Garrick Mallery (1831-1894) was an ethnologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology who focused primarily on Native American sign language and pictography. This collection reflects Mallery's research interests and methods. Much of the collection is comprised of correspondence and notes relating to sign language and pictography and is organized chiefly by either the cultural or geographic region to which the material belongs. Bound volumes of several of his publications are included, along with annotated draft copies from collaborators. In the case of Mallery's work on pictography, the collection includes several oversize items including original works and reproductions.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains Garrick Mallery's research and writings as a BAE ethnologist and is largely comprised of correspondence and preparatory materials for publications on Native American sign language and pictography. The geographic scope of the material is chiefly the present-day United States and Canada, though other areas of the world are represented less comprehensively. Correspondence and research notes include verbal descriptions of signs, sometimes with illustrations included. Bound volumes of Mallery's publications are included, along with annotations from collaborators. In addition, this collection includes notecards, drawings, illustrations, photographs, articles, and art objects. Art objects (mostly oversize) deal chiefly with Dakota winter counts and other artifacts.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged into 3 series: 1) Research Notes, undated; 2) Materials on Sign Language, 1843-1849, 1873-1894; 3) Materials on Pictographs and Petroglyphs, 1849-1902, undated
Biographical Note:
Garrick Mallery (1831-1894) was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and practiced law in Philadelphia from 1853 until the outbreak of the American Civil War. While serving in the army, he became interested in Native American sign language and pictography, perhaps while performing his duties in frontier areas. After retiring from the military in 1879, Mallery was appointed to the newly created Bureau of American Ethnology as one of its first ethnologists. In his work with the Bureau, Mallery pioneered the study of sign language and pictographs, examining them as a universal human phenomenon with a direct link to spoken language.
In his work, Mallery collected and examined sign language vocabulary from Native American groups throughout the U.S. and Canada and regularly solicited contributions from collaborators. He also related his findings to examples from the wider world, comparing the formation of Native American signs to those in other areas by hearing individuals and by the deaf. Mallery completed several publications on the topic throughout the 1880s, notably Introduction to the Study of Sign language Among the North American Indians (1880), A Collection of Gesture- Signs and Signals of the North American Indians (1880), and "Sign-language among North American Indians Compared with that Among other People and Deaf-mutes," which appeared in the BAE 1st Annual Report (1881).
While most widely known for his work with sign language, Mallery also undertook extensive research into Native American pictography. Like his work with sign language, he both conducted original research and solicited assistance from collaborators. He was especially interested in the representational images in Dakota winter counts and petroglyphs in the United States and throughout the world.
Sources Consulted
Fletcher, Robert. "Garrick Mallery, President of the Philosophical Society of Washington, in 1888." In Brief Memoirs of Colonel Garrick Mallery, U.S.A., Who Died October 24, 1894, 3-8. Washington: Judd & Detweiler, 1895.
1831 -- Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on April 25
1850 -- Graduates Yale College
1853 -- Earns LL. B. from the University of Pennsylvania Admitted to the Pennsylvania bar
1853-1861 -- Practices law in Philadelphia
1861 -- Enters the volunteer army of the United States
1862 -- Severely wounded in the battle of Peach Orchard, Virginia Captured and held prisoner at Libby prison in Richmond, Virginia
1866 -- Completes service with volunteer army of the United States Accepts commission in regular army of the United States
1870 -- Marries Helen W. Wyckoff
1879 -- Retires from the United States army due to disability Appointed to the Bureau of American Ethnology
1880 -- Publishes Introduction to the Study of Sign-Language Among the North American Indians as Illustrating the Gesture-Speech of Mankind and A Collection of Gesture-Signs and Signals of the North American Indians With Some Comparisons
1881 -- Publishes "Sign Language Among North American Indians, Compared with that Among Other Peoples and Deaf-Mutes"
1894 -- Dies after a short illness in Washington, D.C., on October 24
Related Materials:
See MS 2322 A collection of gesture-signs and signals of the North American Indians for more of Garrick Mallery's work on sign language.
Provenance:
MS 2372 was transferred from the Bureau of Ethnology Archives to the Smithsonian Office of Anthropology Archives with the merger of the BAE and the Department of Anthropology of the National Museum of Natural History in 1965. The Smithsonian Office of Anthropology Archives was renamed the National Anthropological Archives in 1968.
Restrictions:
Manuscript 2372 is open for research.
Access to Manuscript 2372 requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
United States. Works Progress Administration Search this
Extent:
1 Poster
Container:
Folder 2
Type:
Archival materials
Graphic Materials
Posters
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
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Collection Citation:
MS 4883 Posters from the Indian Court in the Federal Building at the Golden Gate International Exposition, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection Citation:
Lee Ya-Ching Papers, NASM.2008.0009, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Main Image: Examples of Indian picture writing and a Indian Mask
Local numbers:
Princeton Poster# 3602
General:
Issued by: Golden Gate International Exposition
Issued for: Indian Court
Artist(s): Siegriest
Locale:
San Francisco
Note:
The design was executed by the Federal Art Project W.P.A.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Copyright status of items varies. Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Princeton University Posters Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Sponsor:
Digitization of the Princeton University Poster Collection was a collaboration of Google Arts and Culture and the Smithsonian Institution's Digitization Program Office. Catalog records were transcribed by digital volunteers through the Smithsonian Institution Transcription Center.
