Photographs depicting Native American baskets and portraits of Native Americans with whom C. Hart Merriam worked, as well as scenic views and images of animals and plants, mostly in California. Many of the photographs were made by Merriam himself or his daughter Zenaida Merriam Talbot. In addition, Merriam collected photographs from other researchers and photographers, including J. S. Diller, John Peabody Harrington, Henry Wetherbee Henshaw, and O. E. Meddaugh. There are also images acquired from the Boysen Studio of Yosemite and photographs of Mark Twain, John Muir, basketmaker Maggie James, and Merriam's family.
Biographical/Historical note:
Clinton Hart Merriam (1855-1942) was a Columbia University-educated physician who worked as a naturalist, including as head of the Biological Survey for the US Department of Agriculture. He joined the Harriman Alaska Expedition as a zoologist in 1899. In 1910, he left the USDA and began to conduct research among California tribes. Financed by Mary W. Harriman and the E. H. Harriman Fund administered by the Smithsonian, he researched tribes' vocabularies, history, mythology, crafts (particularly basketmaking) until about 1936. His resarch was assisted by his daughter, Zenaida, who took photographs and painted glass slides for him. Merriam served as President of the Anthropological Society of Washington in 1920-1921.
Local Call Number(s):
NAA Photo Lot 74-27
General note:
Additional information supplied by Marvin Shodas.
Location of Other Archival Materials:
Merriam's notes held in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 1563 and in the Smithsonian Institution Archives in SIA Acc. 12-264.
Additional photographs by Merriam held in the National Museum of American Indian Archives in the Mary Harriman Rumsey Photograph Collection and the Harriman Alaska Expedition Photograph Collection.
Correspondence from Merriam held in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4558, the Department of Anthropology records (Manuscript and Pamphlet file), Bureau of American Ethnology records, J.C. Pilling Papers, Ales Hrdlicka Papers, and Jesse Logan Nusbaum Papers.
The Bancroft Library at University of California, Berkeley holds the C. Hart Merriam Papers, C. Hart Merriam Collection of Native American Photographs (prints corresponding to negatives in this collection), and C. Hart Merriam pictorial collection.
Indians of North America -- California Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Vocabulary
Manuscripts
Place:
California -- Languages
Date:
1913-circa 1957
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Northern and Central California series contains Harrington's research on Esselen. Materials include drafts of a paper on Esselen; copies of primary and secondary sources; file slips containing Esselen vocabulary, cognates, and equivalent terms; notes on rehearings of Esselen vocabulary; and notes on a comparison of Esselen and Southern Pomo vocabulary. The drafts are for a paper on sources of Esselen, with notes on phonetics, grammar, and vocabulary. The section of primary and secondary sources contains notes from 1916 to 1953 and include handwritten and typed copies of manuscripts and published versions of the various Esselen vocabularies. The file contains fairly extensive notes from a conversation with Henshaw regarding his fieldwork, dated August 31, 1920, and notes on the chapter entitled "The Esselen and Salinans" from Kroeber's "Handbook of the Indians of California." There are also several pages of notes on Esselen which were sent to Harrington by C. Hart Merriam. The slipfiles are organized under broad semantic headings: nature, material culture, bodyparts, animals, plants, kinship, tribenames, and placenames. The remainder of the slips were filed under such grammatical headings as nouns, verbs, pronouns, adverbs, reduplication, and phonetics. The sources of Esselen vocabulary from which he extracted the data were de Lamanon, Alcala Galiano, Arroyo de la Cuesta, Pinart, Henshaw, Merriam, and Kroeber. For comparative purposes, he also copied lexical items in other languages. Notes from rehearings of Esselen vocabulary are from his work with Ascencion Solorsano and Isabelle Meadows, both Costanoan speakers. The files on the comparison of Esselen and Southern Pomo contains Pomo vocabulary that Harrington recorded from Manuel C. Cordova along with Harrington's notes on the similarity of certain terms to Esselen.
