Harrington was a Bureau of American Ethnology ethnologist involved in the study of over one hundred American tribes. His speciality was linguistics. Most of the material concerns California, southwestern, northwestern tribes and includes ethnological, archeological, historical notes; writings, correspondence, photographs, sound recordings, biological specimens, and other types of documents. Also of concern are general linguistics, sign language, writing systems, writing machines, and sound recordings machines. There is also some material on New World Spanish, Old World languages. In addition, there are many manuscripts of writings that Harrington sketched, partially completed, or even completed but never published. The latter group includes not only writings about anthropological subjects but also histories, ranging from a biography of Geronimo to material on the history of the typewriter. The collection incorporates material of Richard Lynch Garner, Matilda Coxe Stevenson, and others. In his field work, Harrington seems sometimes to have worked within fairly firm formats, this especially being true when he was "rehearing" material, that is in using an informant to verify and correct the work of other researchers. Often, however, the interviews with informants (and this seems to have been the case even with some "rehearings") seem to have been rather free form, for there is a considerable intertwining of subjects. Nevertheless, certain themes frequently appear in his work, including annotated vocabularies concerning flora and fauna and their use, topography, history and biography, kinship, cosmology (including tribal astronomy), religion and philosophy, names and observations concerning neighboring tribes, sex and age division, material culture, legends, and songs. The fullness of such materials seems to have been limited only by the time Harrington had to spend with a goup and the knowledge of his informants.
Arrangement:
(Some of the titles are tentative). Papers relating to Alaska/Northwest Coast, including (1) Aleut; (2) Tlingit/Eyak; (3) Northern Athapascan (Beaver, Carrier, Chipewyan, Sarsi, Sekani, Cree); (4) Nicola/Thompson; (5) Lummi/Nespelem; (6) Duwamish; (7) Chimakum/Clallam; (8) Makah/Quileute; (9) Quinault/Chehalis/Cowlit; (10) Chinook/Chinook Jargon; (11) "Kwalhioqua-Tlatskanai"; (12) Tillamook, (13) Alsea/Siuslaw/Coos; (14) Southwest Oregon Athapascan (Chasta Costa, Chetco, Upper Coquille, "Gold Beach", Smith River, Tolowa, Tutini, Upper Umpqua), (14) Galice/Applegate; (15) Takelma, general and miscellaneous;
(16) Klamath; (17) Wiyot/Yurok/Mattole; (18) Coast Yuki/Northern and Central Pomo/Kato; (19) Coast Miwok; (20) Lake and Coast Miwok/Southeastern Pomo/Wappo; (21) Nisenan/Northern Sierra Miwok; (22) Southern Pomo/Central Sierra Miwok; (23) Karok/Shasta/Konomihu; (24) Chimariko/Hupo; (25) Achomawi/Atsugewi/Wintu/Yana; (26) Chamariko/Achomawi/Atsugewi/Wintu/Yana; (27) Costanoan (Chocheno, Mutsun, Tumsen); (28) Salinan (Antoinano, Migueleno); (29) Yokuts (Chunut, Tachi, Wikchamni, Yawdanchi, Yawelmani, Koyeti); (30) general and miscellaneous; papers relating to southern California and the Basin area,
including (31) Chumash (Barbareno, Cruzeno, Ineseno, Obispeno, Purisimeno, Ventureno); (32) Chauilla; (33) Chemehuevi; (34) Gabrielino; (35) Juaneno; (36) Kitanemuk; (37) Luiseno; (38) Serrano; (39) Tubatulabal; (40) Diegueno; (41) Mohave/Yuma; (42) general and miscellaneous; papers relating to the Southwest, including (43) Apache; (44) Hopi; (45) Jemez; (46) Acoma/Laguna; (47) Cochiti; (48) Navaho; (49) Pima/Papago; (50) Illeta; (51) Taos; (52) Picuris; (53) Tewa; (54) Zuni; (55) general and miscellaneous; papers relating to the Plains, including (56) Comanche; (57) Caddo/Pawnee/Wichita; (58) Dakota/Lakota; (59) Hidatso/Mandan/Crow;
(92) general and miscellaneous; notes and writings on special linguistic studies, including (93) correspondence; (94) financial records; (95) personal records; (96) poetry; (97) newspaper clippings; (98) printed material/reprints/photostats/microfilm; (99) maps; (100) photographs (101) sound recordings; (102) botanical specimens
Joseph S. Danner, Edward S. Davis, Ella C. Deloria, Frances Densmore, Paul Desiardins, Lydia Dornherr, Harry W. Dorsey, Frederick Huntington Douglas, David C. Dozi, Edward P. Dozi, Robert Drak Aitken), Rose S. Gaffney, David E. Gales, S. H. Gapp, Clark M. Garber, Lucrlson Fenton, Jesse Walter Fewkes, Reginald G. Fisher, Barbara Freire-Marreco (see also Barbara Aitken), Rose S. Gaffney, David E. Gales, S. H. Gapp, Clark M. Garber, Lucretia Garcia, Maria Garcia, Paul Garcia, Walter C. Garwick, William Gates, Ja Gapp, Clark M. Garber, Lucretia Garcia, Maria Garcia, Paul Garcia, Walter C. Garwick, William Gates, James A Geary, Otto William Geist,
Richard H. Geoghegan, Harold S. Gladwin, Pliny Earle Goddard, T. R. Goodwin, Howard W. Gorman, Blanche C. Grant, George Grasty, Louis H. Gray, Alexander Grigolia, Alexandra Gromoff, F. A. Gross, Ruther Gruber, Erwin G. Gudde, Grace Guest, Ralph Gustafson, Berard Haile, Alfred Irving Hallowell, Howard M. Hamblin, Lucile Hamner, Adelaide Harrington, Arthur Harrington, Awona Harrington, Edmund Ross Harrington, Elliot Harrington, Mark Raymond Harrington, Robert Fleming Heizer, Marta Herrera (Orozoco), Melville Jean Herskovits, Edgar Lee Hewett, George Gustave Heye,
Thomas Willing Hicks, Willard Williams Hill, William B. Hill, Philip K. Hitti, Hulda R. Hobbs (Heidel), Frederick Webb Hodge, Robert Hofsinde, W. C. Holden, Nils Homer, R. B. Horsefield, James Hovey, Grace Hudson, John W. Hudson, William Hughes, Edward P. Hunt, George Hunt, Wayne Henry (Wolf Robe) Hunt, Arnold J. Jacobins, Jean Allard Jge, George M. Lamsa, William T. Linkins, Ralph Linton, Alan Lomax, Theodore R. Lonewolf, uis Kroeber, Benjamin T. Kurtz, Walter and Hilda Kurze, Oliver LaFarge, George M. Lamsa, William T. Linkins, Ralph Linton, Alan Lomax, Theodore R. Lonewolf,
Boas Long, Ivan Alexis Lopatin, Robert Harry Lowie, Charles F. Lummis, Phoebe Maddux, Frank Marashulo, Frank Marr, John Marr, Edna P. Marsh, Gordon H. Marsh, William B. Marye, Elizabeth Mason, John Alden Mason, Anna P. Mattinger, Wayne L. Mauzy, William Ralph Maxon, Parker McKenzie, F. Romero Mendez, Clinton Hart Merriam, E. Vigo Mestres, Truman Michelson, Harry E. Miller, Ralph L. Milliken, William S. Mills, Willie Miranda, Albert Mohr, Dionisia Mondragon, Manuel Mondragon, Lucy Montgomery, Harriet Moore, Mildred C. Moore, R. E. Moore, Rosalind Moore, Carlos Morales, Marion Moreno, Sylvanus Griswold Morley, Philip A. Munz, O. J. Murie,
Roy Nash, Mrs. W. J. Nichols, Eugene A. Nida, Frans M. Olbrechts, Cornelius Osgood, Asbjorn P. Ousdal, Charles F. Outland, Henry E. Parmenter, Elsie Clews Parsons, A. W. Payne, Ellen Peace, Elizabeth Wells Pearce, Arthur B. Perkins, Mrs. Rodolphe Petter, Kenneth L. Pike, Arnold R. Pilling, Nellie B. Pipes, I. J. Pitman, J. O. Prescott, Erik Kellerman Reed, Nathaniel Julius Reich, Jane Richardson, Arthur Stanley Riggs, Frank Harold Hanna Roberts, Jr., Helen H. Roberts, Clarence M. Ruth, Everett Sanders, Edward Sapir, Charles F. Saunders, F. H. Saville, Paul Schumacher, Donald Scott, Blanche Seeley, Ettie Seeley, Elizabeth Shepley Sergeant,
A. W. Setychell, Jessie Shaw, Anna O. Shepard, Frank T. Siebert, Rita Siedenberg, Albion M. Sitton, Nich Sivonen, H. D. Skinner, Mrs. N. P. Sloan, Clement Smith, Stella Smith, Jack Snow, Maria Soto, Frank Gouldsmith Speck, Robert F. Spencer, Marjorie Spinks, Waldo C. Spraque, Winifred Stamm, Moses Steinberg Marian Stirling, Matthew Williams Stirling, William Duncan Strong, Edgar Howard Sturtevant, Georgianna Barbara Such, John R. Swanton, Turkey Tayac, Douglass Taylor, Lincoln Thompson, Morjorie L. Tichy, Janet Tietjins, Bennie Tilden, J. R. R. Tolkien, W. Cameron Townsend, George L. Trager, Lovell B. Triggs, Edwin H. Tuttle,
Ruth Underhill, Richard Fowler Van Valkenburgh, Rosendo Vargas, Charles Frederick Voegelin, Paul Vogenitz, James W. Waldo, Paul A. F. Walter, Althea Warren, Fred Washington, Thomas Talbot Waterman, Edith White, Joseph J. White, Leslie A. White, Grace T. Whiting, Robert B. Whitsett, Benjamin Lee Whorf, H. E. Williams, William L. Wonderly, Arthur Woodward, Robert W. Young, and Father Zephyrin of the Santa Barbara Mission.
