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Frederica de Laguna papers

Creator:
De Laguna, Frederica, 1906-2004  Search this
McClellan, Catharine  Search this
Swanton, John Reed, 1873-1958  Search this
Guédon, Marie Françoise  Search this
Emmons, George Thornton  Search this
Correspondent:
Stearns, Mary Lee  Search this
Aberle, David F. (David Friend), 1918-2004  Search this
Arensberg, Conrad M. (Conrad Maynadier), 1910-1997  Search this
Baird, Melissa  Search this
Balzer, Marjorie  Search this
Bersch, Gretchen  Search this
Birket-Smith, Kaj  Search this
Black, Lydia  Search this
Boas, Franz, 1858-1942  Search this
Chowning, Ann  Search this
Clark, J. Desmond (John Desmond), 1916-2002  Search this
Codere, Helen F., 1917-2009  Search this
Collins, Henry B. (Henry Bascom), 1899-1987  Search this
Colton, Harold Sellers, 1881-1970  Search this
Conklin, Harold C., 1926-2016  Search this
Corbett, John M.  Search this
Darnell, Regna  Search this
Dauenhauer, Nora  Search this
Dauenhauer, Richard  Search this
Davenport, William  Search this
Dockstader, Frederick J.  Search this
Drucker, Philip, 1911-1982  Search this
Du Bois, Cora Alice, 1903-1991  Search this
Duff, Wilson, 1925-  Search this
Fair, Susan  Search this
Fitzhugh, William W., 1943-  Search this
Foster, George McClelland, 1913-  Search this
Garfield, Viola Edmundson, 1899-1983  Search this
Giddings, James Louis  Search this
Gjessing, Gutorm, 1906  Search this
Grinev, Andrei V.  Search this
Hanable, William S.  Search this
Hara, Hiroko, 1934-  Search this
Haury, Emil W. (Emil Walter), 1904-1992  Search this
Heizer, Robert F. (Robert Fleming), 1915-1979  Search this
Helm, June, 1924-  Search this
Herskovits, Melville J. (Melville Jean), 1895-1963  Search this
Holtved, Erik  Search this
Jenness, Diamond, 1886-1969  Search this
Kahn, Mimi  Search this
Kan, Sergei  Search this
Krauss, Michael E., 1934-  Search this
Kroeber, A. L. (Alfred Louis), 1876-1960  Search this
Larsen, Helge, 1905-1984  Search this
Leer, Jeff  Search this
Lindgren, E. J. (Ethel John), 1904-1988  Search this
Lomax, Alan, 1915-2002  Search this
Low, Jean  Search this
Mathiassen, Therkel, 1892-1967  Search this
Mead, Margaret, 1901-1978  Search this
Olson, Wallace  Search this
Rainey, Froelich G. (Froelich Gladstone), 1907-1992  Search this
Riddell, Francis A. (Francis Allen), 1921-2002  Search this
Ritchie, William A. (William Augustus), 1903-1995  Search this
Schneider, William  Search this
Schumacher, Paul J. F.  Search this
Shinkwin, Anne D.  Search this
Spier, Leslie, 1893-1961  Search this
Spiro, Melford E., 1920-2014  Search this
Underhill, Ruth, 1883-1984  Search this
VanStone, James W.  Search this
Weiner, Annette B., 1933-  Search this
Weitzner, Bella, 1891?-1988  Search this
White, Leslie A., 1900-1975  Search this
Woodbury, Natalie Ferris Sampson  Search this
Woodbury, Richard B. (Richard Benjamin), 1917-2009  Search this
Workman, Karen Wood  Search this
Workman, William B.  Search this
Names:
American Anthropological Association  Search this
Bryn Mawr College  Search this
Photographer:
Smith, Harlan Ingersoll, 1872-1940  Search this
Extent:
2 Map drawers
38 Linear feet (71 document boxes, 1 half document box, 2 manuscript folders, 4 card file boxes, 1 flat box, and 1 oversize box)
Culture:
Yakutat Tlingit  Search this
Tutchone  Search this
Tsimshian  Search this
Indians of North America -- Subarctic  Search this
Tlingit  Search this
Tanana  Search this
Kawchodinne (Hare)  Search this
Ahtna (Ahtena)  Search this
Athapascan Indians  Search this
Northern Athabascan  Search this
Chugach  Search this
Kalaallit (Greenland Eskimo)  Search this
Indians of North America -- California  Search this
Eyak  Search this
Indians of North America -- Northwest Coast of North America  Search this
Degexit'an (Ingalik)  Search this
Arctic peoples  Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Map drawers
Manuscripts
Maps
Field notes
Correspondence
Photographs
Sound recordings
Place:
Alaska -- Archaeology
Aishihik (Yukon)
Angoon (Alaska)
Alaska -- Ethnology
Chistochina (Alaska)
Greenland
Copper River (Alaska)
Klukshu (Yukon)
Hoonah (Alaska)
Kodiak Island (Alaska)
Klukwan (Alaska)
Saint Lawrence River Valley
New Brunswick -- Archaeology
Yukon Island (Alaska)
Date:
1890-2004
bulk 1923-2004
Summary:
These papers reflect the professional and personal life of Frederica de Laguna. The collection contains correspondence, field notes, writings, newspaper clippings, writings by others, subject files, sound recordings, photographs, and maps. A significant portion of the collection consists of de Laguna's correspondence with family, friends, colleagues, and students, as well as her informants from the field. Her correspondence covers a wide range of subjects such as family, health, preparations for field work, her publications and projects, the Northwest Coast, her opinions on the state of anthropology, and politics. The field notes in the collection mainly represent de Laguna and her assistants' work in the Northern Tlingit region of Alaska from 1949 to 1954. In addition, the collection contains materials related to her work in the St. Lawrence River Valley in Ontario in 1947 and Catherine McClellan's field journal for her research in Aishihik, Yukon Territory in 1968. Most of the audio reels in the collection are field recordings made by de Laguna, McClellan, and Marie-Françoise Guédon of vocabulary and songs and speeches at potlatches and other ceremonies from 1952 to 1969. Tlingit and several Athabaskan languages including Atna, Tutchone, Upper Tanana, and Tanacross are represented in the recordings. Also in the collection are copies of John R. Swanton's Tlingit recordings and Hiroko Hara Sue's recordings among the Hare Indians. Additional materials related to de Laguna's research on the Northwest Coast include her notes on clans and tribes in Series VI: Subject Files and her notes on Tlingit vocabulary and Yakutat names specimens in Series X: Card Files. Drafts and notes for Voyage to Greenland, Travels Among the Dena, and The Tlingit Indians can be found in the collection as well as her drawings for her dissertation and materials related to her work for the Handbook of North American Indians and other publications. There is little material related to Under Mount Saint Elias except for correspondence, photocopies and negatives of plates, and grant applications for the monograph. Of special interest among de Laguna's writings is a photocopy of her historical fiction novel, The Thousand March. Other materials of special interest are copies of her talks, including her AAA presidential address, and the dissertation of Regna Darnell, a former student of de Laguna's. In addition, materials on the history of anthropology are in the collection, most of which can found with her teaching materials. Although the bulk of the collection documents de Laguna's professional years, the collection also contains newspaper articles and letters regarding her exceptional performance as a student at Bryn Mawr College and her undergraduate and graduate report cards. Only a few photographs of de Laguna can be found in the collection along with photographs of her 1929 and 1979 trips to Greenland.
Scope and Contents:
These papers reflect the professional and personal life of Frederica de Laguna. The collection contains correspondence, field notes, writings, newspaper clippings, writings by others, subject files, sound recordings, photographs, and maps.

