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.
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
MS 2028 Notebook containing North American Indian and other vocabularies collected by A.S. Gatschet and others, and miscellaneous notes and bibliographic references
Creator:
Gatschet, Albert S. (Albert Samuel), 1832-1907 Search this
The material is in the handwriting of A.S. Gatschet, in a composition book. In the same volume are numerous miscellaneous notes, many in German script; brief bibliographic notes, and notes of an apparently personal nature. There are also extracts from the Codex Wangianus, from Charles Lyell, and from others. In addition, there is a Chinese vocabulary in Chinese characters, on pages 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, and one sheet pasted in book.
Partial contents: Carib terms (obtained from Maria Antonia, a native of Rio Frio, Costa Rica (or Chulpan, native name), 6 pages. Guatuso words, 3 pages. (same source.) Apache words and sentences, page 112. Santa Ana vocabulary (additional page.) Hopi vocabulary, page 113. Jemez vocabulary, page 113. Tehua (Tewa) page 114. Isleta vocabulary, page 114. Yohuns (Yojuane) vocabulary, page 115. Notes to vocabularies, page 115. Dakota language (words, etc.) page 122-129. Apache language (words, etc.) page 130. Dakota (Santee), page 131. Hidatsa, page 132. List of American languages, pages 133-138. Nevome grammatical notes, page 148. (Kasua) vocabulary, pages 151-152. Tobikhars (Gabrieleno) vocabulary, page 153. Island of LaCruz page 154 (from California Farmer- 1836). Few Poosepatuck words, page 154. Received by A.S. Gatschet, September 6, 1875. Chibcha vocabulary pages 155-170. Arawak language of Guiana in its linguistic and ethnological relations. By D.G. Brinton (1871) - Extracts from, pages 188-190. Chabas, les Papyrus---de Berlin, 1863- vocabulary in hieroglyphic symbols, pages 194-5. Hidatsa vocabulary, pages 206-208.
Page 114- Brief discussion of location of "Tehua" (Tanoan) pueblos. Gatschet, A.S. Pages 151-52 in notebook- "Kasua" vocabulary. June, 1875. Loew, Oscar. Page 153- Brief vocabulary of the "Tobokhars, extinct tribe at the San Gabriel Mission, collected from an old sick chief, [by] Oscar Lowe, June, 1875...(Fernando Quinto, who recollects Fremont's Exped..." This is not the same as the main "Tobikhar" vocabulary from Lowe in Bureau of American Ethnology Manuscript 774. Page 113- Note on "Moqui" (Hopi) language, with brief vocabulary. Gatschet, A.S. 1 slip bound between pages 112-113 in notebook- Eleven words and phrases of the Santa Ana or Silla language. Gatschet, A.S. Pages 122-129-Dakota vocabularies. 1890's? Autograph document. Gatschet, A.S.
Contents: Carib terms (obtained from Maria Antonia (or Chulpan, native name), 6 pages. Guatuso words, 3 pages (same source) Apache words and sentences, page 112. Santa Ana vocabulary (additional page) Hopi vocabulary page 113. Jemez vocabulary page 113. Tehua (Tewa) page 114. Isleta vocabulary page 114. Yohuns (Yojuane) vocabulary page 115. Notes to vocabularies, page 115. Dakota language (words, etc.) pages 122-129. Apache language (words, etc.) page 130. Dakota (Santee) page 131. Hidatsa page 132. List of American Languages, pages 133-138. Nevome grammatical notes page 148. Kasua vocabulary pages 151-152. Tobikhars (Gabrieleno) vocabulary page 153. Island of LaCruz page 154 8from California Farmer - 1836). Few Poosepatuck words, page 154. Received from A. S. Gatschet September 6, 1875. Chibcha vocabulary pages 155-170. Arawak language of Guiana in its linguistic and ethnological relations By D. G. Brinton (1871) - Extracts from pages 188-190 Chabas, les Papyrus --- de Berlin, 1863- vocabulary in hieroglyphic symbols, page 194-5. Hidatsa vocabulary pages 206-208.
Contents: Tanoan. Gatschet, A. S. Brief discussion of location of "Tehua" (Tanoan) pueblos. 1/3 page, page 114. Barbareno Chumash. Loew, Oscar. "Kasua" vocabulary. June, 1875. Pages 151-52 in notebook. Gabrielino. Loew, Oscar. Brief vocabulary of "Tobikhars, extinct tribe at the San Gabriel Mission, collected from an old sick chief, [by] Oscar Loew, June, 1875...(Fernando Quinto. who recollects Fremont's Exped..." Page 153 in notebook. This is not the same as the main "Tobikhar" vocabulary from Loew in Bureau of American Ethnology Manuscript 774. Hopi. Gatschet, A. S. Note on "Moqui" (Hopi) language, with brief vocabulary. Page 113 (1/4 page) in notebook. Page 113 on Microfilm Negative Reel 11 (Hopi manuscript reel). Sia. Gatschet, A. S. Eleven words and phrases of the Santa Ana or Silla language. 1 slip, bound between pages 112-113 in notebook. Dakota Gatschet, A. S. Dakota vocabularies. [1890s ?] Autograph document. 7 pages.
Garrick Mallery (1831-1894) was an ethnologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology who focused primarily on Native American sign language and pictography. This collection reflects Mallery's research interests and methods. Much of the collection is comprised of correspondence and notes relating to sign language and pictography and is organized chiefly by either the cultural or geographic region to which the material belongs. Bound volumes of several of his publications are included, along with annotated draft copies from collaborators. In the case of Mallery's work on pictography, the collection includes several oversize items including original works and reproductions.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains Garrick Mallery's research and writings as a BAE ethnologist and is largely comprised of correspondence and preparatory materials for publications on Native American sign language and pictography. The geographic scope of the material is chiefly the present-day United States and Canada, though other areas of the world are represented less comprehensively. Correspondence and research notes include verbal descriptions of signs, sometimes with illustrations included. Bound volumes of Mallery's publications are included, along with annotations from collaborators. In addition, this collection includes notecards, drawings, illustrations, photographs, articles, and art objects. Art objects (mostly oversize) deal chiefly with Dakota winter counts and other artifacts.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged into 3 series: 1) Research Notes, undated; 2) Materials on Sign Language, 1843-1849, 1873-1894; 3) Materials on Pictographs and Petroglyphs, 1849-1902, undated
Biographical Note:
Garrick Mallery (1831-1894) was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and practiced law in Philadelphia from 1853 until the outbreak of the American Civil War. While serving in the army, he became interested in Native American sign language and pictography, perhaps while performing his duties in frontier areas. After retiring from the military in 1879, Mallery was appointed to the newly created Bureau of American Ethnology as one of its first ethnologists. In his work with the Bureau, Mallery pioneered the study of sign language and pictographs, examining them as a universal human phenomenon with a direct link to spoken language.
In his work, Mallery collected and examined sign language vocabulary from Native American groups throughout the U.S. and Canada and regularly solicited contributions from collaborators. He also related his findings to examples from the wider world, comparing the formation of Native American signs to those in other areas by hearing individuals and by the deaf. Mallery completed several publications on the topic throughout the 1880s, notably Introduction to the Study of Sign language Among the North American Indians (1880), A Collection of Gesture- Signs and Signals of the North American Indians (1880), and "Sign-language among North American Indians Compared with that Among other People and Deaf-mutes," which appeared in the BAE 1st Annual Report (1881).
While most widely known for his work with sign language, Mallery also undertook extensive research into Native American pictography. Like his work with sign language, he both conducted original research and solicited assistance from collaborators. He was especially interested in the representational images in Dakota winter counts and petroglyphs in the United States and throughout the world.
Sources Consulted
Fletcher, Robert. "Garrick Mallery, President of the Philosophical Society of Washington, in 1888." In Brief Memoirs of Colonel Garrick Mallery, U.S.A., Who Died October 24, 1894, 3-8. Washington: Judd & Detweiler, 1895.
1831 -- Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on April 25
1850 -- Graduates Yale College
1853 -- Earns LL. B. from the University of Pennsylvania Admitted to the Pennsylvania bar
1853-1861 -- Practices law in Philadelphia
1861 -- Enters the volunteer army of the United States
1862 -- Severely wounded in the battle of Peach Orchard, Virginia Captured and held prisoner at Libby prison in Richmond, Virginia
1866 -- Completes service with volunteer army of the United States Accepts commission in regular army of the United States
1870 -- Marries Helen W. Wyckoff
1879 -- Retires from the United States army due to disability Appointed to the Bureau of American Ethnology
1880 -- Publishes Introduction to the Study of Sign-Language Among the North American Indians as Illustrating the Gesture-Speech of Mankind and A Collection of Gesture-Signs and Signals of the North American Indians With Some Comparisons
1881 -- Publishes "Sign Language Among North American Indians, Compared with that Among Other Peoples and Deaf-Mutes"
1894 -- Dies after a short illness in Washington, D.C., on October 24
Related Materials:
See MS 2322 A collection of gesture-signs and signals of the North American Indians for more of Garrick Mallery's work on sign language.
Provenance:
MS 2372 was transferred from the Bureau of Ethnology Archives to the Smithsonian Office of Anthropology Archives with the merger of the BAE and the Department of Anthropology of the National Museum of Natural History in 1965. The Smithsonian Office of Anthropology Archives was renamed the National Anthropological Archives in 1968.
Restrictions:
Manuscript 2372 is open for research.