Restrictions:
The John Peabody Harrington papers are open for research
Access to the John Peabody Harrington papers requires an appointment.
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Maps
Stats (copies)
Newspaper clippings
Printed material
Photographs
Botanical specimens
Field notes
Correspondence -- 1930-1950
Financial records
Personal records
Poetry
Writings
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.
The arrangement of material in this section forms the basis for Volume 6 of the microfilmed papers. The reel numbers of corresponding microfilm are listed where appropriate. "N/A" indicates material that was not included in the microfilm.
Scope and Contents:
This series within the John Peabody Harrington papers represents the results of Harrington's work on the native languages and cultures of the East, a region in which he worked primarily in the later part of his career as ethnologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology. The documents focus primarily on linguistic data and contain rehearings of early vocabularies as well as detailed studies of placenames.
Arrangement:
Series is arranged into 12 subseries: (1) Algonquian; (2) Shawnee/Peoria; (3) Western Abnaki/Eastern Abnaki/Passamaquoddy; (4) Massachusett; (5) Mahican/Stockbridge; (6) Northern Iroquoian; (7) Wyandot; (8) Delaware (Oklahoma and Ontario); (9) Powhatan; (10) Cherokee; (11) Creek/Seminole/Alabama/Koasati/Choctaw; (12) General and Miscellaneous Materials
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
Indians of North America -- Southern states Search this
Genre/Form:
Vocabulary
Manuscripts
Field notes
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.
Indians of North America -- California Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Vocabulary
Maps
Place:
California
Date:
1916, 1933-1934
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Southern California/Basin series contains John P. Harrington's Tubatulabal research.
The vocabulary section contains vocabulary elicited from Angela Lozada in 1916, along with biographical information. Her husband, Juan Lozada confirmed an occasional term. There are a few Kitanemuk and "Tejoneno" (Yokuts) equivalences. There are also animal terms provided by Estevan Miranda in 1934. Some Kitanemuk and "Tulareno" (tu.) equivalences are included.
The grammar section consists of Harrington's reading notes on C.F. Voegelin's "Tubatulabal Grammar," although he organized them according to his own grammatical outline. Most of the notes indicate the page in Voegelin from which they were copied.
Linguistic and ethnographic notes consist of information from Miranda, Pedro Villareal (Old Pedro), Bernabe, and Isabelle Meadows. The latter three provided nonlinguistic information. The notes range over such subjects as myths, tribenames, names and relationships of persons, and reminiscences. There is a reference to a painted cave in Painted Rock Canyon. Equivalences occur in Kitanemuk and "'omo-mi-l."
His placename notes are from trips taken in 1933. Harrington was accompanied by Miranda, Petra Canada and Petra Nicolas on the trips. He kept a mileage log and recorded a running account of placenames with linguistic and ethnographic elaborations, names of persons, and sketch maps of some locations. He interviewed Luciana Benkowa who spoke Tubatulabal and "Tulareno" (Yokuts). Nonlinguistic informants included Pedro Villareal and Bernabe and there are references to the deceased Costanoan woman Omesia. Their itinerary took them through Cameron, Tehachapi, Caliente, Bakersfield, Maricopa, Poso, California Hot Springs, Isabella, Kernville, Fairview, and Weldon.
The subseries also contains notes from separate conversations with T. T. Waterman; C.F. Voegelin; and an unidentified couple, most likely Voegelin and his wife, Erminie. The three conversations loosely touch on the subject of comparative phonetics.
Biographical / Historical:
John P. Harrington's first Tubatulabal vocabulary was elicited from Angela Lozada in December 1916. Lozada and her husband, Juan, were Kitanemuk Indians working with Harrington in the Kitanemuk language as well as Tubatulabal. She came from a Kitanemuk, Serrano, and Tubatulabal background, but claimed to be least fluent in Tubatulabal.
In 1933 and again in the latter half of 1934, Harrington was based mainly in Santa Ana, but also worked out of Los Angeles and the Bakersfield area. At that time and along with fieldwork among many other southern California tribes, Harrington accumulated linguistic and ethnographic information from his principal Tubatulabal informant, Estevan Miranda (Est., Est. M., Esteban). Another informant, Luciana Benkowa, described Miranda's dialect as "Tulareno" rather than Tubatulabal. He was a "regular Poso Creek Indian." Harrington also noted that 'omo-mi-I (Om.) was the language of Miranda's antecedents who, he wrote, lived around Rio Chiquito and Rio Grande. Miranda was in his eighties in 1933.
Two elderly women, Petra Canada (Kennedy) and Petra Nicolas (Nikolds, Petra Mi., Petra Mir.), accompanied Harrington and Miranda on several placename trips covering an area generally between Mojave and the Sequoia National Forest. Isabelle Meadows, a Costanoan associate of Harrington's, was frequently present.
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 Northeast/Southeast series contains Harrington's Western Abenaki, Eastern Abenaki, and Passamaquoddy research. The bulk of the notes consists of Maine placenames culled from numerous secondary sources ranging from seventeenth-century documents to publications of the 1940s, and also including little known local histories, old maps and atlases, highway and forestry maps, and unidentified newspaper clippings. Located here also are lesser numbers of placenames of other states in the Northeast and the provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick. Most of the material was reheard by St. Francis, Penobscot, and Passamaquoddy speakers, with an occasional Malecite, Micmac, and Menomini comparison.
The Western Abenaki (St. Francis) section contains vocabulary entries semantically arranged in about a dozen categories. The most extensive section (former B.A.E. MS 6029pt.) is that of Maine placenames copied from secondary sources. The most frequently cited sources were Joseph Laurent's New Familiar Abenakis and English Dialogues (1884), and Henry Lorne Masta's Abenaki Indian Legends, Grammar and Place Names (1932). This section also contains placenames of the New England States, New York, and the provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick, along with a few Penobscot and Passamaquoddy equivalences. The notes on tribenames include names found in the texts and maps of seventeenth-century voyages of discovery and in early histories of New England and Canada. Old and New World names and ethnic and race designations are also found in this category. The files also include a typed draft, with related notes (former B.A.E. ms. 6029pt.), dated 1950, titled "The Abnakis and Their Language." According to Harrington's introduction, the dialect is that of St. Francis and is based on terms from Laurent and Masta. There are notes covering phonetics and morphology, the latter arranged according to grammatical word form. Extensive hIstorIcal background material was sent to Harrington by T .R.L. MacInnes, secretary of the Indian Affairs Branch of the Department of MInes and Resources in Ottawa. A Mr. A. E. St. Louis did the actual research of the department's records and included some Huron data.
The Eastern Abenaki (Penobscot) vocabulary is semantically arranged in about ten categories, with occasional Passamaquoddy comparisons and a few Malecite terms. Ethnographic data sometimes accompany the linguistics. Harrington also etymologized certain phenomenal and geographic terms from the placename appendix of Joseph Nicolar published by Fannie Hardy Eckstorm (cited in the notes as "Eckst.") in Indian Place-names of the Penobscot Valley and the Maine Coast (1941). Some of the tribenames were formerly part of B.A.E. manuscript 4463. He also consulted other published sources.
Eastern Abenaki grammatical notes include phonetics and morphology, with great emphasis on the former. Some St. Francis and Passamaquoddy comparisons culled from Harrington's notes are interfiled. There is also a small assortment of random historical and ethnographical reading notes culled from various secondary sources, most of which are identified in a related bibliographical section. A few bits of historical information come from Dana and Watso. There are no linguistic elaborations.
Materials relating to Penobscot and Passamaquoddy placenames primarily center around a proposed paper titled "The Indian Placenames of Maine" (former B.A.E. mss. 4463pt. and 6029pt.). A short introductory draft is followed by a linguistic study of placenames of Maine organized according to its sixteen counties. One brief section organized by regions and trails probably represents a discarded plan of procedure, and there is one group of miscellaneous names. Many terms bear the identification "Pen." for Penobscot and "Pass." for Passamaquoddy. If not identified, they are usually in the Penobscot dialect and given by Dana. There are a few Malecite and Micmac equivalences and one or two Menomini names. Two segments on Maine sites contain no linguistic elaborations. One list, organized by county and generally entered one item to a page, parallels the section described above. It comes from the same secondary sources and evidently was accumulated as a guide to the later rehearings. The second group, collected from various sources, provides historical information only (former B.A.E. ms. 6029 pt.). Placenames from other states and provinces include rehearings on the placename Massachusetts, New Brunswick placenames, and a miscellaneous group of unsorted and discarded notes. There is also linguistic treatment of "Pomole" and "Glooscap" texts, with an emphasis on Maine placenames (former B.A.E. MS 4463 pt.), as well as a typescript titled "A Short History of the Passamaquoddy Indians" in English.
Among Harrington's files are also notes for three proposed papers. One paper is on the name "Tarentine" as applied to native Americans of the East Coast. Harrington found evidence of its use among the records and histories of early voyagers to America. The second paper was to be a commentary on the Abenaki vocabulary compiled in 1605 by James Rosier, a member of the expedition under Captain George Waymouth (Weymouth). Harrington made a copy of the Waymouth terms while in New York City in November 1949. Both sets of notes contain occasional references to Laurent and Masta, but no linguistic data. A third paper was called "Bashaba and Bessabes Are Two Different Words." From numerous accounts of the earliest recorded voyages to the New World, Harrington accumulated reading notes to prove that Bashaba was a general name for a chief and that Bessabes was the personal name of a particular chief. Again there are no linguistic etymologies.
Biographical / Historical:
John P. Harrington accumulated information on these languages between April 24 and October 24, 1949. Most of his time was spent in Old Town, Maine, although he worked also in Bangor, at the State House Library in Augusta, at the Maine Historical Society in Portland, and in Eastport, Maine. He secured linguistic information from St. Francis speakers of Odanak near Pierreville, Quebec, and from a colony of Abenakis in Albany, New York. In November and December of 1949 while on trips between New York City and Washington for other reasons, he carried the notes with him for further sorting and rearranging. Reports indicate that in 1952 he was in the process of assembling an extensive study on the Abenaki, possibly incorporating data on the vocabulary, grammar, history, and ethnography of both Abenaki languages.
The principal St. Francis speakers that he worked with were Oliver Obomsawin (Ol.) and Alfred Miller (Am., AI.) of Odanak, and George Dennis (Geo., Den.) and John Watso of Albany. Watso introduced Harrington to Edwin E. Nagazoa (Ed., Nag., N.) and Maude Benedict Nagazoa, the former described as a perfect Abenaki speaker. Others that he worked with include Thomas Sadoquin, Mrs. Daylight (Mrs. D., D.), Antoine Medzalabolet, Chief Charles Nolet, and Dominico Berni. Berni's role is somewhat uncertain. He may have translated a letter of inquiry to the Bureau of American Ethnology which Harrington was assigned to handle, and which may have had nothing to do with Abenaki. Andrew E. Dana (And.), Frank and Mary Mitchell, and Charles John Saulis provided Penobscot and Passamaquoddy material, yielding extensive placename etymologies. Penobscot and a few Malecite (spelled "Malacite" throughout Harrington's notes) terms came from Harry Francis whose mother, Mary Jean Francis, was a Malecite Indian. Others that he worked with were Lena Mitchell, Laura, and Mr. and Mrs. William Neptune of Pleasant Point, near Eastport, Maine. William Neptune was a Passamaquoddy but Harrington credited him with Wawenock data.
Field notes and correspondence indicate that Harrington consulted with Dr. Frank T. Siebert,Jr., in person and by mail.
Arthur E. Edgerley at the State Highway Commission office in Augusta provided bits of history surrounding the sites as well as names of some of the people who formerly inhabited them.
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 Northeast/Southeast series contains Harrington's Wyandot research. The bulk of this material represents a comparative treatment of Jacques Cartier's first and second vocabularies and the historical background of his voyages. Although some of Cartier's terms were reheard by Wyandot speakers, most of the content is based on extractions from numerous secondary sources and organized for two proposed papers. The theme of one centered around North America's earliest vocabulary; the second was submitted for publication in March 1951 and proposed to analyze the history, meaning, and location of Hochelaga. Other isolated notes are dated between September 1950 and January 1951. The subseries also contains some brief biographical data on the Wyandot speakers with whom he worked, and general bibliographic information includes random reading notes.
Biographical / Historical:
John P. Harrington conducted a comparative study of Jacques Cartier's first and second vocabularies and the historical background of his voyages. The primary source consulted was Henry Percival Biggar, The Voyages of Jacques Cartier, Publications of the Archives of Canada, No. 11 (1924), which contained both Cartier vocabularies as well as the Horatio Hale comparative vocabulary excerpted from Sir Daniel Wilson's "The Huron-Iroquois of Canada" (1885). Harrington also sent for photocopies of Giovanni Battista Ramusio's translations into Italian of Cartier's vocabularies and the Bibliotheque Nationale manuscripts of Cartier and Andre Thevet. He inserted extensive comparative notes from Gabriel Sagard (1632); Jean Andre Cuoq (1882); Arent Van Curler (1896), cited by Harrington as "Brandt Van Curler;" and Percy J. Robinson (1948).
John P. Harrington worked with a number of Wyandot speakers including Jessie Perry (Jessie); Ida Schrimpser Jones (J., Mrs. John Jones); her sister Gladys Hutchinson; ninety-two-year-old Lizzie Tussinger (Elizabeth); Mary Bracken, aunt of Jones and Hutchinson; Mag; and Norman Young (Y.). Young spoke both Wyandot and Seneca. All were apparently descendants of the Wyandots who settled in northeastern Oklahoma, and except for Mrs. Tussinger and Jessie Perry, they were interviewed in Miami, Oklahoma, and vicinity in early September 1950. Tussinger lived in Oklahoma City; Perry's home was not positively identified.
On or about December 28, 1950, Harrington traveled to New York City and Amherstburg, Ontario. According to correspondence, Harrington also worked in Miami, Oklahoma, on March 12 and 13, 1951, but field notes indicate nothing of possible interviews. He continued to correspond with officials at the Canadian Archives through February 17, 1951, and with the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris in October and November of 1951.
Harrington also corresponded with Elizabeth Best (Mrs. Maurice), who was apparently the "last speaker of the Canadian form of the Wyandot language," but there is no record of an interview with her. Harrington hoped to publish a rehearing with her of Cartier's 1535 vocabulary, but his notes are still in manuscript form. He was still pursuing the subject in 1953 and 1954.
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 Northeast/Southeast series contains Harrington's research on two Delaware languages, now distinguished by linguists as Unami (in Oklahoma) and Munsee (in Ontario). Harrington, following local usage, referred to both as Delaware.
His Unami linguistic notes consist of a randomly accumulated vocabulary with some phonetic and grammatical structures interspersed. Included also are historical and cultural comments. The largest single group was apparently collected by C. F. Voegelin and is labeled "Voeg." Other smaller groups represent collections by Voegelin from individually named informants, followed by Harrington's notes from the same informants. Harrington's material consists of both new and reheard terms, with a general emphasis on developing the etymology of state names and placenames. Voegelin inserted some Munsee, Shawnee, Kaw, and Ojibwa equivalences. The Munsee terms may have been those of Frank T. Siebert, Jr., as notes indicate that Voegelin was in possession of some of Siebert's vocabulary lists, which had been collected in June 1938 from Nicodemus Peters at Smoothtown. The most substantial placename information concerns the name Wyoming.
A selection of extracts from Brinton and Anthony (1888) and a few from Truman Michelson's "Preliminary Report on the Linguistic Classification of Algonquian Tribes" (1912) contain comments by Voegelin. Scattered Abenaki comparisons were probably inserted at least a decade later. Filed with this 1940 collection are three pages of notes heard from "the old woman west of Anadarko" in June 1939.
There are also four untitled texts (former B.A.E. ms. 6023pt.) collected by Voegelin in April 1940 with partial interlinear translations by Jesse Longbone. Harrington made handwritten copies of fifteen short songs also collected by Voegelin. Although there are wide variations between Voegelin's orthography and Harrington's, these songs were apparently incorporated into Voegelin's "Word Distortions in Delaware Big House and Walam Olum Songs" (1942). There are scattered notes in English but no translations.
The Unami files also contain miscellaneous notes consisting of a few grammatical notes, correspondence, and names of persons. There are also several pages relating to the Swedish author Amandus Johnson.
Harrington also collected a variety of linguistic notes from Delaware speakers of Ontario. Raw field notes obtained from Josiah Montour and Jesse Moses in the area of Smoothtown, Ontario, include general vocabulary, tribenames, names of persons, and a few grammatical constructions. Montour also contributed Munsee origins associated with the name Wyoming. There are also materials from when Voegelin gave Harrington a list of Walam Olum terms to rehear with Josiah Montour, which Harrington presumably did in the first days of that month. Another small section of field notes contains material from Jane Pattice, Josiah Montour's sister. In addition, there are a few undated pages dealing mainly with the location of the Munsee Reserve in Canada and how to get there.
Biographical / Historical:
In April 1940, John P. Harrington and C. F. Voegelin were in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, on a joint field trip where they interviewed a number of Delaware-speaking Indians. The exact itinerary is difficult to reconstruct. Field notes and correspondence indicate that they were together in Bartlesville at least between April 8 and 20, and early in May, they were in Greencastle, Indiana, where Voegelin gave Harrington a list of Delaware terms to investigate in Smoothtown, Ontario on Six Nations Reserve. Of the two notes that locate Harrington in that vicinity, only one is dated (May 4, 1940-see "Mohawk Linguistic Notes"). It must have been a brief stop as he was in Seattle en route to Alaska on May 7.
In June 1940 Harrington and Voegelin made another trip to Oklahoma. They visited May Haas at Eufaula and Frank T. Siebert,Jr., at Oklahoma City and Norman. On that occasion they worked with a number of Delawares, Shawnees, Otoes, and others. During the first week of August, after his return to Washington, D.C., Harrington reorganized the notes for which Voegelin had requested clarification.
