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.
Rupert House Cree texts and notes collected by Truman Michelson in 1935 and 1936 at James Bay in Canada. Michelson obtained vocabulary and an English translation of a story from Andrew Wapatchee in 1935, most likely while at Rupert House (Waskaganish). He collected additional notes and texts in 1936 from William Morrison and Agnes Hester while at Moose Factory. One text is written in a mix of Moose Cree and Rupert House Cree syllabary and another is a story in English from an East Main Cree at Rupert House. There are also some notes on Moose Cree vocabulary.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 3397
Local Note:
Title changed from "Texts Summer of 1935" 6/3/2014.
Other Archival Materials:
See Manuscript 3417 for Agnes Hester's Rupert House Cree version of mixed Rupert House and Moose Cree text.
Fort George Cree notes and texts collected by Truman Michelson at Fort George on the shore of James Bay and at Great Whale River by Hudson Bay. The notes are mostly linguistic with some ethnological content. The texts are stories in Cree syllabary with English translations. John of Fort George provided most if not all of the Cree text while Oliver Lutet served as an interpreter.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 3399
Local Note:
Title changed from "Texts summer of 1935" 5/30/2014.
Notebook (labelled "1935 VI") containing Albany Ojibwa notes and Weenusk (Winusk) Cree text collected by Truman Michelson during his field research in the region of James Bay and Hudson Bay in 1935. Michelson obtained Albany Ojibwa vocabulary and ethnological notes from John Martin, with William Allan, a Cree speaker, serving as an interpreter. The notebook also contains a sample Cree syllabic text from a Weenusk woman at Moosonee; a phonetic text version dictated by a Roman missionary; and an English translation from Allan based on a reading of the Weenusk text by Harvey Smallboy, a Moose Cree speaker. Also present are two loose leaf pages with slightly different versions of the English translation and phonetic text.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 3401
Local Note:
Title changed from "Cree and Chippewa Linguistic (and Ethnological) material 1935" 6/3/2014.