A significant portion of the collection consists of de Laguna's correspondence with family, friends, colleagues, and students, as well as her informants from the field. Her correspondence covers a wide range of subjects such as family, health, preparations for field work, her publications and projects, the Northwest Coast, her opinions on the state of anthropology, and politics. Among her notable correspondents are Kaj Birket-Smith, J. Desmond Clark, Henry Collins, George Foster, Viola Garfield, Marie-Françoise Guédon, Diamond Jenness, Michael Krauss, Therkel Mathiassen, Catharine McClellan, and Wallace Olson. She also corresponded with several eminent anthropologists including Franz Boas, William Fitzhugh, J. Louis Giddings, Emil Haury, June Helm, Melville Herskovitz, Alfred Kroeber, Helge Larsen, Alan Lomax, Margaret Mead, Froelich Rainey, Leslie Spier, Ruth Underhill, James VanStone, Annette Weiner, and Leslie White.

The field notes in the collection mainly represent de Laguna and her assistants' work in the Northern Tlingit region of Alaska from 1949 to 1954. In addition, the collection contains materials related to her work in the St. Lawrence River Valley in Ontario in 1947 and Catharine McClellan's field journal for her research in Aishihik, Yukon Territory in 1968. Most of the audio reels in the collection are field recordings made by de Laguna, McClellan, and Marie-Françoise Guédon of vocabulary and songs and speeches at potlatches and other ceremonies from 1952 to 1969. Tlingit and several Athapaskan languages including Atna, Tutochone, Upper Tanana, and Tanacross are represented in the recordings. Also in the collection are copies of John R. Swanton's Tlingit recordings and Hiroko Hara's recordings among the Hare Indians. Additional materials related to de Laguna's research on the Northwest Coast include her notes on clans and tribes in Series VI: Subject Files and her notes on Tlingit vocabulary and Yakutat names specimens in Series 10: Card Files.

Drafts and notes for Voyage to Greenland, Travels Among the Dena, and The Tlingit Indians can be found in the collection as well as her drawings for her dissertation and materials related to her work for the Handbook of North American Indians and other publications. There is little material related to Under Mount Saint Elias except for correspondence, photocopies and negatives of plates, and grant applications for the monograph. Of special interest among de Laguna's writings is a photocopy of her historical fiction novel, The Thousand March.

