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files include linguistic and ethnological field notes, reading notes, stories and myths, vocabularies, drawings, and unpublished and published manuscripts.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
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.
Photographs of Southeastern Native American people, homes, ceremonial grounds, and events made circa 1900s-1910s by John Reed Swanton. The lantern slides include images of southeastern rivers and bayous and historical maps. Additionally, there are a number of slides with notes and charts relating to linguistic comparisons.
Arrangement:
Swanton's original order has been maintained. The photographs are in alphabetical order by language group or tribe. Lantern slides are listed at the end.
Biographical/Historical note:
John Reed Swanton (1873-1958) was an ethnologist and ethnohistorian with the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) from 1900 until his retirement in 1944. Swanton spent his first few years at the BAE conducting research among the Haida and Tlingit communities of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, and published a number of significant articles on the language, ethnography, and folklore of Northwest Coast Tribes. His focus then shifted to Native Americans of the Southeastern United States.
In addition to conducting ethnographic fieldwork in the Southeast, Swanton studied the history of the area in order to better understand its indigenous cultures and is considered a pioneer in the field of ethnohistory. During his career Swanton published numerous articles and several major works on Southeastern Native Americans, including the reference work The Indians of the Southeastern United States, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 137, 1946.
Location of Other Archival Materials:
The National Anthropological Archives holds more than 200 manuscripts created or collected by Swanton.
Photographs relating to Swanton's work with the Tlingit are held in National Anthropological Archives Photo Lot 24.
The anthropology collections of the National Museum of Natural History hold objects collected by Swanton, including potsherds from various sites in Southeastern United States (accessions 111748, 113252, 122679, 129788, 165802, and 062577).
Restrictions:
The original nitrate negatives are in cold storage and require advanced notice for viewing.
Indians of North America -- Southern States Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Newsclippings
Place:
Alaska -- Names, place
Alaska -- Names, tribal
California
South America
Bolivia
Peru
Date:
ca. 1881-1886
Scope and Contents:
Contains vocabularies and other linguistic notes on a variety of American Indian languages. Mainly transcripts by Gatschet from other sources; includes some material recorded by Gatschet, and a few original manuscripts sent to him by others.
Contents: Alaska: Ms Vocabulary 1449, pages 49-52. Petroff, Ivan. "Aliaskan Names, Ivan Petroff." 2 pages, in A. S. Gatschet's handwriting. List of Alaskan place and tribal names with notes on each. Apalachee: Ms Vocabulary 1449, pages 103-104. [Gatschet, A. S.] Apalachee [vocabulary], with Pl[easant] Porter [Creek inft.]." 2 pages, in Gatschet's handwriting. Comparison of Apalachee words with Creek. Gatschet indicates: "(Copied in Apal. book, July 1889)." Beothuk: Ms. Vocabulary 1449, pages 27-41. [Gatschet, A. S.] Beothuk vocabularies, notes, and bibliographic references. 14 1/2 pages, mostly in Gatschet's handwriting. (pages 27-28 and 35-36 are in R. G. Latham's hand.) Working notes for Gatschet's published article on Beothuk -- comment by M. R. Haas, 11/58. California (Yuman ?): Ms Vocabulary 1449, pages 122-123; 124 (?) Brown, J. Ross Extract from "J. Ross Brown. Sketch of the exploration of lower Cal. San Franc[isco ?], 1869. H. H. Bancroft & Co., 177 pp." 2 pages, in A. S. Gatschet's handwriting. Miscellaneous notes on lower California tribes and languages, with list of some of the tribes in the area and their approximate locations. California: Ms Vocabulary 1449, page 148. [Gatschet, A. S.] Bibliographic references relating to California. 1 page, in A. S. Gatschet's handwriting. Furman, McDonald Ms Vocabulary 1449 file: Catawba. Page 159 "An Indian's Petition." No date. Newsclipping. 1 slip. Ms Vocabulary 1449 Woccon and Catawba comparative vocabulary No date. Autograph document. 6 pages. Pages 87-89 and 93-94. Ms Vocabulary 1449, page 186a and ff. Eells, M. Comparison of numerals in Chemakum, Quileute, and Hoh, 1 page and accompanying letter to A. S. Gatschet, August 24, 1883, from M. Eells, Skokomish, Mason Co., Wash., 2 pages, handwritten. Ms Vocabulary pages 108-110. [Gatschet, A. S.] "Mtn. Cherokee's names (topographical). Nimrod Tom Smith [inft ?], 1/2 breed, in Swain Co., North Car., P. O. Quallatown...April 18, '82." 3 pages, in Gatschet's handwriting. List of Cherokee place names and locations. Chippewa: Ms Vocabulary 1449, pages 178-80. [Gatschet, A. S.] "Odjibwe - Local and tribal names. Ign. Tomazin [inft.], Jan. 31, '83." 3 pages, in Gatschet's handwriting. Also (page 180) short extract from Dorman, Primitive Superstitions, page 148, on Ojibwa cannibalism, in Gatschet's handwriting.
