Harrington was a Bureau of American Ethnology ethnologist involved in the study of over one hundred American tribes. His speciality was linguistics. Most of the material concerns California, southwestern, northwestern tribes and includes ethnological, archeological, historical notes; writings, correspondence, photographs, sound recordings, biological specimens, and other types of documents. Also of concern are general linguistics, sign language, writing systems, writing machines, and sound recordings machines. There is also some material on New World Spanish, Old World languages. In addition, there are many manuscripts of writings that Harrington sketched, partially completed, or even completed but never published. The latter group includes not only writings about anthropological subjects but also histories, ranging from a biography of Geronimo to material on the history of the typewriter. The collection incorporates material of Richard Lynch Garner, Matilda Coxe Stevenson, and others. In his field work, Harrington seems sometimes to have worked within fairly firm formats, this especially being true when he was "rehearing" material, that is in using an informant to verify and correct the work of other researchers. Often, however, the interviews with informants (and this seems to have been the case even with some "rehearings") seem to have been rather free form, for there is a considerable intertwining of subjects. Nevertheless, certain themes frequently appear in his work, including annotated vocabularies concerning flora and fauna and their use, topography, history and biography, kinship, cosmology (including tribal astronomy), religion and philosophy, names and observations concerning neighboring tribes, sex and age division, material culture, legends, and songs. The fullness of such materials seems to have been limited only by the time Harrington had to spend with a goup and the knowledge of his informants.
Arrangement:
(Some of the titles are tentative). Papers relating to Alaska/Northwest Coast, including (1) Aleut; (2) Tlingit/Eyak; (3) Northern Athapascan (Beaver, Carrier, Chipewyan, Sarsi, Sekani, Cree); (4) Nicola/Thompson; (5) Lummi/Nespelem; (6) Duwamish; (7) Chimakum/Clallam; (8) Makah/Quileute; (9) Quinault/Chehalis/Cowlit; (10) Chinook/Chinook Jargon; (11) "Kwalhioqua-Tlatskanai"; (12) Tillamook, (13) Alsea/Siuslaw/Coos; (14) Southwest Oregon Athapascan (Chasta Costa, Chetco, Upper Coquille, "Gold Beach", Smith River, Tolowa, Tutini, Upper Umpqua), (14) Galice/Applegate; (15) Takelma, general and miscellaneous;
(16) Klamath; (17) Wiyot/Yurok/Mattole; (18) Coast Yuki/Northern and Central Pomo/Kato; (19) Coast Miwok; (20) Lake and Coast Miwok/Southeastern Pomo/Wappo; (21) Nisenan/Northern Sierra Miwok; (22) Southern Pomo/Central Sierra Miwok; (23) Karok/Shasta/Konomihu; (24) Chimariko/Hupo; (25) Achomawi/Atsugewi/Wintu/Yana; (26) Chamariko/Achomawi/Atsugewi/Wintu/Yana; (27) Costanoan (Chocheno, Mutsun, Tumsen); (28) Salinan (Antoinano, Migueleno); (29) Yokuts (Chunut, Tachi, Wikchamni, Yawdanchi, Yawelmani, Koyeti); (30) general and miscellaneous; papers relating to southern California and the Basin area,