Other materials of special interest are copies of her talks, including her AAA presidential address, and the dissertation of Regna Darnell, a former student of de Laguna's. In addition, materials on the history of anthropology are in the collection, most of which can found with her teaching materials. The collection also contains copies of photographs from the Harriman Alaska Expedition of 1899. Although the bulk of the collection documents de Laguna's professional years, the collection also contains newspaper articles and letters regarding her exceptional performance as a student at Bryn Mawr College and her undergraduate and graduate report cards. Only a few photographs of de Laguna can be found in the collection along with photographs of her 1929 and 1979 trips to Greenland.
Arrangement:
Arranged in 12 series: (1) Correspondence, 1923-2004; (2) Field Research, 1947-1968; (3) Writings, 1926-2001; (4) Teaching, 1922-1988; (5) Professional Activities, 1939-2001; (6) Subject Files, 1890-2002; (7) Writings by Others, 1962-2000; (8) Personal, 1923-2000; (9) Photographs, 1929-1986; (10) Card Files; (11) Maps, 1928-1973; (12) Sound Recordings, 1904-1973
Biographical / Historical:
Frederica Annis Lopez de Leo de Laguna was a pioneering archaeologist and ethnographer of northwestern North America. Known as Freddy by her friends, she was one of the last students of Franz Boas. She served as first vice-president of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) from 1949 to 1950 and as president of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) from 1966-1967. She also founded the anthropology department at Bryn Mawr College where she taught from 1938 to 1972. In 1975, she and Margaret Mead, a former classmate, were the first women to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Born on October 3, 1906 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, de Laguna was the daughter of Theodore Lopez de Leo de Laguna and Grace Mead Andrus, both philosophy professors at Bryn Mawr College. Often sick as a child, de Laguna was home-schooled by her parents until she was 9. She excelled as a student at Bryn Mawr College, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in politics and economics in 1927. She was awarded the college's prestigious European fellowship, which upon the suggestion of her parents, she deferred for a year to study anthropology at Columbia University under Boas. Her parents had recently attended a lecture given by Boas and felt that anthropology would unite her interests in the social sciences and her love for the outdoors.

After a year studying at Columbia with Boas, Gladys Reichard, and Ruth Benedict, de Laguna was still uncertain whether anthropology was the field for her. Nevertheless, she followed Boas's advice to spend her year abroad studying the connection between Eskimo and Paleolithic art, which would later became the topic of her dissertation. In the summer of 1928, she gained fieldwork experience under George Grant MacCurdy visiting prehistoric sites in England, France, and Spain. In Paris, she attended lectures on prehistoric art by Abbe Breuil and received guidance from Paul Rivet and Marcelin Boule. Engaged to an Englishman she had met at Columbia University, de Laguna decided to also enroll at the London School of Economics in case she needed to earn her degree there. She took a seminar with Bronislaw Malinowski, an experience she found unpleasant and disappointing.

It was de Laguna's visit to the National Museum in Copenhagen to examine the archaeological collections from Central Eskimo that became the turning point in her life. During her visit, she met Therkel Mathiassen who invited her to be his assistant on what would be the first scientific archaeological excavation in Greenland. She sailed off with him in June 1929, intending to return early in August. Instead, she decided to stay until October to finish the excavation with Mathiassen, now convinced that her future lay in anthropology. When she returned from Greenland she broke off her engagement with her fiancé, deciding that she would not able to both fully pursue a career in anthropology and be the sort of wife she felt he deserved. Her experiences in Greenland became the subject of her 1977 memoir, Voyage to Greenland: A Personal Initiation into Anthropology.

The following year, Kaj Birket-Smith, whom de Laguna had also met in Copenhagen, agreed to let her accompany him as his research assistant on his summer expedition to Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet. When Birket-Smith fell ill and was unable to go, de Laguna was determined to continue on with the trip. She convinced the University of Pennsylvania Museum to fund her trip to Alaska to survey potential excavation sites and took as her assistant her 20 year old brother, Wallace, who became a geologist. A close family, de Laguna's brother and mother would later accompany her on other research trips.

In 1931, the University of Pennsylvania Museum hired de Laguna to catalogue Eskimo collections. They again financed her work in Cook Inlet that year as well as the following year. In 1933, she earned her PhD from Columbia and led an archaeological and ethnological expedition of the Prince William Sound with Birket-Smith. They coauthored "The Eyak Indians of the Copper River Delta, Alaska," published in 1938. In 1935, de Laguna led an archaeological and geological reconnaissance of middle and lower Yukon Valley, traveling down the Tanana River. Several decades later, the 1935 trip contributed to two of her books: Travels Among the Dena, published in 1994, and Tales From the Dena, published in 1997.

In 1935 and 1936, de Laguna worked briefly as an Associate Soil Conservationist, surveying economic and social conditions on the Pima Indian Reservation in Arizona. She later returned to Arizona during the summers to conduct research and in 1941, led a summer archaeological field school under the sponsorship of Bryn Mawr College and the Museum of Northern Arizona.

By this time, de Laguna had already published several academic articles and was also the author of three fiction books. Published in 1930, The Thousand March: Adventures of an American Boy with the Garibaldi was her historical fiction book for juveniles. She also wrote two detective novels: The Arrow Points to Murder (1937) and Fog on the Mountain (1938). The Arrow Points to Murder is set in a museum based on her experiences at the University of Pennsylvania Museum and the American Museum of National History. Fog on the Mountain is set in Cook Inlet and draws upon de Laguna's experiences in Alaska. Both detective novels helped to finance her research.

De Laguna began her long career at Bryn Mawr College in 1938 when she was hired as a lecturer in the sociology department to teach the first ever anthropology course at the college. By 1950, she was chairman of the joint department of Sociology and Anthropology, and in 1967, the chairman of the newly independent Anthropology Department. She was also a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania (1947-1949; 1972-1976) and at the University of California, Berkeley (1959-1960; 1972-1973.)

During World War II, de Laguna took a leave of absence from Bryn Mawr College to serve in the naval reserve from 1942 to 1945. As a member of WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service), she taught naval history and codes and ciphers to women midshipmen at Smith College. She took great pride in her naval service and in her later years joined the local chapter of WAVES National, an organization for former and current members of WAVES.

In 1950, de Laguna returned to Alaska to work in the Northern Tlingit region. Her ethnological and archaeological study of the Tlingit Indians brought her back several more times throughout the 1950s and led to the publication of Under Mount Saint Elias in 1972. Her comprehensive three-volume monograph is still considered the authoritative work on the Yakutat Tlingit. In 1954, de Laguna turned her focus to the Atna Indians of Copper River, returning to the area in 1958, 1960, and 1968.

De Laguna retired from Bryn Mawr College in 1972 under the college's mandatory retirement policy. Although she suffered from many ailments in her later years including macular degeneration, she remained professionally active. Five decades after her first visit to Greenland, de Laguna returned to Upernavik in 1979 to conduct ethnographic investigations. In 1985, she finished editing George Thornton Emmons' unpublished manuscript The Tlingit Indians. A project she had begun in 1955, the book was finally published in 1991. In 1986, she served as a volunteer consultant archaeologist and ethnologist for the U. S. Forest Service in Alaska. In 1994, she took part in "More than Words . . ." Laura Bliss Spann's documentary on the last Eyak speaker, Maggie Smith Jones. By 2001, de Laguna was legally blind. Nevertheless, she continued working on several projects and established the Frederica de Laguna Northern Books Press to reprint out-of-print literature and publish new scholarly works on Arctic cultures.

Over her lifetime, de Laguna received several honors including her election into the National Academy Sciences in 1976, the Distinguished Service Award from AAA in 1986, and the Lucy Wharton Drexel Medal from the University of Pennsylvania in 1999. De Laguna's work, however, was respected by not only her colleagues but also by the people she studied. In 1996, the people of Yakutat honored de Laguna with a potlatch. Her return to Yakutat was filmed by Laura Bliss Spann in her documentary Reunion at Mt St. Elias: The Return of Frederica de Laguna to Yakutat.

At the age of 98, Frederica de Laguna passed away on October 6, 2004.

Sources Consulted

Darnell, Regna. "Frederica de Laguna (1906-2004)." American Anthropologist 107.3 (2005): 554-556.

de Laguna, Frederica. Voyage to Greenland: A Personal Initiation into Anthropology. New York: W.W. Norton Co, 1977.

McClellan, Catharine. "Frederica de Laguna and the Pleasures of Anthropology." American Ethnologist 16.4 (1989): 766-785.

Olson, Wallace M. "Obituary: Frederica de Laguna (1906-2004)." Arctic 58.1 (2005): 89-90.
Related Materials:
Although this collection contains a great deal of correspondence associated with her service as president of AAA, most of her presidential records can be found in American Anthropological Association Records 1917-1972. Also at the National Anthropological Archives are her transcripts of songs sung by Yakutat Tlingit recorded in 1952 and 1954 located in MS 7056 and her notes and drawings of Dorset culture materials in the National Museum of Canada located in MS 7265. The Human Studies Film Archive has a video oral history of de Laguna conducted by Norman Markel (SC-89.10.4).

Related collections can also be found in other repositories. The University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania holds materials related to work that de Laguna carried out for the museum from the 1930s to the 1960s. Materials relating to her fieldwork in Angoon and Yakutat can be found in the Rasmuson Library of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks in the papers of Francis A. Riddell, a field assistant to de Laguna in the early 1950s. Original photographs taken in the field in Alaska were deposited in the Alaska State Library, Juneau. Both the Archive of Folk Culture at the Library of Congress and the American Philosophical Library have copies of her field recordings and notes. The American Museum of Natural History has materials related to her work editing George T. Emmons' manuscript. De Laguna's papers can also be found at the Bryn Mawr College Archives.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Frederica de Laguna.
Restrictions:
Some of the original field notes are restricted due to Frederica de Laguna's request to protect the privacy of those accused of witchcraft. The originals are restricted until 2030. Photocopies may be made with the names of the accused redacted.
Rights:
Contact repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation  Search this
Anthropology -- History  Search this
Genre/Form:
Manuscripts
Maps
Field notes
Correspondence
Photographs
Sound recordings
Citation:
Frederica de Laguna papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Identifier:
NAA.1998-89
See more items in:
Frederica de Laguna papers
Archival Repository:
National Anthropological Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw3363424fd-e665-498b-a37c-9f4a81302a35
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-naa-1998-89
Online Media:

Red Man's America; a history of Indians in the United States. Illustrations by Marianne Stoller

Author:
Underhill, Ruth 1883-1984  Search this
Physical description:
x, 395 pages illustrations 24 cm
Type:
Books
Date:
1971
[1971]
Topic:
History  Search this
Call number:
E77 .Un2
E77 .U45 1971
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_13755

Indians of the Pacific Northwest, by Ruth Underhill ..