Chitimacha: Ms Vocabulary 1449, page 85 (top). [Gatschet, A. S.] "Shetimasha" vocabulary of 8 words, translated into French. 1/2 page, in A. S. Gatschet's handwriting. Eskimo: Ms Vocabulary 1449, page 45. Hoffman, Dr W. J. "Eskimo text obtained by Dr W. J. Hoffman, at San Francisco, Cal., from Naumoff, an Eskimo from Kadiak..." No date. 1 page in A. S. Gatschet's handwriting. Includes text and inter-linear translation, plus translation of same story from sign language. Note by Gatschet indicates that text is not in Kodiak dialect. Eskimo (Chugach) Ms Vocabulary 1449, pages 53-66. Petroff, Ivan "Vocabulary of Tchugatch-Inuit. Taken by Ivan Petroff, in June, 1881, at various places, chiefly at Nu'tchik or Port Etches, abt. 60 1/2 N. Lat. From full bloods. 14 pages, in A. S. Gatschet's handwriting. Also contains comparison with "Tchiglit" (Kopagmiut), in Gatschet's handwriting. "Partly entered in Mscr. vocab. Vol. 3." Eskimo (Kuskwogmiut): Ms Vocabulary 1449, pages 76-84; 85-86; 95-96. [Petroff, Ivan ?] "Kuskokvog-miut (Inuit) [vocabulary], from Nicolai Kamilkoishin [?] native of the tribe educated at the Russian Mission, Yukon R., at Ikomiut." 13 pages, in A. S. Gatschet's handwriting. Partly entered in Mscr. vocabulary, Volume IIId (note in Gatschet's handwriting.) Eskimo: Ms Vocabulary 1449, page 249. W--, H. D. "A curious race. The Mutes of northern Alaska. Their manner of living. Peculiar family relations - superstitions and queer customs." From the San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday November 14, 1886. 1 page, newsclipping. Hitchiti: Ms Vocabulary 1449, page 203 (bottom), 204 (bottom), 205. Robertson, Mrs A. E. "Acts. VIV, ii in Hitchiti" (page 203); "Hitchiti words from Mrs Robertson" (204); "Hitchiti verbs, by Mrs Robertson" (205). 3 pages, in A. S. Gatschet's handwriting. Kiowa: Ms Vocabulary 1449, page 26. Gatschet, A. S. "Phonetics of the Kayowe Language, by Albert S. Gatschet. Read before the A.A.A.S., Cincinnati, 1881." 1 page, clipping from published article. Note in margin in Gatschet's handwriting reads: "Science of Sept. 17, 1881. By John Michels, New York."
Klamath: Ms Vocabulary 1449, pages 133-136; 143-147. [Gatschet, A. S.] Queries relating to the Klamath language by Gatschet, with answers written in by various Indians from the Klamath Agency, Oregon (cf. letter of J. G. Dennison, page 142 of this manuscript). 9 pages, partially in Gatschet's handwriting. Klamath: Ms 1449, pages 137-142. Denison, James D. "Story of the birth of Aisis," a Klamath legend, and accompanying letter from J. G. Dennison to A. S. Gatschet, August 29, 1880, Klamath Agency, Oregon. 6 pages, handwritten. Klamath: Ms Vocabulary 1449, pages 149-152. McCain, Frank Letter to A. S. Gatschet, January 30, 1880, from Frank McCain, Klamath Indian Agency, Lake Co., Oregon, containing 22 word Klamath vocabulary. 4 pages, handwritten. Koasati: Ms Vocabulary 1449, pages 102; 204. Robertson, Mrs A. E. [and A. S. Gatschet] "Koassadi. Supplement to words by Mrs A. E. Robertson, copied in Vocab. No. 2, obtained from [---illeg.]"; short vocabulary of verbs "from vocab. Vol 2, Koassati of Mrs Robertson"; and passage from "Actorum XIV, 11, in Koasata." 2 pages, in A S. Gatschet's handwriting. Page 102 contains a short list of Koasati words (probably from Mrs Robertson) with corresponding Choctaw equivalents (supplied by Gatschet [?] from the "Ch. grammar"; passage from Acts XIV, ii in Koasati with inter-linear translation, presumably by Gatschet; and list of Koasati verbs, no source mentioned. Page 204 contains the same bible passage in Koasati, with slightly different English translation, and list of same verbs, identified as being from "vocab. Vol 2...of Mrs Robertson." Pamunkey: Ms Vocabulary 1449, page 46. Dalrymple, Rev Mr 17 word Pamunkey vocabulary collected by Rev Dalrymple in 1844 at King William County, Virginia. (Hist Mag., N. Y. II, page 182) and short note from J. G. Shea. 1 page, in A. S. Gatschet's handwriting. See National Anthropological Archives Manuscript 4069, referring to the original of the Dalrymple Manuscript in Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore.