In Oklahoma, Harrington visited the city of Bartlesville; the towns of Dewey and Copan; and Claremore, the location of the Indian Health Services Hospital. Among the people he interviewed were Mabel Bobb Beaver (Mabel) and Henry Duncan Beaver (Duncan); Sally and John Fallleaf (spelled "Fall-Leaf" by Harrington); Annie (Mrs. Lb.) and Jesse Longbone (Jesse, Jes) and his brothers Roy and William (William Lb.); Jake Parks; and Mr. and Mrs. Joe Washington and their son Fred (Mrs. Wash., Fred Wash.). In Ontario, those he interviewed included Josiah Montour, his seventy-five-year-old sister Jane Pattice, and Jesse Moses.
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 Alaska/Northwest Coast series consists of notes recorded during Harrington's survey of Northwest Coast languages undertaken, in part, during an extended period from January 1942 through February 1943. Some information regarding Tillamook dates as early as March or April 1942; much rechecking was certainly done in early June, probably around the 7th to the 10th.
The work began at Bay Center, Washington where Harrington located Sammy Jackson (Sammie), whose father was a Tillamook, at Bay Center, Washington. The remainder of the work was centered at Siletz, Oregon where he contacted Clara Pearson (Clara, rarely Cl.), a speaker of the Nehalem dialect; Louie Fuller (Louey, Louis, Lf.) of the Salmon River region; and his wife (Mrs. Lf.). Most of the native words from these speakers are in Tillamook, with occasional equivalences given in Chinook jargon. There are some Clatsop data in the section on placenames. Comparative data from other Oregon residents include Alsea from John Albert (Ja. or Jack) and Lower Umpqua from Frank Drew (Frank) and Spencer Scott (Spencer). Several references are made to Ada Collins, a speaker of the "Rogue River language." There are also a number of "rehearings" of Cowlitz and Chehalis terms from Emma Luscier (Em.) of Bay Center and Lizzie Johnson (Liz.) of Oakville, Washington. Nonlinguistic information was provided by Harry Mitchell, Louie Smith, Larry Hofer, Mark Gray Collson (or Colson), his wife Margaret (Marg.), and his son Mark Collson, Jr.
Drawings of specimens and sketch maps are scattered throughout the vocabulary files. There are also references to maps Harrington examined in the Portland Public Library. In addition, he checked over data in an Oregon Coast Highway pamphlet, an article by Silas B. Smith (1901), and Franz Boas' "Traditions of the Tillamook" (1898). A block of ethnographic notes relating to canoe burial is included with the material culture vocabulary. A small section of comments on Boas' "Notes on the Tillamook" follow the original data. In addition, there are abstracts in English of several myths told by Clara Pearson having to do with the etymology or mythological importance of Tillamook placenames. There are also a few notes on phonetics and a number of paradigms.
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 -- Northwest Coast of North America Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Manuscripts
Vocabulary
Narratives
Place:
Oregon
Date:
1933, 1942
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Alaska/Northwest Coast series contains Harrington's research on Alsea, Siuslaw, and Coos. The materials consist mostly of vocabulary for the three languages, as well as terms in Lower Umpqua and Chinook jargon. A small section of notes deals mainly with phonetics and includes comments on Frachtenberg and Jacobs' publications, as well as general observations made by Harrington during various stages of his work in the field. A section of written notes are accompanied by "sementographs," visual representations of the sounds present in each language. Vocabulary and nonlinguistic information on plants and animals are also present, along with placename vocabulary. His placename notes also include information on tribal boundaries and linguistic relationships; the location, etymology, English pronunciation, and history of places in the three tribal areas, and anecdotes and biographical data. Abstracts in English of mythological texts are also present, along with descriptions, anecdotes, and reminiscences by Lottie Evanoff, Frank Drew, Spencer Scott, and Clayton Barrett, with references to events of both personal and historical significance. There is also material relating to the 1931 U.S. Court of Claims case "Coos Bay, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indian Tribes vs the United States" with comments by Frank Drew on the tesimony from tribal members. In addition, Harrington's files include notes from a conversation with George Wasson in 1933. Topics include Wasson's life and discussions regarding tribal territories and language boundaries, canoe construction, burial, and the historical figure Jedediah Smith. Harrington's notes also contain scattered quotations from Louie Fuller (LL), Clara Pearson (Clara), and Sammy Jackson, three Tillamook speakers Harrington had interviewed earlier in 1942.
Biographical / Historical:
John P. Harrington's work on these neighboring languages began in Oakville, Washington in early April of 1942. While interviewing Lizzie Johnson (Liz.) and Minnie Case (Min.) regarding Kwalhioqua, he also worked with John Albert (Ja.), the last speaker of Alsea (Als.) He had occasion to recheck the linguistic data with Albert sometime in May (there is a reference to May 23 in the notes), possibly at Siletz, Oregon, his home before moving to Oakville. These notes are labeled "Ja. rhg."
Around June, July, and possibly August of the same year, Harrington recorded Coos--both the Hanis (H., Empire) and Miluk (M., South Slough) varieties--and Siuslaw (Sius.) and Lower Umpqua (L.U., Ump.) from Frank Henry Drew (referred to as Frank) in Florence, Oregon. In Marshfield, Harrington interviewed Lottie Evanoff (Lottie, Lot.), formerly Lottie Jackson, daughter of a prominent Coos chief and cousin of Annie Peterson, who had worked with Melville Jacobs. Additional sources of information for Coos were Martha Johnson, a neighbor of Frank Drew; the Wasson sisters, Lolly, Nellie, and Daisy; and Lottie Evanoff's niece, Nellie Aason.
He also obtained information from Spencer Scott (called Spencer or rarely Spen.), who may have also served as an interpreter for Harrington. He knew John Albert and had formerly spoken Alsea with him when they were boys at Siletz. He could also speak Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw. Lesser amounts of Siuslawan data were provided by Clayton Hudson Barrett and his younger half-brother, Howard Barrett (called Clay. and Howard). Nonlinguistic information came from Alec Evanoff, Lottie's husband; Carl Severy, Frank Drew's son-in-law; the Collson family; John Waters; and Larry Hofer.
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 -- Northwest Coast of North America Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Vocabulary
Maps
Place:
Siletz Indian Reservation (Or.)
Rogue River (Klamath County-Curry County, Or.)
Illinois River (Or.)
Oregon
Date:
1933
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Alaska/Northwest Coast series contains Harrington's Takelma research. His linguistic, ethnographic, and biographical notes contain information from Frances Johnson, Molly Orcutt, and, to a lesser extent, Aneti Scott. Vocabulary consists primarily of animal names, with descriptions of animals and comments on their range and habits. There are many annotations regarding pronunciation, comparisons between forms in various dialects, and several references to myths. Much of the data from Johnson was elicited for comparison with vocabulary she had provided years earlier for Edward Sapir's (1922) study of Takelma. There are smaller sections covering tribe names, material culture, and miscellaneous vocabulary. Considerable biographical information on the residents of the Siletz area and elsewhere is included.
There are also notes that reflect information recorded separately from Frances Johnson and Molly Orcutt on trips to the Rogue and Illinois Rivers area in Oregon. Harrington also obtained an appreciable amount of data from whites he interviewed. George and Evelyn Baker traveled with him and the Indian women from Siletz. White residents they met along the way include Mr. Crow, Mr. Holst, Mr. Emanuell, Miss Savage, Mr. Lyman, J. T. Tuffs, and Mr. Murphy. Harrington's preferred method of operation was to take several people on sidetrips with his linguistic informant to places with which these people were familiar. He noted car mileage from the starting point and recorded the specific location of each important place, its various names in Takelma and English, its history, and past or present significance to Indians and whites. Sketch maps were made of some areas with the assistance of a number of the informants. Much of the placename data were rechecked upon return to Siletz. Among the Takelma lands covered are places along the Rogue River, the south fork of the Umpqua River, Grants Pass, Table Rock, Jacksonville, Gold Hill, Ashland, Medford, Cow Creek, and Galice Creek. The outlying regions around the Klamath River and Coos Bay are also mentioned.
Biographical / Historical:
After recording Shasta and Konomihu in northern California during the early fall of 1933, John P. Harrington crossed the state border into Oregon to work on Takelma. He worked first with Frances Johnson (referred to as Frances, Fr., Frz., F.J., Phr.), an elderly native of a village on Jump-off-Joe Creek, who had worked with Edward Sapirt at Siletz Reservation in the summer of 1906. He began interviewing her in October and then took her on a placename trip to former Takelma territory on November 2nd through the 4th.
After his return to the Siletz area, Harrington worked with two other people. On November 5th he spoke with Aneti (Mrs. Spencer) Scott, a bedridden woman in her eighties. She gave him vocabulary in her native Applegate as well as words in Takelma which she had learned from her first husband, Evans Bill. Molly Orcutt (sometimes referred to as Orton, abbreviated as Molly, Moy., Mo.), mentioned as a speaker of the Table Rock Dialect, also gave him considerable linguistic data. On November 13th through the 19th Harrington again returned to the original tribal lands to record placenames from her. It appears that Harrington made a final check on the tribenames and placenames he had obtained with Aneti and Orcutt in Siletz before returning to California.