Access to Manuscript 2372 requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology Search this
Extent:
245 Linear feet ((375 boxes and 10 map drawers))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1878-1965
Summary:
The records in this collection embody the administrative functions of the Bureau of American Ethnology from 1879 to 1965. The collection consists of correspondence, card files, registers, official notices, annual and monthly work reports, research statements, research proposals, grant applications, personnel action requests, notices of personnel action, meeting minutes, purchase orders and requisitions, property records, biographical sketches, resolutions, newspaper clippings, reviews of publications, drafts of publications, circulars, programs, pamphlets, announcements, illustrations, cartographic materials, photographic prints, photographic negatives, bibliographies, and reprinted publications.
Scope and Contents:
The records in this collection embody the administrative functions of the Bureau of American Ethnology from 1879 to 1965. The collection consists of correspondence, card files, registers, official notices, annual and monthly work reports, research statements, research proposals, grant applications, personnel action requests, notices of personnel action, meeting minutes, purchase orders and requisitions, property records, biographical sketches, resolutions, newspaper clippings, reviews of publications, drafts of publications, circulars, programs, pamphlets, announcements, illustrations, cartographic materials, photographic prints, photographic negatives, bibliographies, and reprinted publications.
Correspondence comprises the bulk of this collection. A significant portion of this correspondence originates from the Bureau's duty to field inquiries regarding North American aboriginal cultures and respond to requests relating to the duplication of BAE library and archival materials. Inquiries and requests, received from all parts of the world, were submitted by colleagues, museum curators and directors, students, professors, amateur archaeologists, government agents, military officials, Smithsonian Institution officials, artists, and members of the general public. Other correspondence reflects the Bureau's day-to-day operations and internal affairs. Subjects discussed in this correspondence include research projects, field expeditions, annual budgets, personnel matters, the acquisition of manuscripts, the disbursement of specimens, and production of BAE publications. Correspondence is occasionally accompanied by announcements, circulars, programs, pamphlets, photographs, drawings, diagrams, bibliographies, lists, newspaper clippings, and maps. Also among these records are the card files and registers of incoming and outgoing correspondence maintained by early BAE administrative staff. For a list of correspondents, see the appendix to this finding aid, available in the NAA reading room.
The majority of illustrations, artwork, and photographs that appear in this collection are associated with BAE publications, including BAE Annual Reports, BAE Bulletins, Contributions to North American Ethnology and Smithsonian Institution, Miscellaneous Collection. Maps located among the collection originate, by and large, from BAE field expeditions and research projects. BAE staff also amassed great quantities of newspaper clippings that concerned BAE research or points of interest. Of particular note are three scrapbooks comprised of clippings that relate to "mound builders" and the work of the BAE's Division of Mound Explorations.
Also worthy of note are the various records relating to the 1903 investigation of the BAE. Records related to the investigation highlight the Smithsonian Institution's longstanding dissatisfaction with the internal management of the BAE, its concerns over the BAE's loose relationship with the parent organization, and displeasure with the manner in which BAE scientific research was developing. Other materials of special interest are the various administrative records covering the period 1929 to 1946 and 1949 to 1965. The majority cover personnel matters; however, others justify the work of the BAE and bear witness to growing concerns that the BAE would eventually be absorbed by the Department of Anthropology within the United States National Museum.
Arrangement:
The collection has been arranged into the following 12 series: (1) Correspondence, 1897-1965; (2) Cooperative Ethnological Investigations, 1928-1935; (3) Miscellaneous Administrative Files, 1929-1946; (4) Miscellaneous Administrative Files, 1949-1965; (5) Records Concerning the Photographic Print Collection, 1899-1919; (6) Records Concerning Employees; (7) Fiscal Records, 1901-1902 and 1945-1968; (8) Records Relating to the 1903 Investigation of the BAE; (9) Property Records and Requisitions; (10) Clippings; (11) Publications; (12) BAE Library Materials, Pamphlets and Reprints
Administrative History:
The Bureau of Ethnology was established by an act of the United States Congress on March 3, 1879, but it was largely the personal creation of the geologist and explorer Major John Wesley Powell. His earlier explorations of the Colorado River and Grand Canyon formed the basis of the Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region. While exploring the area, Powell became alarmed at what he perceived to be the decline of the aboriginal way of life due to rapid depopulation. In a letter to the Secretary of the Interior, he warned that "in a few years, it will be impossible to study…Indians in their primitive condition, except from recorded history" (Hinsley). He urged swift government action; the result of which was the appropriation of $20,000 (20 Stat. 397) to transfer all documents relating to North American Indians from the Department of Interior to the Smithsonian Institution and its Secretary's appointment of Powell as director of the newly established Bureau of Ethnology, a position he held until his death in 1902. In 1897, its name was changed to the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) to underscore the limits of its geographical reaches.
Under Powell, the BAE organized the nation's earliest anthropological field expeditions, in which the characteristics and customs of native North Americans were observed firsthand and documented in official reports. Images of Indian life were captured on photographic glass plate negatives, and their songs on wax cylinder recordings. Histories, vocabularies and myths were gathered, along with material objects excavated from archaeological sites, and brought back to Washington for inclusion in the BAE manuscript library or the United States National Museum.
