Ethel Cutler Freeman was an amateur Seminole specialist and research associate with the American Museum of Natural History. Her papers also reflect field work among the Arapaho, Shoshoni, Navaho, Pueblo, Hopi, Kickapoo, and people of the Virgin Islands, the Bahama Islands, and Haiti, and the music and chants of Africa, including those of the Maasai, Zulu, and Pygmies. A small amount of material relates to the Hoover Commission on Indian Affairs, of which Freeman was a member. Correspondents include several Seminole Indians and government officials, personal acquaintances, organizations, and associates of the American Museum of Natural History.
Scope and Contents:
These papers reflect the anthropological interests of Ethel Cutler Freeman. The papers in this collection include her notes and diaries, published articles, unfinished manuscripts, and source materials. The bulk of the collection is material relating to the Seminole Indians of Florida.
Mrs. Freeman also made several trips to the Southwest and Mexico to study such tribes as the Arapaho, Shoshone, Navajo, Pueblo, and Hopi. There is substantial information from these studies included in this collection. She also made less extensive studies of various other cultures in the Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, and Haiti. In 1950, she studied tribal music and chants of several African tribes and the material from these studies forms the major portion of Series 7.
The collection also contains several sound recordings made by Freeman and numerous photographs, negatives, and slides. During rehousing, additional materials including index cards and notebooks from field trips were located and incorporated into the collection. A small amount of material relates to the Hoover Commission on Indian Affairs, of which Freeman was a member.
Correspondents include several Seminole Indians and government officials, personal acquaintances, organizations, and associates of the American Museum of Natural History as well as Dean Amadon, Richard Archbold, Conrad M. Arensberg, Dana W. Atchley, Jacques Barzun, Ruth Benedict, Leonard J. Brass, Louis Capron, Frances Densmore, Margery S. Douglas, John W. Griffin, A.J. Hanna, Ronald F. Lee, Margaret Mead, Robert Cushman Murphy, Kenneth W. Porter, Harry L. Shapiro, Howard Sharp, Frank Speck, Charlton W. Tebean, and Clark Wissler.
Although the majority of the collection spans the years 1934 to 1972, there are some items with dates that fall outside of this range. Some published materials are dated as early as 1822 and one note is dated 1975 and was added to the collection after Freeman's death in 1972. The folders containing these items have been dated accordingly, but these outlier dates have not affected the dates of the sub-series or series.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 15 series: (1) Biographical information and miscellaneous personal papers, 1939-1971; (2) Correspondence, 1936-1972; (3) Manuscripts, 1936-1971; (4) Source Material, 1934-1970; (5) Seminole Indians, 1934-1972; (6) North American Indians, 1936-1971; (7) Cultures other than North American Indian, 1943-1970; (8) Meetings, 1956-1968; (9) Printed materials, 1936-1972; (10) Pamphlets, 1935-1970; (11) Population and Material Culture, 1939, 1951-1963; (12) Sound recordings, 1940-1958, 1969-1970; (13) Lists of Photographs, 1939-1970; (14) Photographs, 1936-1971; (15) Index Cards, undated
Biographical Note:
Ethel Cutler Freeman was born in 1886 in Morristown, New Jersey. Freeman was the daughter of a prosperous family, which gave her the opportunity to study abroad in England at Mademoiselle Marie Souvestre's Academy for girls. After studying in England, Freeman returned to the United States and was married to Leon S. Freeman, a New York broker, in 1909.
By 1934, Freeman had become bored with the typical social activities available to her; while discussing the matter with a friend, Marcellus Hartley Dodge, she described herself as having a "brain full of cobwebs." Dodge, a former trustee at Columbia University, suggested that Freeman enroll in some courses at Columbia. Acting on Dodge's advice, Freeman started taking graduate courses in psychology and sociology at Columbia University, but soon became fascinated with anthropology. During her studies at Columbia, Freeman spent time in the western United States studying the Arapaho and Shoshone while her husband recuperated from a horse riding accident; it was at this point that she developed a taste for field work and an interest in Native American cultures. After completing her studies, Freeman decided that she wanted to study the Seminole people of Florida, near whom she and her family owned a winter home in Naples.
