Notebook containing Kickapoo syllabic texts handwritten in 1929 by Joseph Murdock, a Mexican Kickapoo residing in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Also English translations dictated by Alice Abraham of Shawnee, Oklahoma, and handwritten by her granddaugther Susan in 1967. The texts include a story of why rabbits only have fat on their shoulders and an anecdote from Murdock's courtship days. Other texts are on a virginity test, marriage and natal customs, joking relationships, and father and mother-in-law taboos. The notebook also contains 2 pages of linguistic notes in phonetic transcription with English translations.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 833
Local Note:
Title changed from "Kickapoo Legends and ethnology 1929" 6/10/2014.
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Folklore
Narratives
Manuscripts
Place:
Shawnee (Okla.)
Date:
1929, 1967
Scope and Contents:
Truman Michelson conducted research among the Kickapoo in 1929 in Shawnee, Oklahoma. During this time, he worked with Joseph Murdock, a Mexican Kickapoo and former student at Carlisle Indian Industrial School. This collection contains legends in Kickapoo syllabary collected by Michelson from Murdock. The collection also partial interlineal English translations dictated by Alice Abraham and handwritten by her granddaughter Susan in 1967.
List of stories: Eye juggler; Girls who marry the stars; Snapping turtle goes to war; Wisakea (reflection of deer in the water); Wisakea and the "little frightener"; Wisakea and the snapping turtle quarrel; Wisakea and the wife of the sun; Wisakea and the French saloon keeper; Speech of Waupakiche at a dance in the evening; Wisakea and the place where speaking is forbidden; Adventures with Apaiyashiage brothers, Wisakea flies with ducks; Lynx and rabbit; Ten Brothers together.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 1772
Local Note:
Title changed from "Mexican Kickapoo Legends 1929" 6/10/2014.
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Narratives
Folklore
Manuscripts
Date:
1929
Scope and Contents:
Story of rabbit cycle handwritten in Kickapoo syllabary by Joseph Murdock, a Mexican Kickapoo. Truman Michelson collected the text from Murdock in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
Contets: Book Number I- Biographical sketch of William JOnes, 1 page. Words and sentences, 12 pages. List of Sauk clans, 1 page. Vocabulary and grammatical notes, 30 pages. Book Number 2. Words and sentences, Sauk personal names, etc. 14 pages. The custom of smoking horses among the Sauks - custom of the Shawnee and Sauks or Kickapoo and Sauks of visiting one another's reservations every other year with description of ceremony- 4 pages. Syllabic notes, 1 page. Legend of the Great Dipper - 1 page.
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Narratives
Field notes
Manuscripts
Folklore
Date:
1929
Scope and Contents:
Truman Michelson conducted research among the Kickapoo in 1929 in Shawnee, Oklahoma. During this time, he worked with Joseph Murdock, a Mexican Kickapoo and former student at Carlisle Indian Industrial School. This collection contains an assortment of Kickapoo lingustic notes, ethnographic notes, and stories that Michelson obtained from Murdock. Topics include sin and social crimes, clan organization, childbirth, puberty, ceremonies and rituals, and daughter and father-in-law taboos. Among the stories is an English translation of the rabbit cycle legend (see MS 1203 for Kickapoo text), Murdock's experiences as a boy, and stories illustrating bashfulness before mothers-in-law.
The following is a list of other stories, which are in Kickapoo without English translations: Exchanging tooth with a garter snake; How corn came to be on this earth; Wisakea and the mallard duck; Wisakea and the skunk; Legend of witches; Why people began to kill each other; Why it is that some people can understand children before they talk and why they understand dogs; Woman and dog; The maiden and the man who frightened her; A thunderer is captured and made prisoner; Wisakea bungling host stories; Boy told by the giant to feed the lion straw and the horse meat; Skunk and opossum; Garter snake tooth; The one who was left behind.
To a considerable degree, the James H. Howard papers consist of manuscript copies of articles, book, speeches, and reviews that document his professional work in anthropology, ethnology, ethnohistory, archeology, linguistics, musicology, and folklore between 1950 and 1982. Among these are a few unpublished items. Notes are relatively scant, there being somewhat appreciable materials for the Chippewa, Choctaw, Creek, Dakota, Omaha, Ponca, Seminole, and Shawnee. The chief field materials represented in the collection are sound recordings and photographs, but many of the latter are yet to be unidentified. A series of color photographs of Indian artifacts in folders are mostly identified and represent the extensive American Indian Cultural collection of costumes and artifacts that Howard acquired and created. Other documents include copies of papers and other research materials of colleagues. There is very little original material related to archeological work in the collection and that which is present concerns contract work for the Lone State Steel Company.
Scope and Contents:
The James Henri Howard papers document his research and professional activities from 1949-1982 and primarily deal with his work as an anthropologist, archeologist, and ethnologist, studying Native American languages & cultures. The collection consists of Series 1 correspondence; Series 2 writings and research, which consists of subject files (language and culture research materials), manuscripts, research proposals, Indian claim case materials, Howard's publications, publications of others, and bibliographical materials; Series 3 sound recordings of Native American music and dance; Series 4 photographs; and Series 5 drawings and artwork.