Author:
Underhill, Ruth 1883-1984  Search this
Beatty, Willard Walcott 1891-  Search this
Physical description:
232 p. incl. front., illus. (incl. map) diagrs. 26 cm
Type:
Books
Place:
Northwest, Pacific
Date:
1945
1945]
Call number:
E78.N77U47X
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_260771

Supplemental Material on Northern and Central California

Creator:
Harrington, John Peabody, 1884-1961  Search this
Kroeber, A. L. (Alfred Louis), 1876-1960  Search this
Underhill, Ruth, 1883-1984  Search this
Names:
Drake, Francis, 1540?-1596  Search this
Du Bois, Cora Alice, 1903-1991  Search this
Merriam, C. Hart (Clinton Hart), 1855-1942  Search this
Morton, C. V. (Conrad Vernon), 1905-1972  Search this
Uldall, Hans Jørgen, 1907-1957  Search this
Voegelin, C. F. (Charles Frederick), 1906-1986  Search this
Waterman, T. T. (Thomas Talbot), b. 1885  Search this
Collection Creator:
Harrington, John Peabody, 1884-1961  Search this
Extent:
5 Boxes
Culture:
Wiyot  Search this
Yurok  Search this
Mattole  Search this
Nisenan Indians  Search this
Mewuk (Miwok)  Search this
Pomo  Search this
Karuk (Karok)  Search this
Chimariko  Search this
Shasta  Search this
Wailaki  Search this
Achomawi (Pit River)  Search this
Atsugewi (Hat Creek)  Search this
Wintu  Search this
Yana  Search this
Ohlone (Costano)  Search this
Esselen Indians  Search this
Salinan Indians  Search this
Yokuts  Search this
Maidu  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Vocabulary
Field notes
Manuscripts
Place:
California -- Discovery and exploration
Date:
circa 1907-circa 1957
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Notes and writings on special linguistic studies series contains material that supplement Harrington's Northern and Central California field notes. There are materials on Wiyot/Yurok/Mattole; Nisenan/Northern Sierra Miwok; Southern Pomo/Central Sierra Miwok; Plains Miwok; Karok/Shasta/Konomihu; Chimariko/Hupa; Wailaki; Achomawi/Atsugewi/Wintu/Yana; Yana/Achomawi/Wintu/Chimariko; Costanoan; Esselen; Salinan; and Yokuts. The files include notes Harrington collected from the field, covering linguistic, botanical, biographical, geographical, and ethnographic topics; notes from rehearings; notes and drafts from his papers; notes on his travels and activities; and notes from secondary sources, including field notes from Alfred Kroeber and other colleagues and notes on Sir Francis Drake's travels in California. Some of his botanical notes include scientific identifications and comments by botanist C. V. Morton of the National Herbarium. The Karok section contains labels for Karok baskets housed in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution's Department of Anthropology.

There are also some general and miscellaneous materials, notes relating to collections of artifacts, notes relating to mission records, notes from conversations, notes from secondary sources, and notes and writings collected from others. Miscellaneous material includes lists of possible informants for a number of California languages, bibliographic references, notes on boats, a list of captions for Harrington's paper "Chainfern and Maidenhair, Adornment Materials of Northwestern California Basketry," a tracing of a map labeled "Plano de la Mision San Jose, 1824," additional references to that mission, and a text. The papers contain references to the Hupa, Maidu, and Yurok tribes. Notes on artifacts pertain to collections held by others, including the George Heye collection of artifacts for the Modoc, Klamath, Pomo, Tolowa, Hupa, and Yurok tribes. Notes from conversations includes interviews with Cora DuBois, C. Hart Merriam, Carl F. Voegelin, and T.T. Waterman. Notes from his meeting with Dr. J.W. Hudson are the most extensive. The last file in the subseries consists of notes from a meeting with Ruth Underhill on January 10, 1941, and a notebook which Harrington evidently obtained from her at that time. The notebook contains class notes from a course on Maidu which Underhill had taken at Columbia University in 1932 with Hans Jorgen Uldall. Included are information on phonetics and grammar and a number of texts.
Local Numbers:
Accession #1976-95
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation  Search this
Linguistics  Search this
Ethnology  Search this
Grammar, Comparative and general  Search this
Names, Geographical  Search this
Names, Ethnological  Search this
Indians of North America -- California  Search this
Wiyot language  Search this
Yurok language  Search this
Mattole language  Search this
Nisenan language  Search this
Miwok languages  Search this
Karok language  Search this
Shasta language  Search this
Konomihu language  Search this
Chimariko language  Search this
Hupa language  Search this
Achomawi language  Search this
Atsugewi language  Search this
Wintu language  Search this
Yana language  Search this
Ohlone language  Search this
Esselen language  Search this
Salinan language  Search this
Yokuts language  Search this
Meskwaki; Sauk & Fox  Search this
Karuk  Search this
Achumawi  Search this
Genre/Form:
Vocabulary
Field notes
Manuscripts
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.
Identifier:
NAA.1976-95, Subseries 8.2
See more items in:
John Peabody Harrington papers
John Peabody Harrington papers / Series 8: Notes and Writings on Special Linguistic Studies
Archival Repository:
National Anthropological Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw30cfeef45-d96e-4d0f-b57c-8ea915d225b3
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-naa-1976-95-ref15214
Online Media:

Supplemental Material on Mexico /Central America/South America

Creator:
Harrington, John Peabody, 1884-1961  Search this
Steward, Julian Haynes, 1902-1972  Search this
Names:
Underhill, Ruth, 1883-1984  Search this
Collection Creator:
Harrington, John Peabody, 1884-1961  Search this
Extent:
1 Boxe
Culture:
Indians of Mexico  Search this
Indians of Central America  Search this
Indians of South America  Search this
Aztec (archaeological culture)  Search this
Cakchikel Indians  Search this
Mayas  Search this
Guna (Kuna)  Search this
Arawak  Search this
Carib Indians  Search this
Shuar  Search this
Quechua Indians  Search this
Tepecano  Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Field notes
Vocabulary
Poems
Date:
circa 1907-circa 1957
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Notes and writings on special linguistic studies series contains material that supplement Harrington's Mexico, Central America, and South America field notes.