including (31) Chumash (Barbareno, Cruzeno, Ineseno, Obispeno, Purisimeno, Ventureno); (32) Chauilla; (33) Chemehuevi; (34) Gabrielino; (35) Juaneno; (36) Kitanemuk; (37) Luiseno; (38) Serrano; (39) Tubatulabal; (40) Diegueno; (41) Mohave/Yuma; (42) general and miscellaneous; papers relating to the Southwest, including (43) Apache; (44) Hopi; (45) Jemez; (46) Acoma/Laguna; (47) Cochiti; (48) Navaho; (49) Pima/Papago; (50) Illeta; (51) Taos; (52) Picuris; (53) Tewa; (54) Zuni; (55) general and miscellaneous; papers relating to the Plains, including (56) Comanche; (57) Caddo/Pawnee/Wichita; (58) Dakota/Lakota; (59) Hidatso/Mandan/Crow;
(92) general and miscellaneous; notes and writings on special linguistic studies, including (93) correspondence; (94) financial records; (95) personal records; (96) poetry; (97) newspaper clippings; (98) printed material/reprints/photostats/microfilm; (99) maps; (100) photographs (101) sound recordings; (102) botanical specimens
Joseph S. Danner, Edward S. Davis, Ella C. Deloria, Frances Densmore, Paul Desiardins, Lydia Dornherr, Harry W. Dorsey, Frederick Huntington Douglas, David C. Dozi, Edward P. Dozi, Robert Drak Aitken), Rose S. Gaffney, David E. Gales, S. H. Gapp, Clark M. Garber, Lucrlson Fenton, Jesse Walter Fewkes, Reginald G. Fisher, Barbara Freire-Marreco (see also Barbara Aitken), Rose S. Gaffney, David E. Gales, S. H. Gapp, Clark M. Garber, Lucretia Garcia, Maria Garcia, Paul Garcia, Walter C. Garwick, William Gates, Ja Gapp, Clark M. Garber, Lucretia Garcia, Maria Garcia, Paul Garcia, Walter C. Garwick, William Gates, James A Geary, Otto William Geist,
Richard H. Geoghegan, Harold S. Gladwin, Pliny Earle Goddard, T. R. Goodwin, Howard W. Gorman, Blanche C. Grant, George Grasty, Louis H. Gray, Alexander Grigolia, Alexandra Gromoff, F. A. Gross, Ruther Gruber, Erwin G. Gudde, Grace Guest, Ralph Gustafson, Berard Haile, Alfred Irving Hallowell, Howard M. Hamblin, Lucile Hamner, Adelaide Harrington, Arthur Harrington, Awona Harrington, Edmund Ross Harrington, Elliot Harrington, Mark Raymond Harrington, Robert Fleming Heizer, Marta Herrera (Orozoco), Melville Jean Herskovits, Edgar Lee Hewett, George Gustave Heye,
Thomas Willing Hicks, Willard Williams Hill, William B. Hill, Philip K. Hitti, Hulda R. Hobbs (Heidel), Frederick Webb Hodge, Robert Hofsinde, W. C. Holden, Nils Homer, R. B. Horsefield, James Hovey, Grace Hudson, John W. Hudson, William Hughes, Edward P. Hunt, George Hunt, Wayne Henry (Wolf Robe) Hunt, Arnold J. Jacobins, Jean Allard Jge, George M. Lamsa, William T. Linkins, Ralph Linton, Alan Lomax, Theodore R. Lonewolf, uis Kroeber, Benjamin T. Kurtz, Walter and Hilda Kurze, Oliver LaFarge, George M. Lamsa, William T. Linkins, Ralph Linton, Alan Lomax, Theodore R. Lonewolf,
Boas Long, Ivan Alexis Lopatin, Robert Harry Lowie, Charles F. Lummis, Phoebe Maddux, Frank Marashulo, Frank Marr, John Marr, Edna P. Marsh, Gordon H. Marsh, William B. Marye, Elizabeth Mason, John Alden Mason, Anna P. Mattinger, Wayne L. Mauzy, William Ralph Maxon, Parker McKenzie, F. Romero Mendez, Clinton Hart Merriam, E. Vigo Mestres, Truman Michelson, Harry E. Miller, Ralph L. Milliken, William S. Mills, Willie Miranda, Albert Mohr, Dionisia Mondragon, Manuel Mondragon, Lucy Montgomery, Harriet Moore, Mildred C. Moore, R. E. Moore, Rosalind Moore, Carlos Morales, Marion Moreno, Sylvanus Griswold Morley, Philip A. Munz, O. J. Murie,