Back on the East Coast, Freeman met Dr. Clark Wissler, then Curator of the Indian Division of the American Museum of Natural History. Wissler was supportive of Freeman's aspirations to continue her anthropological studies, but balked at her expressed interest in the Seminole, whom at that time had a reputation for not being open to contact with outsiders. Undaunted, Freeman contacted W. Stanley Hansen, the man in charge of Seminole settlement; after repeated correspondence with Hansen convinced him she was no mere hobbyist, he agreed to help her make connections within the Seminole community.
Freeman made two visits to the Big Cypress Reservation for the American Museum of Natural History with a government representative before taking her 14-year-old daughter, Condict, and 12-year-old son, Leon Jr., for an extended stay with a group of Seminoles at the heart of the Everglades in February of 1940. After that first winter stay with the Seminoles, Freeman spent virtually every winter living within their remote communities and studying their culture. Over time, Dr. Wissler became impressed by Freeman's thorough and insightful reports and analysis of her findings among the Seminoles and got the American Museum of Natural History to back her winter field studies. Eventually Freeman's work gained her a reputation for being an expert on Seminole culture, which often placed her in the role of consultant to government agencies on issues dealing with Seminole and broader Native American concerns.
As a result of her long acquaintance with the Seminoles, Freeman also became interested in how different groups of Native Americans and other cultures adapted to changes brought about by contact with modern society. Freeman made several trips to the Southwestern United States and Mexico to study such tribes as the Arapaho, Shoshone, Navajo, Pueblo, Choctaw, and Hopi; she also made less extensive studies of various other cultures in the Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, and Haiti. In 1950, Freeman went to Africa to study tribal music and chants of several tribes. Much later, in 1968, the American Museum of Natural History sent Freeman to Portugal to study local costumes.
In the 1940s, Freeman took part in publishing studies for the Department of Agriculture about the Seminoles and worked as an advocate for the Navajo, who at that time were in tense relations with the United States government over their living conditions. From 1947 to 1957, Freeman worked as a representative for the American Civil Liberties Union on the National Coordinating Committee for Indian Affairs; she also was a member of the Indian Rights Committee for the American Civil Liberties Union from 1946 to 1966. From 1948 to 1950, Freeman served as a member of the Hoover Commission for Reorganization of Government within the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Throughout her studies in the field and her activities as an advocate for Native American rights, Freeman published her work frequently and gave many talks at a variety of conferences and special events. In 1964, Freeman traveled to Moscow to deliver her paper, "The Correlation between Directed Culture Change and Self Determination," at the 7th International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences; she attended the same conference series the following year in Japan to deliver another paper, entitled "Lawlessness in an Indian Tribe as a Microcosm of a World Trend." Freeman continued visiting and studying the Seminoles in Florida late into her career, making her last visit the year before her death.
Ethel Cutler Freeman died on July 14th, 1972.
Sources Consulted
Letter to Mrs. Margaret Blaker, Archivist at the Smithsonian Institution's Anthropological Archives; Washington, D.C. from Ethel Cutler Freeman. Dated April 24, 1972. Located in vertical files, folders on Ethel Cutler Freeman, in the reading room of the National Anthropological Archives.
"Morristown Anthropologist; Mrs. Leon Freeman Likes Seminole Indians." Newark Sunday News, February 16, 1947.
"New Vernon Woman, Indian Authority." The Morris Observer, October 13, 1955.
"She's 'Hooked' On Seminole Indians: Leading Authority On That World." Daily Record, March 6, 1970.
"The Sentinel Visits--Indian Authority Mrs. Leon Freeman: Who Is Now Working To Rescue A Nation." Sunday Sentinel, February 2, 1947.
Chronology
1886 -- Born in Morristown, New Jersey.
1909 -- Married Leon S. Freeman.
1934 -- Began taking graduate courses at Columbia University in philosophy before changing to anthropology.
1936 -- Field work with the Arapaho and Shoshone.
1938 -- Joined American Anthropological Association. First became associated with American Museum of Natural History.
1939-1943 -- Winter field work with Florida Seminoles.
1940-1948 -- Special Field Assistant, American Museum of Natural History.
1943 -- Joined American Ethnological Society.
1944 -- Field work in Mexico searching for a lost tribe of Seminoles; studied the Mascogas, Papagos, and Kickapoo.
1945 -- Field work in New Mexico, studying the Pueblo and Navajo.
1946 -- Joined the Society of Women Geographers. Field work with the Navajo, Papago, and Hopi.
1946-1948 -- Winter field work with Florida Seminoles.
1947 -- Field work with the Navajo, Papago, and Pueblo.
1947-1957 -- Represented the American Civil Liberties Union on the National Coordinating Committee for Indian Affairs.
1947-1966 -- Member Indian Rights Committee, American Civil Liberties Union.
1948 -- Appointed first female trustee of the American Institute of Anthropology. Became Field Associate, American Museum of Natural History.
1948-1950 -- Member Hoover Commission for Reorganization of Government – Bureau of Indian Affairs.
1949 -- Field work in the Bahamas, studying native culture.
1950 -- Field work in Africa, studying the Zulu, Masai, and pygmy peoples.
1951 -- Winter field work with Florida Seminoles.
1952 -- Field work studying native cultures of the Virgin Islands and Haiti.
1953-1955 -- Winter field work with Florida Seminoles.
1955-1957 -- Acting Chairman, American Civil Liberties Union.
1957 -- Field work studying Mexican Seminoles.
1957-1958 -- Winter field work with Florida Seminoles.
1959 -- Attended annual meeting of American Anthropological Association in Mexico City.
1960-1965 -- Winter field work with Florida Seminoles.
1963 -- Field work in Oklahoma, studying Seminoles.
1964 -- Presented paper, "The Correlation between Directed Culture Change and Self Determination" VII International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, Moscow.
1968 -- Studied costumes of Portugal for American Museum of Natural History.
1965 -- Presented paper, "Lawlessness in an Indian Tribe as a Microcosm of a World Trend" VIII International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan.
1970-1971 -- Winter field work with Florida Seminoles.
1972 -- Field work in Portugal and the Azores. Died, July 14.
Selected Bibliography
1942 -- Freeman, Ethel Cutler. "We Live with the Seminoles," Natural History 49, no. 4 (April 1942): 226-236.
1944 -- Freeman, Ethel Cutler. "The Seminole Woman of the Big Cypress and Her Influence in Modern Life," América Indígena 4, no. 2 (April 1944), 123-128.
1960 -- Freeman, Ethel Cutler. "Culture Stability and Change among the Seminoles of Florida." In Men and Cultures: Selected Papers of the Fifth International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, Philadelphia, September 1-9, 1956, edited by Anthony F.C. Wallace, 249-254. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1960. Freeman, Ethel Cutler. "Directed Culture-Change and Selfdetermination in Superordinate and Subordinate Societies," Proceedings of the 7th International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences 4, Moscow (August 1964), 85-90.
1961 -- Freeman, Ethel Cutler. "The Happy Life in the City of Ghosts: An Analysis of a Mikasuki Myth," The Florida Anthropologist 14, nos. 1-2 (March-June 1961), 23-36.
1964 -- Freeman, Ethel Cutler. "Directed Culture-Change and Selfdetermination in Superordinate and Subordinate Societies," Proceedings of the 7th International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences 4, Moscow (August 1964), 85-90.
1965 -- Freeman, Ethel Cutler. "Two Types of Cultural Response to External Pressures Among the Florida Seminoles," Anthropological Quarterly 38, no. 2 (April 1965), 55-61.
1968 -- Freeman, Ethel Cutler. "Lawlessness in an Indian Tribe as a Microcosm of a World Trend," Proceedings of the VIIIth International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, 1968, Tokyo and Kyoto (Tokyo: Science Council of Japan, 1968) 191-193.
Related Materials:
Photo lot 62, W. Stanley Hanson photographs of Seminole Indians in Florida, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Objects donated by Ethel Cutler Freeman held in Department of Anthropology collections in accession 319549.
The Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum on the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation also holds an Ethel Cutler Freeman collection.
Separated Materials:
Film materials were transfered to the Human Studies Film Archive under the accession numbers HSFA 1986.11.8 (African footage) and HSFA 1986.11.9 (Seminole footage).
Provenance:
The papers of Ethel Cutler Freeman were left to the National Anthropological Archives by the terms of her will. Her son, Leon Freeman, Jr., donated the collection to NAA in August 1972.
Restrictions:
By Ethel Freeman's instructions, the collection was restricted for ten years dating from the receipt and signing of the release forms on October 12, 1972. Literary property rights to the unpublished materials in the collection were donated to the National Anthropological Archives.
Access to the Ethel Cutler Freeman papers requires an appointment.
Seminole recordings cannot be accessed without the permission of the Seminole Tribe.
These records are the official minutes of the Board. They are compiled at the direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian, who is also secretary to the Board, after
approval by the Regents' Executive Committee and by the Regents themselves. The minutes are edited, not a verbatim account of proceedings. For reasons unknown, there are no
manuscript minutes for the period from 1857 through 1890; and researchers must rely on printed minutes published in the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution instead.
Minutes are transferred regularly from the Secretary's Office to the Archives. Minutes less than 15 years old are closed to researchers. Indexes exist for the period from
1907 to 1946 and can be useful.
Historical Note:
The Smithsonian Institution was created by authority of an Act of Congress approved August 10, 1846. The Act entrusted direction of the Smithsonian to a body called
the Establishment, composed of the President; the Vice President; the Chief Justice of the United States; the secretaries of State, War, Navy, Interior, and Agriculture; the
Attorney General; and the Postmaster General. In fact, however, the Establishment last met in 1877, and control of the Smithsonian has always been exercised by its Board of
Regents. The membership of the Regents consists of the Vice President and the Chief Justice of the United States; three members each of the Senate and House of Representatives;
two citizens of the District of Columbia; and seven citizens of the several states, no two from the same state. (Prior to 1970 the category of Citizen Regents not residents
of Washington consisted of four members). By custom the Chief Justice is Chancellor. The office was at first held by the Vice President. However, when Millard Fillmore succeeded
to the presidency on the death of Zachary Taylor in 1851, Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney was chosen in his stead. The office has always been filled by the Chief Justice
since that time.
The Regents of the Smithsonian have included distinguished Americans from many walks of life. Ex officio members (Vice President) have been: Spiro T. Agnew, Chester A.
Arthur, Allen W. Barkley, John C. Breckenridge, George Bush, Schuyler Colfax, Calvin Coolidge, Charles Curtis, George M. Dallas, Charles G. Dawes, Charles W. Fairbanks, Millard
Fillmore, Gerald R. Ford, John N. Garner, Hannibal Hamlin, Thomas A. Hendricks, Garret A. Hobart, Hubert H. Humphrey, Andrew Johnson, Lyndon B. Johnson, William R. King, Thomas
R. Marshall, Walter F. Mondale, Levi P. Morton, Richard M. Nixon, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Theodore Roosevelt, James S. Sherman, Adlai E. Stevenson, Harry S. Truman, Henry A.
Wallace, William A. Wheeler, Henry Wilson.
Ex officio members (Chief Justice) have been: Roger B. Taney, Salmon P. Chase, Nathan Clifford, Morrison R. Waite, Samuel F. Miller, Melville W. Fuller, Edward D. White,
William Howard Taft, Charles Evans Hughes, Harlan F. Stone, Fred M. Vinson, Earl Warren, Warren E. Burger.
Regents on the part of the Senate have been: Clinton P. Anderson, Newton Booth, Sidney Breese, Lewis Cass, Robert Milledge Charlton, Bennet Champ Clark, Francis M. Cockrell,
Shelby Moore Cullom, Garrett Davis, Jefferson Davis, George Franklin Edmunds, George Evans, Edwin J. Garn, Walter F. George, Barry Goldwater, George Gray, Hannibal Hamlin,
Nathaniel Peter Hill, George Frisbie Hoar, Henry French Hollis, Henry M. Jackson, William Lindsay, Henry Cabot Lodge, Medill McCormick, James Murray Mason, Samuel Bell Maxey,
Robert B. Morgan, Frank E. Moss, Claiborne Pell, George Wharton Pepper, David A. Reed, Leverett Saltonstall, Hugh Scott, Alexander H. Smith, Robert A. Taft, Lyman Trumbull,
Wallace H. White, Jr., Robert Enoch Withers.