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
Vocabulary
Maps
Place:
California
Date:
1926, 1942
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Northern and Central California series contains John P. Harrington's research on Wiyot, Yurok, and Mattole. Throughout his notes, Wiyot is abbreviated Sul. for Sulaatlak and, rarely, Wiy. Yurok is abbreviated Yur. or Trin[idad] lang[uage], and Mattole is abbreviated M. or B[ear] R[iver] Mat. The Wiyot vocabulary consists of thirteen pages of numbers and terms for counting obtained during an interview with Amos Riley at Indianola on March 5, 1926. The name for Eel River is given and there are several references to two other Wiyot speakers, Jerry and Birdie James. The comparative vocabulary section consists of lexical items semantically arranged. The majority of the terms are Wiyot forms given by Birdie James and Amos Riley, although some equivalences in Yurok from James and in Mattole from Theodore Prince are interspersed. A variety of vocabulary is given, with tribenames and placenames being the most numerous. The data in these last two categories are particularly detailed and include etymologies, references to Indian trails, a few rough sketch maps, and comments on names excerpted from several secondary sources (Reichard 1925; Nomland and Kroeber 1936). Another set of files is composed of comments from Yurok and Wiyot speakers on published placename data from T. T. Waterman (1920) and Llewellyn L. Loud (1918). The first section, labeled "C. W. on Wat.," contains comments by Charlie Williams on tribenames and placenames given in the text and on associated maps (Rectangles A, B, H. I, J, K) in Waterman's "Yurok Geography." While most of the locations discussed are in the region of the Klamath River mouth, places in Tolowa, Wiyot, and Hupa territory are also mentioned. Unmarked forms are presumably Yurok names from Williams. His data were partially checked over with Birdie James, who gave both Yurok and Wiyot terms. A few comments were added by Orick Bob. The second section of rehearings is keyed to Rectangles H, I, J, and K in Waterman. Many of the placenames treated are in the Redwood Creek area near the home of Yurok speaker Orick Bob. Bob also volunteered a few terms for animals and tribes. The third section features comments of Birdie James on placenames given by Waterman, and by Loud in his "Ethnogeography and Archaeology of the Wiyot Territory." Harrington also utilized a number of maps (Belcher 1921; U. S. C. & G. S. 1940) in his work. A brief compilation of miscellaneous vocabulary found with the placename data appears at the end. To serve as a questionnaire for his work with Isaac Duncan and Johnny Jackson, Harrington gleaned placenames from Goddard's "The Bear River Dialect of Athapascan" and Nomland's "Sinkyone Notes" and "Bear River Ethnography." Many of the Mattole terms he obtained are unlabeled, making it difficult at times to determine who provided the data. Most of the placenames are from the Bear River and Mattole River regions; in addition there are a limited number from the Eel River area and beyond. Stories, miscellaneous vocabulary, and biographical notes are also included. A small section of miscellaneous notes appears at the end of the field data. Included are biographical notes on the informants and others, notes from the Hupa speaker, Dusky, a few observations by Harrington on the phonetics of the languages, general information on Gladys A. Reichard's work, and notes from a conversation with C. F. Voegelin regarding Yurok, Nootka, and Algonquian.
Supplemental material consists of copies which Harrington made of
Alfred L. Kroeber's field data. One set of notes, labeled "Yurok (collected by A. L. Kroeber, copied by J.P.H.)" consists of words and
phrases. The second group is preceded by an explanatory note which
refers to a Kroeber letter of 1906. Harrington copied vocabulary items
from a series of Kroeber's notebooks onto separate slips for further
analysis. Only sample pages of these files have been filmed to show
Harrington's format; the original field notes are located at the Bancroft
Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Biographical / Historical:
During his work on Karok in the spring of 1926, John P. Harrington recorded a brief vocabulary in Wiyot from Amos Riley of Indianola, California. It was not until sixteen years later that he returned to the area to make a more thorough study of that language and the related Yurok. He simultaneously recorded a lesser amount of Mattole data for comparison with other languages of the Northwest Coast and California which he had been recording.
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
Vocabulary
Narratives
Manuscripts
Place:
California
Date:
1922
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Northern and Central California series contains Harrington's research on Achomawi, Atsugewi, Wintu, and Yana. Materials include his notes on Achomawi, Atsugewi, Wintu and Yana vocabulary; notes on Atsugewi grammar; records relating to placenames; stories and myths; and ethnographic and biographical notes.
The first section consists of Achomawi vocabulary. Vocabulary provided by James Hawkins consist of words in the Big Bend or Madessi dialect of Achomawi. Glosses and notes on pronunciation are accompanied by cognates in Atsugewi, Wintu, and Yana. A few comments from Clara Grant were probably added by Harrington on a separate occasion. Copies of miscellaneous Achomawi terms given by Mrs. Hank Haley as equivalences of her husband's Yana vocabulary (see below) are filed following the excerpts from Hawkins. Typed and handwritten copies of lexical items from William Halsey are also included. The original notes from which the latter were extracted have not been located.
Notes on Atsugewi ("Hat Creek") vocabulary and grammar were provided by Clara Grant, Grace and Alec Brown, Captain Jack and Dave Brown, and the group "at Rod[erick]'s." Semantic categories in the notes include geographical terms, plants, animals, and material culture. The grammar files contain additional miscellaneous vocabulary, such as the words for colors and numbers, lists of pronouns, and examples of verbs used in various short sentences.
The Yana vocabulary was obtained from Kate Snooks, Albert Thomas, and Hank Haley and his wife. The vocabulary covers placenames, tribenames, names of plants and animals, terms for material culture, age-sex terms, and numerous phrases and short sentences. Achomawi cognates and a few Atsugewi equivalences from Mrs. Haley are scattered throughout. A small set of Yana linguistic data is from Walter Moody. Harrington also excerpted a little data from his work with the Halseys and Captain Jack and Dave Brown for cross-filing with the Yana.
The subseries also contains a considerable amount of material on Atsugewi placenames. Some were recorded during trips he took with Alec and Grace Brown and Sam Williams. Logs of their travels include descriptions of geographical features and sites, numerous sketch maps, notes on scenic photographs, and anecdotes. Other placenames were provided for regions which Harrington did not visit in person. Much of the data was rechecked with Alec Brown, who provided detailed information on the pronunciation and etymologies of the various placenames.
Textual materials collected by Harrington include an epic-length Achomawi creation myth related by William Halsey. The myth was recorded only in English; a few Pit River terms were given for specialized vocabulary, such as the names of mythological figures and the words of songs. He also obtained a series of short Atsugewi texts from Dave Brown and Captain Jack and Yana text from Hank Haley. In most cases the original handwritten recording of each story is followed by a typed, reworked version. As with the Achomawi myths, the shorter texts are written in English with the addition of a few native terms.
The miscellaneous ethnographic and biographical notes include biographical information on residents of the Pit-River-Hat Creek region. Also included are a detailed description of the manufacture and use of various traps and a few brief remarks of ethnographic interest.
Harrington was not always consistent in the way in which he referred to the languages that he recorded. He used the terms Achomawi (Ach.) and Pit River (Pitr., Pit., Pr., P.) interchangeably. Similarly, he shifted between Atsugewi (Ats.) and Hat Creek (Hatcr., Hc., H.). Yana vocabulary was most frequently marked Noser (Nosu, Nos, Nos.) and sometimes Yana (Y.). Wintu forms were labeled "Win."
Biographical / Historical:
For approximately one month in 1922, from mid-May to mid-June, John P. Harrington did fieldwork in the area of Pit River, Montgomery Creek, and Hat Creek in northern California.
The primary Achomawi speaker with whom he worked was James Hawkins, a twenty-one-year-old speaker of the Big Bend dialect who also knew Atsugewi and a little Wintu and Yana. Harrington acquired some vocabulary and a significant corpus of textual material in English from William Halsey, a doctor of the Madessi band.
For Atsugewi he primarily worked with Clara Grant, who provided a sizable "Hat Creek" (Atsugewi) vocabulary as well as the equivalent forms in Achomawi and Yana. Alec Brown and his wife, Grace, were present at these sessions. Lesser amounts of linguistic data were obtained in the interview at the ranch of Roderick Buckskin, son of the Atsugewi chief Buckskin Jack. The participants were probably Buckskin, Holiday Brown, Sypes Taylor, and Sam Williams. Alec and Grace Brown and Williams also furnished a great deal of data on local placenames, as did Captain Jack; Dave Brown; and his wife, Sarah.
Separate Yana vocabularies were acquired from Kate Snooks, Albert Thomas and Walter Moody. A sizable Yana word list with Pit River equivalents was obtained from Mrs. Hank Haley, who also reheard the forms given by the others.
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 bulk of this subseries of the Northern and Central California series consists of Harrington's research on Yana, Achomawi, Wintu, and Chimariko in 1931-1932 in Hayfork and Hyampom Valley. Materials include comparative vocabularies; notes from rehearings of secondary sources by Edward Sapir, T.T. Waterman, and Alfred Kroeber; placename data; brief texts; and ethnographic, historical, and biographical notes.
There are two sections of vocabulary in the subseries. The Yana, Achomawi, and Wintu section begins with two short Yana word lists from Grapevine Tom. Much of the earlier data from Tom was incorrect—probably because he was being evasive or uncooperative. Thus, in succeeding sessions, Harrington worked with him in the presence of a second or third Yana speaker. In this later work, the abbreviation "Grt." was adopted for Tom. His earlier data was labeled "Grpt." The major portion of the section is arranged semantically. The sections on plants and animals are particularly extensive. Names of plants were elicited for the most part from specimens collected on numerous trips. There are occasional references to cultural practices and myths throughout the notes. The Wintu-Chimariko vocabulary section is arranged for the most part by terms in the Hayfork dialect of Wintu. Equivalents are provided in the McCloud dialect and, in some cases, in Chimariko. The section on plant names includes data obtained by Harrington as early as 1928. There are numerous references to botanical specimens collected for him by his field assistant George W. Bayley.