The fruits of these investigations were disseminated via a series of highly regarded and widely distributed publications, most notably BAE Annual Reports, BAE Bulletins, and Contributions to North American Ethnology. BAE research staff also responded routinely to inquiries posed by colleagues, government agencies, and the general public on matters ranging from artwork to warfare. Moreover, the BAE prepared exhibits on the various cultural groups it studied not only for the Smithsonian Institution, but also for large expositions held nationwide.
In 1882 Powell, under instruction of Congress, established the Division of Mound Explorations for the purpose of discovering the true origin of earthen mounds found predominately throughout the eastern United States. It was the first of three temporary, yet significant, subunits supported by the Bureau. Cyrus Thomas, head of the Division, published his conclusions in the Bureau's Annual Report of 1894, which is considered to be the last word in the controversy over the mounds' origins. With the publication of Thomas' findings, the Division's work came to a close.
The course of BAE operations remained largely the same under Powell's successors: W.J. McGee (acting director) 1902; William Henry Holmes, 1902-1910; Frederick W. Hodge, 1910-1918; J. Walter Fewkes, 1918-1928; Matthew W. Stirling, 1928-1957; Frank H.H. Roberts, Jr., 1957-1964; and Henry B. Collins (acting director), 1964-1965. However, following a 1903 internal investigation of the Bureau's administrative activities, Smithsonian officials called for a broader scope of ethnological inquiry and greater application of anthropological research methodologies. The BAE responded in 1904 by expanding agency activities to include investigations in Hawaii, the Philippines, and the Caribbean.
The BAE extended its geographical reaches once again, in the 1940s, to include Central and South America. In 1943, the Institute of Social Anthropology (ISA) was established as an independent subunit of the Bureau for the purpose of developing and promoting ethnological research throughout the American Republics. The findings of ISA-sponsored investigations were published in the six volume series, Handbook of South American Indians (BAE Bulletin 143). Julian H. Steward, editor of the Handbook, was appointed director of ISA operations and held the position until 1946 when George M. Foster assumed responsibility. The ISA was absorbed by the Institute of Inter-American Affairs in 1952, thus terminating its relationship with the BAE.
In 1946 the BAE assumed partial administrative control of the recently established River Basin Surveys (RBS), its third and final autonomous subunit. The purpose of the RBS was to salvage and preserve archaeological evidence threatened by post-World War II public works programs, more specifically the rapid construction of dams and reservoirs occurring throughout the country. Excavations conducted under the RBS yielded considerable data on early North American Indian settlements, and subsequent deliberations on this data were published as reports in various BAE Bulletins.
In 1965, the BAE merged administratively with the Smithsonian Institution's Department of Anthropology to form the Office of Anthropology within the United States National Museum (now the Department of Anthropology within the National Museum of Natural History). The BAE manuscript library, also absorbed by the Department of Anthropology, became the foundation of what is today the National Anthropological Archives (NAA).
In its 86 year existence, the BAE played a significant role in the advancement of American anthropology. Its staff included some of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries' most distinguished anthropologists, including Jeremiah Curtain, Frank Hamilton Cushing, J.O. Dorsey, Jesse Walter Fewkes, Alice Cunningham Fletcher, Albert H. Gatschet, John Peabody Harrington, John N.B. Hewitt, William Henry Holmes, Ales Hrdlicka, Neil Judd, Francis LaFlesche, Victor and Cosmo Mindeleff, James Mooney, James Pilling, Matilda Coxe Stevenson, Matthew Williams Stirling, William Duncan Strong, and William Sturtevant. The BAE also collaborated with and supported the work of many non-Smithsonian researchers, most notably Franz Boas, Frances Densmore, Gerard Fowke, Garrick Mallery, Washington Matthews, Paul Radin, John Swanton, Cyrus Thomas, and T.T. Waterman, as well as America's earliest field photographers such as Charles Bell, John K. Hillers, Timothy O'Sullivan, and William Dinwiddie. Several of its staff founded the Anthropological Society of Washington in 1880, which later became the American Anthropological Association in 1899. What is more, its seminal research continues to be drawn upon by contemporary anthropologists and government agents through the use of BAE manuscripts now housed in the NAA.
Sources Consulted:
Hinsley, Curtis. Savages and Scientists: The Smithsonian Institution and the Development of American Anthropology, 1846-1910. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981.
McGee, WJ. "Bureau of American Ethnology." The Smithsonian Institution, 1846-1896, The History of its First Half-Century, pp. 367-396. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1897.
Sturtevant, William. "Why a Bureau of American Ethnology?" Box 286, Functions of the BAE, Series IV: Miscellaneous Administrative Files, 1948-1965, Records of the Bureau of American Ethnology, National Anthropological Archives.
