and 93 by J. Owen Dorsey.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 933-b
Local Note:
Autograph document signed
General:
Previously titled"Biloxi vocabulary (collected October - November, 1886) with some cognate forms in Catawba, Santee, Yankton and Teton Dakota, Hidatsa, Kansa and Tutelo."
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Subject and date identified on back of source print. Dorsey is mentioned as owner of photograph. He is identified as photographer on negative jacket [NAA Source Print Co-In.: S.E. Biloxi: USNM Unnumbered] of photos taken at same time and place.
Local Numbers:
NAA INV.10001014
OPPS NEG.749217
Local Note:
Black and white direct duplicate of original negative
Topic:
Indians of North America -- Southern states Search this
Photographer, date, tribe and place noted on negative jacket. Negative 749221, taken at same time and place, identifies man as Bankston Johnson. Negative 749218 identifies Jackson.
Local Numbers:
NAA INV.10001020
OPPS NEG.749228
Local Note:
Black and white direct duplicate of original negative