The rehearings are mostly of Yana papers by Edward Sapir and T.T. Waterman as well as Roland Dixon's "The Chimariko Indians and Language." As part of a continuing effort to determine the relationship of Esselen to other California languages, Harrington also reheard Esselen vocabulary in Alfred Kroeber's "The Languages of the Coast of California South of San Francisco.
His records relating to Yana, Achomawi, Wintu, and Chimariko placenames are extensive. There are two types of notes: those recorded during "armchair interviews" with informants and those made during trips with them. Usually individual names were recorded one to a page and were accompanied by data regarding the translation of the Indian name, the location, and the cultural or historical significance of the site. To elaborate upon the data gathered in these initial interviews, Harrington frequently made automobile and walking trips with his consultants, asking them to name the places they encountered. These notes were recorded in journals or logs, which contain, in addition to the above-described data, mileage from starting points, hand-drawn maps, and descriptions of neighboring topographical features.
The subseries also contains textual data Harrington collected. Several texts were recorded in Wintu, including one with a translation from Jim Feder. English summaries of the Flood Myth and the story of Coyote's Daughter were obtained from Billy George and Grapevine Tom. Joe Charles contributed a Redding myth. Miscellaneous notes on storytelling and on song texts were recorded from Billy Wright, Tom, and Rosa and Joe Charles.
There are also notes on the history and culture of the northern California tribes. Information was recorded throughout the summer and fall of 1931 from virtually all of his major linguistic consultants. Subjects covered in the notes include battles, baskets, games, clothing, customs, and herbal cures. Also filed here is a copy of a speech given to young men.
Additional materials include biographical notes as well as notes on vocabulary, placenames, and tribenames from Sarah Kloochoo, Billy Stone, and Mr. Radcliffe.
Biographical / Historical:
John P. Harrington's involvement in the area of north-central California began in September 1921 when he undertook five months of fieldwork on Chimariko with Sally Noble, who was then residing in Denny on New River. The emphasis of his work at that time was recording the phonetics and grammatical structure of the language. Shortly afterwards he worked with a number of Achomawi, Atsugewi, Wintu, and Yana speakers, recording brief vocabularies, extensive placename notes, and some myths.
Through correspondence with Edward Sapir in the fall of 1927, Harrington learned of Billy George (alias Hayfork Bill), a Wintu and Chimariko speaker. Harrington had occasion to conduct a lengthy interview with him at Hayfork during the summer of 1928. Harrington also had the opportunity to work briefly with Ann McKay, an elderly Wintu speaker, and with Abe Bush, who had previously provided linguistic information to C. Hart Merriam and Edward Sapir. Some of Harrington's time in 1928 was also spent at Stone Lagoon reviewing with Lucy Montgomery the notes he had compiled with Sally Noble.
In mid-May 1931 Harrington returned to Hayfork and Hyampom to resume his field studies with George and Bush. For a virtually uninterrupted period from then until January 1932, he worked with these consultants and with numerous other speakers of Wintu, as well as with members of the neighboring Yana and Achomawi tribes. As this was a linguistically complex region, many of those he worked with were bi-or multilingual. Harrington evidently arranged his elicitation sessions to include speakers of different languages.
Harrington had multiple aims in conducting fieldwork in the region. Initially he wished to add to the already existing files of linguistic data which he had accumulated some ten years before. (See subseries "Chimariko/Hupa" and "Achomawi/Atsugewi/Wintu/Yana.") He was also interested in pursuing his botanical studies of the area, which had begun in 1928 and 1930 when his field assistant George W. Bayley had made collections of spring plants with Montgomery. The primary focus of his work, however, was the ethnogeography of the region. He was keenly interested in collecting a network of placenames throughout Shasta and Trinity counties and in determining the location of borders between the tribal territories.
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
Vocabulary
Narratives
Maps
Date:
1912-1932
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Northern and Central California series contains Harrington's research on Salinan.
His Migueleno field notes from 1912 and 1913 contain vocabulary, English summaries of myths, and ethnographic and biographical notes from Juan Solano and Pacifico Archuleta. The linguistic and ethnographic portion of these field notes were also copied onto slipfiles and filed semantically. The originals of notes labeled "Pac." appear to be missing.
Materials from his 1922 fieldwork consist of Antoniano and Migueleno field notes and vocabulary. These include extensive linguistic notes from Maria and David Mora. While Maria was the principal source for Migueleno and David for Antoniano, they occasionally gave cognate forms in both languages. Much of the data was given in response to questions regarding vocabulary items published by J. Alden Mason (1918). A citation such as "On Mas. M." was used to indicate this. One section of phrases was evidently elicited by Harrington for purposes of comparison with Esselen forms. Another set of files consists of vocabulary that Harrington copied from the original field notes and arranged semantically. The notes on plants and animals are particularly extensive and contain commentary from Petronilo Gomez. There are numerous references to terms copied from the vocabulary portion of Mason's "The Language of the Salinan Indians." A few copies of notes from Pacifico Archuleta and Juan Solano are also filed here.
Harrington's research from 1931 consists of notes from rehearings with Maria de los Angeles, David Mora, and, to a lesser extent, Tito Encinales, of published works by J. Alden Mason and Father Bonaventura Sitjar's Antoniano vocabulary. They, including a woman identified simply as Maggie, also reviewed linguistic data collected in 1922 from David and Maria Jesusa Mora. Harrington wanted to form an "ethnological dictionary" from the linguistic notes and arranged them into semantic groupings. The section on plants includes remarks on lists of plants native to Mutsun territory in California and to New Mexico and rehearing of ethnobotanical information published by Engelhardt (1929). There is also a section of stories containing English and Spanish summaries of myths.
The subseries also contains notes on placenames. The earliest set consists of notes which he made in Washington, D.C. in 1930 on a list of rancheria names obtained in 1929. English or Spanish equivalents are given for the Indian placenames. There are also notes from placename trips, which include etymologies of Indian placenames, explanations of the significance of sites, sketch maps, references to myths, biographical notes, and notes on photographs he took. Other materials include notes from interviews with Buck Davis and J.C. Curtin and rehearings of rancheria names published by Zephyrin Engelhardt (1929).
The miscellaneous section consists mostly of notes recorded from David and Maria Mora and from Maria de los Angeles from February 1930 to February 1932; some are undated. Among the data included are unsorted vocabulary and phrases (particularly on animals and plants), observations on phonetics, and ethnographic and biographical references in English and Spanish. Also filed here are notes on a letter from C. Hart Merriam (December 26, 1929), with comments on Esselen. The last group of notes is a set of instructions from Harrington to Arthur E. Harrington, his nephew, and Paul Garda, son of a Chumash informant, on making sound recordings from Maria de los Angeles and David Mora.
Biographical / Historical:
John P. Harrington undertook fieldwork on the Salinan dialects during three phases of his career. In 1912 and 1913 he worked for several days with two Migueleno speakers, Juan Solano and Pacifico Archuleta. He interviewed Archuleta again briefly in 1915. During a lengthy period of time in the field in 1922, he contacted David and Maria Mora, recording extensive Antoniano and Migueleno vocabularies from them. Approximately ten years later he returned to work with David as well as with Maria de los Angeles and her husband, Tito Encinales. The primary focus of his study was the rehearing of his earlier field notes and the checking of data from several manuscript and published sources. He also took a number of trips by car and on horseback to collect botanical specimens for identification and to gather placename data. Others that he worked with included Rosario Cooper and Petronilo Gomez.
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 -- Southwest, New Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Manuscripts
Vocabulary
Place:
Arizona
Date:
1913-1946
Scope and Contents:
This set of files contains Harrington's Hopi research. The materials consist of Oraibi linguistic notes, Walpi linguistic notes, notes on phonetics, writings, and miscellaneous notes.
His Oraibi notes include geographical terms provided by Bert Fredericks in slipfile format, a short etymology of the village name Awatobi, and a small rudimentary file of phonetic sounds. While at Elden Pueblo, Harrington also elicited several Oraibi terms from Otto Lomavitu, described as an educated Indian associated with the Moravian missionaries. Kuyawaima, an elderly Oraibi, provided information on basket-making during another interview in August 1926. The majority of the early records in the Oraibi dialect consist of numbered pages of Harrington's handwritten notes which emerge as a combination of vocabulary, phrases, and grammar in the early stages of development, followed by a brief text on Coyote with interlinear translation. Pages 38, 39, and 40 contain a selected number of terms in Zuni.There is one brief mention of an individual named Ignacio but it is not clear whether the vocabularies originated with him. The elicitation was based partly on a rehearing of a typed "Oraivi Vocabulary" found accompanying the handwritten notes. Harrington was in California in 1912 and early 1913 and was engaged in various projects, one of which was copying manuscripts at the Bancroft Library, a possible source of this material.
Harrington's Walpi data from the work in 1926 and 1939 are of a much less systematic nature. A pocket-sized notebook which he used while at the Grand Canyon contains notes from a brief survey of Walpi speakers, random vocabulary items from Percy Hilling, and an outline of the sequence of songs performed by kutKa, the chief of Walpi, and others. Also recorded during this period are additional lexical items, possibly obtained from a man named Sam, and five pages describing a placename trip which Harrington made from Polacca to Holbrook.
The material from 1939 consists of notes from several brief interviews with Walpi speakers encountered in the Fort Defiance area. On September 27, 1939, Harrington recorded one page of placenames from the son of Tom Polacca, an interpreter at First Mesa in the 1880s and 1890s. Additional placename data were obtained from an unidentified Hopi speaker at the home of Jack Snow. Following each of the vocabularies are copies which Harrington made of the names in 1944 in order to locate them on a map by Van Valkenburgh (1941). Three pages of miscellaneous vocabulary from an unidentified source also date from the 1939 period.
