Object Details
- Local Numbers
- Accession #1976-95
- Creator
- Harrington, John Peabody, 1884-1961
- Collection Creator
- Harrington, John Peabody, 1884-1961
- Place
- Yakutat (Alaska)
- Topic
- Tlingit language
- Eyak language
- Athapascan languages
- Language and languages -- Documentation
- Linguistics
- Ethnobotany
- Ethnozoology
- Names, Geographical
- Creator
- Harrington, John Peabody, 1884-1961
- Culture
- Tlingit
- Eyak
- Indians of North America -- Northwest Coast of North America
- Indians of North America -- Subarctic
- See more items in
- John Peabody Harrington papers
- John Peabody Harrington papers / Series 1: Native American History, Language, and Culture of Alaska and the Northwest Coast
- Biographical / Historical
- John P. Harrington's work on Tlingit began in December 1939 while visiting Melville and Elizabeth Langdon Jacobs in Seattle. At the U.S. Marine Hospital he located Thomas Skeek (referred to as Skeek), a native of Kake, Alaska, and Sheldon James (James). He worked with these two speakers until at least mid-January of 1940. From James he learned of George Johnson (GJ), a bilingual speaker of Tlingit and Eyak residing at Yakutat, Alaska. Harrington hoped to bring Johnson to Seattle immediately to work; however, it was not until April that he was authorized to begin the work. He spent 32 days--from approximately May 12 to June 14--at Yakutat, working regularly eight hours a day with George Johnson and his wife Annie. In the evenings Harrington put in time with other speakers such as Maggie Adams (Mag., M.) and Peter Lawrence. In May he and Johnson made day trips to Situk River and Fort Ankau and joined Jack Ellis (JE) and his son John on a three day trip to the head of Yakutat Bay in their gas-powered boat. In nonlinguistic matters Harrington received the assistance of the Reverend and Mrs. E. M. Axelson, with whom he had corresponded during his attempts to contact George Johnson. For biological data on plant and animal specimens collected, he consulted his assistant George M. Grasty and various botanists in Juneau and Washington, D.C.
- Extent
- 2.91 Linear feet ((7 boxes))
- Date
- 1939-circa 1957
- Archival Repository
- National Anthropological Archives
- Identifier
- NAA.1976-95, Subseries 1.2
- Type
- Archival materials
- Field notes
- Manuscripts
- Vocabulary
- Narratives
- 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.
- Rights
- Contact the repository for terms of use.
- Existence and Location of Copies
- Microfilm and digital surrogates of microfilm are available. See Volume 1, reels 10-12. Only original documents created by Harrington, his collaborators and field assistants, or notes given to him were microfilmed.
- Genre/Form
- Field notes
- Manuscripts
- Vocabulary
- Narratives
- Scope and Contents
- This subseries of the Alaska/Northwest Coast series contains Harrington's Tlingit and Eyak research. The materials consist of vocabulary, grammar, texts, notes on natural history and other related materials, and writings. Harrington collected an early vocabulary list from Thomas Skeek. He also recorded rehearings with Skeek, and possibly Sheldon James, of vocabulary from Franz Boas' (1917) "Grammatical Notes on the Language of the Tlingit Indians" [former B.A.E. MS 4103 pt.]. George Johnson provided forms in Yakutat Tlingit (the "Juneau language"), which are marked by "Y." "C." Harrington also copied and reheard a manuscript by Elizabeth Langdon Jacobs titled "Alaskan Tlingit and its Athabaskan Relatives," a paper based in part on her Oregon Athapascan fieldwork around 1935. New data are unmarked, although presumably from Skeek, as suggested by the dates Jan. 18 and 19, 1940. A third basis for elicitation was H. V. Velten's (1939) "Two Southern Tlingit Tales." Only a few lexical items from this article were reheard with Skeek. The remaining vocabulary consists mainly of nouns arranged by Harrington's semantic categories. [Parts formerly cataloged as B.A.E. MS 4100 pt.] Forms from Skeek (Tl.) are followed by those from Johnson (Y. and C.). Skeek is mentioned by name only when his forms are corrected by Johnson. Nonlinguistic data from these speakers and others are interspersed. References are made to specimens collected by Grasty. The section of field notes Harrington labeled "Grammar" consists in part of notes on phonetics. It also includes a rehearing by Skeek and Johnson of a portion of a comparative Athapascan vocabulary divided into such categories as verbs, greetings, colors, and numbers. Compiled by Harrington and Robert W. Young in the fall and early winter of 1939, the Athapascan questionnaire was alternately referred to as the "Navaho lists" or the "Tlats[kanai] Voc[abulary]." The latter name alluded to the fact that it was organized to follow numbered entries from Boas and Goddard's "Vocabulary of an Athapascan Dialect of the State of Washington" (1924). Texts are in English with scattered vocabulary items in Tlingit and ethnological and historical references. Stories from George Johnson concern Raven, King Salmon, and Fort Ankau. Myths told by Maggie Adams are about Raven. Tales from this last group were written down first by George Grasty and later copied and rechecked by Harrington. Harrington's notes on the natural history of the Yakutat area [former B.A.E. MS 4103 pt.] are, in a sense, a diary of the boat trip made to the Head of the Bay. His descriptions of glaciers and the local flora and fauna are particularly detailed and related placenames and native terms are also provided. Scientific observations by Grasty alternate with historical and biographical information volunteered by Ellis and Johnson during the course of the trip. Harrington's writings on Tlingit and Eyak are undated and could have been prepared as much as several years after his fieldwork was completed. They include works in various stages of preparation, only one of which was published. Dealing with phonetics are an outline titled "Lhiinkit Paper," a rough and final draft of a manuscript "Tlingit Sounds," and two versions of the paper which was eventually published as "Phonematic Daylight in Lhiinkit, Navajo of the North" (1945). "Salmon Write-up" [former B.A.E. MS 4100 pt.] consists of handwritten notes on salmon species with ethnographic details in fishing, storage, and modern-day canning techniques. The typescript "Southern Peripheral Athapaskawan in Alaska and Canada" [former B.A.E. MS 4100 pt.] was probably intended for publication as a B.A.E. bulletin with Robert W. Young as coauthor. Harrington completed only the sections on plant and animal parts and names. Species designations are given with native terms in Tlingit (Lh.) and Eyak (Atch.) and notes on appearances and uses.
- Restrictions
- No restrictions on access.
- Record ID
- ebl-1626971434170-1626971434733-0
Related Content
View Slideshow