The Pima/Papago/Seri/Opata section contains a partial page torn from one of the notebooks recording the placename trip which Harrington made through southern California, Arizona, and Mexico in the spring of 1930. Also filed here are a letter of recommendation by Guadalupe Flores on March 11, 1934, and a brief note from a telephone conversation with Ruth Underhill on April 2, 1948.

The earliest item relating to Nahuatl is a draft of a review of the book The Song of Quetzalcoatl, a translation of the Aztec poem by John H. Cornyn. There is also a card with a brief untranslated text. The reverse side of the card shows a standard form devised by William Gates. Other materials include a brief list of addresses of informants and collaborators in Harrington's Nahuatl fieldwork, a note on the native name of Mexico City, reading notes from Cyrus Thomas's Indian Languages of Mexico and Central America (1911), a three-page typed statement with two pages on Aztec phrases and one page on Aztec numbers, and a miscellaneous group of grammatical and bibliographic references.

For Cakchiquel there is one page with a bibliographic reference and two lexical items.

Material on Yucatec consists of linguistic notes from Castulo Ucan, data on the Maya counting system and glyphs, and bibliographic references. There are also a review of Book II of the Florentine Codex labeled "finished Apr. 7, 1952" and page one of a third version of a review of S. G. Morley's book The Ancient Maya.

The Cuna file contains a permission slip and a one-page typed draft of "Foreign Elements in the Language of the Tule Indians." There is also a copy of the Service's Daily Science News Bulletin for December 17, 1924, which includes a two-page story titled "White Indian Language Has Many Norse Words." These brief announcements are related to the miscellaneous notes which were compiled by Harrington and Paul Vogenitz to demonstrate the affinity of Cuna with the Scandinavian languages.

Harrington's files on South American languages contain small blocks of data pertaining to Arawak, Carib, Jivaro, and Quechua. They begin with miscellaneous notes from secondary sources on the areas where Arawak and Carib were spoken. Material on Jivaro consists of about eighty pages of vocabulary which was obtained in 1944 from Seaman H. G. Eamigh. There are also two pages of excerpts from Ghinassi's Jibaro vocabulary. Material relating to Quechua includes bibliographic references with various spellings of the name; a few pages of grammatical and phonetic notes from other sources; two pages of notes from Mr. Indacochea dated January 16, 1945; and two permission slips and notes regarding a review of Farfan's Poesia folklorica quechua. The file ends with three small pages of notes which were exchanged between Julian Steward and Harrington regarding various South American languages.

Under general and miscellaneous materials is a two-page typed list of captions for twenty-six photographs under the heading "Quirigua, Guatamala," with references to Dr. Hewett and Dr. Lummus (possibly Charles F. Lummis?) and a miscellaneous note regarding the native palm of Panama. There are also notes from secondary sources on historical exploration of the coast of Yucatan and on the Tepecano language of Mexico.
Local Numbers:
Accession #1976-95
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Nahuatl language  Search this
Cakchikel language  Search this
Maya language  Search this
Cuna language  Search this
Arawak language  Search this
Carib language  Search this
Shuar language  Search this
Quechua language  Search this
Language and languages -- Documentation  Search this
Linguistics  Search this
Names, Geographical  Search this
Maya numeration  Search this
Genre/Form:
Field notes
Vocabulary
Poems
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.
Identifier:
NAA.1976-95, Subseries 8.7
See more items in:
John Peabody Harrington papers
John Peabody Harrington papers / Series 8: Notes and Writings on Special Linguistic Studies
Archival Repository:
National Anthropological Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw3255b113b-1414-4af6-8bd0-95b8e2ae67a5
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-naa-1976-95-ref15311

Records Relating to Phonetics

Creator:
Harrington, John Peabody, 1884-1961  Search this
Names:
Bloomfield, Leonard, 1887-1949  Search this
Hewitt, J. N. B. (John Napoleon Brinton), 1859-1937  Search this
Kroeber, A. L. (Alfred Louis), 1876-1960  Search this
Lowie, Robert Harry, 1883-1957  Search this
Michelson, Truman, 1879-1938  Search this
Sapir, Edward, 1884-1939  Search this
Swadesh, Morris, 1909-1967  Search this
Swanton, John Reed, 1873-1958  Search this
Underhill, Ruth, 1883-1984  Search this
Voegelin, C. F. (Charles Frederick), 1906-1986  Search this
Waterman, T. T. (Thomas Talbot), b. 1885  Search this
Collection Creator:
Harrington, John Peabody, 1884-1961  Search this
Extent:
1 Item (box)
Type:
Archival materials
Notes
Manuscripts
Date:
1910-1957
Scope and Contents:
This subseries of the Notes and writings on special linguistic studies series contains materials resulting from Harrington's efforts to develop a phonetic alphabet for writing all languages.