A number of abbreviations were utilized by Harrington throughout the work to refer to the various reference works which he consulted. "Man." and "Per." refer to the vocabulary collected by de Lamanon and published by Laperouse. "Suen." and "Gal." allude to the vocabulary obtained by Lasuen and often credited to the explorer Dionicio Alcala Galiano.) Harrington also refers to this work as "Esp." for Espinosa y Tello. "Pi." and "Pin." stand for Alphonse Pinart and "Hen." for Henry W. Henshaw. The code "Mof." was utilized for Eugene Duflot de Mofras and "Cues." or "Arr." for Felipe Arroyo de la Cuesta. Harrington employed the abbreviations "Mer." and "Kr." for the writings of his contemporaries C. Hart Merriam and Alfred L. Kroeber.
Biographical / Historical:
Harrington began a study of Esselen relatively early in his career and maintained a continuing interest in relating it to a recognized language family. Because the language became extinct in the early 1900s, he himself was not actually able to conduct any fieldwork with a native speaker. He did undertake research among the existing primary and secondary sources and attempted to learn what he could from various Native Americans who he thought might have some knowledge of the language.
As early as 1913 Harrington began compiling notes on the historical accounts of Esselen. It is known that he presented a paper on the subject at the meeting of the San Francisco Society of the Archaeological Institute of America at Berkeley in November of that year. An undated manuscript titled "The Excelen Language" presumably dates from that period.
As his research continued, Harrington was pleased to locate a "new source," the vocabulary recorded by Alphonse Pinart, at the Bancroft Library. This manuscript had been unavailable to Alfred Kroeber when he published his summary of Esselen in 1904. The discovery may have led Harrington to present a paper titled "Notes on Esselen" at the joint session of the San Francisco Society of the A.I.A. and the Anthropological Section of the Pacific Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science held in Berkeley on December 1 and 2, 1916.
Harrington continued revising his notes on secondary sources in the 1920s, producing two additional drafts of his earlier summary in 1921 and 1927. In addition, he compiled slipfiles and various handwritten and typed lists of lexical items which were culled from the available sources on Esselen and some neighboring languages.
In the mid-1930s Harrington reviewed his files with Rumsen speaker Isabelle Meadows in hopes that she might recognize or help him reconstruct various Esselen words. At the end of their work he concluded that she knew only eleven words of the language.
In February 1947 Harrington reheard Esselen vocabulary items with his Southern Pomo consultant, Manuel C. Cordova, in an attempt to find similarities between the two languages. A number of years later he began another draft write-up. This remains in a sketchy, outline form.
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.
This subseries of the Notes and writings on special linguistic studies series contains material that supplement Harrington's Northern and Central California field notes. There are materials on Wiyot/Yurok/Mattole; Nisenan/Northern Sierra Miwok; Southern Pomo/Central Sierra Miwok; Plains Miwok; Karok/Shasta/Konomihu; Chimariko/Hupa; Wailaki; Achomawi/Atsugewi/Wintu/Yana; Yana/Achomawi/Wintu/Chimariko; Costanoan; Esselen; Salinan; and Yokuts. The files include notes Harrington collected from the field, covering linguistic, botanical, biographical, geographical, and ethnographic topics; notes from rehearings; notes and drafts from his papers; notes on his travels and activities; and notes from secondary sources, including field notes from Alfred Kroeber and other colleagues and notes on Sir Francis Drake's travels in California. Some of his botanical notes include scientific identifications and comments by botanist C. V. Morton of the National Herbarium. The Karok section contains labels for Karok baskets housed in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution's Department of Anthropology.
