Reverend James Owen Dorsey (1848-1895) was a missionary and Bureau of American Ethnology ethnologist who conducted extensive research on Siouan tribes and languages.The papers of James Owen Dorsey comprise mostly ethnographic and linguistic materials on various tribes of the Siouan language family as well as tribes from Siletz Reservation in Oregon. These materials include texts and letters with interlineal translations; grammar notes; dictionaries; drawings; and his manuscripts. In addition, the collection contains Dorsey's correspondence, newspaper clippings, his obituaries, and reprints.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains James O. Dorsey's research and writings as a BAE ethnologist, as well as his earlier work as a missionary among the Ponca. The vast majority of the collection pertains to his research on Siouan-Catawban languages, including the Dakota and Dhegiha languages, Chiwere, Winnebago, Mandan, Hidatsa, Tutelo, Biloxi, and Catawba. His research on Athapascan, Kusan, Takilman, and Yakonan languages from his field work at Siletz Reservation are also present, as well as some notes on the Caddoan languages. Dorsey's research files include linguistic and ethnological field notes, reading notes, stories and myths, vocabularies, drawings, and unpublished and published manuscripts. The collection also contains Omaha, Ponca, Quapaw, and Biloxi dictionaries that he compiled and materials relating to his work editing Steven Riggs' Dakota-English Dictionary. Additional noteworthy materials in the collection are Teton texts and drawings from George Bushotter and drawings by Stephen Stubbs (Kansa), Pahaule-gagli (Kansa), and George Miller (Omaha). The collection also contains Dorsey's correspondence, newspaper clippings, obituaries, and his collection of reprints.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into 6 series: 1) Siouan; 2) Siletz Reservation; 3) Caddoan; 4) General Correspondence; 5) Personal Papers; 6) Miscellaneous & Reprints.
Biographical Note:
Reverend James Owen Dorsey (1848-1895) was a missionary and Bureau of American Ethnology ethnologist who conducted extensive research on Siouan tribes and languages.
Dorsey was born on October 31, 1848 in Baltimore, Maryland. He exhibited a talent for languages at an early age. At age 6 he learned the Hebrew alphabet and was able to read the language at age 10. In 1867 Dorsey attended the Theological Seminary of Virginia and was ordained a deacon of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1871. In May of that year, Dorsey traveled to the Dakota Territory to serve as a missionary among the Ponca. Plagued by ill health, Dorsey was forced to end his missionary work in August 1873. By that time, however, he had learned the Ponca language well enough to converse with members of the tribe without an interpreter.
Dorsey returned to Maryland and engaged in parish work while continuing his studies of Siouan languages. His linguistic talents and knowledge of these languages attracted the attention of Major John Wesley Powell. Powell arranged for Dorsey to work among the Omaha in Nebraska from 1878 to 1880 to collect linguistic and ethnological notes. When the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) was established in 1879, Powell recruited Dorsey to join the staff.
As an ethnologist for the BAE, Dorsey continued his research on Siouan tribes. His studies focused on languages but also included Siouan personal names, folklore, social organization, religion, beliefs, and customs. He conducted fieldwork among the Tutelo at Six Nations on Grand River in Upper Canada (1882); the Kansa, Osage, and Quapaw in Indian Territory (1883-1884); the Biloxi at Lecompte, Rapides Parish, Louisiana (1892); and again with the Quapaw at the Quapaw Mission (1894). He also worked with Native Americans that visited DC, including George Bushotter (Teton), Philip Longtail (Winnebago), Samuel Fremont (Omaha), and Little Standing Buffalo (Ponca). He also spent time at Siletz Reservation in 1884 to collect linguistic notes on the Athapascan, Kusan, Takilman, and Yakonan stocks.
In addition to his research, Dorsey helped found the American Folklore Society and served as the first vice-president of the association. He also served as vice-president of Section H of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
At the age of 47, Dorsey died of typhoid fever on February 4, 1895.
Sources Consulted
1st-16th Annual Reports of the Bureau of American Ethnology. 1881-1897.
Hewitt, J.N.B. 1895. "James Owen Dorsey" American Anthropologist A8, 180-183.
McGee, W.J. 1895. "In Memoriam." Journal of American Folklore 8(28): 79-80.
1848 -- Born on October 31 in Baltimore, Maryland.