Roy Nash, Mrs. W. J. Nichols, Eugene A. Nida, Frans M. Olbrechts, Cornelius Osgood, Asbjorn P. Ousdal, Charles F. Outland, Henry E. Parmenter, Elsie Clews Parsons, A. W. Payne, Ellen Peace, Elizabeth Wells Pearce, Arthur B. Perkins, Mrs. Rodolphe Petter, Kenneth L. Pike, Arnold R. Pilling, Nellie B. Pipes, I. J. Pitman, J. O. Prescott, Erik Kellerman Reed, Nathaniel Julius Reich, Jane Richardson, Arthur Stanley Riggs, Frank Harold Hanna Roberts, Jr., Helen H. Roberts, Clarence M. Ruth, Everett Sanders, Edward Sapir, Charles F. Saunders, F. H. Saville, Paul Schumacher, Donald Scott, Blanche Seeley, Ettie Seeley, Elizabeth Shepley Sergeant,
A. W. Setychell, Jessie Shaw, Anna O. Shepard, Frank T. Siebert, Rita Siedenberg, Albion M. Sitton, Nich Sivonen, H. D. Skinner, Mrs. N. P. Sloan, Clement Smith, Stella Smith, Jack Snow, Maria Soto, Frank Gouldsmith Speck, Robert F. Spencer, Marjorie Spinks, Waldo C. Spraque, Winifred Stamm, Moses Steinberg Marian Stirling, Matthew Williams Stirling, William Duncan Strong, Edgar Howard Sturtevant, Georgianna Barbara Such, John R. Swanton, Turkey Tayac, Douglass Taylor, Lincoln Thompson, Morjorie L. Tichy, Janet Tietjins, Bennie Tilden, J. R. R. Tolkien, W. Cameron Townsend, George L. Trager, Lovell B. Triggs, Edwin H. Tuttle,
Ruth Underhill, Richard Fowler Van Valkenburgh, Rosendo Vargas, Charles Frederick Voegelin, Paul Vogenitz, James W. Waldo, Paul A. F. Walter, Althea Warren, Fred Washington, Thomas Talbot Waterman, Edith White, Joseph J. White, Leslie A. White, Grace T. Whiting, Robert B. Whitsett, Benjamin Lee Whorf, H. E. Williams, William L. Wonderly, Arthur Woodward, Robert W. Young, and Father Zephyrin of the Santa Barbara Mission.
Restrictions:
The John Peabody Harrington papers are open for research
Access to the John Peabody Harrington papers requires an appointment.
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Maps
Stats (copies)
Newspaper clippings
Printed material
Photographs
Botanical specimens
Field notes
Correspondence -- 1930-1950
Financial records
Personal records
Poetry
Writings
Citation:
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 -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Place:
Oklahoma -- Cache (near)
Date:
1909 ?
Scope and Contents:
"Taken 1909 ? / Standing in back row: 1. Nora Cox Davis [granddaughter of Quanah], 2. Nina Quo-haddy-Komah, 3. Walter Komah, 4. Wanada Parker-Komah-Page, 5. Quanah Parker, 6. Bessie Parker Asenak [granddaughter of Quanah], 7. Mrs Laura Parker, 8. Mr White Parker. Seated center row: 1. Mr Edward Emmett Cox [son-in-law], 2. Mrs (Nawmakuh) Parker Cox [daughter], 3. Baby on her lap, William M. Cox, 4. Tokay Quanah wife (Tau pah) last wife, 5. Tonarcy Quanah wife (Too-na-suh) next to last wife, 6. Neda Parker Birdsong [daughter], 7. M. Aubrey Birdsong [son-in-law]. Seated lower row: 1. Ella Coxe Goodin Lutz [granddaughter], 2. Joseph Cox [grandson], 3. Edward Cox [grandson], 4. Kelsey [Parker], 5. Chee Parker, children of Tokay, 6. [Anona Birdsong-Wilkinson], Bass Dean-daughter of Neda," handwritten on reverse of print by Mrs Ella Cox Lutz.Further identification of kinship supplied from Zoe A. Tilghman, Quanah The Eagle of the Comanches, Oklahoma City, 1938, page 195.
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Dictionaries
Manuscripts
Narratives
Place:
Devils Tower National Monument (Wyo.)
Date:
1916-1948
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Plains series contains Harrington's Kiowa research, primarily consisting of vocabulary, comparative vocabulary, a dictionary, linguistic notes, grammar, and texts.