His notes on phonetics were likely made during his comparative study of Hopi and other Uto-Aztecan languages. Harrington made a number of observations on the phonetics of the language. These were recorded in the form of a "Hopi Mouthmap." Secondary sources referred to were Parsons (1936), Trubetskoi (1939), Whiting (1939), and Whorf (unspecified works). The mouthmap appeared in Hewett, Dutton, and Harrington's The Pueblo Indian World (1945).
His Hopi writings consist of preparatory notes and drafts in various stages of completion. From 1945-1946 are notes, handwritten drafts, and finished typescripts of his review of The Hopi Way by Laura Thompson and Alice Joseph, as well as the article "Note on the Names Moqui and Hopi." Both of these were published in the American Anthropologist. There is also a typed draft of an unpublished note, intended for release in Indians at Work, titled "Hopi Discovered To Be Most Nearly Akin to Northern Paiute."
Dating from both the periods around 1922 and 1939 are a number of pages of miscellaneous notations. These contain observations of an ethnographic nature, bibliographies, and brief extracts from secondary sources. One set, consisting of comments on seven "landnames," was obtained from an informant referred to as "Hopi at Jack Snow's." Also included is correspondence dated 1914 requesting information on Hopi rocks and a related photograph (originals in files of correspondence and photographs).
There are few field notes relative to the Hopi recordings Harrington made with Fewkes and Prescott and the related sound recordings have not been located.
Biographical / Historical:
John P. Harrington's field notes indicate that he worked on the Hopi language as early as 1913 and reviewed his material as late as 1944. Although he published a short article on Hopi in 1945 and a review of The Hopi Way (1944) in 1946, his notes on this language are not extensIve.
His first contact with speakers of Hopi evidently occurred in 1913, as suggested by his heading "Hopi Language. 1913." A more precise date and location are not given, but it is possible that Harrington made a side trip to the Third Mesa during February when he was working at a number of other pueblos or that he located a speaker of the Oraibi dialect at one of those locations.
From May through September of 1926, Harrington was called away from fieldwork in northern California to assist J. Walter Fewkes, head of the Bureau of American Ethnology, in archeological excavations at Elden Pueblo near Flagstaff, Arizona. According to The B.A.E. Annual Report for 1925 -1926 (p. 5), prior to the excavations, Harrington and J. O. Prescott assisted Fewkes in the recording of Hopi songs. Four of the older Hopi were brought from Walpi to the Grand Canyon, where they performed 11 katcina songs.
Harrington had a second opportunity to record several short vocabularies in the dialect of First Mesa in 1939 when he and Robert W. Young were beginning joint work on Athapascan in the Fort Defiance area of Arizona. His interest in Hopi was renewed again in March of 1944 when he made a comparative study with other Uto-Aztecan languages of the Takic subfamily.
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 -- Great Plains Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Manuscripts
Date:
1950-1951
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Plains series contains Harrington's Mandan, Hidatsa, and Crow research. The materials primarily consist of comparative vocabulary, comparative grammar, ethnographic notes, texts, and grammar. Small selections of Oto, Quapaw, Shawnee, Arikara, and Sioux terms are interspersed among the vocabulary and grammatical notes.
The vocabulary section (former B.A.E. ms. 6009pt.) is semantically arranged and covers eighteen categories. Carl R. Sylvester (abbreviated "Syl.") provided the Hidatsa terms and the Mandan came from Mark Mahto. There are comparatively few Crow terms. The material contains substantial linguistic elaborations; some ethnographic observations are also included, particularly in the plant vocabulary. While in Billings, Montana, Harrington evidently planned to rehear a Crow clan and relationship vocabulary copied from Robert H. Lowie's Notes on the Social Organization and Customs of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Crow Indians (1917). Few expressions, however, were reheard (former B.A.E. ms. 6003). Hidatsa material is sometimes identified by the term "Hir." Presumably Harrington was using Hira'tsa, an orthography variously applied in his notes to the language, people, or "ancient" village of Hidatsa. This interchange of "d" and "r" occurs elsewhere in the field notes--Chiwe-dhe for Chiwere, for example. The etymology of the name Hidatsa is apparently vague; there are some pertinent references to this subject among the mythology and tradition notes.
As with the vocabulary notes, there is more information on Hidatsa and Mandan than on Crow in Harrington's grammatical material. Phonetics and morphology are covered, with subcategories labeled by Harrington. This series was formerly catalogued as part of B.A.E. ms. 6009.
Also among Harrington's files is an article titled "New Materials in the Coracle of the Mandan Indians," which he submitted for publication in the American Anthropologist. He obtained most of the information from Crowsheart on September 26, 1950, and from Crowsheart's daughter, Annie Eagle, both of whom lived on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. The content of the final draft is almost entirely ethnographic. The notes, however, indicate an attempt to provide a linguistic treatment of the subject, with Hidatsa and Crow comparisons from Sylvester and Mahto. This article (former B.A.E. ms. 6008) was not published.The route of Harrington's trip to Crowsheart's home and a bus trip from Brunswick to Kansas City are described in detail. There is a brief section on mythology and traditions (former B.A.E. ms. 6009pt.).
There is also a small set of reading notes from Washington Matthews' Ethnography and Philology of the Hidatsa Indians (1877) that deals mainly with the name "Missouri River." Additional information covers names of persons, a bibliography, and a few unsorted notes (former B.A.E. ms. 6009pt.). Other miscellaneous material was labeled "Rejects" by Harrington, including an interview in Bismark with a Mrs. Rubia, who had a Hidatsa mother and a Mandan father.
Biographical / Historical:
Between July and December 1950, John P. Harrington spent time at the Crow Indian reservation in southern Montana and at Fort Berthold in North Dakota. He returned to Washington on December 19 and spent from then until March 9, 1951, reporting on his fieldwork. The bulk of information was elicited from Carl R. Sylvester, a Hidatsa Indian, and from Mark Mahto, a Mandan. He interviewed Mahto's ninety-four-year-old father-in-law, Crowsheart, on September 26, 1950, after which he drafted a proposed article on Mandan coracles, or bullboats. In 1951 he tried unsuccessfully to secure Bureau of American Ethnology backing for the construction of a coracle, under Crowsheart's direction, for display in the National Museum.
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 Mexico/Central America/South America series contains Harrington's Yucatec research. The materials consist of vocabulary, grammar, texts, writings, and miscellaneous notes.
The Yucatec vocabulary falls into three distinct subsections. The first consists of wordlists from an unidentified informant, supplemented by a little ethnographic and anecdotal material. A second set of vocabulary was recorded from Domingo Canton Aguilar and his wife (abbreviated "Ag. Y Sra."). They contain references to the dialects of Nahuatl spoken by Alfonso Hernandez Catarina (Alf.) and Arcadio Sagahon (Arc.). The third and most extensive section is a file of semantically arranged lexical items. The notes include a mixture of excerpts from secondary sources and original data recorded by Harrington. There are some notes in unidentified handwriting scattered throughout. A number of large subject categories--corporeal, animals, and material culture--are subdivided.
The grammar files consist of extensive notes and a rough draft for a grammar of the Yucatec language. The material is somewhat repetitious due to the presence of variant drafts. The notes contain a mixture of general observations on various points of grammar, extracts from published sources, and original field data. The rough draft and accompanying notes are filed under two headings "Maya Grammar and Lists" and "Maya Language and Semantic Lists." The introduction includes a bibliography of other dictionaries and grammers, a description of the physical features of the Yucatan peninsula, and a discussion of the Maya linguistic stock. The body of the material is divided into categories on phonetics, morphology, verbs, adverbs, particles, nouns, pronouns, conjunctions, interjections, and unsorted topics. The sections dealing with phonetics and verbs (the latter is labeled "Uc. on Lop.") are particularly extensive. A typed manuscript of 308 pages (former B.A.E. ms. 4782) titled "Maya Grammar and Lists" was submitted by Harrington in 1952 for publication as a Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin. The language presented is the ''standard dialect of the states of Yucatan and Campeche." The grammar contains a detailed table of contents, furnishes details on the geographical background and history of the Yucatan peninsula, and discusses Maya grammars and dictionaries.
Yucatec textual material is of three types. The first set consists of myths, the second of records relating to the ''Treaty of Mani," and the third of notes on a Yucatec religious newspaper dating from 1949. Thirty pages of native myth texts contain interlinear translations in a mixture of Spanish and English. The stories include "El Milpero, el Cascabel, el Perro, el Tigre" and "El Zorro y la Esposa del Milpero." The four-page text "Le Ocb Yetel Can" is in the hand of David Arceo H. The "Story of the Blind Hammockmaker" was recorded from Arceo with English and Spanish translation. There is also a summary of the story of venado and tortuga. Material relating to the "Treaty of Mani" includes a word-by-word translation of the treaty, a typed version with free translation and notes, and correspondence with Arthuro Medina and David Arceo H. dating from July 1948 and March 1950. There is also a copy of one issue of the newspaper U Tajil T'au dated November-December 1949. There are a few pages of related notes.