Seminole: Ms Vocabulary 1449, page 182. [Buckingham-Smith, etc. ?] "Seminole Local Names. Buck. Smith, Beach, p. 125 (with Stidham)." 1 page, in A. S. Gatschet's handwriting. South America (Mojo): Ms Vocabulary 1449, page 187. Marban, M. P. P. Pedro "Moxo 6 Mojo. M.P.P. Pedro Marban, de la Compania de Jesus, Superior [ ]. Arte de la Lengua Moxa, con su vacabulario y cathecismo. Colegio de San Pablo (Lima), 1701. pages 664, etc." 1 page, in Gatschet's handwriting. Notes on Mojo language. South America (Miscellaneous): Ms Vocabulary 1449, page 128. Rohde, [ ] "Rohde on Sudamerika"...(1883-84)." 1 page, in A. S. Gatschet's handwriting. Miscellaneous extracts relating to South American Indian tribes. South America (Miscellaneous): Ms Vocabulary 1449, page 97-101. Miscellaneous notes on South America copied by Gatschet from various published sources. 5 pages, in Gatschet's handwriting. South America Peru: (Quechua): Ms Vocabulary 1449, page 239. Bruhl, -- "Inquiries by Bruhl on Kechua. Oct. 1885." 1 page, in A. S. Gatschet's handwriting. 9 word Quechua vocabulary. Yokuts (Cholovone): Ms Vocabulary 1449, pages 231-236. Pinart, Alph. L. "Yatchikumne [Cholovone, in Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 30], near Stockton, Cal. Alp. L. Pinart, 1880." 6 pages, in A. S. Gatschet's handwriting. Notes (written in French) on the various Cholovone dialects, and vocabulary with some words translated into English and some into Spanish. Yuchi and Natchez: Ms Vocabulary 1449, page 106 Pike, Gen Albert "Elements of Inflection [of the verb to have]. Yuchi (Pike, p.--) & Naktche." 1 page, in A. S. Gatschet's handwriting. Yuchi and Natchez: Ms Vocabulary 1449, page 107 Pike, Gen. Albert "Albert Pike's Vocabularies, 18.... Yuchi & Naktche." 1 page, in A. S. Gatschet's handwriting. Comparison of 33 words in Yuchi and Natchez. Yuchi: Ms Vocabulary 1449, pages 201-203. Robertson, Mrs A. E. "Yutchi [vocabulary] transliterated from mscr. of Mrs. Robertson, 1873 ?." 3 pages, in Gatschet's handwriting. Also contains passage from bible (Acts XIV, ii) apparently in Yuchi, with interlinear translation.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection Citation:
Lee Ya-Ching Papers, NASM.2008.0009, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2017 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1988 Festival of American Folklife, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Musical History Search this
Extent:
18 Cubic feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Field notes
Audiotapes
Posters
Reports
Correspondence
Photographs
Place:
Appalachian Region
North Carolina
Virginia
Vermont
Date:
1964-1977
Summary:
The J. Scott Odell folk music collection (1945-2016, inclusive) contains AV recordings, photographs, correspondence, writings, and other materials relating to Odell's career at the Smithsonian as a musical instrument conservator and researcher of American music traditions. The collection largely consists of materials relating to Odell's research trips (often combined with personal visits) throughout the Eastern United States. Research strengths of the collection include the history of the Appalachian dulcimer and banjo, the Smithsonian Folkways project "Black Banjo Songsters," musician and poet Burt Porter, and the Bread and Puppet Theater.
Scope/Contents note:
The J. Scott Odell Folk Music Collection, which includes materials dating from 1945-2016, documents the research, professional work, and personal relations of J. Scott Odell (b. 1935). Odell worked at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History (NMAH) as a musical instrument conservator and traveled throughout the Eastern United States documenting a variety of musical instruments and traditions. The collection reflects his research trips and other travels; the development of exhibits and performance of music and dance at the Smithsonian; and the relationships Odell developed with the musicians, craftspeople, informants, and other people he worked with throughout his career.
Research strengths of this collection include notes, photographs, and recordings from Odell's fieldwork; extensive documentation of Odell's work on the Smithsonian Folkways project Black Banjo Songsters, in collaboration with folklorist Cecelia Conway; and materials pertaining to the Bread and Puppet Theater (based in Glover, Vermont). Significant places documented include southwest Virginia (Galax), nearby North Carolina (Shelton-Laurel), the surrounding tri-state area, and Vermont (Glover). Significant individuals represented in the collection include Odell, Burt Porter, Ralph Rinzler, and other well-known musicians. The most prominent instrument information in the collection relates to the banjo and the Appalachian dulcimer, although the American fiddle tradition and other instruments are also represented. Materials include photographs (negatives and prints), field notes, trip reports, correspondence, slides, writings, and AV materials. This collection may also be of interest to researchers of AV history and evolution. The wide variety of formats found in the collection maps the development of popular recording media. The collection includes open-reel tapes, Hi-8 tapes, DATs, mini-DV tapes, Betacam and Betacam SP tapes, VHS and SVHS tapes, cassettes, optical discs, mini-discs, and Zip discs.
This collection was initially established in 2008, when it was transferred from Archives Center at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History (NMAH) to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives & Collections (RRFAC), Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (CFCH). (NMAH Archives Center had received the collection from the Division of Musical History.) Since 2008, the collection has been significantly expanded, more than doubling in size between 2008 and 2016. (These additional materials can be found in Series 8, Accruals.) With these deposits, the scope of the collection expanded beyond Odell's Appalachian dulcimer research and instrument conservator duties to include his banjo research, travels, relationships with musicians (particularly Burt Porter), and involvement with the Bread and Puppet Theater.
Arrangement note:
The collection is arranged in eight series as follows: (1) Correspondence, 1963-1978; (2) Folk Instruments Research; (3) Collected Publications and Ephemera; (4) Collecting Trips; (5) Publications; (6) Sound Recordings; (7) Oversize Materials; and (8) Accruals. Within each series and subseries, folders are arranged thematically, alphabetically, and/or chronologically.
Series 1-7 reflect the order of the original transfer from the Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Series 8 (Accruals) encompasses several deposits made by Scott Odell of additional materials between 2011 and 2017. Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives staff, in collaboration with Odell, imposed order upon Series 8.
Researchers should note that, when performing research in Series 8 (Accruals), they might need to consult multiple boxes, even when working within a single subseries where the intellectual arrangement in the finding aid does not always align with the physical arrangement of the materials. This separation between the intellectual and physical arrangement is due in part to the order in which RRFAC received each deposit, the format of the materials (i.e., papers vs. photographs vs. AV items), and earlier digitization efforts.
Biographical/Historical note:
Jay Scott Odell (b. 1935) was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, to Adalberta Lavoie Odell and Jay Geddes Odell. The family moved frequently throughout his childhood, resulting in Odell having lived at fourteen different addresses and attending seven different schools by the time he graduated high school in 1953. When the family settled in Mamaroneck, New York, in 1950, Odell met poet Peter Kane Dufault, and musician and poet Burt Porter, two figures who would go on to strongly influence his personal and professional development. It was on the advice of Dufault, for example, that Odell apprenticed with harpsichord-maker William Dowd after college.
