This series includes Mason's unbound typed notes, including typed extracts from various sources and articles from journals and newspapers. Format of Department of Anthropology records' Manuscript and Pamphlet File.
Arrangement:
Arranged topically.
Collection Restrictions:
The Otis Tufton Mason papers are open for research.
Access to the Otis Tufton Mason papers requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Otis Tufton Mason papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Recorded in schedule of John Wesley Powell's Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages 1880 in Hewitt's handwriting except title page. The Lord's Prayer in Oneida with a literal English translation appears on pages 228-229, and the final 9 pages are titled, "Conjugation of the Verb."
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Ledger drawings
Date:
1891 February
Scope and Contents:
29 drawings and 34 pages of typed explanatory text, formerly bound together, now disbound, plus an identifying title page handwritten by Albert Gatschet and one drawing on ruled paper. The explanatory text was transcribed from Gatschet's notebook, No. 2016-b, with corrections by Gatschet. T.p. inscribed: "Crayon Pictures of Cheyenne Ceremonial Customs and Implements. Drawn by Wuxpais or Daniel Littlechief, son of the present headchief of the Cheyenne Indians of South Dakota, at the Pine Ridge Agency. Explained by notes obtained from the same Indian by Albert S. Gatschet." The last drawing in the volume is signed "T.D. Little Chief," but cannot be identified as a drawing by Daniel Little Chief. Subjects include ceremonial items, name glyphs, painted tipis, and illustrations of Cheyenne customs. A nearly identical set of drawings by Daniel Little Chief is located at the Newberry Library in Chicago. Information provided by Candace Greene.
Biographical / Historical:
Daniel Little Chief, a.k.a. Wuxpais (?-1906), was a Northern Cheyenne warrior whose band of Cheyenne were sent south to the Cheyenne-Arapaho Reservation in Indian Territory after their surrender, traveling there between 1878-1879. In 1881 this band moved north to the Pine Ridge Agency in South Dakota. In 1891 Daniel Littlechief inherited the role of head chief from his father and remained in South Dakota until his death in 1906. For more information see "American Indian Painters: A Biographical Dictionary" by Jeanne Snodgrass 1968, New York: Museum of the American Indian.
Albert S. Gatschet (1832-1907) was educated in his native Switzerland and in Germany (University of Bern [Ph.D., 1892]); University of Berlin. Early in his career, he pursued antiquarian research in European museums and wrote scientific articles. Among his interests was the etymology of Swiss place names. After coming to the United States in 1869, he worked on the American Indian vocabularies collected by Oscar Loew, of the United States Geological Survey West of the 100th Meridian (Wheeler Survey). Eventually John Wesley Powell employed him as an ethnologist with the United States Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Regions. When it was founded in 1879, he joined the staff of the Bureau of American Ethnology and continued there until he retired in 1905. For the Powell Survey, Gatschet researched the ethnography of the Klamath in Oregon and the Modoc in Oklahoma. He also collected Native American material objects and investigated special problems for Powell's classification of the American Indian languages north of Mexico, working on languages of the Southeast, including groups forcibly settled in the southern Plains. He not only visited well known tribes but also searched out small groups, including the Biloxi and Tunica. He also worked with the Natchez, Tonkawa, Chitimacha, and Atakapa in the United States and Comecrudo and several other small groups in northern Mexico. Through library research, he studied the Timucua, Karankara, and the Beothuk. During the later part of his career, Gatschet was assigned comparative work on all the Algonquian languages. Although the project was never completed, he collected much about many of the languages, especially Peoria, Miami, and Shawnee. In addition, he worked with members of diverse tribes of the eastern United States. For more information, see NAA finding aid located at http://www.nmnh.si.edu/naa/guide/_g1.htm#jrg575
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 2016-a
Varying Form of Title:
Crayon pictures of Cheyenne ceremonial customs and implements / drawn by Wuxpais or Daniel Littlechief ... ; explained by notes from the same Indian by Albert S. Gatschet
Place:
United States South Dakota Pine Ridge Agency.
United States South Dakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Includes text and drawings, 2 sketch maps, 21 native drawings, 3 pages musical scores.
Contents: 1 [Introduction], page 1; and Ethnohistory and History, 22 pages. 2. Traditions and Myths..., pages 1-89. 3. Songs..., pages 52-56. 4. Games..., pages 45-51. 5. The Quileute Children's Pastime, pages [1]-4. 6. Native coloring Material..., pages 43-44. [text and drawings] 7. ...Methods of Hunting and Trapping [text and drawings] [10] 8. Native Medicines, 1 page. 9. ...Dances..., pages 57-65. 10. Shamanistic Performances, pages [1]-10. 11. Shakerism, pages [1]-18. 12. The Potlatch, pages [1]-8. 13. Marriage Ceremonies, pages [1]-2. 14. Birth Ceremonies, 1 page. 15. Puberty Customs, 1 page. 16. Mortuary Customs, pages [1]-4. page. 17. Miscellaneous Notes, pages [1]-15, [16]. 18. The Retarding Influence of the Chinook Jargon, 1 page. The Thunder Bird. (Copied from a grave slab at Quileute) [Illustration] 1 page. 212 pages total. Quileute Indian Village and Vicinity [sketch map, 20" x 28"] 1 page. James Island or Ah-Kah-Lot. [sketch map, 20" x 28"] 1 page. [Drawings by native artists; all or part by students at the Indian School, Lapush, Washington.] 21 pages. Music to Songs used at the Quileute Shaker Meetings, pages 6, 7, 11. 238 pages total.
