These papers reflect the professional lives of Alice Cunningham Fletcher (1838-1923), an ethnologist with the Peabody Museum of Harvard and collaborator with the Bureau of American Ethnology, and Francis La Flesche (1856-1923), an anthropologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology. Due to the close professional and personal relationship of Fletcher and La Flesche, their papers have been arranged jointly. The papers cover the period from 1874 to 1939. Included in the collection is correspondence, personal diaries, lectures, field notes and other ethnographic papers, drafts, musical transcriptions, publications by various authors, maps and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
These papers reflect the professional lives of Alice Cunningham Fletcher (1838-1923), an ethnologist with the Peabody Museum of Harvard University and collaborator with the Bureau of American Ethnology, and Francis La Flesche (1856-1923), an anthropologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology. Due to the close professional and personal relationship of Fletcher and La Flesche, their papers have been arranged jointly. The papers cover the period from 1874 to 1939. Included in the collection is correspondence, personal diaries, lectures, field notes and other ethnographic papers, drafts, musical transcriptions, publications by various authors, maps and photographs.
The papers have been divided into three general categories: the papers of Alice Cunningham Fletcher, the papers of Francis La Flesche, and the ethnographic research of Fletcher and La Flesche. The first two categories represent personal and professional materials of Fletcher and La Flesche. The third section holds the majority of the ethnographic material in the collection.
Of primary concern are Fletcher and La Flesche's ethnological investigations conducted among the Plains Indians, particularly the Omaha and Osage. Fletcher's Pawnee field research and her allotment work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs among the Omaha, Nez Perce, and Winnebago are represented in the collection. A substantial portion of the ethnographic material reflects Fletcher and La Flesche's studies of Native American music. Much of the correspondence in the papers of Fletcher and La Flesche is rich with information about the situation of Omaha peoples in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Also included in the collection are documents related to Fletcher's work with the Archaeological Institute of America and the School for American Archaeology. Additionally, substantial amounts of Fletcher's early anthropological and historical research are found among her correspondence, lectures, anthropological notes, and early field diaries. La Flesche's literary efforts are also generously represented.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into the following 3 series: 1) Alice Cunningham Fletcher papers, 1873-1925; 2) Francis La Flesche papers, 1881-1930; 3) Papers relating to the anthropological research of Alice Fletcher and Francis La Flesche, 1877-1939.
Series 1: Alice Cunningham Fletcher papers is divided into the following 10 subseries: 1.1) Incoming correspondence, 1874-1923 (bulk 1882-1923); 1.2) Outgoing correspondence, 1873-1921; 1.3) Correspondence on specific subjects, 1881-1925; 1.4) Correspondence between Fletcher and La Flesche, 1895-1922; 1.5) Publications, 1882-1920; 1.6) Organizational records, 1904-1921; 1.7) General anthropological notes, undated; 1.8) Lectures, circa 1878-1910; 1.9) Diaries, 1881-1922; 1.10) Biography and memorabilia, 1878-1925.
Series 2: Francis La Flesche papers is divided into the following 6 subseries: 2.11) General correspondence, 1890-1929; 2.12) Correspondence on specific subjects, 1881-1930; 2.13) Publications, 1900-1927; 2.14) Literary efforts, undated; 2.15) Personal diaries, 1883-1924; 2.16) Biography and memorabilia, 1886-1930.
Series 3: Papers relating to the anthropological research of Alice Fletcher and Francis La Flesche is divided into the following 12 subseries: 3.17) Alaska, 1886-1887; 3.18) Earth lodges, 1882, 1898-1899; 3.19) Music, 1888-1918; 3.20) Nez Perce, 1889-1909; 3.21) Omaha, 1882-1922; 3.22) Osage, 1896-1939; 3.23) Pawnee, 1897-1910; 3.24) Pipes, undated; 3.25) Sioux, 1877-1896; 3.26) Other tribes, 1882-1922; 3.27) Publications collected, 1884-1905, undated; 3.28) Photographs, undated.