Odell attended Middlebury College where he met his future wife, Dorothy "Dottie" Hiebert. After graduating in 1957, Hiebert moved to France and Odell took a position on the boat of Dutch writer Jan DeHartog before joining Hiebert to travel Europe. By 1959, they had returned to the United States (Boston, Massachusetts) and married. It was at this point in their lives that they became active in the peace movement and the early Folk Revival. Odell's relationship with Burt Porter continued, and he developed contacts with other musicians including Peter and Polly Gott, Tom "Tom Banjo" Azarian, Mike Seeger, and Tracy Schwartz. The Odells also became involved with the Bread and Puppet Theater group, founded by Peter and Elka Schumann, which established its primary location in Glover, Vermont, near Porter's property.
Odell is particularly notable for his work in musical instrument conservation at the Smithsonian Institution and his involvement in the development of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. In 1963, following his harpsichord apprenticeship with William Dowd, Odell was hired by the Smithsonian as a musical instrument conservator. Under Cynthia Hoover and C. Malcolm Watkins, he established a restoration workshop for musical instruments at the National Museum of History and Technology, now the National Museum of American History. Over the course of his career, Odell served not only as a conservator but also as head of a technical laboratory and, eventually, as the first director of conservation at the National Museum of American History.
Odell was a key figure in the shifting philosophy of the musical instrument department regarding its collections and acquisition practices. With Hoover, Odell helped establish and facilitate a concert series with the mission of "[taking] the instruments out of their cases and [letting] them sing" – a major innovation in museum programming. Odell's commitment to bringing music history and traditions to life manifested in the expansion of the Smithsonian concert series, his relationship with Ralph Rinzler, and his early involvement with the Festival of American Folklife, now the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
Although his professional training was in working with historical keyboard instruments, Odell's lifelong interest in traditional and regional music had a significant impact on his career. Between 1964 and 1977, when Odell was head of the laboratory at the Smithsonian Institution's Division of Musical Instruments, he undertook a series of collecting trips throughout the Eastern United States to expand the Division's collection of traditional American instruments.
In 1964, Odell and Porter attended the Annual Galax Old Time Fiddlers Convention. Following this initial trip, Hoover and Watkins supported Odell's efforts to, in addition to acquiring objects for the collection, research and record the cultural contexts of those instruments. Over the course of these trips, Odell built personal relationships with many of the musicians and craftspeople with whom he worked, including the Melton-Russell family, Tommy Jarrell, and Fred Cockerham.
Odell retired in 1993, but continued contract work at the Smithsonian. Working for the National Museum of American History, he assisted with the care and description of the Museum's banjo collection, as well as the acquisition of the Grimes and Jeffries dulcimer collection. He has also maintained associations with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. In 1998, Odell co-produced a record through Smithsonian Folkways with folklorist Cecelia Conway titled "Black Banjo Songsters," which focused on the African American banjo tradition and featured many of the artists with whom Odell had built relationships.
Shared Stewardship of Collections:
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://folklife.si.edu/archives#shared-stewardship.
Related Materials note:
Materials relating to Odell's career at the Smithsonian can also be found in the Smithsonian Institution Archives (SIA), particularly in the records of the NMAH Musical History Division.
Materials relating to the Bread and Puppet Theater can also be found in the archives of the Bread and Puppet Theater (via the Internet Archive); the University of Vermont; and the University of California, Davis.
Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
L'art dans l'Afrique australe; impressions et souvenirs de mission, avec 220 dessins de l'auteur, dont 12 planches en couleur, 1 planche en noir et 207 illustrations dans le texte; préface deM. Philippe Berger ..
This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.
The materials in the David Crockett Graham Papers (Record Unit 7148) were sent to Alexander Wetmore, Director of the United States National Museum (USNM), between 1925
and 1935 by Graham. Wetmore deposited them in the Division of Ethnology, USNM. During 1948 and 1949, the diaries were sent to Graham, at his request, to copy and then returned
to the division. In addition, the division made prints from the negatives and sent the prints and negatives to Graham for verification. The negatives and some of the prints
were returned. The materials in this record unit were transferred to the Smithsonian Institution Archives from the National Museum of Natural History in 1973.
Descriptive Entry:
These papers of David Crockett Graham document Graham's field collecting trips and summer expeditions within Szechuan mostly in the vicinity of Suifu, the Min River
Valley, Mount Omei, the Szechuan-Yunnan border, and the Szechuan-Tibetan border regions. The collection consists chiefly of diaries and photographs covering the period between
1923 and 1935. The diaries document, for the most part, day to day activities pertaining to the collection of specimens for the United States National Museum (USNM), including
acquisition of specimens, shipping box numbers, comments on personnel involved with the collections, localities visited, and distances traveled. In addition, there are comments
on the social and political environment.
The photographs consist of a small number of black and white prints, most with annotation by Graham, and 609 black and white negatives. The negatives are copies made on
direct-duplicating film from the original nitrate negatives. In addition, the negatives were copied on 35mm microfilm, and a positive microfilm copy of the images is available
for viewing. There are also some lantern slides, which are duplicates from the negatives in the collection.
Included also are maps, hand-drawn by Graham of some of his expedition routes; and correspondence to Alexander Wetmore, director of the USNM, and to William deC. Ravenel,
administrative assistant, USNM, concerning shipments of specimens, diaries, and photographs.
Additional correspondence between David Crockett Graham and the USNM staff can be found in the following collections in the Archives: Division of Birds records (Record
Unit 105), Departments of Biology and Zoology records (Record Unit 143), Permanent Files of the USNM (Record Unit 192), Division of Mammals records (Record Unit 208), Division
of Fishes records (Record Unit 213), Accession Records of the USNM (Record Unit 305), and records of the Baird Ornithological Club (Record Unit 7100). Field notebooks kept
by Graham can be found in Collected Notes, Lists, Drawings, and Catalogs on Mammals (Record Unit 7217); and Joseph V. Riley's unpublished manuscripts on birds collected by
Graham can be found in the Riley Papers (Record Unit 7118).