The collection consists of 18 drawings and 2 photostats. The drawings are copies of fragments of Aztec manuscripts collected by Alexander von Humboldt and donated to the Royal Library of Berlin (now the Berlin State Library or Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin) in 1806. The drawings were made by Wilhem von den Steinen from the originals in the Royal Library. They were commissioned by Eduard Seler and the Bureau of American Ethnology to illustrate Seler's article "Mexican Picture Writings of Alexander von Humboldt" in the Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin, 28, (1904).
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Biographical Note:
Alexander von Humboldt was a Prussian naturalist and geographer who traveled extensively in Central and South America. The records and studies he made during his travels helped establish physical geography and geophysics as disciplines. His writings such as Voyage de Humboldt et Bonpland and Kosmos also contributed to make him one of the foremost scholars of the 19th century.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 2205
Related Materials:
The National Anthropological Archives holds material related to the publication of these materials in BAE Bulletin 28 in MS 3251 Miscellaneous material used in Bulletin 28, Mexican and Central American Antiquities, Calendar Systems and History.
The British Museum holds copies of the Humboldt collection drawn by Agostino Aglio for Lord Kingsborough in MS 8882.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Works of art
Drawings
facsimiles (reproductions)
Citation:
MS 2205 Copies of Alexander von Humboldt collection of Mexican pictographic manuscripts, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
INV 08742601. Two Strikes identified as the artist by Garrick Mallery. Two inscriptions in different hands. First reads: "This is [Mr.?] Two Strike he has kill this many man he is one of the Chifes [sic]." Second reads: "Two Strike - killed twelve men, and led 4 war parties (at different times)." Graphite and colored pencil. Fig. 547, "Picture Writing of the American Indians" by Garrick Mallery, 10th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology for 1888-89, Washington DC 1893.
Collection Restrictions:
Manuscript 2372 is open for research.
Access to Manuscript 2372 requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Manuscript 2372, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Representation of a painted buffalo robe, with scenes of the war exploits of a number of men, each identified by a name glyph. Tracing in ink on two lengths of architects linen, adhered horizontally. P. 459, "Picture Writing of the American Indians" by Garrick Mallery, 10th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology for 1888-89, Washington DC 1893.
Collection Restrictions:
Manuscript 2372 is open for research.
Access to Manuscript 2372 requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Manuscript 2372, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Photocopy of Manuscript document. 4 pp. Original Document in USNM, Accession Number 4515. The drawings, said to have been made at Cheyenne River Agency in 1869, have not been located. (DeMallie, in Nurge App. III, 329).
Collection Restrictions:
Manuscript 2372 is open for research.
Access to Manuscript 2372 requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Manuscript 2372, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Drawings
Ledger drawings
Date:
1884
Scope and Contents:
Four drawings on cardboard with scenes of hunting, warfare, and mounted warriors, plus one leaf with partial copy of a drawing on each side, probably produced for publication (NAA INV 08746400).
One of the drawings was removed from a brittle substrate; see conservation files for more information.
NAA INV 08746400 is a copy of NAA INV 08742200 done by an anonymous copyist and is filed with a set of otherwise unidentified American Indian drawings also in MS 2372, Box 11. The identification of this drawing as a copy of a drawing by Takzi was made by Candace Greene.
Biographical / Historical:
Albert S. Gatschet was educated in his native Switzerland and in Germany (University of Bern; University of Berlin, Ph.D., 1892). Early in his career he pursued antiquarian research in European museums and wrote scientific articles. Among his projects was the study of the etymology of place names in Switzerland. After coming to the United States in 1869, he worked on the American Indian vocabularies collected by Oscar Loew of the United State Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meridian (Wheeler Survey); and eventually he was employed as an ethnologist with the United States Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Regions (Powell Survey). He joined the staff of the Bureau of American Ethnology when it was founded in 1879 and continued there until he retired in 1905.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS.2372, Box 11
Place:
United States -- Indian Territory -- Anadarko.
United States -- Oklahoma -- Anadarko.
Album Information:
MS 2372-11 Takzi-000
Collection Restrictions:
Manuscript 2372 is open for research.
Access to Manuscript 2372 requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Genre/Form:
Ledger drawings
Collection Citation:
Manuscript 2372, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Indians of North America -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Drawings
Ledger drawings
Date:
1881
Scope and Contents:
Scenes of hunting, warfare, and village life representing events in the life of the artist, as identified in captions on verso of many images. Drawn on blank backs of ruled, printed index cards.
Biographical / Historical:
Lean Wolf, also known as Poor Wolf. Name transcribed as Tce-caq-a-daq-a-qic by Mallery, who identified him as a chief of the Hidatsa. He was reportedly born in 1820, and was part of a delegation photographed in Washington in 1880.
Walter J. Hoffman, 1846-1899, was a BAE employee who assisted Garrick Mallery with his study of sign language. He visited Fort Berthold, Dakota in 1881 to collect data.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS.2372, Box 11
Local Note:
These drawings were intermixed with other Hidatsa drawings, but appear to have been created on a different occasion.
Place:
United States -- Dakota Territory -- Fort Berthold Agency.
United States -- North Dakota -- Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.
Album Information:
MS 2372-11 LW-000
Collection Restrictions:
Manuscript 2372 is open for research.
Access to Manuscript 2372 requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Genre/Form:
Ledger drawings
Collection Citation:
Manuscript 2372, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution