Indians of North America -- California Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Vocabulary
Genealogies
Maps
Place:
California -- History
Sacramento (Calif.)
Date:
1939
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Northern and Central California series contains material that supplement Harrington's research on Nisenan and Northern Sierra Miwok.
A section of Harrington's field notes are based on Prince Paul of Wurttemberg's research on "Hok" (Southwestern Nisenan) dialect and "Kosume" (Northern Sierra Miwok). In 1937 Matthew W. Stirling, chief of the B. A. E., commissioned Charles Upson Clark to conduct research in Stuttgart, Germany, on Prince Paul's expedition of 1849-1851 to the Pacific Coast. A translation of a portion of Clark's journals was sent to Harrington in the field to be reheard with his various informants. The notes are organized on the basis of interviews which Harrington conducted with each informant individually or in small groups. George Nye, described as a speaker of the "Yuba County language," and Lizzie Enos provided the bulk of the data. A variety of Nisenan dialects are represented, including the Northern and Central Hill varieties. Much of the ethnographic information interspersed with the linguistic notes is concerned with Harrington's attempts to locate the Hock Indian mound described by von Wurttemberg. Also included are sketch maps, historical anecdotes, and descriptions of photographs of Sutter's Mill.
Notes from secondary sources consist of handwritten excerpts made by Harrington from various published sources which he evidently found at the Sacramento Public Library. Works by Kroeber, Gudde, and Powers are among those quoted. A few random comments from informants were added to these pages, although for the most part the informants were unfamiliar with the geographical names mentioned in the sources.
This subseries also contains biographical data that Harrington collected on possible informants.These include notes copied by Harrington from social worker rolls made available to him by Winifred Codman. Individuals are listed by county with some genealogical information and assessments of their capabilities in giving linguistic data. Similar information was copied from the files of the Sacramento Indian Agency. These records are followed by a few miscellaneous pages of biographical notes obtained during his interviews.
There are also miscellaneous notes, which include a few comments on phonetics of Maidu and Nisenan and a brief dicussion of the well-known northern California Indian, Ishi.
Biographical / Historical:
In early June 1939 John P. Harrington spent several days examining Prince Paul of Wurttemberg's "account of the Sacramento Valley Indians of California in 1850 and two vocabularies." Using agent Michael Harrison's home at the Sacramento Indian Agency as his headquarters, Harrington made several trips throughout the Sacramento area in search of knowledgeable native speakers. Among those he interviewed were Lizzie Enos of Clipper Gap, Jane Lewis of Auburn rancheria, George Nye of Dobbins, Albert Porter and Henry Hanson of Forest Hill, and Lilly Williams-all Nisenan-and Mike Murray, a ko.ni, who knew Northern Sierra Miwok as well as some Nisenan.
Two particularly helpful sources of nonlinguistic information were Winifred Codman, a social worker in the area, and H. C. Peterson, curator in charge of the centennial celebration of the founding of Sacramento. Harrington also spoke with Mrs. Thomas Edward Holmes, Mrs. Lou Wilson, and Ben Frost.
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.
Ishi and Joseph K. Dixon, Photographer, Beside Haida Totem Pole Outside University of California Museum of Anthropology, Affiliated Colleges, San Francisco
Photographs depicting Robert Lowie and other anthropologists at the University of California, Berkeley. One photograph depicts the Yana Indian Ishi with Robert Harry Lowie, Paul Radin, Edward Sapir, and Thomas T. Waterman. The second photograph, which appears to have been made around the same time, shows Alfred Louis Kroeber, Lowie, a man, and a woman, in front of the metal shed that housed the Museum of Anthropology (later the Lowie Museum) at the University of California at Berkeley.
Biographical/Historical note:
The photographs were probably made in the summer of 1915 when Ishi was living with Thomas T. Waterman and employed as an informant by Edward Sapir. Robert Lowie, who was engaged in field work as a member of the staff of the American Museum of Natural History, may have traveled to California to attend a special meeting of the American Anthropological Association held in August.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 81-16
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Additional photographs of Kroeber and Lowie at the University of California, Berkeley, can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 77-68.
A letter from Kroeber to Waterman concerning Sapir, Ishi, and the Zuni language can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 7116.
An additional photograph of Ishi can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in Photo Lot 24.
Papers and notes by Paul Radin can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 3609, MS 4652, and MS 1800-a-b-c-d-e.
Papers and notes by Sapir can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 1751, MS 2806 and MS 4929.
Papers, notes, and photographs by Waterman can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 3183, MS 1863, MS 2916, MS 2915, MS 2938, and MS 1864.
Papers and notes by Kroeber can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 2622, MS 2560, and MS 3134.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Photographs
Citation:
Photo lot 81-16, Photographs of anthropologists at the University of California, Berkeley, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