Biographical / Historical:
Alice Cunningham Fletcher (1838-1923) was an ethnologist with the Peabody Museum of Harvard and collaborator with the Bureau of American Ethnology. Francis La Flesche (1856-1923) was an anthropologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology.
Chronology of the Life of Alice Cunningham Fletcher
1838 March 15 -- Born in Havana, Cuba
1873-1876 -- Secretary, American Association for Advancement of Women
1879 -- Informal student of anthropology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University
1881 -- Field trip to Omaha and Rosebud Agencies
1882 -- Assistant in ethnology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University
1882 -- Helped secure land in severalty to Omaha Indians
1882-1883 -- Begins collaboration with Francis La Flesche on the Peabody Museum's collection of Omaha and Sioux artifacts
1883-1884 -- Special Agent, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Omaha Agency
1886 -- Bureau of Education investigation of Alaskan native education
1887-1888 -- Special Disbursing Agent, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Winnebago Agency
1889-1892 -- Special Agent for allotment, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Nez Perce Agency
1890-1899 -- President, Women's Anthropological Society of America
1891-1923 -- Mary Copley Thaw Fellow, Peabody Museum, Harvard University
1892-1893 -- Department of Interior consultant, World's Columbian Exposition
1896 -- Vice-President, Section H, American Association for the Advancement of Science
1897 -- Collaborator, Bureau of American Ethnology
1899-1916 -- Editorial board, American Anthropologist
1900 -- Published Indian Story and Song from North America
1901-1902 -- Advisory committee, Anthropology Department, University of California at Berkeley
1903 -- President, Anthropological Society of Washington
1904 -- Published The Hako: A Pawnee Ceremony with James Murie
1908-1913 -- Chair, Managing Committee of School of American Archaeology
1911 -- Honorary Vice-President, Section H, British Association for Advancement of Science
1911 -- Published The Omaha Tribe with Francis La Flesche
1913 -- Chair Emeritus, Managing Committee of School of American Archaeology
1915 -- Published Indian Games and Dances with Native Songs Arranged from American Indian Ceremonials and Sports
1923 April 6 -- Died in Washington, D.C.
Chronology of the Life of Francis La Flesche
1857 December 25 -- Born on Omaha Reservation near Macy, Nebraska
1879 -- Lecture tour, Ponca chief Standing Bear
1881 -- Interpreter, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
1881-1910 -- Clerk, Bureau of Indian Affairs
1891 -- Informally adopted as Fletcher's son
1892 -- LL.B., National University Law School
1893 -- LL.M., National University Law School
1900 -- Published The Middle Five: Indian Boys at School
1906-1908 -- Marriage to Rosa Bourassa
1910-1929 -- Ethnologist, Bureau of American Ethnology
1911 -- Published The Omaha Tribe with Alice Fletcher
1921 -- Published The Osage Tribe, Part One
1922 -- Member, National Academy of Sciences
1922-1923 -- President, Anthropological Society of Washington
1925 -- Published The Osage Tribe, Part Two
1926 -- Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of Nebraska
1928 -- Published The Osage Tribe, Part Three
1932 -- Published Dictionary of the Osage Language
1932 September 5 -- Died in Thurston County, Nebraska
1939 -- Posthumous publication of War Ceremony and Peace Ceremony of the Osage Indians
Related Materials:
Additional material related to the professional work of Fletcher and La Flesche in the National Anthropological Archives may be found among the correspondence of the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) and the records of the Anthropological Society of Washington.
Sound recordings made by Fletcher and La Flesche can be found at the Library of Congress. The National Archives Records Administration hold the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), including those relating to allotments in severalty for the Nez Perce by Alice Fletcher. The Nebraska Historical Society has diaries, letters and clippings regarding the La Flesche family, including correspondence of Francis La Flesche and Fletcher. The Radcliffe College Archives holds a manuscript account of Alice Fletcher's four summers with the Nez Perce (1889-1892). Correspondence between Fletcher and F. W. Putnam is also located at the Peabody Museum Archives of Harvard University.
Separated Materials:
Ethnographic photographs from the collection have been catalogued by tribe in Photo Lot 24.