Historical Note:
David Crockett Graham (1884-1961), missionary, educator, curator, author, and field collector, was born at Green Forest, Arkansas. He received a B. A. from Whitman
College, Walla Walla, Washington, in 1908. Graham then attended Rochester (New York) Theological Seminary (now Colgate Rochester Divinity School), where he completed his studies
in 1911, and from which he received his Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1916. Graham was ordained to the Baptist ministry in the First Baptist Church at Freeport, New York,
on April 8, 1911. Shortly afterward, Graham entered the service of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society.
Graham and his wife, Alicia May Morey Graham, departed for China from San Francisco in the fall of 1911. They first stopped briefly in Shanghai in order to acquaint themselves
with the Chinese language and culture. They were further delayed there by the outbreak of the 1911 revolution which toppled the Manchu dynasty. Finally in the fall of 1912,
the Grahams made their way to the city of Suifu (now Yibin) in the province of Szechuan (Sichuan), where they were stationed for the next twenty years. At Suifu, Graham gradually
assumed responsibility for missionary work and continued his study of the Chinese language, completing a five-year course then given to missionaries. Included in this course
were the Three-Word Classic, the four books of Confucius and Mencius, the Sacred Edict, the Fortunate Union, and the Five Classics of Confucius.
In the fall of 1918, Graham attended the Divinity School at the University of Chicago for a year of postgraduate study. His studies included, in addition to religious education,
the world's great religions, the history of religion, and the psychology of religion. Further courses taken at Chicago in the fall of 1926 during a year of doctoral study
covered anthropology, ethnology, and psychology of primitive peoples and religions. Graham's dissertation, "Religions in Szechuan Province, China," was published by the Smithsonian
Institution in 1928. In the spring of 1931 Graham took anthropology courses under Fay-Cooper Cole of the University of Chicago. From 1931 to 1932, Graham took courses in archeology,
ethnology, physical and cultural anthropology, and the methods of research at Harvard University. In 1929, Graham was made Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society of London.
In 1919 shortly before his return to China after a year of postgraduate study, Graham visited the Smithsonian Institution (S.I.) to offer to collect for the United States
National Museum (USNM) natural history specimens from Szechuan during his summer vacations and spare time from missionary work. The USNM agreed to provide supplies and some
financial support to pay for expenses. During the period from 1919 to 1939, Graham made fourteen summer expeditions in Szechuan, the Szechuan-Tibetan region, and the Szechuan-Yunnan
region, and several short field collecting trips in the vicinities of Suifu, and Chengtu. The specimens he sent to the USNM were mostly mammals, birds, insects, snakes, and
anthropological relics. In addition, he sent anthropological measurements of Chinese people, and Chinese aborigines common in Szechuan such as the Ch'uan Miao, Ch'iang, Lolo,
and the Bolstoi people, as well as their costumes and handicrafts.
Graham kept diaries detailing his activities, mostly during the 1924 to 1935 period. The areas Graham traveled included Tatsienlu (Kangding), Mount Omei (Emei Shan), the
Washan, Moupin, Ningyuenfu, Yachow (Ya'an), Kiating (Jiajiang), Mowchow, Chuan Gio Chi, Chungking (Chongqing), Fu Lin, Kongshien, Li Chuang, Wen Chuan Hsien, Songpan, and
Tibet. Graham employed and trained Chinese and Chinese aborigines to collect specimens for him. In recognition of Graham's work, the USNM appointed Graham a collaborator in
biology, an honorary title, on October 31, 1931.
In 1932, Graham was transferred to Chengtu (now Chengdu), the capital of Szechuan, where he was stationed until the spring of 1948. There, he taught archaeology and anthropology
at the West China Union University and was also Curator of the West China Union University Museum of Archaeology, Art, and Ethnology.
Graham was interested in the culture of the Chinese aborigines in Szechuan, mostly the Ch'uan Miao, and the Ch'iangs. Since becoming acquainted with the Ch'uan Miao in
1921, Graham was a principal figure in encouraging the Chinese government to establish schools in their homelands. One of Graham's Ch'uan Miao students at the missionary school
in Suifu became a trapper and collector for the SI Graham participated in the studies of the Ch'iangs under the directions of the National Ministry of Education of China,
and the Border Service Bureau of the Church of Christ, during 1941 and 1942.
After returning to the United States in 1948, Graham traveled for a year lecturing on his experiences. He retired to Englewood, Colorado, where he prepared his books on
the songs, folklore, and folk religions of the Ch'uan Miao and the Ch'iangs. These books were published by the Smithsonian Institution. Graham died in Denver on September
15, 1961.
Chronology:
1884, March 21 -- Born, Green Forest, Arkansas
1908 -- Bachelor of Arts, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington
1911 -- Completed studies, Rochester (New York) Theological Seminary
1911 -- Ordained as Baptist minister, First Baptist Church, Fairport, New York (April 8)
1911 -- Joined American Baptist Foreign Mission Society
1911 -- Sailed to China from San Francisco (September)
1911 -- Manchu dynasty overthrown. China becomes a republic (October 10)
1912 -- Began missionary work at Suifu, Szechuan, China (November)
1912-1918 -- Suifu
1916 -- Bachelor of Divinity, Rochester Theological Seminary
1918 -- Returned to the United States (Summer)
1918 -- Began correspondence with the United States National Museum regarding collecting natural history specimens from Szechuan for the Museum
1918 -- Entered the School of Divinity, University of Chicago for postgraduate study (October)
1919 -- Master of Arts, University of Chicago
1919 -- Visited the Smithsonian Institution (August 28)
1919 -- Returned to Suifu (November)
1920-1926 -- Suifu
1921 -- First meeting with the Ch'uan Miao, a Chinese aborigine tribe
1923 -- Expedition to Tatsienlu and Mount Omei
1924 -- Expedition to Songpan and the Yellow Dragon Gorge
1925 -- Expedition to Mount Omei, and the Washan (Tile Mountain)
1926 -- Returned to the United States; entered the University of Chicago for doctoral study
1927 -- Doctor of Philosophy degree, University of Chicago
1927 -- Arrived in Suifu (November 14)
1928-1930 -- Suifu
1928 -- Graham's Ph.D. dissertation, "Religion in Szechuan Province," published by the Smithsonian Institution (Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collection Volume 80, No.4)
1928 -- Expedition to Ningyuenfu via Yachow
1929 -- Expedition to Moupin; acquired Panda skin for S.I.