Howard was also a linguist, musicologist, and folklorist, as well as an informed and able practitioner in the fields of dance and handicrafts. His notable books include Choctaw Music and Dance; Oklahoma Seminoles: Medicines, Magic, and Religion; and Shawnee! The Ceremonialism of a Native American Tribe and its Cultural Background.
Some materials are oversize, specifically these three Winter Count items: 1. a Dakota Winter Count made of cloth in 1953 at the request of James H. Howard, 2. a drawing of British Museum Winter Count on 4 sheets of paper, and 3. Photographs of a Winter Count.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged in 5 series: Series 1. Correspondence, 1960-1982, undated; Series 2. Writings and Research, 1824-1992; Series 3. Sound Recordings, 1960-1979; Series 4. Photographs, 1879-1985; Series 5. Drawings and Artwork, 1928-1982.
Chronology:
1925 -- James Henri Howard was born on September 10 in Redfield, South Dakota.
1949 -- Received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Nebraska.
1950 -- Received his Master of Arts from the University of Nebraska and began a prolific record of publishing.
1950-1953 -- Began his first professional employment as an archaeologist and preparator at the North Dakota State Historical Museum in Bismarck.
1955-1957 -- Was a museum lecturer at the Kansas City (Missouri) Museum.
1957 -- James H. Howard received his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan. Joined the staff of the Smithsonian's River Basin Surveys in the summer.
1957-1963 -- Taught anthropology at the University of North Dakota.
1962 -- Chief archeologist at the Fortress of Louisberg Archeological Project in Nova Scotia.
1963-1968 -- Taught anthropology at the University of South Dakota; State Archeologist of South Dakota; Director of the W. H. Over Dakota Museum.
1963-1966 -- Director of the Institute of Indian Studies, University of South Dakota.
1968-1982 -- Associate professor of anthropology at Oklahoma State University at Stillwater (became a full professor in 1971).
1979 -- Consulted for exhibitions at the Western Heritage Museum in Omaha, Nebraska.
1982 -- Died October 1 after a brief illness.
Biographical/Historical note:
James H. Howard was trained in anthropology at the University of Nebraska (B.A., 1949; M.A., 1950) and the University of Michigan (Ph.D., 1957). In 1950-1953, he served as archeologist and preparator at the North Dakota State Historical Museum; and, in 1955-1957, he was on the staff of the Kansas City (Missouri) Museum. During the summer of 1957, he joined the staff of the Smithsonian's River Basin Surveys. Between 1957 and 1963, he taught anthropology at the Universtity of North Dakota. Between 1963 and 1968, he served in several capacities with the University of South Dakota including assistant and associate professor, director of the Institute of Indian Studies (1963-1966), and Director of the W.H. Over Museum (1963-1968). In 1968, he joined the Department of Sociology at Oklahoma State University, where he achieved the rank of professor in 1970. In 1979, he was a consultant for exhibitions at the Western Heritage Museum in Omaha, Nebraska.
Howard's abiding interest were the people of North America, whom he studied both as an ethnologist and archeologist. Between 1949 and 1982, he worked with the Ponca, Omaha, Yankton and Yaktonai Dakota, Yamasee, Plains Ojibwa (or Bungi), Delaware, Seneca-Cayuga, Prairie Potatwatomi of Kansas, Mississipi and Oklahoma Choctaw, Oklahoma Seminole, and Pawnee. His interest in these people varied from group to group. With some he carried out general culture studies; with other, special studies of such phenomena as ceremonies, art, dance, and music. For some, he was interest in environmental adaptation and land use, the latter particularly for the Pawnee, Yankton Dakota, Plains Ojibwa, Turtle Mountain Chippewa, and Ponca, for which he served as consultant and expert witness in suits brought before the United Stated Indian Claims Commisssion. A long-time museum man, Howard was also interested in items of Indian dress, articles associated with ceremonies, and other artifacts. He was "a thoroughgoing participant-observer and was a member of the Ponca Hethuska Society, a sharer in ceremonial activities of many Plains tribes, and a first-rate 'powwow man'." (American Anthropologist 1986, 88:692).
As an archeologist, Howard worked at Like-a-Fishhook Village in North Dakota, Spawn Mound and other sites in South Dakota, Gavin Point in Nebraska and South Dakota, Weston and Hogshooter sites in Oklahoma, and the Fortess of Louisbourg in Nova Scotia. He also conducted surveys for the Lone Star Steel Company in Haskall, Latimer, Le Flore and Pittsburg counties in Oklahoma.
Related Materials:
Howard's American Indian Cultural Collection of Costumes and Artifacts, that he acquired and created during his lifetime, is currently located at the Milwaukee Public Museum. In Boxes 19-21 of the James Henri Howard Papers, there are photographs with accompanying captions and descriptions in binders of his American Indian Cultural Collection of Costumes and Artifacts that his widow, Elfriede Heinze Howard, created in order to sell the collection to a museum.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by James Henri Howard's wife,
Elfriede Heinz Howard, in 1988-1990, 1992, & 1994.
