National Anthropological Archives

MS 3924-b Research related to facsimiles of Navajo sand paintings

Summary

Collection ID:
NAA.MS3924B
Creators:
Newcomb, Franc Johnson
Klah-Tso
Ah dith don hie
Begay, Segony
Nez, Hatile
Tsas, Hosteen
Kai-tsosie
Klee-ni-kodie
Toh-d-chini Navaho
Bitsees-tsoi, Nahtanie
Yellowhair
Stirling, Matthew Williams, 1896-1975
Dates:
1938
Languages:
Undetermined
.
Physical Description:
122 Pages
2 Items
pencil sketches
1 Drawing
6 Photographs
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
Contains several kinds of information from 8 named informants, including informants, including interpretations of sand paintings, stories and legends, accounts of ceremonies, and autobiographical sketches of informants. (See also Manuscript Number 4435 which contains more of the same collected in January-June, 1939.)
Scope and Contents
Folder contents: Manuscript 3924-b Folder 1 Copy of letter of Franc J. Newcomb to M. W. Stirling, September 8, 1938. Newcomb, New Mexico. (Original not found in Bureau of American Ethnology files.) Folder 2 Informant- Ah dith don hie Autobiography of Ah dith don hie; "Female Red Ant Ceremony"; "The Red Ant Story"; photo of informant. Folder 3 Informant- Ad dith don hie List of "Medicines for the Red Ant Ceremony", "Myth belonging to the Red Ant Ceremony", Part II; pencil and crayon drawing of "Red Ant Kewthawns"; photo of informant. Folder 4 Segony Begay At "White Cone" trading-post; "Bay-e-coitsa Eka" (sand painting); "Clo-holth-nai Eka" (sand painting); "Legend of the Feather Chant"; photo of informant. Folder 5 Informant- Hatie Nez "Shaking Hand Rite", August 1938; "Star Gazing Rite"; "The Smoke Rite"; "Cactus Painting from the Navajo Wind Chant"; The Listening Ceremony"; photo of informant. Folder 6 Informant Hosteen Tsas Sand painting negative number 2457-b-28, no name, part of Night Chant; "Dancers" (sand painting), part of Yeibachi ceremony; and "Dy-ah-kahgie-Eka" (sand painting). Folder 7 Informant- Kai-tsosie "Big Star Painting". Folder 8 Informants- Klee-ni-kodie and Toh-d-chini "The Na'atoe (Nahtoie)"; short biographies of the informants; "Cleet-tso-Eka" (sand painting); "Snake People Painting"; description of 13 other sand paintings and their interpretation; photo of the informants.
Scope and Contents
Folder 9 Informant- Nahtanie Bitsees-tsoi (Yellowhair) Short biography of Yellowhair; "Legend of the Na'atoie", July 11, 1938; "The Twins" (legend and related sand painting); ten descriptions of other sand paintings; photo of the informant. Folder 10 Informant unknown "Navajo Wind Chant", explanations for sand paintings including pencil sketches of two paintings.
Scope and Contents
Photos with the following OPPS Negative numbers 748029-748034 are in this manuscript but have not been inventoried.

Administration

Existence and Location of Copies
Negative microfilm on file.
Custodial History
The sand paintings referred to are a series of 28 facsimiles drawn in 1905-1912 by Klah-tso or Hostin Claw and donated to the Bureau of American Ethnology in 1935 by Mrs Charles D. Walcott; these are referred to in the notes by Bureau of American Ethnology negative Number. Received from Franc J. Newcomb (Mrs A. J. Newcomb), Newcomb, New Mexico, July-October, 1938. (Transmittal correspondence filed with Manuscript Number 4867.)
Custodial History
Previously titled "Navaho Ethnographic notes."

Using the Collection

Citation
Manuscript 3924-b, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Other Archival Materials

Other Archival Materials
For the facsimiles of the sand paintings by Klah-tso, please see Manuscript 138501.

More Information

Local Numbers

Local Numbers
NAA MS 3924-b

Local Note

Local Note
The sand painting facsimiles referred to are USNM Catalog Numbers 377,450-377,476 (Accession Number 138,501). The Bureau of American Ethnology negative Numbers are 2457-B-1--27.
Local Note
typescript document


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Sand paintings -- Navaho Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Folklore -- Navaho Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ceremonies -- Navaho Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Language and languages -- Documentation Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Navaho Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Autobiographies Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Diné (Navajo) Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Klee-ni-kodie Navaho Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Toh-d-chini Navaho Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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