Related Materials:
Additional material relating to BAE administrative affairs and research projects can be found among the National Anthropological Archives' vast collection of numbered manuscripts. Too numerous to list in this space, these include official correspondence, monthly and annual work reports, fiscal records, field notes, personal diaries, expedition logs, catalogues of specimens, vocabularies, historical sketches, maps, diagrams, drawings, bibliographies, working papers and published writings, among various other material. Most of these documents are dispersed throughout the numbered manuscript collection as single items; however, some have been culled and unified into larger units (e.g., MS 2400 is comprised of documents relating to the Division of Mound Explorations). Artwork and illustrations produced for BAE publications are also located among the NAA's numbered manuscript collection as well as its photograph collection (e.g., Photo Lot 78-51 and Photo Lot 80-6).
Photographs concerning BAE research interests can be found among the following NAA photographic lots: Photo Lot 14, Bureau of American Ethnology Subject and Geographic File ca. 1870s-1930s; Photo Lot 24, BAE Photographs of American Indians 1840s to 1960s (also known as the Source Print Collection); Photo Lot 60, BAE Reference Albums 1858-1905; and Photo Lot 85, BAE Miscellaneous Photographs 1895 to 1930. Other photographic lots include portraits of BAE staff and collaborators, namely Photo Lot 33, Portraits of Anthropologists and others 1860s-1960s; Photo Lot 68, Portraits of John Wesley Powell ca. 1890 and 1898; and Photo Lot 70, Department of Anthropology Portrait File ca. 1864-1921.
Additional materials in the NAA relating to the work of the BAE can be found among the professional papers of its staff, collaborators and USNM anthropologists. These include the papers of Ales Hrdlicka, John Peabody Harrington, Otis Mason, J.C. Pilling, Matthew Williams Stirling, and William Duncan Strong. Documents relating to the work of the BAE can be found among the records of the River Basin Surveys (1928-1969) and the Institute of Social Anthropology (1941-1952).
Records related to this collection can also be found in the Smithsonian Institution Archives (SIA). SIA accession 05-124 includes information regarding the 1942 transfer of six audio recordings related to the Chumash Indian language from the Bureau of American Ethnology to the National Archives, nine pages of Chumash translations, and "The Story of Candalaria, the Old Indian Basket-Maker." The Fiscal and Payroll Records of the Office of the Secretary, 1847 to 1942 (Record Unit 93), includes voucher logs, disbursement journals and daybooks of money paid out to the BAE from 1890 to 1910. BAE correspondence can also be found among the Records of the Office of the Secretary (Record Unit 776, accession 05-162). The Papers of William Henry Holmes, second director of the BAE, are also located among the SIA (Record Unit 7084).
Accession records concerning artifacts and specimens collected by the BAE are located in the registrar's office of the National Museum of Natural History.
Related collections can also be found at the National Archives and Records Administration. RG 57.3.1, the Administrative Records of the United States Geological Survey, includes register of applications for BAE ethnological expositions conducted between 1879-1882. RG 75.29, Still Pictures among the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, includes 22 photographs of Arapaho, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Comanche, Navajo, and Apache Indians taken by William S. Soule for the BAE during 1868-1875. RG 106, Records of the Smithsonian Institution, includes cartographic records (106.2) relating to Indian land cessions in Indiana created for the First Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1881 (1 item); a distribution of American Indian linguistic stock in North America and Greenland, by John Wesley Powell, for the Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, ca. 1887 (1 item); a distribution of Indian tribal and linguistic groups in South America, 1950 (1 item); the Indian tribes in North America, for Bulletin 145, Bureau of American Ethnology, 1952 (4 items). Sound Recordings (106.4) include songs and linguistic material relating to the Aleut, Mission, Chumash, and Creek, gather by the BAE in 1912, 1914, 1930-41. Some include translations (122 items).
Provenance:
The Records of the Bureau of American Ethnology were transferred to the Smithsonian Office of Anthropology Archives with the merger of the BAE and the Department of Anthropology of the National Museum of Natural History in 1965. The Smithsonian Office of Anthropology Archives was renamed the National Anthropological Archives in 1968.
Restrictions:
The Records of the Bureau of American Ethnology are open for research.
Access to the Records of the Bureau of American Ethnology requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact repository for terms of use.
Citation:
Records of the Bureau of American Ethnology, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Indians of North America -- Southern States Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Date:
1893
Scope and Contents:
From Leonard Tyler - text with interlinear translation, (Muihas or the Magpie) - 3 pages (No. 5-7). From David Pendleton (Making Medicine) - words - 4 1/2 pages. (No. 13-17). From Rubin Taylor - words and sentences - 3 pages. (No. 17-20). From Indian N.E. of Agency - words, 1/2 page. (No. 21). Names of Indians at Darlington - 6 names (page No. 21). Rudolph Petter - Collection of words - 2 pages (No. 22-23). Philip Block - Notes on different Indians by tribes - 1 page (No. 24). James Mooney - tribal names for the Cheyenne by the Yankton, Kiowa, Teton, Navajo and Arapaho. - 1/2 page. (No. 51)
Stephen R. Riggs - Dakota Grammar - extracts from. Approx. 20 pages. (Contributions Vol. IX (1893) ).