Restrictions:
The James Henri Howard papers are open for research.
Access to the James Henri Howard papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Indians of North America -- Southern states Search this
Meskwaki (Fox) syllabic text on Swan dance handwritten by C.H. Chuck, with an English translation by Arthur Whitewater, a Kickapoo. On the first page of the Meskwaki text is a note in another hand: "Story told by Mr. Wah-be-neh no swah- or Mr. White Buffalo." The English translation is titled, "Story about one Indian being betrayed by Giant butterfly."
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 2739
Local Note:
Title changed from "Giant Butterfly (?); Swan (?) Legends" 4/25/2014.
Includes: Notes on Kickapoo clans, Mexican Kickapoo personal names, with meaning; by ref biog notes, clan affiliation. Notes on Death Ceremony of the Kickapoo, 9 pages. Death Ceremony of the Kickapoo explained, 9 pages. Miscellaneous notes on the following: Indian Dances (Soldier Dance); Kickapoo Spiritualism; Indian Love and Affection; Kickapoo Springs; Indian version of an old Ghost Story; Kickapoo Adoption; Shawnee ball-game; Kickapoo Games; Miscellaneous ethnological notes; copies of correspondence including a letter (copy) from the Department of Public Health regarding the use of peyote; biographical notes on Emma Kickapoo Williams Ellis, who made a "Democratic Quilt" and wrote to Franklin D. Roosevelt regarding it, and stating that if he were elected she would send the quilt to him; miscellaneous notes; 26 pages.
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Folklore
Narratives
Manuscripts
Date:
1930
Scope and Contents:
Notebook containing three stories handwritten in Kickapoo syllabary collected by Truman Michelson in Oklahoma. Michelson labelled the texts as Mexican Kickapoo. Two of the stories are titled "Bill H. Horse story (European)" (pages 1-17) and "The man who was blessed by an owl" (pages 18-47); the third story is untitled. "B.J." is written on the notebook cover, possibly referring to the author of the texts. According to the Bureau of American Ethnology catalog card, the author may be B.J. Johnson.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 3190
Local Note:
Title changed from "Legends summer 1930" 5/27/2014.
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Folklore
Narratives
Manuscripts
Date:
1930
Scope and Contents:
Three notebooks containing stories handwritten in Kickapoo by Joseph Murdock, a Mexican Kickapoo residing in Oklahoma. There are a few titles and notes written in English. The following is a list of the titles, translated into English. The list may not reflect the physical arrangement of the stories.
Contents: Where the people had a town and the chief had a son; Apparently something on Mide and Wabano; A story of where the people had a town and the man moved; A witch causes death; Hog (the end is very much like the last story in Jones' Kickapoo text and the so-called Meskwaki "Tiger" story from Jack Bullard); An old woman kills her daughter-in-law as she fell in love with her son-in-law (very much like Jones' Fox story. The ending is slightly different); What happened to a woman who hated her son-in-law (much the same as Jones' Fox story "How a girl hated the man who stayed with her parents; the bull frog episode appears in both); Skunk and opossum (almost exactly the same as Jones' Kickapoo story; ending is different); Raccoon tries to steal chickens and is caught by a Frenchman; story something like Wissler's "Split Feather" (the end is like one of Jones' Fox stories); V-dentata; a story almost like Jones' story of the man who married many women (the louse episode occured in both); Wisake and the "Flag"; story that begins like the bear lover, goes on almost like Jones' Kickapoo story (it is closer to the Apaiyashihagi story); The determination of paternity by passing ? the baby; Potiphar's wife (ending different from Jones' Kickapoo); a variant of Jones' Boy and the giant (the mayor's daughter episode is lacking and the ending is different); Snapping turtle on the war path; Snapping turtle runs a race with Black Hawk; White Blooms (a new story); Why Kickapoos did not eat Blackhawk, and the youth who fasted all month; (names of some Kickapoo months; A man lives with his son-in-law; An old man wishes his daughter to marry ("control of goods" under the "control of game"; some European elements); Story of Tootca (= grub worm) Lesbian; Ten men who were brothers together; (on last page apparently a summary of titles of stories running backward one page).
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 3189
Local Note:
Title changed from "Legends summer, 1930" 5/22/2014.
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Folklore
Narratives
Manuscripts
Field notes
Date:
1922, undated
Scope and Contents:
Kickapoo texts and linguistic and ethnographic notes collected by Truman Michelson. Michelson worked with the Kickapoo on multiple occassions in Oklahoma, and these materials were likely collected during one of those trips. There are multiple Kickapoo texts, but only one is accompanied by an English translation, which looks to be incomplete. Among the untranslated texts is the story of the rabbit cycle. There are also some notes with information from Joseph Murdock, a Mexican Kickapoo who frequently assisted Michelson in his research.