Some of the vocabulary gathered between 1918 and 1920 remains in slipfile form, arranged semantically (former B.A.E. mss. 2289pt. and 2297pt.). Subjects include animals, material culture, plants, and personal categories. During 1945 and 1946, Harrington reorganized his Kiowa notes based on a continuing enlargement of the earlier semantically arranged vocabulary, adding such categories as astronomy, geography, minerals, months, placenames, rank, relationship terms, songs, and tribenames (former B.A.E. ms. 4622pt.). The etymology of some personal names and a partial draft and notes for a proposed paper on "Human Terms" form part of the vocabulary material. The geographic terms were provided by Parker McKenzie and, according to correspondence, most of the relationship terms may also be McKenzie's work. Some of the latter's letters are cut and mounted on separate sheets of paper, others were copied by Harrington, and many are identified with the symbol "<U+2642>." Miscellaneous material includes photocopies of fragments from Robert M. Lowie's "A Note on Kiowa Kinship Terms and Usages," mounted, annotated, and reheard with Keahtigh. A few tribenames elicited from Guy Quoetone (data from him are labeled "Guy Kiowa") and Kiowa Charlie in March and April of 1946 add randomly to the earlier lists.
The comparative vocabulary section contains Tewa comparisons based on Harrington's 1927 accumulation of information from Tewa speaker Eduardo Cata (former B.A.E. ms. 4705pt.). Harrington also used Tewa terms from his "Ethnogeography of the Tewa Indians" (1916), as well as Kiowa terms from James Mooney's "Calendar History of the Kiowa Indians" (1918). In addition, there are a few brief comparisons of Kiowa with Navajo, Paiute (eight pages), and Siouan (two pages).
His dictionary files consist of a manuscript and related notes. The manuscript contains most but not all of the lexical portion of "Vocabulary of the Kiowa Language" with an addition of further entries which were apparently written at a later date.
Among his linguistic notes is a partial draft written in 1916 titled ''The Language of the Kaekua or Kiowa Indians." From 1918 to 1920 while in Anadarko and in Washington, Harrington accumulated extensive information (about 700 pages) on Kiowa vocabulary, grammar, and texts. In 1922 he began a paper on "Notes on the Kiowa Language." He later collated this material in Washington, and in 1928 published a synthesis titled "Vocabulary of the Kiowa Language." The publication encompassed grammatical information with Tewa comparisons, a glossary of lexical terms , and a Kiowa text, (former B.A.E. mss. 4705pt., 2289pt., and 2297pt.).
Documented among the grammar files is Harrington's interest in Kiowa intonation, a title he gave to an unpublished manuscript for which Perry Keahtigh provided information. Their work on this aspect of Kiowa grammar proceeded from September to November 1944, and included recording sessions at the Library of Congress.
There is another unpublished manuscript titled "Kiowa, Pueblo Language of the Plains." This is probably the manuscript that underwent many revisions and rehearings before being published in 1948 as "Popular Account of the Kiowa Indian Language." It encompassed only a minute portion of the ambitious and comprehensive grammar which Harrington had originally envisioned. Because of the diligent reworking of the information, it is rather difficult to determine in what sequence the drafts were created. In order to eliminate as much confusion as possible, all the grammatical drafts of the 1940s are placed together, followed by notes that most nearly reflect the outline of the 1948 publication. Phonetics and morphology are dealt with in detail. Included is brief information on syntax, Indian native language, Spanish and English loanwords, foreign words, slang, and polysynthetic words based on Robert W. Young's "Language: Interesting Side-views of Its Study." (April 1937).
The text section contains over twenty brief stories of Seindei, the culture hero, provided by Delos K. Lonewolf and George Hunt in 1924. Some are in Kiowa and English, some in English only. One myth was given in English by a Comanche Indian named Albert Attock. This textual material was formerly cataloged as part of B.A.E. ms. 4705. There are various versions of Lonewolf's "The Udder-angry Travelers-off" text which appeared in "Vocabulary of the Kiowa Language," "Three Kiowa Texts," and "Popular Account of the Kiowa Indian Language." Frequent rehearings with Keahtigh in November 1945 preceded the last-named publication. Additional material for "Three Kiowa Texts" contains extensive annotations by McKenzie and a few further rehearings from Keahtigh. Laura D. Pedrick translated the Lord's Prayer; a "Church Song" in Kiowa (former B.A.E. ms. 4705pt.) came from Mr. Light (not further identified). There are several texts edited by McKenzie for collaboration with Harrington. They include Enoch Smoky's "Bear Girl Story," recorded March 26,1946, and Hunting Horse's "Mad Girl Story," heard on February 24, 1946 (former B.A.E. ms. 4622pt.). On March 31, 1940, Kiowa Charlie, with the help of Guy Quoetone and Lonewolf, dictated still another Devils Tower myth.