Kish Hawkins - sentences - 3 pages. (No. 8-10). grammatical notes - 25 pages. (25-50). grammatical notes - 18 pages. (72-90).
James Bent - Comparative Vocabulary of the Caddo, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Wichita - 1 page. (No. 90). Ditto - Arapaho and Cheyenne - 6 pages. (No. 91-96).
Wolf Face - Notes on Cheyenne - 3 1/4 pages. (No. 97-100). Natural Philosophy - 3 pages. (No. 101-103).
George Bent - list of personal names - 1 1/4 pages. (No.106-7).
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 61
Place:
Darlington Oklahoma Territory
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
These papers reflect the professional lives of Alice Cunningham Fletcher (1838-1923), an ethnologist with the Peabody Museum of Harvard and collaborator with the Bureau of American Ethnology, and Francis La Flesche (1856-1923), an anthropologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology. Due to the close professional and personal relationship of Fletcher and La Flesche, their papers have been arranged jointly. The papers cover the period from 1874 to 1939. Included in the collection is correspondence, personal diaries, lectures, field notes and other ethnographic papers, drafts, musical transcriptions, publications by various authors, maps and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
These papers reflect the professional lives of Alice Cunningham Fletcher (1838-1923), an ethnologist with the Peabody Museum of Harvard University and collaborator with the Bureau of American Ethnology, and Francis La Flesche (1856-1923), an anthropologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology. Due to the close professional and personal relationship of Fletcher and La Flesche, their papers have been arranged jointly. The papers cover the period from 1874 to 1939. Included in the collection is correspondence, personal diaries, lectures, field notes and other ethnographic papers, drafts, musical transcriptions, publications by various authors, maps and photographs.
The papers have been divided into three general categories: the papers of Alice Cunningham Fletcher, the papers of Francis La Flesche, and the ethnographic research of Fletcher and La Flesche. The first two categories represent personal and professional materials of Fletcher and La Flesche. The third section holds the majority of the ethnographic material in the collection.
Of primary concern are Fletcher and La Flesche's ethnological investigations conducted among the Plains Indians, particularly the Omaha and Osage. Fletcher's Pawnee field research and her allotment work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs among the Omaha, Nez Perce, and Winnebago are represented in the collection. A substantial portion of the ethnographic material reflects Fletcher and La Flesche's studies of Native American music. Much of the correspondence in the papers of Fletcher and La Flesche is rich with information about the situation of Omaha peoples in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Also included in the collection are documents related to Fletcher's work with the Archaeological Institute of America and the School for American Archaeology. Additionally, substantial amounts of Fletcher's early anthropological and historical research are found among her correspondence, lectures, anthropological notes, and early field diaries. La Flesche's literary efforts are also generously represented.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into the following 3 series: 1) Alice Cunningham Fletcher papers, 1873-1925; 2) Francis La Flesche papers, 1881-1930; 3) Papers relating to the anthropological research of Alice Fletcher and Francis La Flesche, 1877-1939.
Series 1: Alice Cunningham Fletcher papers is divided into the following 10 subseries: 1.1) Incoming correspondence, 1874-1923 (bulk 1882-1923); 1.2) Outgoing correspondence, 1873-1921; 1.3) Correspondence on specific subjects, 1881-1925; 1.4) Correspondence between Fletcher and La Flesche, 1895-1922; 1.5) Publications, 1882-1920; 1.6) Organizational records, 1904-1921; 1.7) General anthropological notes, undated; 1.8) Lectures, circa 1878-1910; 1.9) Diaries, 1881-1922; 1.10) Biography and memorabilia, 1878-1925.
Series 2: Francis La Flesche papers is divided into the following 6 subseries: 2.11) General correspondence, 1890-1929; 2.12) Correspondence on specific subjects, 1881-1930; 2.13) Publications, 1900-1927; 2.14) Literary efforts, undated; 2.15) Personal diaries, 1883-1924; 2.16) Biography and memorabilia, 1886-1930.
Series 3: Papers relating to the anthropological research of Alice Fletcher and Francis La Flesche is divided into the following 12 subseries: 3.17) Alaska, 1886-1887; 3.18) Earth lodges, 1882, 1898-1899; 3.19) Music, 1888-1918; 3.20) Nez Perce, 1889-1909; 3.21) Omaha, 1882-1922; 3.22) Osage, 1896-1939; 3.23) Pawnee, 1897-1910; 3.24) Pipes, undated; 3.25) Sioux, 1877-1896; 3.26) Other tribes, 1882-1922; 3.27) Publications collected, 1884-1905, undated; 3.28) Photographs, undated.