Indians of North America -- Southern States Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents:
Texts from Gatschet's Manuscript Number 1301, with interlinear English translations. Also English translations of Tunica texts. No date. Typescript document with A. notations. 14 pages. Copied from Manuscript Number 1301, which includes Gatschet's Tunica texts with interlinear French translation. Swanton copied the Tunica texts, but wrote his own interlinear and running English translations. Includes (page numbers refer to those in Gatschet's Manuscript Number 1301): "Biographic Notice of [William Ely] Johnson," pages 53-55; "The Living Tunica," pages 85-86; untitled text, page 97; untitled text, page 98; "The Tonika Ascend the Mississippi and Settle at Avoyelles," pages 109-112; The Orphan," pages 145-167; "Mortuary Customs," pages 195-203; "Performance of Tonika Shamans," pages 221-227. The back of the typed paper contains fragments of A. manuscript notes that have been crossed out. The back of one of the pages contains a list of Tunica Indian names.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 4277
Local Note:
typescript document with A. notations
Other Title:
Biographic Notice of William Ely Johnson
The Living Tunica
The Tonika Ascend the Mississippi and Settle at Avoyelles
The Orphan
Mortuary Customs
Performance of Tonika Shamans
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Citation:
Manuscript 4277, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Folklore
Narratives
Manuscripts
Autobiographies
Date:
1931-1932
Scope and Contents:
Southern Cheyenne personal narratives and stories in English collected by Truman Michelson in Oklahoma. The stories were handwritten by Mack Haag and another person. Contents include: "Medicine Woman. 55 years old. Cheyenne" (written by Mack Haag.), 37 pages; "The Unknow[n] Greyhound" (writer unidentified.), 7 pages; "Plum Man" (writer unidentified), 2 pages; The Stuff[ed] Bear" 3 pages; "The Spider and the Rat" (writer unidentified), 5 pages; "Tipi Decorator. White Buffalo [daugther of Black Kettle]. 43 years old. Cheyenne" (writer unidentified), 17 pages; "The Beaded back tipi" (writer unidentified), 8 pages; "Lame Bull. True Story" (writer unidentified), 4 pages; "The Buffalo Robe" (writer unidentified), 4 pages; and "Slow Bull. (Cheyenne age 60). 1931" (written by Mack Haag), 9 pages.
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Manuscripts
Narratives
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents:
Five notebooks containing texts handwritten in Kickapoo syllabary and a phonetic transcription on mortuary customs and observances. A sixth notebook contains English translations, as well as anthropometric measurements of Joseph Murdock and his daughter, Rose. Murdock, a Mexican Kickapoo that resided in Oklahoma, frequently assisted Michelson in his Kickapoo research.
Photo Lot 90-1, George V. Allen collection of photographs of Native Americans and the American frontier, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
American Indian -- Alaska -- Mortuary customs Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Scope and Contents:
Pictured are the miniature houses erected over the gravesites. The item is number 53 of an unidentified series.
Local Numbers:
NAA INV.09907100
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Mortuary customs -- American Indian, Alaska Search this
Collection Citation:
Photo Lot 90-1, George V. Allen collection of photographs of Native Americans and the American frontier, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The item is number 21035 of an unidentified series. The number 9 is stamped on the front of the photograph. A large frame house is in the foreground. Behind it are the burial houses.
Photo Lot 90-1, George V. Allen collection of photographs of Native Americans and the American frontier, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
American Indian -- Pueblo (?) -- mortuary custom Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Lantern slides
Scope and Contents:
Two graves are visible. The bodies have been covered with large stones.
Local Numbers:
NAA INV.09981000
Other Title:
"Burial"
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
mortuary custom -- American Indian -- Pueblo Search this
Collection Citation:
Photo Lot 90-1, George V. Allen collection of photographs of Native Americans and the American frontier, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
American Indian -- Pueblo -- Mortuary customs Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Glass negatives
Scope and Contents:
The item is number 106 in an unidentified series. The image was taken in August. Ceramic bowls have been placed on the grave. The negative is broken.
Local Numbers:
NAA INV.09983300
Other Title:
"Moqui. Grave. August 1897."
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Mortuary customs -- American Indian -- Pueblo Search this
Collection Citation:
Photo Lot 90-1, George V. Allen collection of photographs of Native Americans and the American frontier, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Photo Lot 90-1, George V. Allen collection of photographs of Native Americans and the American frontier, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Photo Lot 90-1, George V. Allen collection of photographs of Native Americans and the American frontier, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Photo Lot 90-1, George V. Allen collection of photographs of Native Americans and the American frontier, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Photo Lot 90-1, George V. Allen collection of photographs of Native Americans and the American frontier, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Photo Lot 90-1, George V. Allen collection of photographs of Native Americans and the American frontier, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Photo Lot 90-1, George V. Allen collection of photographs of Native Americans and the American frontier, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