1929 -- Made Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society of London
1930 -- Expedition to Tatsienlu and Szechuan-Tibetan border region; collected 62,000 specimens, mostly insects
1930 -- Departed China via Peking (December)
1931 -- Attended the University of Chicago and Harvard University for advanced study in anthropology, archaeology, and ethnology
1931 -- Appointed Collaborator in Biology by the United States National Museum (October 31)
1932 -- Harvard University
1932 -- Reassigned to Chengtu, capital of Szechuan, arrived September 30
1932-1948 -- Taught anthropology and archaeology at the West China Union University, and served as curator of the West China Union University Museum of Archaeology, Art, and Ethnology in Chengtu
1933 -- Expedition to Wen Chuan Hsien and Mowchow; visited the Ch'iang, a Chinese aborigine tribe
1934 -- Expedition to Szechuan-Yunnan border region and Mount Omei; visited the Ch'uan Miao
1935 -- Expedition to Szechuan-Yunnan border region and Mount Omei (via different route from 1934 trip); visited the Ch'uan Miao
1939 -- United States on furlough (April-November)
1941 -- Traveled to the Min River Valley under the direction of the National Ministry of Education of China and the Border Service Bureau of the Church of Christ; visited the Ch'iang
1942 -- Ch'iang study continued under the direction of the Border Service Bureau of the Church of Christ
1945 -- David Crockett Graham Library of Science established by the West China Union University
1948 -- Retired from missionary work; departed from China (June)
1949-1961 -- Resided in Englewood, Colorado
1954 -- "Songs and Stories of the Ch'uan Miao," Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collection, No. 123
1958 -- "The Customs and Religion of the Ch'iang," Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collection, No. 135
1961, September 15 -- Died in Denver, Colorado, age 77
Indians of North America -- Northwest Coast of North America Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Portfolios
Photographs
Date:
ca. 1885-1889
Scope and Contents:
Concern Indians of the Northwest Coast, mainly Tlingit and Haida.
Contents: (1) "Rough Notes: Unarranged. Ethnology of the N. W. Coast of America. Rough material from which smooth manuscript was prepared." March 10, 1889. Approximately 190 pages. Appears similar to text of Niblack, "The Coast Indians of Southern Alaska and Northern British Columbia," U. S. National Museum Report for 1888, Washington, 1890, pages 225-386. (2) "Notes on Hydah Indians, Alaska." 1886. Notebook, 35 pages. (19 microframes.) (3) Letter received from [George] Barnett. No date. 2 pages. Encloses notes on "Indian Steam Bath," 2 pages, "Indian Doctors Dance," 4 pages. (4) Description of an Indian cremation witnessed at Sitka, Alaska during the winter of 1886-87." ("as described for the writer by Lieut. George Barnett, U. S. Marine Corps.") 3 pages. (5) Letters received from James G. Swan, Port Townsend, Washington Territory. Material on N. W. Coast myths and Haida ethnology. 18 pages, total. July 7, 1885. 2 pages. November 5, 1885. 4 pages. May 4, 1886. 2 pages. December 2, 1886. 4 pages. December 20, 1886. 2 pages. October 18, 1888. 4 pages. (6) Letter received from J. L. Gould, Hydah Mission, Jackson, Alaska. August 5, 1886. 2 pages. Promises to forward myths. (7) Story of the Thunder, by Mr John. [From J. L. Gould.] Hydah Mission, Alaska, 1886. 4 pages. (8) Story of the Flood, by Mr John. [From J. L. Gould.] Hydah Mission, Alaska, August 25, 1886. 5 pages. (9) Drafts of letters sent by Niblack to "Prof." [S. F. Baird, Smithsonian Institution ?] April, June, 1889. 3 letters, 14 pages. Concern details of publication of Niblack's report.
(10) Letter of G. M. Dawson to O. T. Mason. March 25, 1889. Discusses published references to the Haida. 3 pages. (11) The Glacier. Tlingit Training Academy, Fort Wrangell, Alaska. Volume 1, Number 10, September, 1886 and Volume 2, Number 18, May 1887. 8 pages, total. Include articles on myths. (12) "A Hydah Legend." Newspaper clipping, No date. 1 page. (13) Descriptions of artifacts, carvings, or drawings ? 9 pages, legal size. (14) Miscellaneous fragmentary notes on odd-sized slips. Extracts from published sources, small unidentified sketches, page from expense account, etc. Of doubtful value. Approximately 33 pages. (15) Draft of a manuscript on the Juan Fernandez Islands, with sections on Alexander Selkirk, Daniel Defoe, and Robinson Crusoe. Approximately 85 pages, much disordered. Also printed copy of William Minto, Daniel Defoe, New York, 1884, 106 pages. (16) Photographs. Distant views of village or villages with totem poles. 4 prints, identified only as "Key I," "Key II," etc. On each, totem poles are numbered in red ink, but there is no accompanying description of the numbered poles. (17) Printed material, including the following: Boas, Franz. "The Development of the Culture of Northwest America." Science, Volume 12, Number 299, October 26, 1888, pages 194-196. Illustrations clipped from C. E. S. Wood, "Among the Thlinkits in Alaska," The Century Magazine, volume 24, number 3, July, 1882. 7 illustrations.