Biographical / Historical:
Alice Cunningham Fletcher (1838-1923) was an ethnologist with the Peabody Museum of Harvard and collaborator with the Bureau of American Ethnology. Francis La Flesche (1856-1923) was an anthropologist with the Bureau of American Ethnology.
Chronology of the Life of Alice Cunningham Fletcher
1838 March 15 -- Born in Havana, Cuba
1873-1876 -- Secretary, American Association for Advancement of Women
1879 -- Informal student of anthropology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University
1881 -- Field trip to Omaha and Rosebud Agencies
1882 -- Assistant in ethnology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University
1882 -- Helped secure land in severalty to Omaha Indians
1882-1883 -- Begins collaboration with Francis La Flesche on the Peabody Museum's collection of Omaha and Sioux artifacts
1883-1884 -- Special Agent, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Omaha Agency
1886 -- Bureau of Education investigation of Alaskan native education
1887-1888 -- Special Disbursing Agent, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Winnebago Agency
1889-1892 -- Special Agent for allotment, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Nez Perce Agency
1890-1899 -- President, Women's Anthropological Society of America
1891-1923 -- Mary Copley Thaw Fellow, Peabody Museum, Harvard University
1892-1893 -- Department of Interior consultant, World's Columbian Exposition
1896 -- Vice-President, Section H, American Association for the Advancement of Science
1897 -- Collaborator, Bureau of American Ethnology
1899-1916 -- Editorial board, American Anthropologist
1900 -- Published Indian Story and Song from North America
1901-1902 -- Advisory committee, Anthropology Department, University of California at Berkeley
1903 -- President, Anthropological Society of Washington
1904 -- Published The Hako: A Pawnee Ceremony with James Murie
1908-1913 -- Chair, Managing Committee of School of American Archaeology
1911 -- Honorary Vice-President, Section H, British Association for Advancement of Science
1911 -- Published The Omaha Tribe with Francis La Flesche
1913 -- Chair Emeritus, Managing Committee of School of American Archaeology
1915 -- Published Indian Games and Dances with Native Songs Arranged from American Indian Ceremonials and Sports
1923 April 6 -- Died in Washington, D.C.
Chronology of the Life of Francis La Flesche
1857 December 25 -- Born on Omaha Reservation near Macy, Nebraska
1879 -- Lecture tour, Ponca chief Standing Bear
1881 -- Interpreter, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
1881-1910 -- Clerk, Bureau of Indian Affairs
1891 -- Informally adopted as Fletcher's son
1892 -- LL.B., National University Law School
1893 -- LL.M., National University Law School
1900 -- Published The Middle Five: Indian Boys at School
1906-1908 -- Marriage to Rosa Bourassa
1910-1929 -- Ethnologist, Bureau of American Ethnology
1911 -- Published The Omaha Tribe with Alice Fletcher
1921 -- Published The Osage Tribe, Part One
1922 -- Member, National Academy of Sciences
1922-1923 -- President, Anthropological Society of Washington
1925 -- Published The Osage Tribe, Part Two
1926 -- Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of Nebraska
1928 -- Published The Osage Tribe, Part Three
1932 -- Published Dictionary of the Osage Language
1932 September 5 -- Died in Thurston County, Nebraska
1939 -- Posthumous publication of War Ceremony and Peace Ceremony of the Osage Indians
Related Materials:
Additional material related to the professional work of Fletcher and La Flesche in the National Anthropological Archives may be found among the correspondence of the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) and the records of the Anthropological Society of Washington.
Sound recordings made by Fletcher and La Flesche can be found at the Library of Congress. The National Archives Records Administration hold the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), including those relating to allotments in severalty for the Nez Perce by Alice Fletcher. The Nebraska Historical Society has diaries, letters and clippings regarding the La Flesche family, including correspondence of Francis La Flesche and Fletcher. The Radcliffe College Archives holds a manuscript account of Alice Fletcher's four summers with the Nez Perce (1889-1892). Correspondence between Fletcher and F. W. Putnam is also located at the Peabody Museum Archives of Harvard University.
Separated Materials:
Ethnographic photographs from the collection have been catalogued by tribe in Photo Lot 24.
Glass plate negatives from the collection have been catalogued by tribe in the BAE glass negatives collection (Negative Numbers 4439-4515).
Provenance:
The papers of Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche have been received from an undocumented number of sources. Portions of Fletcher's ethnographic papers were donated to the archives by Mrs. G. David Pearlman in memory of her husband in 1959.
Restrictions:
The Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche papers are open for research.
Access to the Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche papers requires an appointment.
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Indians of North America -- California Search this
Indians of North America -- Southern States Search this
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
undated
Scope and Contents:
On cards compiled from information furnished in reply to letters of inquiry. The information is secondary and lacks documentation. Terms of the following languages are thought to be included: Achomawi, Alibamu, Arikara, Athapascan, Blackfoot, Catawba, Choctaw, Copehan, Creek, Dakota, Hitchiti, Hopi, Iowa, Kansa, Klikitat, Mandan, Muskhogean, Niuskoki, Nez Perce, Omaha, Osage, Oto, Paiute, Pawnee, Piman, Ponka, Quapaw, Santee, Seminole, Shahaptian, Shoshone, Teton, Washakie, Winnebago, Ute, Yankton.