Harrington's Kiowa files also contain other notes and information about Devils Tower in the Black Hills of Wyoming. This evolved into his 1939 publication, "Kiowa Memories of the Northland." The bulk of the Devils Tower material was originally listed as B.A.E. ms. 6070.
Biographical / Historical:
John P. Harrington's search for a relationship between Kiowa and the Tanoan languages led to a substantial accumulation of and career-long interest in Kiowa grammatical, linguistic, and textual material. His study resulted in eight publications on Kiowa, the first appearing in 1910 and the last in 1948.
Early in 1918 Harrington worked in Washington, D.C., with Delos and Ida Lonewolf, (the latter abbreviated "Mrs. L."), who were accompanied by their youngest son, Theodore. In June 1918, Harrington conducted fieldwork at the Kiowa Agency in Anadarko, Oklahoma. Interviews were held with James Waldo (W.): Enoch Smoky, head of the peyote cult among the Kiowa; Parker McKenzie (McK): Laura D. Pedrick (also referred to as "Mrs. P" and"L. Pro "); and several others. The primary focus of his work at that time was to collect linguistic data needed for comparative studies, especially with the Tanoan languages. From mid-1919 through 1920 Harrington remained at Bureau of American Ethnology headquarters, during which time he sorted and reorganized the Kiowa notes. While in Washington, D.C., in 1924, he elicited Kiowa texts from the Lonewolfs and from George Hunt, who was regarded as a superb tribal historian.
"Vocabulary of the Kiowa Language," published in 1928, unfortunately reflects only a small portion of the information he had amassed during his early work. In his notes, Harrington referred to this publication as the "Dictionary," "Dict.," or "Bulletin." He was evidently not pleased with the work. As he wrote to Parker McKenzie in later years: "It has a lot of idiosyncracies in it which are absolutely incorrect. They [the B.A.E.] forced me to publish, and so I did-to my chagrin now."
In the summer of 1939, Harrington and Parker McKenzie renewed their acquaintance during a visit which Harrington made to Anadarko. They reminisced just a few hours on that occasion. Shortly afterwards they began an exchange of letters which lasted almost into 1950. McKenzie's exposure to linguistic method in their early work together had awakened an abiding interest in the preservation of Kiowa. Thus, he was willing to impart what he had discovered in his efforts to analyze the language. This exchange allowed Harrington to collect updated material for the paper which he eventually published on January 1, 1948, titled "Popular Account of the Kiowa Indian Language."
From September 1944 to early 1947, Harrington elicited additional grammatical information and reheard his earlier notes in work sessions with Perry A. Keahtigh (also referred to as "Keah."). Keahtigh married a daughter of Enoch Smoky around 1930. Knowing that his father-in-law had worked with Harrington in 1918, Keahtigh sought out the linguist when he returned to the East Coast in the 1940s. They worked evenings and weekends while Harrington was detailed to the Office of Censorship as part of a volunteer war effort by members of the Smithsonian staff. Keahtigh provided a wealth of linguistic information during 1945 and most of 1946, his work dwindling off in 1947 as Harrington's manuscript neared completion.
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Genre/Form:
Field notes
Dictionaries
Manuscripts
Narratives
Collection Citation:
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 -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1933
Scope and Contents:
Includes folktales and ethnological notes. Many of the latter have to do with war, kinship relations, and sexual practices.
Biographical / Historical:
Gust G. Carlson, of the University of Michigan, was a scholarship holder with the Laboratory of Anthropology, Santa Fe, ethnological field school group led by Ralph Linton. The group worked with Comanche Indians at Walter, Oklahoma. Other members of the group were Waldo Wedel (see his Comanche notes), and E. Adamson Hoebel (see photo lot 91-9).