There are also some general and miscellaneous materials, notes relating to collections of artifacts, notes relating to mission records, notes from conversations, notes from secondary sources, and notes and writings collected from others. Miscellaneous material includes lists of possible informants for a number of California languages, bibliographic references, notes on boats, a list of captions for Harrington's paper "Chainfern and Maidenhair, Adornment Materials of Northwestern California Basketry," a tracing of a map labeled "Plano de la Mision San Jose, 1824," additional references to that mission, and a text. The papers contain references to the Hupa, Maidu, and Yurok tribes. Notes on artifacts pertain to collections held by others, including the George Heye collection of artifacts for the Modoc, Klamath, Pomo, Tolowa, Hupa, and Yurok tribes. Notes from conversations includes interviews with Cora DuBois, C. Hart Merriam, Carl F. Voegelin, and T.T. Waterman. Notes from his meeting with Dr. J.W. Hudson are the most extensive. The last file in the subseries consists of notes from a meeting with Ruth Underhill on January 10, 1941, and a notebook which Harrington evidently obtained from her at that time. The notebook contains class notes from a course on Maidu which Underhill had taken at Columbia University in 1932 with Hans Jorgen Uldall. Included are information on phonetics and grammar and a number of texts.
Local Numbers:
Accession #1976-95
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
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.
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.
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.
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
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.
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.
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 -- California Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Dictionaries
Vocabulary
Songs
Narratives
Place:
California -- History
Date:
1921-1939
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Northern and Central California series contains Harrington's research on Costanoan (Ohlone) languages, particularly Chocheno, Mutsun, and Rumsen. Materials include linguistic, ethnographic, and historical notes.
Harrington obtained a large amount of vocabulary during his fieldwork. Harrington organized the Mutsun vocabulary into a dictionary of sorts, and also compiled a rudimentary Rumsen dictionary. The bulk of the subseries, however, consist of his notes from rehearings of vocabulary recorded by Felipe Arroyo de la Cuesta, C. Hart Merriam, Henry W. Henshaw, Alfred Kroeber, Alexander S. Taylor, Alphonse Pinart, R.G. Latham, Adam John (an Indian agent), Reverend Professor Gregory Mengarini, Eugene Duflot de Mofras, Father Juan Comelias, and Horatio Hale. Harrington reviewed their data, some of which include ethnographic material, with various Costanoan speakers. He also reviewed with them some Esselen, Chumash, and Yokut vocabulary to elicit Costanoan equivalences. In addition, Harrington conducted rehearings of the records of San Juan Bautista Mission, Carmel Mission, and Santa Barbara Mission.
Harrington also collected Costanoan tribenames and placenames. There is a list of ranches and, in some cases, brief notes on the location and approximate number of Indian residents. There are also diaries of placename trips which Harrington made with Isabelle Meadows in 1932 and his travel from Berkeley to San Juan Capistrano with Henry Cervantes and Marta Herrera in 1932. The notes include sketch maps, records of mileage, and notes on photographs taken. In addition, Harrington formulated a questionnaire on Rumsen tribenames and placenames.
Another portion of the subseries consists of Harrington's notes for a proposed monograph on the native people brought together at Mission San Juan Bautista from various parts of San Benito County and the adjacent region. There are ethnographic, historical, and biographical notes from Ascencion Solosano and others as well as excerpts from a letter written by C. Hart Merriam, mission records, and notes from placename trips. The sections on Indian and Spanish cooking and on clothing are particularly extensive, as are the files on historical anecdotes and the mission itself.
Other materials in the subseries include notes on Chocheno and Mutsun song texts; information from Ascencion Solorsano regarding the use of herbs and native wild plants in the treatment of various diseases; myths and songs, anecdotes and historical accounts, and translations; and a miscellany of notes from interviews with various Costanoan speakers. Among his miscellaneous notes are comments on photographs taken by Harrington and information about his sound recordings.
Biographical / Historical:
John P. Harrington recorded three Costanoan dialects in three separate, primary periods: Chocheno (1921), Mutsun (mostly 1929), and Rumsen (mostly 1932-1939).
During the month of August 1921, prompted, no doubt, by suggestions from C. Hart Merriam, Harrington worked in the area of Pleasanton, California, gathering data on Chocheno, which he sometimes referred to as "the Nepeno language." His principal informant in the work was Maria de los Angeles Colas, usually called "Angela." A man named José, presumably Angela's husband José Guzmán, also provided information.
In January 1922 Harrington had his first opportunity to record basic vocabularies of the Mutsun and Rumsen dialects of Costanoan. Early in the month he worked briefly with an eighty-seven year-old Mutsun speaker, Ascencion Solorsano of Gilroy. Seven years later Harrington reestablished contact with Solorsano. He found Solorsano to be an excellent source of linguistic information. Much of his work with her was devoted to reviewing all historical and contemporary recordings of Mutsun. Although Solorsano was not a speaker of any other Costanoan dialect, Harrington felt that her Mutsun data were fundamental to his understanding of the other languages. For this reason he asked her to rehear a number of vocabularies in Rumsen, Santa Cruz, and Soledad. Harrington deemed as "astonishing" Solorsano's knowledge of Mutsun material culture, myths, native plants, ceremonies, customs, and life at the mission. She had intimate personal knowledge of missionary influences and a secondhand knowledge dating from pre-mission days. She had also lived with her parents on a ranch near the Pinnacles, where she learned the practice of herbal medicine.
During the period 1929-1930, Harrington also resumed fieldwork on Chocheno and Rumsen. In March 1930 he interviewed and recorded Chocheno songs from Jose Guzman. Another person involved in the later "San Jose mission" work was Susana Nicolas. Harrington evidently read various Chocheno forms to her but she responded in Rumsen. Laura Ramirez (nee Escobar), the older sister of Tomasa Cantua, was his major source of Rumsen informantion. She gave him a sizable vocabulary as well as a significant amount of ethnographic data.
On March 28, 1932, Harrington returned to Monterey to work with Isabelle Meadows, who learned Rumsen as a child from an elderly Wacharon woman, Maria Omesia. Throughout the spring of 1932, Harrington roomed with Solorsano's family in New Monterey and drove to Meadows' house in Carmel each day. By utilizing his earlier field notes as well as various primary and secondary sources, Harrington began to elicit a "big, thorough vocabulary of the Carmel-Monterey language." During automobile and walking trips, which took them as far as Salinas, he recorded some Indian names of sites as well as many old Spanish placenames. He scheduled other trips for collecting flowering plants with Claudia Corona.
In the summer of 1932, Harrington's interest turned to the study of Uto-Aztecan languages (Gabrielino, Luiseno, and Juaneno) and the annotation of Geronimo Boscana's writings. Meadows accompanied him to the San Juan Capistrano area to pursue this fieldwork. In 1933 she also traveled with him to Santa Ana, where he worked out the details for the publication of Chinigchinich. Harrington brought her back with him to Washington for several months in 1934. The following year they again returned to the capital, where she continued working intermittently with him until her death in 1939. During this later phase, their interviews consisted of repetitive reviews of all of the Costanoan notes which Harrington had compiled to date. He was attempting to refine his orthography and to check on detailed points of Rumsen grammar. Simultaneously he amassed voluminous notes of ethnographic and biographical interest and recorded a wealth of data relating to California Spanish.
Local Numbers:
Accession #1976-95
Local Note:
This subseries was broken up into three catalog records to facilitate viewing of digital surrogates. See the catalog record for John Peabody Harrington papers: Costanoan (part 2) and (part 3) to view surrogates for the rest of Harrington's Costanoan files.
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 -- California Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Dictionaries
Vocabulary
Songs
Narratives
Place:
California -- History
Date:
1921-1939
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Northern and Central California series contains Harrington's research on Costanoan (Ohlone) languages, particularly Chocheno, Mutsun, and Rumsen. Materials include linguistic, ethnographic, and historical notes.
