Object Details
- Local Numbers
- Accession #1976-95
- Creator
- Harrington, John Peabody, 1884-1961
- Collection Creator
- Harrington, John Peabody, 1884-1961
- Place
- Oregon -- Languages
- Washington (State) -- Languages
- Topic
- Athapascan languages
- Chastacosta language
- Coquille language
- Quinault language
- Cowlitz language
- Alsea language
- Chinook Jargon
- Language and languages -- Documentation
- Linguistics
- Creator
- Harrington, John Peabody, 1884-1961
- Culture
- Athapascan Indians
- Indians of North America -- Northwest Coast of North America
- 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 first became interested in Kwalhioqua-Tlatskanai in the fall of 1939 when he used a photostat of Boas and Goddard's (1924) "Vocabulary of an Athapascan Dialect of the State of Washington" and a hand-copy of Alexander Caulfield Anderson's (1857) "Klatskanai" vocabulary as parts of a "questionnaire" for obtaining the northern Athapascan languages of British Columbia and Alberta. He soon realized that the study of these isolated languages of the Willapa and Chehalis Rivers region would be significant in his continuing survey of Athapascan along the Pacific coast. As he expressed it later in a letter to B.A.E. chief Matthew W. Stirling: "This Kwalhioqua-Tlatskanay language is vital to connecting the Chilcos [Chilcotins] with the Hupas, is the only half-way link.." Therefore, after his return to the United States he began a serious investigation of the extinct languages and even attempted to locate individuals who might have heard the languages spoken as children. He used a variety of Kwalhioqua and Tlatskanai vocabularies in manuscript and published form as a basis for elicitation. In January 1940 while staying in Seattle with Melville and Elizabeth Langdon Jacobs, he questioned Tlingit speaker Thomas Skeek, a native of Kake, Alaska, regarding Tlatskanai. A month later he asked Upper Umpqua (UU) speaker John Warren (J.W.) of Grand Ronde for his impressions of the two more northerly situated languages. This aspect of Harrington's work on the Northwest Coast was continued upon his return to the area in 1942. Those from whom he hoped for the greatest results were Lizzie Johnson and Minnie Case, two Upper Chehalis speakers he worked with at Oakville, Washington. Lizzie Johnson (Liz.) was the daughter of Mary Judson who had been an informant for James Wickersham and Leo J. Frachtenberg around 1900 and June 1910 respectively. Minnie Case (Min.) was a niece of Mrs. Judson and had been married to Willie Andrew of Tahola whose father was reportedly "pure Tlatskanai." She also claimed to have spoken Kwalhioqua as a very young child, although Harrington felt the language must have been Tlatskanai due to the location of her home in Clatsop County, Oregon. Another Washington state resident interviewed in the matter was Emma Luscier (Em.). He also interviewed a number of speakers of Oregon languages, including Clara Pearson, Wolverton Orton (Wolv.), Lucy Smith, and Coquille Thompson (Thomp.).
- Extent
- 0.63 Linear feet ((2 boxes))
- Date
- 1939-circa 1942
- Archival Repository
- National Anthropological Archives
- Identifier
- NAA.1976-95, Subseries 1.9
- Type
- Archival materials
- Field notes
- Manuscripts
- Vocabulary
- 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, reel 19. Only original documents created by Harrington, his collaborators and field assistants, or notes given to him were microfilmed.
- Genre/Form
- Field notes
- Manuscripts
- Vocabulary
- Scope and Contents
- This subseries of the Alaska/Northwest Coast series consists of field notes labeled "Kwalhioqua-Tlatskanai" by Harrington, but they do not represent reliable original data for these related neighboring languages. They are, rather, attempts by speakers of other Washington and Oregon languages to recall or suggest the appropriate Athapascan forms. Materials include notes from rehearings of Boas and Goddard's "Vocabulary of an Athapascan Dialect of the State of Washington"; L.J. Frachtenberg's "Willapa" vocabulary; J. Wickersham's "Qwal-ow-its" or "Kwil-low-its" vocabulary; E.S. Curtis' article "The Willapa"; Curtis' Willapa vocabulary; and A.C. Anderson's "Klatskanai" vocabulary. There are also a few miscellaneous notes on the names, ancestry, and location of Washington and Oregon residents capable of commenting on Kwalhioqua and Tlatskanai. In addition, these files contain Harrington's rought outlines for articles and an abstract of a story regarding the origin of the Kwalhioqua and their relationship with other tribes.
- Restrictions
- No restrictions on access.
- Record ID
- ebl-1626971434170-1626971434796-2
Related Content
View Slideshow