Indians of North America -- California Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Vocabulary
Songs
Maps
Narratives
Place:
California -- History
Date:
1914-1922, 1933
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Southern California/Basin series contains John P. Harrington's research on Gabrielino.
One section consists of slips with notes on placenames, ethnic names, vocabulary, grammar, and ethnographic information. Some of the slips stem from a visit which Harrington and Kewen made to the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles, where Kewen supplied a linguistic and ethnographic treatment to artifacts encountered among the exhibits and to people and places mentioned therein. Some Juaneno terms are included. There is also a field notebook apparently written between March 22 and April 7, 1915. Kewen and Zalvidea supplied the information. Kewen's entries were typed over onto slips but Zalvidea's were not re-recorded. The material touches briefly upon placenames, local history, biographical data, and reminiscences. There are several sketch maps.
Harrington's linguistic and ethnographic field notes range 1914 to 1933. They are divided into three main sections based on the informant from whom Harrington elicited the original data between 1914 and 1922. With each section is a 1933 rehearing of the earlier material. Amongst the Gabrielino vocabulary, there are equivalences in Luiseno, Serrano, Juaneno, and Cahuilla. The field notes also contain placenames, personal names, local history, and ethnographic statements.
The subseries also contains texts of songs. Over fifty songs were contributed by Jesus Jauro in 1933, including two Serrano songs with Gabrielino translation. Apparently this group was recorded on numbered aluminum discs, but the discs have not been located.
There is also a section of miscellaneous notes, containing stories, folklore, anecdotes, and mentions of local events from Kewen. There are also biographical data, lists and questionnaires, a typescript of the Montano 1915 semantic vocabulary, a text for a Gabrielino museum exhibit, notes on morphology, and scattered linguistic and nonlinguistic rough notes.
Biographical / Historical:
John P. Harrington's work on Gabrielino falls generally into two time frames, one between 1914 and 1922 and a second in 1933. The first specifically documented date is March 1914 when he copied entries from the records at Mission San Gabriel. At the same time he was in touch with Jose Maria Zalvidea from whom he elicited data on March 29,1914, and again between April 14 and 19 of the same year. Zalvidea became one of Harrington's principal informants, working with him in 1915, 1916, and 1917. Another prolific informant was Jose de los Santos Juncos. Because he was reputed to be exceptionally bright, de los Santos Juncos had been dubbed "Kewen," the name of a local attorney. The nickname was apparently universally used; it was taken up by Harrington and it is the one adopted for this description. Harrington worked with Kewen between 1914 and 1916 and again in December 1918. The third principal informant of the earlier phase was Felicita[s] Serrano Montano. She provided a vocabulary dated February 24, 1915, and continued to supply information in 1916 and 1918. In 1922, Montano reheard some of her original 1915 data. Thomas Cooper was a nonlinguistic informant during the early phase. By July 1932, Harrington had located Jesus Jauro (Jes.), one of the few remaining Gabrielino speakers. In January 1933 he worked assiduously with the ninety-year-old Jauro, rehearing the material obtained from Zalvidea, Kewen, and particularly Montano.
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
Songs
Narratives
Maps
Place:
California -- Languages
California -- History
Date:
1919-1947
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Southern California/Basin series contains John P. Harrington's research on Luiseno and Juaneno.
The Luiseno linguistic and ethnographic notes consist mainly of notes elicited from Maria Jesusa Omish and Maria Jesusa Soto in 1933 and from Bernardo Cuevas in 1934. The material is a random rehearing of the information which Harrington assembled for Chinigchinich ... with continued refinements of terms from DuBois and Kroeber. Substantial amounts of ethnographic information were recorded. A Gabrielino Indian, Jose Juan Jauro, was credited with an occasional Juaneno and Ventureno term. A group of Sparkman terms was reheard in 1934 with Micaela Calec and with Juan S. Calac, Willie [Calac], and Victor Meza. Jesus Jauro provided a few Gabrielino and Serrano terms.
A large section of the Luiseno vocabulary is arranged semantically; the notes were accumulated between 1932 and 1934 with elicitations from more than fifteen informants. Juaneno, Diegueno, Cahuilla, and Gabrielino terms were also recorded. Animals, ceremonies, placenames, and plant names contain the largest amounts of material. Included among the notes are first-hand recollections of events which the informants witnessed or participated in, bits of local biography, and ethnographic miscellany. There is also an earlier vocabulary, possibly from Cecilia Tortes, dated May 17, 1919.
Records of his placename trips cover information recorded in 1925, 1932, 1933, and 1934 from his trips to Corona, Elsinore, Hemet, Mesa Grande, Murietta rancheria, San Jacinto, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Soboba, Warner Springs, and many smaller sites between these points. He traveled with many Luiseno speakers and interviewed local residents along the way, noting the mileage between sites, and often sketching rough maps of the area. The result is a journal of linguistic, ethnographic, and geographic material, which is unfortunately somewhat difficult to read. Some Cupeno and Diego terms were recorded.
