Indians of North America -- California Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Vocabulary
Field notes
Questionnaires
Place:
California -- Languages
Date:
1910-1936
bulk 1916-1918
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Notes and writings on special linguistic studies series contains a set of questionnaires which John P. Harrington used during various periods of his linguistic fieldwork. It appears that the questionnaires were used principally to elicit words in various California languages--the names of a Salinan speaker and several Wintu and Yana informants are given on a number of heading sheets, although they were undoubtedly used during other fieldwork as well. References to Abby, a speaker of New Mexican Spanish, and to Leonora S. Curtin (abbreviated "LCC"[sic]), a collector of Moroccan botanical specimens, suggest that Harrington used the section of botanical terms in his study of Arabic influences on the Spanish spoken in the American Southwest.
The various components were not organized as a unit but were found scattered throughout his papers. (A portion of the notes were formerly cataloged as parts of B.A.E. mss. 2292 and 6017.) They have been brought together and arranged according to a number of his standard headings: cosmology, botany, anatomy, kinship, material culture. The largest group covers the various classifications of animal species. Within each semantic heading the pages have been arranged as much as possible in chronological order. There is also a set of miscellaneous lists which have not been subdivided semantically.
The questionnaires consist largely of word lists in a mixture of English, California Spanish, and Chumash (Barbareno or Ventureno). Harrington occasionally annotated these lists with equivalent forms in Mohave or Chemehuevi. Although the questionnaires were usually used for eliciting nouns, the section on anatomy also lists verb forms and the section on botany has questions on uses of plants.
Supplementing the word lists are notes from interviews with Smithsonian scientists. Those with George S. Meyers, head curator of the Division of Fishes at the U.S. National Museum, on fish species are particularly extensive. There are also newspaper clippings, bibliographic references, reading notes, and typed extracts from scientific publications. Harrington's files also include reprints and plates picturing various plants and animals which he removed from larger works.
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.
The genera of fishes, and A classification of fishes. Reprinted with a new foreword by George S. Myers, and the comprehensive index by Hugh M. Smith and Leonard P. Schultz
The piranha book; an account of the ill-famed piranha fishes of the rivers of tropical South America. Edited by George S. Myers, with contributions by the editor, Herbert R. Axelrod, and Harald Schultz
Author:
Myers, George S (George Sprague) 1905-1985 Search this
Folder 21 "Systematic status of the Asiatic and African fresh-water fish genera Ophicephalus and Channa, with notes on the absence of pelvic fins in these fishes," undated
Collection Creator::
Myers, George S. (George Sprague), 1905-1985 Search this
Container:
Box 50 of 64
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7317, George Sprague Myers Papers
Folder 1 Brazil, 1941-1942. From 1942 to 1944, Myers served as a special professor of ichthyology at the Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro. This work was supported by the Committee for Inter-American Artistic and Intellectual Relations, a government sup...
Collection Creator::
Myers, George S. (George Sprague), 1905-1985 Search this
Container:
Box 58 of 64
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7317, George Sprague Myers Papers
Folder 5 CARE Packages, 1948-1949. Correspondence concerning assistance provided by staff and students of the Stanford Natural History Museum to European colleagues. Several letters contain comments on post-war Europe. Correspondents include Johann Pau...
Collection Creator::
Myers, George S. (George Sprague), 1905-1985 Search this
Container:
Box 9 of 64
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7317, George Sprague Myers Papers
Folder 1 Chapin, James Paul, 1937, 1939-1941. The correspondence of 1940-1941 contains an interesting discussion of the effect of World War II on European museums.
Collection Creator::
Myers, George S. (George Sprague), 1905-1985 Search this
Container:
Box 10 of 64
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7317, George Sprague Myers Papers