1871 -- Ordained a deacon of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
1871-1873 -- Served as a missionary among the Ponca in Dakota Territory.
1878-1880 -- Conducted fieldwork among the Omaha in Nebraska.
1879 -- Joined the staff of the Bureau of American Ethnology.
1882 -- Conducted fieldwork among the Tutelo at Six Nations on Grand River in Upper Canada.
1883-1884 -- Conducted fieldwork among the Kansa, Osage, and Quapaw in Indian Territory.
1887 -- Worked with George Bushotter to record information regarding the language and culture of the Dakota.
1884 -- Conducted fieldwork at Siletz Reservation.
1892 -- Conducted fieldwork among the Biloxi at Lecompte, Rapides Parish, Louisiana.
1894 -- Conducted fieldwork among the Quapaw at the Quapaw Mission in Indian Territory.
1895 -- Died of typhoid fever on February 4th at the age of 47.
Restrictions:
The James O. Dorsey Papers are open for research. Access to the James O. Dorsey Papers requires an appointment
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Topic:
Language and languages -- Documentation Search this
Manuscript 4800 James O. Dorsey papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Creation of this finding aid was funded through support from the Arcadia Fund.
Digitization and preparation of additional materials for online access has been funded also by the National Science Foundation under BCS Grant No. 1561167 and the Recovering Voices initiative at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
The William Lipkind papers relate to Lipkind's fieldwork among the Indigenous Brazilian communities of Mebêngôkre (Kayapó/Cayapo) and Karajá (Caraja), as well as his work with the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) in Nebraska. The papers comprise field notebooks, vocabularies, manuscripts and correspondence, photographs, and sound recordings.
The field notebooks contain ethnographic and linguistic documentation of the Caraja, Cayapo, and Winnebago communities. Additional linguistic documentation is present in card files of Winnebago and Mandan vocabularies, as well as a draft manuscript on the Winnebago language.
Other files include a draft manuscript of a Ponca dictionary by James Owen Dorsey, and Lipkind's reading notes relating to Grundzüge der Phonologie by N.S. Trubetzkoy.
Photographs are comprised of lantern slides and small photographic prints (which appear to be mostly of the same images as the lantern slides). The sound recordings are vinyl copies of wax cylinders held at the University of Indiana's Archives of Traditional Music.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Biographical Note:
William Lipkind (1904-1974) Was an anthropologist and author of children's books. He received a master's degree in English literature from Columbia University before returning for a PhD in Anthropology under Franz Boas and Ruth Benedict.
Lipkind's first fieldwork was among the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) community in Nebraska in 1936, on which he based his doctoral dissertation. From 1937-1939 Lipkind conducted fieldwork among the Karajá (Caraja) and Mebêngôkre (Kayapó/Cayapo) communities in Brazil, and was a part of a cohort of Columbia anthropology graduate students all working in Brazil around the same time, including Ruth Landes, Charles Wagley, George Donahue, and Buell Quain.
Following a number of years teaching at Ohio State University and working for the Federal Government, Lipkind turned to writing children's literature, winning a Caldecott medal in 1951.
Related Materials:
The Archives of Traditional Music at Indiana University Bloomington holds the original wax cylinders of Caraja and Cayapo songs.
The Elmer L. Andersen Library at the University of Minnesota holds the William Lipkind (Will) papers, which relate to Lipkind's work as a children's author.
Restrictions:
Access to the William Lipkind papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Citation:
William Lipkind papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Miss Fletcher served as Special Agent to the Winnebago, 1887-1889. The two older women used to pitch and keep the tent for the allotting agents in the field. They are standing before the house of the agent to the Winnebagos.
Hocąk teaching materials Volume 1 Elements of grammar/learner's dictionary editors, Johannes Helmbrecht, Christian Lehmann ; compilers, Iren Hartmann, Juliane Kabisch-Lindenlaub, Christian Marschke ; Hocąk assistants, Bill O'Brien ... [et al.]
Hocak teaching materials Volume 2 texts with analysis and translation and an audio-CD of original Hocak texts editors, Iren Hartmann, Christian Marschke ; Hocak assistants, Bill O'Brien ... [et al.]
Title:
Texts with analysis and translation and an audio-CD of original Hocak texts
Siouan [microform] : Dakota (Teton and Santee dialects) with remarks on the Ponca and Winnebago : an illustrative sketch / by Franz Boas and John R. Swanton
