Truman Michelson's field notes on the Cree of James Bay and Hudson Bay in Canada. The materials, consisting primarily of texts and linguistic notes and some ethnological notes, were collected as part of Michelson's efforts to make a linguistic map of the area. The coverage of the notes is thus expansive and includes the Cree of Moose River, Rupert House, East Main, Albany River, English River, Severn Island, Weenusk, Waswanipi, Great Whale River, and Fort George. The texts are mostly stories from Frank Ricard and Harvey Smallboy, written in Moose Cree syllabic and phonetic text with English translations. There is also a story from Emily Trapper written in Rupert House Cree syllabary and translated into Moose Cree and English. Michelson worked closely with William Allan, who provided a great deal of linguistic and ethnological information and translated most of the Cree texts into English.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 3394
Local Note:
Title changed from "Texts Summer of 1935" 5/30/2014.
Other Archival Materials:
Manuscript 3395 contains typescripts of the English translations of the Cree texts, while Manuscript 3415 contains additional phonetic transcriptions.
Handwritten texts and linguistic and ethnological notes from Truman Michelson's 1935 research among the Cree and Inuit at Great Whale River in Quebec, Canada. Among the people that Michelson worked with were David Masty and Thomas, speakers of Great Whale Cree; Rhoderick, a speaker of Rupert House Cree; and Cookie and Harrold, speakers of Great Whale River Inuit. The texts include stories by Masty in Cree syllabary with English translations by Rhoderick. Also present is an English translation by Harrold of Cookie's Inuit syllabic text in Manuscript 3393. The notes largely focus on the vocabulary and kinship systems of the Cree and Inuit of Great Whale River. There are also Rupert House Cree vocabulary as well as notes on the Cree and Inuit in neighboring areas at Hudson Bay and James Bay.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 3396
Local Note:
Title changed from "Eskimo tales and vocabulary; some Indian tales; ethnology; kinship system summer of 1935" 6/3/2014.
Other Archival Materials:
See MS 3393 for the original Inuit text of Cookie's story.