The Luiseno texts contains Chinigchinich songs composed by Jose Luis Albanez in the 1870s and 1880s. A small group of songs sung by Encarnaciona and Juan Calac were recorded for Harrington by Josephine Porter Cook in 1934 and 1935. No corresponding discs have been located in N.A.A. The related notes comprise linguistic annotations and often an English precis of the song text. A typescript titled "Notes for the Use of Miss Roberts" refers to the ethnomusicologist Helen H. Roberts. The document covers topics of an instructive nature such as the linguistics of song, the ethnography of song, musical accompaniment, dances, etc. Three Luiseno texts from Adan Castillo contain interlinear English or Spanish translations. Also present is the beginning of a possible paper titled "Southern California Indian Legends for Children" and dated 1947. Some of the stories are in English only.
The Juaneno vocabulary is limited to plant names elicited from Anastacia de Majel, with a few Luiseno equivalences from Jose Albanez. There are some incidental ethnographic observations.
The Juaneno linguistic and ethnographic notes section contains notes copied from the notebooks of Father St. John O'Sullivan of the Mission San Juan Capistrano. Most of the information is of an ethnographic nature from a number of informants, although some original linguistic data was supplied to O'Sullivan by Jose de la Gracia Cruz, known as Acu. Acu's reliability, unfortunately, was questionable. There is a mixture of anecdotes, reminiscences, stories, folklore, hymns, ethnohistory, and related miscellany. Some stories may be Luiseno rather than Juaneno.The linguistic content was reheard with Anastacia de Majel. Eustaquio Lugo added some Juaneno and Luiseno terms. There are also notes copied from San Juan Capistrano Mission records. A file of fieldwork with de Majel, which probably took place in 1933, resulted in substantial amounts of both linguistic and ethnographic information, with some Luiseno input from Albanez.
The rehearings of Sparkman data section contains Juaneno and Luiseno data. Some of the rehearings were conducted by Harrington's nephew, Arthur E. Harrington, who worked with de Majel.
Among the drafts and notes for Chingchinich are Luiseno annotations of Robinson's 1846 translation of Boscana's account. There are also incomplete, initial drafts of translations of Boscana's account into Catalonian and literary Spanish by E. Vigo Mestres and into Luiseno by Albanez.
Rehearings of notes used for Chinigchinch include information on material culture, names of persons, placenames, and more stories and anecdotes. Vocabulary and especially orthography were accorded detailed attention. Rehearings of terms from DuBois are included and some Luiseno equivalences.
Notes and drafts for Boscana's original manuscript contains the results of his fieldwork among Luiseno and Juaneno speakers in 1934 as part of his plan to publish annotations of the manuscript. Harrington worked with many of the same people, particularly Anastacia de Majel and Jose Olivas Albanez. Adan Castillo gave a number of Luiseno and Cahuilla terms for the phonetic section. Harrington worked from a numbered typescript of the original Spanish manuscript. This triple-spaced material is interfiled with related ethnographic and linguistic handwritten notes. A second complete typed copy of the Spanish manuscript is filed separately.
Biographical / Historical:
Aside from a continuing effort to record the languages of the "Mission Indians of California," John P. Harrington's study of Luiseno and Juaneno sprang from two main roots. The first was his interest in providing a linguistic treatment of Alfred Robinson's 1846 translation of Father Geronimo Boscana's account of the Indians of San Juan Capistrano Mission. The second involved plans for extensive rehearings of Philip Stedman Sparkman's Luiseno vocabulary collected between 1899 and 1906. The Bancroft Library in Berkeley, California, holds this manuscript, the title page of which reads as follows: "The Luiseno Language, Being the language spoken by the San Luis Rey, San Luis, or Luiseno Indians of Southern California. A Shoshonean dialect. Written by P. S. Sparkman, at the Rincon, San Diego County, California, 1899 to 1906." It consists of 713 leaves of typescript, with annotations and revisions by Alfred L. Kroeber.
Harrington began serious and thorough work on the annotations for Boscana's historical account in March of 1932. His interest continued until at least, and probably past, April 1936 and resulted in two publications and extensive notes on a proposed third publication. Harrington was convinced that Boscana's account, probably written between 1820 and 1822, stood alone as an early ethnological document on the Spanish Missionary period in California and was therefore an ideal subject for major ethnographic and linguistic amplifications. The work proceeded in three general phases.
The first phase culminated in the publication early in 1933 of Harrington's book titled Chinigchinich: A Revised and Annotated Version of Alfred Robinson's Translation of Father Geronimo Boscana's Historical Account of the Belief, Usages, Customs and Extravagencies [sic] of the Indians of This Mission of San Juan Capistrano called the Acagchemem Tribe. The linguistic material is chiefly Luiseno.
In 1933 while Chinigchinich ... was still in the printing process, Harrington began a second round of rehearings, this time focusing mainly on the Juaneno language. This period forms the second cohesive phase.
Meanwhile a search initiated in 1932 for Boscana's original manuscript was completed. Abel Doysie wrote from Paris that he had discovered the original document in the Bibliotheque Nationale. M. Doysie photographed the sixty-page manuscript and sent it to Harrington on January 3, 1933. Harrington's translation, A New Original Version of Boscana's Historical Account of the San Juan Capistrano Indians of Southern California, appeared in June 1934. In the introduction, Harrington stated that "it is an 1822 variant of the Historical Account that Robinson translated, each version containing certain important data that the other omits. " The new manuscript contained fifteen chapters; the Robinson translation had sixteen.
On page 3, Harrington mentioned "exhaustive notes" for a later volume of annotations to the translation and although in 1936 he received a {dollar}500 grant from the Social Research Council to carry through this plan, the annotations were not published. Phase three, however, centers around this endeavor. In 1935 and 1936, Harrington copied and reorganized hundreds of pages of notes and added new data preparatory to the proposed third publication.
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.
Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee : with a statistical account of that kingdom, and geographical notices of other parts of the interior of Africa / by T. Edward Bowdich
Title:
Mission to Ashantee
Author:
Bowdich, T. Edward (Thomas Edward) 1791-1824 Search this