Harrington obtained a large amount of vocabulary during his fieldwork. Harrington organized the Mutsun vocabulary into a dictionary of sorts, and also compiled a rudimentary Rumsen dictionary. The bulk of the subseries, however, consist of his notes from rehearings of vocabulary recorded by Felipe Arroyo de la Cuesta, C. Hart Merriam, Henry W. Henshaw, Alfred Kroeber, Alexander S. Taylor, Alphonse Pinart, R.G. Latham, Adam John (an Indian agent), Reverend Professor Gregory Mengarini, Eugene Duflot de Mofras, Father Juan Comelias, and Horatio Hale. Harrington reviewed their data, some of which include ethnographic material, with various Costanoan speakers. He also reviewed with them some Esselen, Chumash, and Yokut vocabulary to elicit Costanoan equivalences. In addition, Harrington conducted rehearings of the records of San Juan Bautista Mission, Carmel Mission, and Santa Barbara Mission.
Harrington also collected Costanoan tribenames and placenames. There is a list of ranches and, in some cases, brief notes on the location and approximate number of Indian residents. There are also diaries of placename trips which Harrington made with Isabelle Meadows in 1932 and his travel from Berkeley to San Juan Capistrano with Henry Cervantes and Marta Herrera in 1932. The notes include sketch maps, records of mileage, and notes on photographs taken. In addition, Harrington formulated a questionnaire on Rumsen tribenames and placenames.
Another portion of the subseries consists of Harrington's notes for a proposed monograph on the native people brought together at Mission San Juan Bautista from various parts of San Benito County and the adjacent region. There are ethnographic, historical, and biographical notes from Ascencion Solosano and others as well as excerpts from a letter written by C. Hart Merriam, mission records, and notes from placename trips. The sections on Indian and Spanish cooking and on clothing are particularly extensive, as are the files on historical anecdotes and the mission itself.
Other materials in the subseries include notes on Chocheno and Mutsun song texts; information from Ascencion Solorsano regarding the use of herbs and native wild plants in the treatment of various diseases; myths and songs, anecdotes and historical accounts, and translations; and a miscellany of notes from interviews with various Costanoan speakers. Among his miscellaneous notes are comments on photographs taken by Harrington and information about his sound recordings.
Biographical / Historical:
John P. Harrington recorded three Costanoan dialects in three separate, primary periods: Chocheno (1921), Mutsun (mostly 1929), and Rumsen (mostly 1932-1939).
During the month of August 1921, prompted, no doubt, by suggestions from C. Hart Merriam, Harrington worked in the area of Pleasanton, California, gathering data on Chocheno, which he sometimes referred to as "the Nepeno language." His principal informant in the work was Maria de los Angeles Colas, usually called "Angela." A man named José, presumably Angela's husband José Guzmán, also provided information.
In January 1922 Harrington had his first opportunity to record basic vocabularies of the Mutsun and Rumsen dialects of Costanoan. Early in the month he worked briefly with an eighty-seven year-old Mutsun speaker, Ascencion Solorsano of Gilroy. Seven years later Harrington reestablished contact with Solorsano. He found Solorsano to be an excellent source of linguistic information. Much of his work with her was devoted to reviewing all historical and contemporary recordings of Mutsun. Although Solorsano was not a speaker of any other Costanoan dialect, Harrington felt that her Mutsun data were fundamental to his understanding of the other languages. For this reason he asked her to rehear a number of vocabularies in Rumsen, Santa Cruz, and Soledad. Harrington deemed as "astonishing" Solorsano's knowledge of Mutsun material culture, myths, native plants, ceremonies, customs, and life at the mission. She had intimate personal knowledge of missionary influences and a secondhand knowledge dating from pre-mission days. She had also lived with her parents on a ranch near the Pinnacles, where she learned the practice of herbal medicine.
During the period 1929-1930, Harrington also resumed fieldwork on Chocheno and Rumsen. In March 1930 he interviewed and recorded Chocheno songs from Jose Guzman. Another person involved in the later "San Jose mission" work was Susana Nicolas. Harrington evidently read various Chocheno forms to her but she responded in Rumsen. Laura Ramirez (nee Escobar), the older sister of Tomasa Cantua, was his major source of Rumsen informantion. She gave him a sizable vocabulary as well as a significant amount of ethnographic data.