There are four main groupings of notes relating to phonetics. A large set of uncategorized notes has been arranged in chronological order from 1910 through the 1950s. Most of the material dates from the period 1910 to 1915 and from 1921 to 1928; there are smaller amounts of data for the following three decades. The notes present alternate phonetic systems--sometimes referred to as "sonoscript"--in chart form with accompanying explanations of the rationale behind each proposed alphabet. There are also sample words and sentences written out phonetically. The notes from 1910 include a draft of a letter from Harrington to his mother and those from 1912 contain three large poster-sized charts. A second set of notes is arranged alphabetically by topic and includes subsections on alphabetic order, length, letters practical in handwriting, and pitch accent. A relatively large file labeled "phon[etic] letter forms" consists of various handwritten and typed letters as well as cut-and-pasted examples of letters from printed sources. There is also a clipping dated 1922 regarding an advocate of Esperanto with Harrington's own proposals for word forms in that language. In addition, the files contain a copy of an I.P.A. questionnaire and Harrington's comments on it. A third section of material consists of the notes which Harrington made during or immediately following interviews with about twenty linguists and anthropologists, among them Leonard Bloomfield, Alfred L. Kroeber, Robert H. Lowie, Edward Sapir, Morris Swadesh (misspelled "Schwadesh"), Ruth Underhill, Carl F. Voegelin, T. T. Waterman, and B.A.E. colleagues Hewitt, Michelson, and Swanton. Not all of the notes are dated; those which are clearly labeled cover discussions from the 1920s to the 1940s. The last grouping, compiled around 1923 to 1926, contains brief notes on various alphabets. The alphabetically arranged files cover the proposed systems of Arden, Forchhammer, Jespersen, Murray, Olbrechts, Pierce, Powell, and Rouse.

This subseries also contains drafts for four papers by Harrington on phonetics as well as a brief one-page draft description of a "Seminar in General Phonetics" which Harrington was planning to offer at the University of Southern California in 1935 or 1936.
Biographical / Historical:
One aspect of the study of linguistics of special interest to John P. Harrington was the development of a practical phonetic alphabet for writing all languages. It was an effort to which he devoted a great amount of time from 1910 to 1915, from 1922 to 1928, and again intermittently in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.

In 1912 Harrington drafted comments on a proposal for an international conference to devise a universal phonetic system, and on a sample questionnaire which was mailed to many linguists by the International Phonetic Association (I.P.A.). It is unclear whether or not he actually submitted them to the I.P.A.

Also in that year he was chosen to serve on a committee ofthe American Anthropological Association to "prepare a scheme of phonetic representation which [would] have the official sanction" of the organization. Fellow committee members were Franz Boas (chair), Edward Sapir, Alfred L. Kroeber, and Earl Pliny Goddard.

Although later notes indicate that he consulted a number of language specialists, it appears that most of Harrington's efforts at devising a workable alphabet were undertaken alone or with only the cooperation of his friend Paul Vogenitz.

In the mid-1930s he was invited to teach a seminar on "General Phonetics" at the University of Southern California. While correspondence with Dr. Frank C. Touton, vice president of the university, suggests that Harrington contemplated offering the course at various times between the spring of 1935 and the summer of 1936, this plan was abandoned because of more pressing interests. He did touch on phonetics during his course on language at the University of Washington during the summer of 1910

At various points in his career Harrington wrote preliminary descriptions of the phonetic system he favored at that time. None of the early drafts appeared in print and as late as the 1940s, while writing the treatise "Linguistics," Harrington was undecided whether to publish his system or "die keeping it hidden."
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
Linguistics  Search this
Phonetics  Search this
Genre/Form:
Notes
Manuscripts
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.
Identifier:
NAA.1976-95, Subseries 8.17
See more items in:
John Peabody Harrington papers
John Peabody Harrington papers / Series 8: Notes and Writings on Special Linguistic Studies
Archival Repository:
National Anthropological Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw37683fd02-43cb-403a-bd16-24268d884c66
EDAN-URL:
ead_component:sova-naa-1976-95-ref15672

Ruth Murray Underhill (1883-1984)

Creator:
Davis, Fremont 1915-1977  Search this
Subject:
Underhill, Ruth 1883-1984  Search this
United States Bureau of Indian Affairs  Search this
Type:
Black-and-white photographs
Date:
1941
6/16/1941
Topic:
Anthropology  Search this
Navajo Indians  Search this
Women scientists  Search this
Local number:
SIA Acc. 90-105 [SIA2010-0248]
Restrictions & Rights:
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
Copyright Not Evaluated
Data Source:
Smithsonian Institution Archives
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_arc_306538

Indians of the Pacific Northwest / by Ruth Underhill

Author:
Underhill, Ruth 1883-1984  Search this
Physical description:
232 p. : ill., 1 map ; 26 cm
Type:
Books
Place:
Northwest, Pacific
Date:
1960
1945
[1960]
Call number:
E78.N77 U47 1960
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_919136

Singing for power; the song magic of the Papago Indians of southern Arizona [by] Ruth Murray Underhill

Author:
Underhill, Ruth 1883-1984  Search this
Physical description:
vii, 158 p., 1 l. illus. 23 cm
Type:
Music
Date:
1938
Call number:
ML3557 .U55
ML3557.U55
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_74379

The Papago Indians of Arizona and their relatives the Pima / by Ruth Underhill ; illustrated with photographs from The Bureau of American Ethnology and drawings by Velino Herrera (Ma-pe-wi) ; edited by Willard W. Beatty

Author:
Underhill, Ruth 1883-1984  Search this
Physical description:
71 p. : ill. ; 25 cm
Type:
Books
Date:
1941
Call number:
E99.P25 U519 1941
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_496314

Pueblo crafts, by Ruth Underhill, PH. D. Edited by Willard W. Beatty. A publication of the Education Division, United States Indian Service