Regents on the part of the House of Representatives have included: Edward P. Boland, Frank T. Bow, William Campbell Breckenridge, Overton Brooks, Benjamin Butterworth,
Clarence Cannon, Lucius Cartrell, Hiester Clymer, William Colcock, William P. Cole, Jr., Maurice Connolly, Silvio O. Conte, Edward E. Cox, Edward H. Crump, John Dalzell, Nathaniel
Deering, Hugh A. Dinsmore, William English, John Farnsworth, Scott Ferris, Graham Fitch, James Garfield, Charles L. Gifford, T. Alan Goldsborough, Frank L. Greene, Gerry Hazleton,
Benjamin Hill, Henry Hilliard, Ebenezer Hoar, William Hough, William M. Howard, Albert Johnson, Leroy Johnson, Joseph Johnston, Michael Kirwan, James T. Lloyd, Robert Luce,
Robert McClelland, Samuel K. McConnell, Jr., George H. Mahon, George McCrary, Edward McPherson, James R. Mann, George Perkins Marsh, Norman Y. Mineta, A. J. Monteague, R.
Walton Moore, Walter H. Newton, Robert Dale Owen, James Patterson, William Phelps, Luke Poland, John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn, B. Carroll Reece, Ernest W. Roberts, Otho Robards
Singleton, Frank Thompson, Jr., John M. Vorys, Hiram Warner, Joseph Wheeler.
Citizen Regents have been: David C. Acheson, Louis Agassiz, James B. Angell, Anne L. Armstrong, William Backhouse Astor, J. Paul Austin, Alexander Dallas Bache, George
Edmund Badger, George Bancroft, Alexander Graham Bell, James Gabriel Berrett, John McPherson Berrien, Robert W. Bingham, Sayles Jenks Bowen, William G. Bowen, Robert S. Brookings,
John Nicholas Brown, William A. M. Burden, Vannevar Bush, Charles F. Choate, Jr., Rufus Choate, Arthur H. Compton, Henry David Cooke, Henry Coppee, Samuel Sullivan Cox, Edward
H. Crump, James Dwight Dana, Harvey N. Davis, William Lewis Dayton, Everette Lee Degolyer, Richard Delafield, Frederic A. Delano, Charles Devens, Matthew Gault Emery, Cornelius
Conway Felton, Robert V. Fleming, Murray Gell-Mann, Robert F. Goheen, Asa Gray, George Gray, Crawford Hallock Greenwalt, Nancy Hanks, Caryl Parker Haskins, Gideon Hawley,
John B. Henderson, John B. Henderson, Jr., A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., Gardner Greene Hubbard, Charles Evans Hughes, Carlisle H. Humelsine, Jerome C. Hunsaker, William Preston
Johnston, Irwin B. Laughlin, Walter Lenox, Augustus P. Loring, John Maclean, William Beans Magruder, John Walker Maury, Montgomery Cunningham Meigs, John C. Merriam, R. Walton
Moore, Roland S. Morris, Dwight W. Morrow, Richard Olney, Peter Parker, Noah Porter, William Campbell Preston, Owen Josephus Roberts, Richard Rush, William Winston Seaton,
Alexander Roby Shepherd, William Tecumseh Sherman, Otho Robards Singleton, Joseph Gilbert Totten, John Thomas Towers, Frederic C. Walcott, Richard Wallach, Thomas J. Watson,
Jr., James E. Webb, James Clarke Welling, Andrew Dickson White, Henry White, Theodore Dwight Woolsey.
Walking on earth and touching the sky : poetry and prose by Lakota youth at Red Cloud Indian School / edited by Timothy P. McLaughlin ; paintings by S.D. Nelson ; foreword by Joseph M. Marshall III
This series contains 42 NABISCO Straight Arrow cards, produced by NABISCO, and packaged in NABISCO Shredded Wheat boxes. These cards were produced in sets of 36 per year for the years 1949 to 1952, were marketed towards children, and depict outdoor activities as romanticized constructions of American Indian identity and life. Language on the cards states the following: "This Injun-uity Manual will help you be resourceful in the woods, in open country, at home, in school, in play, and at work. This manual was prepared by Fred L. Meagher, Indian illustrator and authority, for NABISCO Shredded Wheat." Examples of outdoor activities include Indian Bow Making, Archery, Help Signals, Tracking Game, Points of a Horse, Indian Dances, Fire Prevention, and many more.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
The following images are restricted due to cultural sensitivity: 226_pht_010_003; 226_pht_010_004; 226_pht_012_002; P33114; P33116; P33120.
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Douglas E. Evelyn photograph and ephemera collection, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
The Man to send rain clouds : contemporary stories by American Indians / edited and with an introduction by Kenneth Rosen ; illustrations by R.C. Gorman & Aaron Yava
