General and miscellaneous materials (Mexico/Central America/South America)

Object Details

Topic: Language and languages -- Documentation; Linguistics; Zapotec language; Indians of Mexico -- Languages; Indians of Central America -- Languages; Indians of South America -- Languages; Names, Geographical; Tarahumara (Rarámuri)

Culture: Indians of Mexico; Indians of Central America; Indians of South America; Aztec (archaeological culture); Rarámuri (Tarahumara); Purepecha (Tarasco); Cora; Chontal (Chontol); Tojolabal Indians

See more items in: John Peabody Harrington papers; John Peabody Harrington papers / Series 7: Mexico/Central America/South America

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.

Existence and Location of Copies: Microfilm and digital surrogates of microfilm are available. See Volume 7, reel 36. Only original documents created by Harrington, his coworkers and field assistants, or field notes given to him by others were microfilmed.

Scope and Contents: This subseries of the Mexico/Central America/South America series consists of highly miscellaneous, unsorted notes which were found scattered throughout Harrington's papers. Most of the material deals with Mexico and Central America, although there are data relating to South America and possibly to his study of placenames and province names. The notes were recorded during various periods of time as evidenced by the different types of paper used; most are undated. There are references to Aztec, Tarahumara, Tarascan, Cochimi, Cora, Chontal, and Tojulabal. Castulo Ucan, an informant with whom Harrington worked in New York, is mentioned. Perhaps of greatest interest is a four-page list of Zapotec words, consisting of numbers and miscellaneous vocabulary, which was elicited from a Mr. Harvey in February 1923.