National Anthropological Archives

MS 2734 Truman Michelson Stockbridge notes and texts, with copies by Frank Speck

Summary

Collection ID:
NAA.MS2734
Creators:
Michelson, Truman, 1879-1938
Speck, Frank G. (Frank Gouldsmith), 1881-1950
Quinney, Jameson "Sot"
Dick, William
Dick, Lucius
Miller, Edwin
Miller, Alfred
Peters, Sterling
Butler, Agnes
Robertson, Bernice
Dates:
1914
circa 1940s-1950s
Languages:
In Mohican (Mahican) and
English
.
Physical Description:
140 Pages
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
Notes and texts on Stockbridge collected by Truman Michelson during his fieldwork in Wisconsin in 1914, with handwritten copies of his notes made by Frank Speck during the 1940s and 1950s. Michelson's notes consist mainly of vocabularies with small amounts of data on the history, population, and racial composition of the tribe and brief notes on the people who knew the language. A few words were collected from a Brotherton informant. The Stockbridge texts include strict interlineal translations and separate free translations. Speck's copies of the notes are in an order different from Michelson's originals. They are incomplete, in part because Speck omitted some vocabulary items when informants agreed as to their form. Speck's material also includes a copy of the report on Michelson's work in Explorations and field work of the Smithsonian Institution, 1914, pages 90-93 (1 page typescript).
All Stockbridge texts are by Jameson "Sot" Quinney, with some translated by William Dick. Other people that Michelson worked with include Lucius Dick (Brotherton), Edwin Miller, Alfred Miller, Sterling Peters, Agnes Butler (previously cataloged as Agnus Butler), and Bernice Robertson (previously cataloged as Robinson; see note below).

Administration

Sponsor
Digitization and preparation of these materials for online access has been funded through generous support from the Arcadia Fund.
Custodial History
Truman Michelson's original notes were cataloged by the archives of the Bureau of American Ethnology. They were loaned to Speck and John P. Harrington during the 1940s and 1950s. In 1956, A. F. C. Wallace of the American Philosophical Society returned some notes borrowed by Speck and also sent Speck's copies that are in this manuscript. The original material was found among Harrington papers and identified by Ives Goddard in May 1977.

Digital Content


Using the Collection

Preferred Citation
Manuscript 2734, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

More Information

Local Numbers

Local Numbers
NAA MS 2734

Local Note

Local Note
Regarding Bernice Robertson's surname: In Michelson's notes, Bernice Robertson's name appears with "Robertson" crossed out and "Robinson" written in. According to Ives Goddard (2007, November 20), "Frank T. Siebert, Jr., collected some words from the same woman in 1935, and he refers to her as Bernice Robertson in notes he sent to Morris Swadesh (APS, Swadesh papers, Freeman Guide #2081 or 2083). I also heard him mention her many times, since he liked to point out that she was one of the last speakers of Mahican even though to look at her she was African American. In his own field notes (1937) Swadesh first wrote Robison and Robeson, but changed this to Robinson. (Robison is a possible mishearing of Roberston, if this name is unfamiliar; less likely that Swadesh would not have caught the common name Robinson.) In his typed list of informants, however, he writes 'Bernice Robertson' (APS as above)."


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Mahican language Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Language and languages -- Documentation Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Linguistics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Brothertown Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Field notes Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Vocabulary Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Narratives Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Manuscripts Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mahican Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Brotherton Indians Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Indians of North America -- Northeast Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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