Harrington's writings on Yucatec begins with notes and a rough draft for the article "Original Form and Application of Maya." The paper, which is concerned with the etymology of the name "Maya," discusses the six names by which the Yucatan peninsula is known. There are also notes and drafts for two related articles titled "Egyptian, Chinese and Mayoid Ideographic Writing" and "Reading the Maya Ideograms." This material is followed by a partial rough draft titled "Maya Ideograms Being Read"; it is not clear whether the handwriting, which is not Harrington's, is that of a copyist or a "ghost writer." Dating from June 28, 1950, are extensive notes on the Maya system of counting, arranged behind heading sheets which are labeled "How the Maya Count," "Maya Enumeration," and "V[alladolid] Maya Counting." It appears that Harrington originally worked on several drafts of an article with these different titles; the material is now inextricably mixed. The subtopics covered are arithmetical processes, systems of measures, and time reckoning (including discussion of the twenty-day month). Also filed here is a rough draft labeled "Draft for the Ag. typewritten paper on May[a] Numeration" and a typed draft titled "The Maya Count." "The Maya Count" discusses the system of counting used in the northern part of the Yucatan peninsula by speakers whose language was probably a direct descendent of the language in which the Maya hieroglyphics and codices were written. There are also notes and drafts of reviews which he drafted from 1948 through 1960. The file of writings ends with rough notes for proposed papers on "Maya Hieroglyphic Writing," "Maya Linguistic Stock," and "Influence of Maya and Yucatan Spanish on Each Other."
The section of miscellaneous notes on Yucatec includes a small file of correspondence. There is a letter from Isaias Uc C., Campeche, Mexico, in 1950; a carbon copy of a letter to Jesse Shaw dated April 14, 1952, regarding arrangements for Domingo Aguilar's travel to the United States; handwritten drafts of two letters to John Linkins; and a typed copy of a lengthy letter to Dr. Tozzer from an unidentified writer. Also included is a section labeled "Persons & Addresses," as well as some notes on the sound recordings which Harrington made during fieldwork in Mexico in 1950. The file concludes with what appear to be drafts of annual reports. There is the first page only of a typed statement titled "Maya Language Studies." This is followed by ten handwritten pages of notes which refer to three papers on Maya ideograms and numerals.
Biographical / Historical:
John P. Harrington's study of the Yucatec language of Mexico was undertaken in at least five distinct phases. Both in correspondence and in a draft of a Quiche grammar, Harrington claimed that his first study of the Maya stock was conducted with Eduardo Caceres, a fluent speaker of Maya proper from Merida in the state of Yucatan. They evidently worked together in National City and San Diego, California, around 1914.
In the Sixty-fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology for 1947-1948, Harrington reported that he had recently completed a grammar of the Maya language as well as an article comparing the ideographic writing systems of the Maya, Egyptians, and Chinese. In the following year he continued his revision of these two works and studied the etymology of the word "Maya." His work on the grammar was evidently made possible through studies undertaken with two Yucatec speakers residing in New York City.
Notes indicate that Harrington was in contact with Arthuro Medina (abbreviated "Med.") by at least September 1948. Medina was from Tikul, near the ruins of Uxmal, a few miles south of Merida, and his wife was also from the Yucatan. Through them Harrington learned of a second Maya speaker, Castulo Ucan. Evidently beginning in mid-November 1949, Harrington made a number of trips of several days duration to New York to work with Ucan. Letters which he wrote to bureau chief Matthew W. Stirling in November and December describe Ucan (abbreviated "U.") as a good informant and make mention of the "Motul dictionary" which he used as a questionnaire during their work together.
Although he felt that his work with these informants had been satisfactory, Harrington still wished to travel to Merida to conduct fieldwork with additional informants. He arrived in Merida on Saturday, February 11 and returned to Washington, D.C., on April 11 "bringing a large quantity of linguistic material" as well as "ten half-hour recordings of stories in the Maya language" which he had recorded on tape.
Harrington's first Mexican informant was Isaias Uc whom he described to Stirling as "a treasure," someone who spoke Spanish as a professor, with "a wonderful vocabulary for grammatical terms." Their work included a review of the grammar by Daniel Lopez Otero. He also worked with David Arceo H. (evidently abbreviated "A."), whom he described as "an unsurpassed teacher of Maya," with a knowledge of proverbs and traditional Maya history. From Arceo he was able to obtain a handwritten translation of the Treaty of Mani, from Maya to Spanish, as well as tape recordings of the same.
Other informants with whom Harrington evidently worked during this same period include Pascual Ayora Taliaferro (also spelled "Talavera" and abbreviated "P.") and Geronimo Pacheco. He also received nonlinguistic information from Dr. Solis, Mr. Romero M., Mr. Nichols, Willey (possibly Gordon R. Willey), and Harry, among others.
On March 9, 1951, Harrington had the opportunity to return to Mexico to pursue studies of the classical Aztec, or Nahuatl, language. During the approximately six months he spent there he also worked with another Yucatec speaker, Domingo Canton Aguilar (abbreviated "Ag.") and his wife, who were from Xochimilco in the Distrito Federal. Harrington referred to the latter as Maria Pura Aguilar de C.
Aguilar accompanied Harrington back to Washington, D.C., to assist in the preparation of a grammar and a dictionary of the Maya language. In the same fiscal year (1951 -1952) Harrington completed a monograph on the numeration system of the Valladolid Maya Indians of Yucatan.
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 primarily contains files on the origin of state names which Harrington compiled during a study spanning the years 1938 to 1959. It also encompasses some material on areas outside the United States, as well as a portion of the detailed records on California placenames which Harrington accumulated throughout his career and organized in a more systematic fashion in 1947 and again during his retirement years.
The first major section of material on geographic names includes linguistic, historical, and ethnological notes related to each individual state and to certain possessions or protectorates of the United States. A less extensive Canadian section forms part of this group. The origin of a small number of placenames is included for some of the states and Canada.
A file of writings includes drafts and related materials for seven proposed papers based on these data. They vary in length from a paragraph or two on specific states to typescripts presenting more comprehensive treatments of names in the United States and Canada.
Additional sections contain more extensive notes and drafts relating to the names "California," "Massachusetts," "Missouri," and "Quebec." Detailed surveys of placenames in southern California are also filed here.
There is another group of records relating to Central and South America and to West Indian island names. Two very brief but unpublished articles were prepared on the names "Formosa" and "Truk."
The last section is a file of short articles on placenames and geographical terminology. It also includes reviews of several books and articles which Harrington read in conjunction with this study.
Biographical / Historical:
John P. Harrington's attention was drawn to the subject of state names when, in his capacity as ethnologist at the Bureau of American Ethnology, he was called upon to respond to many inquiries regarding the origin of names given to various states. By the summer of 1938, Harrington had plans to undertake a comprehensive study of all the state names. In July he began the intermittent collection of relevant data during interviews with colleagues at the B.A.E. and with several American Indians who were employed in Washington, D.C. In a letter of January 22, 1939, to his nephew Arthur, Harrington stated that his superiors wanted him "to prepare a book on the meaning of state names." He reported, further, that he had already worked out the etymologies of several names. That Spring, he was authorized by bureau chief Matthew W. Stirling to travel to California, Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Mexico, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wisconsin for the purpose of completing a publication on state names. Harrington obtained relevant linguistic data from C. F. Voegelin in Washington, D.C., just before leaving for the field, and from Leonard Bloomfield en route. From June through October of 1939, he collected information from native speakers of Papago, Delaware, Shawnee, Caddo, Lakota, Chippewa, and Navaho.
Later in 1939, Harrington compiled primary data regarding Canadian provinces during fieldwork with Cree, Sarsi, and Chippewan speakers in Alberta and British Columbia. In April of 1940 he requested permission to make another trip to Oklahoma. On this occasion he met with linguists Mary R. Haas, Carl Voegelin, and Frank T. Siebert, Jr., and a number of informants. A trip to study the Aleut language in Unalaska in 1941 encompassed work on the name "Alaska." Then, in 1949, 1950, and 1951, Harrington made trips to Maine, Oklahoma, and the Yucatan, obtaining data on the names "Massachusetts" and "Missouri" and the state names of Mexico.
Information which Harrington ultimately drew together into discrete files on California placenames was gleaned from numerous native speakers during fieldwork throughout the 1930s and 1940s and from the mid-to-Iate 1950s. Most of the data he gathered was on the Chumash and Uto-Aztecan languages.
Beginning in 1938, Harrington also initiated an extensive correspondence regarding the etymology and historical background of state names of both Indian and non-Indian origin. In the 1940s and early 1950s he broadened the scope of this exchange of letters to include his search for information on Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. protectorates.
During his emeritus years the focus of Harrington's correspondence was on California placenames, particularly those in the Los Angeles area. His files indicate that he wrote over two hundred letters to such sources of information as Chambers of Commerce, postmasters, and old-time California residents, searching out the location of numerous places and the origin of their names.
From 1939 through his retirement years, Harrington envisioned the publication of a number of short articles and longer papers on various aspects of his study of geographic names. However, only three appeared in print: "The Origin of Our State Names" appeared in the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences in 1944; "Peculiarly Difficult Names in North and South America" was published in the July 1945 issue of Acta Americana; and "Our State Names" was included in the Smithsonian Report for 1954, Publication 4205, in 1955.
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.
Ng'ambo atlas historic urban landscape of Zanzibar Town's 'other side' Department of Urban and Rural Planning, Zanzibar ; African Architecture Matters ; text, Antoni Folkers [and three others] ; editors, Antoni Folkers and Iga Perzyna
Title:
Historic urban landscape of Zanzibar Town's 'other side'
Author:
Zanzibar Department of Urban and Rural Planning Search this