Author:
Underhill, Ruth 1883-1984  Search this
Beatty, Willard Walcott 1891-  Search this
Physical description:
147 p. incl. front., illus. (incl. maps) 26 cm
Type:
Books
Date:
1945
1945]
Topic:
Pueblo art  Search this
Handicraft  Search this
Call number:
E99.P9 U55
E99.P9U55
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_47381

Singing for power : the song magic of the Papago Indians of southern Arizona / Ruth Murray Underhill

Author:
Underhill, Ruth 1883-1984  Search this
Physical description:
vii, 158 p. : ill. ; 21 cm
Type:
Music
Place:
Arizona
Date:
1976
1938
1976, c1938
Topic:
History and criticism  Search this
Folk music--History and criticism  Search this
Rites and ceremonies  Search this
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_470956

Life in the Pueblos / Ruth Underhill

Author:
Underhill, Ruth 1883-1984  Search this
Underhill, Ruth Murray 1884-1984 Work a day life of the Pueblos  Search this
Physical description:
154 p. : ill., maps ; 26 cm
Type:
Books
Place:
Southwest, New
Date:
1991
1946
C1991
Topic:
Social life and customs  Search this
Call number:
E99.P9U314 1991X
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_422610

MS 7588 Material concerning the Mohave

Creator:
Underhill, Ruth, 1883-1984  Search this
Culture:
Mojave (Mohave)  Search this
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New  Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
n.d
Scope and Contents:
Includes a carbon typescript of a English translation of "The Battle of Spirit Mountain," a "song-narrative" (5 pages) and "Mohave Social Organization" (3 pages).
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 7588
Topic:
Poetry -- Mohave  Search this
Language and languages -- Documentation  Search this
Citation:
Manuscript 7588, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Identifier:
NAA.MS7588
Archival Repository:
National Anthropological Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw3ee640eb2-b2a3-4e07-9475-c0d1c0fc1fe4
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-naa-ms7588

MS 7587 Material concerning the Papago

Creator:
Underhill, Ruth, 1883-1984  Search this
Culture:
Tohono O'odham (Papago)  Search this
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New  Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
ca. 1938?
Scope and Contents:
Includes a manuscript entitled "Material Culture of the Papago," with photographs; "Acculturation of the Papago Village of Santa Rosa"; material concerning a Papago calendar; bibliography from "Social Organization ofthe Papago"; and an undated letter from Underhill to Ruth Benedict.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 7587
Local Note:
The date is based on the presence of the bibliography from Underhill's Social Organization of the Papago (1939) and material concerning calendars may actually predate Underhill's publication on that subject (University of New Mexico Bulletin, anthropological series vol. 2, no. 6, 1938).
Topic:
Acculturation -- Papago  Search this
Calendar -- Papago  Search this
Papago (Tohono O'odham)  Search this
Citation:
Manuscript 7587, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Identifier:
NAA.MS7587
Archival Repository:
National Anthropological Archives
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw316daeb50-87f1-4a1d-9c83-c9c6fcf388fb
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-naa-ms7587

Ceremonial patterns in the greater Southwest / [by] Ruth M. Underhill. Factionalism in Isleta Pueblo / [by] David H. French

Author:
Underhill, Ruth 1883-1984  Search this
French, David H (David Heath) 1918-  Search this
Physical description:
xi, 62, vi, 48 p. ; 24 cm
Type:
Books
Place:
Southwest, New
Date:
1966
[1966, c1948]
Topic:
Rites and ceremonies  Search this
Call number:
E98.R3 U55 1966
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_805233

Scientists and storytellers : feminist anthropologists and the construction of the American Southwest / Catherine J. Lavender

Author:
Lavender, Catherine Jane  Search this
Subject:
Underhill, Ruth 1883-1984  Search this
Benedict, Ruth 1887-1948  Search this
Parsons, Elsie Worthington Clews 1874-1941  Search this
Reichard, Gladys Amanda 1893-1955  Search this
Physical description:
viii, 248 p. ; 24 cm
Type:
Books
Place:
Southwest, New
Date:
2006
Topic:
Feminist anthropology--History  Search this
Women anthropologists--History  Search this
Ethnology--Fieldwork  Search this
Social life and customs  Search this
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_794994

People of the Crimson Evening. by Ruth Underhill ; illustrated by Velino Herrera

Author:
Underhill, Ruth 1883-1984  Search this
United States Bureau of Indian Affairs  Search this
Physical description:
127 p. illus. 26 cm
Type:
Fiction
Date:
1951
[1951]
Topic:
Tohono O'Odham Indians  Search this
Call number:
PZ7.U417 PeX 1951
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_362286

Red man's religion : beliefs and practices of the Indians north of Mexico / Ruth M. Underhill

Author:
Underhill, Ruth 1883-1984  Search this
Physical description:
x, 301 p. : ill., maps, plates. ; 25 cm
Type:
Books
Place:
North America
Date:
1965
C1965
Topic:
Religion  Search this
Indian mythology  Search this
Call number:
E98.R3U57X 1965
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_349501

Red man's religion : beliefs and practices of the Indians north of Mexico / Ruth M. Underhill

Author:
Underhill, Ruth 1883-1984  Search this
Physical description:
x, 301 p., [16] p. of plates : ill., maps ; 23 cm
Type:
Books
Place:
North America
Date:
1974
C1965, 1974 printing
Topic:
Religion  Search this
Indian mythology  Search this
Call number:
E98.R3 U57X 1965a
E98.R3U57X 1965a
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_323142

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