On March 28, 1932, Harrington returned to Monterey to work with Isabelle Meadows, who learned Rumsen as a child from an elderly Wacharon woman, Maria Omesia. Throughout the spring of 1932, Harrington roomed with Solorsano's family in New Monterey and drove to Meadows' house in Carmel each day. By utilizing his earlier field notes as well as various primary and secondary sources, Harrington began to elicit a "big, thorough vocabulary of the Carmel-Monterey language." During automobile and walking trips, which took them as far as Salinas, he recorded some Indian names of sites as well as many old Spanish placenames. He scheduled other trips for collecting flowering plants with Claudia Corona.
In the summer of 1932, Harrington's interest turned to the study of Uto-Aztecan languages (Gabrielino, Luiseno, and Juaneno) and the annotation of Geronimo Boscana's writings. Meadows accompanied him to the San Juan Capistrano area to pursue this fieldwork. In 1933 she also traveled with him to Santa Ana, where he worked out the details for the publication of Chinigchinich. Harrington brought her back with him to Washington for several months in 1934. The following year they again returned to the capital, where she continued working intermittently with him until her death in 1939. During this later phase, their interviews consisted of repetitive reviews of all of the Costanoan notes which Harrington had compiled to date. He was attempting to refine his orthography and to check on detailed points of Rumsen grammar. Simultaneously he amassed voluminous notes of ethnographic and biographical interest and recorded a wealth of data relating to California Spanish.
Local Numbers:
Accession #1976-95
Local Note:
This subseries was broken up into three catalog records to facilitate viewing of digital surrogates. See the catalog record for John Peabody Harrington papers: Costanoan (part 2) and (part 3) to view surrogates for the rest of Harrington's Costanoan files.
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 -- California Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Dictionaries
Vocabulary
Songs
Narratives
Place:
California -- History
Date:
1921-1939
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Northern and Central California series contains Harrington's research on Costanoan (Ohlone) languages, particularly Chocheno, Mutsun, and Rumsen. Materials include linguistic, ethnographic, and historical notes.
Harrington obtained a large amount of vocabulary during his fieldwork. Harrington organized the Mutsun vocabulary into a dictionary of sorts, and also compiled a rudimentary Rumsen dictionary. The bulk of the subseries, however, consist of his notes from rehearings of vocabulary recorded by Felipe Arroyo de la Cuesta, C. Hart Merriam, Henry W. Henshaw, Alfred Kroeber, Alexander S. Taylor, Alphonse Pinart, R.G. Latham, Adam John (an Indian agent), Reverend Professor Gregory Mengarini, Eugene Duflot de Mofras, Father Juan Comelias, and Horatio Hale. Harrington reviewed their data, some of which include ethnographic material, with various Costanoan speakers. He also reviewed with them some Esselen, Chumash, and Yokut vocabulary to elicit Costanoan equivalences. In addition, Harrington conducted rehearings of the records of San Juan Bautista Mission, Carmel Mission, and Santa Barbara Mission.
Harrington also collected Costanoan tribenames and placenames. There is a list of ranches and, in some cases, brief notes on the location and approximate number of Indian residents. There are also diaries of placename trips which Harrington made with Isabelle Meadows in 1932 and his travel from Berkeley to San Juan Capistrano with Henry Cervantes and Marta Herrera in 1932. The notes include sketch maps, records of mileage, and notes on photographs taken. In addition, Harrington formulated a questionnaire on Rumsen tribenames and placenames.
Another portion of the subseries consists of Harrington's notes for a proposed monograph on the native people brought together at Mission San Juan Bautista from various parts of San Benito County and the adjacent region. There are ethnographic, historical, and biographical notes from Ascencion Solosano and others as well as excerpts from a letter written by C. Hart Merriam, mission records, and notes from placename trips. The sections on Indian and Spanish cooking and on clothing are particularly extensive, as are the files on historical anecdotes and the mission itself.