Glass plate negatives from the collection have been catalogued by tribe in the BAE glass negatives collection (Negative Numbers 4439-4515).
Provenance:
The papers of Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche have been received from an undocumented number of sources. Portions of Fletcher's ethnographic papers were donated to the archives by Mrs. G. David Pearlman in memory of her husband in 1959.
Restrictions:
The Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche papers are open for research.
Access to the Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche papers requires an appointment.
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Scope and Contents:
James Murie also in picture. cf. T 1683. Woman on the right is not Effie Blaine. Information from Garland J. Blaine, grandson of Effie Blaine. Per letter to NAA by Martha Royce Blaine, --pjr 7/20/75.
Local Numbers:
OPPS NEG.T1672A
Local Note:
Cataloging based on examination of NAA file print.
Silver nitrate negative
Related Materials:
Related negatives in the Field Museum of Natural History, Photography Department, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605-2496
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Photo Lot 89-8, Willis G. Tilton collection of photographs of Native Americans, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Material arranged and edited by Clark Wissler. [1921.] Phonetic texts revised and translated by Gene Weltfish. [1930-32.] Includes parts of a carbon copy of the typescript, 1 box. 18 photographs, including Pawnee chart of the heavens with 2 page letter of explanation from James R. Murie, Pawnee, Oklahoma, June 24, 1911; 27 sketches by James R. Murie, with notations for the artist, 46 pages; and partial set of photostats of sketches; 1 box.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 2520
Local Note:
Manuscript 4243, Catalogue of Bureau of American Ethnology Musical Recordings, includes an entry for "95 records of songs of the White Beaver ceremony, etc...apparently intended to accompany the Manuscript on Ceremonies of the Pawnee." There is no available list of these songs, and the original recordings were presumably sent to the Library of Congress in the 1940's.
See also companion paper, Manuscript Number 1788, Helen H. Roberts, "Ceremonial Songs of the Pawnee," No date, 624 pages.
History of Manuscript 2520: 8/3/1921. Original Manuscript, ca. 1560 pages, arranged and edited by Clark Wissler, received. 7/11/1930. Portion of Manuscript sent to Dr Gene Weltfish for use in the field by order of Chief of Bureau of American Ethnology. 5/23/1932 Manuscript returned to Bureau of American Ethnology. 4/30/1946 Manuscript mailed to Clark Wissler in response to letter, 4/12/46. Summer, 1946. Two envelopes of Murie Manuscript on Morning Star ceremony found at Columbia University and sent to Bureau of American Ethnology in belief it belonged to Bureau of American Ethnology, and had been borrowed by Dr Boas. Bureau of American Ethnology had no record of such loan; thought Manuscript fragment might belong to AMNH. Fragment forwarded by Bureau of American Ethnology to AMNH to be kept by them if theirs, or returned with main body of Manuscript previously borrowed by Wissler. See correspondence in files under "Murie Ms." especially Bella Weitzner to M. W. Stirling, July 18, 1946. 3/10/1954. All parts of Manuscript here, as enumerated.--MCB
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents:
Also Transcriptions of music and musical analysis. With "Notes on Songs and the Composers," by James R. Murie. 9 pages.
Ceremonial Songs of the Pawnee. Memorandum by Miss Roberts. 1 page. List of discrepancies. 2 small sheets. Musical sections, with note to artist or printer. 6 pages. Graphic analyses. 3 sheets. Melodic analysis of 210 songs. 6 sheets. General discussion. 18 pages. Manuscript of song material. 588 pages.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 1788
Local Note:
Companion paper to "The Ceremonies of the Pawnee," by James R. Murie. (Bureau of American Ethnology Number 2520.)
See Bureau of American Ethnology File # 4243, page 164 for mention of 95 records of songs of Pawnee ceremonies. Records presumably in Library of Congress ?
Includes Swanton's rendering of the names of Pawnee villages listed by Murie in Anthropology Papers, AMNH, volume xi, page 550- 13 names on 1 sheet (2 pages; notes on relationship, 2 pages (sheets); relationship charts, by Dr Swanton, 7 pages.