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Drawings
Ledger drawings
Date:
1884
Scope and Contents:
Four drawings on cardboard with scenes of hunting, warfare, and mounted warriors, plus one leaf with partial copy of a drawing on each side, probably produced for publication (NAA INV 08746400).
One of the drawings was removed from a brittle substrate; see conservation files for more information.
NAA INV 08746400 is a copy of NAA INV 08742200 done by an anonymous copyist and is filed with a set of otherwise unidentified American Indian drawings also in MS 2372, Box 11. The identification of this drawing as a copy of a drawing by Takzi was made by Candace Greene.
Biographical / Historical:
Albert S. Gatschet was educated in his native Switzerland and in Germany (University of Bern; University of Berlin, Ph.D., 1892). Early in his career he pursued antiquarian research in European museums and wrote scientific articles. Among his projects was the study of the etymology of place names in Switzerland. After coming to the United States in 1869, he worked on the American Indian vocabularies collected by Oscar Loew of the United State Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meridian (Wheeler Survey); and eventually he was employed as an ethnologist with the United States Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Regions (Powell Survey). He joined the staff of the Bureau of American Ethnology when it was founded in 1879 and continued there until he retired in 1905.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS.2372, Box 11
Place:
United States -- Indian Territory -- Anadarko.
United States -- Oklahoma -- Anadarko.
Album Information:
MS 2372-11 Takzi-000
Collection Restrictions:
Manuscript 2372 is open for research.
Access to Manuscript 2372 requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Genre/Form:
Ledger drawings
Collection Citation:
Manuscript 2372, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 262, Folder 5
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1903 - 1911
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 262, Folder 6
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1911 - 1932
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 262A, Folder 3
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1928 - 1968
Restrictions:
Image number 011 "Holiday Handcraft" has been removed from the slideshow due to culutral sensitivity.
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 262A, Folder 4
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1903 - 1968
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 262A, Folder 5
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
undated
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 263, Folder 1
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1918
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 404, Folder 5
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1931 - 1934
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 404, Folder 7
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1938 - 1941
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Biographical / Historical:
Leo Joachim Frachtenberg (1883-1930) was born in Austria. He moved to the United States and became well respected as an anthropologist, publishing articles in scholarly journals including the American Anthropologist and Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin. Frachtenburg worked mainly among the native peoples of Oregon. His interests were primarily linguistic. In 1907, Frachtenburg was working under the auspices of the Bureau of American Ethnology among the Tutelo on the Grand River Reservation in Ontario. Following in the footsteps of Edward Sapir, he collected what he could of Tutelo vocabulary. In 1909 Frachtenburg was the Assistant United States Commissioner of Immigration and in 1910 he was chief of the foreign population census of New York City. In 1911 Frachtenburg was again working under the auspices of the Bureau of American Ethnology and also of Columbia University. He was conducting a study of the Siuslawan language on Siletz reservation in Oregon. In the summer of 1915 and fall of 1916, Frachtenburg conducted ethnological and linguistic studies among the Quileute on the Quileute reservation at Lapush, Washington. During the latter part of the 1920s Frachtenburg was the national field director for the Palestinian Foundation Fund (later known as the United Jewish Appeal). The Palestinian Foundation Fund was an arm of the World Zionist Fund, whose purpose was to help build and develop a Jewish homeland. Frachtenberg died in Waterloo, Iowa at the age of 47.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 238, Folder 2
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1911
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Search this
Collection Director:
Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Search this
Container:
Box 266, Folder 1
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
Jan 1905
Scope and Contents:
Correspondents: Frank M. Chapman, John H. Cobbs, John Lorenzo Hubbell, Nicolas Leon, Frederick W. Hodge, Ales Hrdlicka, John H. Hinton, Juan B. Ambrosetti, George Gustav Heye, Wilhelm (Guillermo) Bauer, George Grant MacCurdy, William Newell, William L. Brown, Sumner Matteson, George W. Buskirk, Alma P. Kraft, Otis T. Mason, Edgar L. Hewett, Cyrus Thomas, Zelia Nuttall, Benjamin Talbot Babbitt Hyde, Homer Sargent, Harriet Parsons, Frederic Ward Putnam, J. T. Pike, H. Van Altena, Emily de Forest, Caroline M Hills, Hermon C. Bumpus, Arthur Seligman, William Henry Holmes, J. Dynley Prince, Marshall Saville.
Collection Restrictions:
Access to NMAI Archive Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).
Collection Rights:
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish or broadcast materials from the collection must be requested from the National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiarchives@si.edu.
Collection Citation:
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation Records, Box and Folder Number; National Museum of the American Indian Archive Center, Smithsonian Institution.