Other materials in the subseries include notes on Chocheno and Mutsun song texts; information from Ascencion Solorsano regarding the use of herbs and native wild plants in the treatment of various diseases; myths and songs, anecdotes and historical accounts, and translations; and a miscellany of notes from interviews with various Costanoan speakers. Among his miscellaneous notes are comments on photographs taken by Harrington and information about his sound recordings.
Biographical / Historical:
John P. Harrington recorded three Costanoan dialects in three separate, primary periods: Chocheno (1921), Mutsun (mostly 1929), and Rumsen (mostly 1932-1939).
During the month of August 1921, prompted, no doubt, by suggestions from C. Hart Merriam, Harrington worked in the area of Pleasanton, California, gathering data on Chocheno, which he sometimes referred to as "the Nepeno language." His principal informant in the work was Maria de los Angeles Colas, usually called "Angela." A man named José, presumably Angela's husband José Guzmán, also provided information.
In January 1922 Harrington had his first opportunity to record basic vocabularies of the Mutsun and Rumsen dialects of Costanoan. Early in the month he worked briefly with an eighty-seven year-old Mutsun speaker, Ascencion Solorsano of Gilroy. Seven years later Harrington reestablished contact with Solorsano. He found Solorsano to be an excellent source of linguistic information. Much of his work with her was devoted to reviewing all historical and contemporary recordings of Mutsun. Although Solorsano was not a speaker of any other Costanoan dialect, Harrington felt that her Mutsun data were fundamental to his understanding of the other languages. For this reason he asked her to rehear a number of vocabularies in Rumsen, Santa Cruz, and Soledad. Harrington deemed as "astonishing" Solorsano's knowledge of Mutsun material culture, myths, native plants, ceremonies, customs, and life at the mission. She had intimate personal knowledge of missionary influences and a secondhand knowledge dating from pre-mission days. She had also lived with her parents on a ranch near the Pinnacles, where she learned the practice of herbal medicine.
During the period 1929-1930, Harrington also resumed fieldwork on Chocheno and Rumsen. In March 1930 he interviewed and recorded Chocheno songs from Jose Guzman. Another person involved in the later "San Jose mission" work was Susana Nicolas. Harrington evidently read various Chocheno forms to her but she responded in Rumsen. Laura Ramirez (nee Escobar), the older sister of Tomasa Cantua, was his major source of Rumsen informantion. She gave him a sizable vocabulary as well as a significant amount of ethnographic data.
On March 28, 1932, Harrington returned to Monterey to work with Isabelle Meadows, who learned Rumsen as a child from an elderly Wacharon woman, Maria Omesia. Throughout the spring of 1932, Harrington roomed with Solorsano's family in New Monterey and drove to Meadows' house in Carmel each day. By utilizing his earlier field notes as well as various primary and secondary sources, Harrington began to elicit a "big, thorough vocabulary of the Carmel-Monterey language." During automobile and walking trips, which took them as far as Salinas, he recorded some Indian names of sites as well as many old Spanish placenames. He scheduled other trips for collecting flowering plants with Claudia Corona.
In the summer of 1932, Harrington's interest turned to the study of Uto-Aztecan languages (Gabrielino, Luiseno, and Juaneno) and the annotation of Geronimo Boscana's writings. Meadows accompanied him to the San Juan Capistrano area to pursue this fieldwork. In 1933 she also traveled with him to Santa Ana, where he worked out the details for the publication of Chinigchinich. Harrington brought her back with him to Washington for several months in 1934. The following year they again returned to the capital, where she continued working intermittently with him until her death in 1939. During this later phase, their interviews consisted of repetitive reviews of all of the Costanoan notes which Harrington had compiled to date. He was attempting to refine his orthography and to check on detailed points of Rumsen grammar. Simultaneously he amassed voluminous notes of ethnographic and biographical interest and recorded a wealth of data relating to California Spanish.
Local Numbers:
Accession #1976-95
Local Note:
This subseries was broken up into three catalog records to facilitate viewing of digital surrogates. See the catalog record for John Peabody Harrington papers: Costanoan (part 2) and (part 3) to view surrogates for the rest of Harrington's Costanoan files.
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.
