National Anthropological Archives

MS 4690 Manuscripts relating to the study of Seminole Music

Summary

Collection ID:
NAA.MS4690
Creators:
Densmore, Frances, 1867-1957
Drew, Frank
Moore-Willson, Minnie, 1859-1937
MacCauley, Clay, 1843-1925
Dates:
1931-1942
Languages:
Undetermined
.
Physical Description:
2 Boxes
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
Contents include: ---- Correspondence with editor of Bureau of American Ethnology and list of illustrations used in Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 161. ---- "Seminole Music." 374 page carbon copy of manuscript and a few miscellaneous pages, roughs of music transcriptions, arranged music transcriptions of 243 songs as published. Submitted December 18, 1942. ---- "Seminole Music." Approximately 250 page manuscript. Incomplete manuscript submitted by Frances Densmore, May 16, 1940. This manuscript and the manuscript finally published in Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 161 are compilations of previous manuscripts submitted by the author, 1931-1933, 1936, 1941. (Old Number) 1787 "Seminole Hunting and Alligator Dance Songs." 22 page manuscript, 28 pages tabulated analyses of 13 songs. (Transcriptions and 10 illustrations mentioned on old catalog card are not present. See original prints file for illustrations in part.) Submitted February 1, 1932.
Scope and Contents
Submitted April 21, 1932. (Old Number) 3228 "Seminole Songs connected with Legends and Dances." 38 page manuscript including descriptive analysis of songs, tabulated analyses of 31 songs. (transcriptions of 31 songs, recorded on old catalog card, are not present.) Submitted September 30, 1932. (Old Number) 3259-a "Chitimacha, Choctaw and Seminole Music, with a comparative survey of Indian music in the Gulf States." 75 page manuscript, including descriptive analyses of 23 songs, tabulated analyses for 13 Seminole songs. (Tabulated analyses for Chitimacha and Choctaw songs, 20 pages transcriptions, 18 photos and 2 figures, recorded on old catalog card, are not present. See original print file for part of the illustrations.) Submitted main portion of the manuscript to the Bureau of American Ethnology June 17, 1933. The comparative survey part was a report submitted to the National Research Council, May 15, 1933. (Old Number) 3259-b (part) Seminole text from manuscript "Choctaw and Seminole Songs." 8 page manuscript Submitted June 14, 1939. The Choctaw material is separately filed under Choctaw, Bureau of American Ethnology Ms Number 3258 (Old Manuscript Number 3259-b, part.) (Old Number) 3260 "Dance Songs of the Seminole Indians." 19 page manuscript including descriptive analyses of 20 songs, tabulated analyses. (Transcriptions and 9 photos sent with this manuscript, recorded on old catalog card, are not present.)
Scope and Contents
(Old Number) 3197 "The Seminole Indians." 43 page manuscript including descriptive analyses of 7 songs, tabulated analyses of 8 songs. (8 transcriptions and 36 photos and 1 sketch illustration, recorded on old catalog card, are not present.) See original prints file for part of illustrations.) Submitted March 3, 1931. (Old Number) 3208 "Seminole Bird Dance and their Songs." 31 page manuscript including descriptive analyses of songs, tabulated analyses for 18 songs. (18 song transcriptions and 42 photo illustrations, recorded on old catalog card, are not present). Submitted January 18, 1932. (Old Number) 3209 "Buffalo Dance and Corn Dance." 30 page manuscript including descriptive analyses of 12 songs, 12 tabulated analyses. (12 transcriptions and 12 photo illustrations, recorded on old catalog card, are not present. See original print file for part of the photo illustrations.) Submitted December 12, 1931. (Old Number) 3211 "A comparison between the structure of Nootka and Quileute songs and that of songs previously analyzed, also a description of a Seminole flute and Seminole customs." 57 page manuscript, from which pages 4-10 were taken out by F. D. for incorporation in Nootka and Quileute Music. No Nootka and Quileute material remains in this manuscript. (17 photo illustrations, map and diagram, recorded on old catalog card, are not present. See original print file for some of the illustrations.)
Scope and Contents
Submitted November 30, 1932. (Old Number) 3262 "Caloosa and Seminole Corn Dance and Hunting Dance Songs." 28 page manuscript, including descriptive analyses of 25 songs, tabulated analyses of 25 songs. (11 pages transcriptions, 1 sketch, 13 photos, recorded on old catalog card, are not present. See original print file for some of the photos.) Submitted May 28, 1932. (Old Number) 3407 "Dance Songs of the Seminole Indians." 2 page list of Seminole transcriptions and cylinder records. (7 sheets transcriptions, recorded on old catalog card, are not present.) All these songs were recorded at Brighton, Florida, by Billie Stewart in February 1932. Submitted by F.D. March 16, 1936. (Old Number) 4083 "Songs of the Seminole in Florida." 28 page manuscript (71 transcriptions of songs, recorded on old catalog card, are not present.) Submitted by F.D. March 20, 1941.
Scope and Contents
The following Seminole material was received from the Densmore estate, ca. 1962. Three notebooks in F. Densmore's handwriting, dated: 1931, 1932 and 1933 (Brighten), and 1933. These notebooks contain material on Seminole songs and dances. Miscellaneous fieldnotes including "Last of Josie Billie" and "Discended from Osceola". Reading notes from Frank Drew, Minnie Moore-Willson, Clay McCauley, and others. 2 notebooks and several miscellaneous pages. "Annual Report, Narrative Section, 1935, Seminole Agency Dania, Fla." Prepared by J.L. Glenn, Officer in Charge. 18 page mimeo. Clippings: "Indian Buried Unmourned; Tribesmen at Paleface Rites," February 25, 1938, The Herald; photographs of Seminole Indians, page 10, April 25, 1937, The Herald, Miami, Florida, with typed note: "Do these scenes remind you of 'Days of (not so) long ago?' Chas." Various reprints re Seminole Indians: "Souvenir of the Original Musa Isle Seminole Indian Village, Miami, Fla." No date, 12 pages. Publishers announcement of Grant Forman's book, Indian Removal. "Musa Isle Seminoles and Alligators" by James Lowther Berkebile, 1929, Phoenix Printing Co., Augusta, Georgia. 35 pages and 23 illustrations of Seminole Indians.
Scope and Contents
"Seminole Indians: Survey of the Seminole Indians of Florida," presented by Mr. Fletcher, 71st Congress, 3rd Session, Doc. No. 314, GPO, 1931. 88 pages and map. Announcement of lectures W. Stanley Hanson, Secretary Seminole Indian Association, and article from The American Eagle, "Seminole Indian Association Reorganized", September, 1933.

Administration

Custodial History
Submitted to the Bureau of American Ethnology at intervals by the author and some material received from the Densmore estate, ca. 1962.

Using the Collection

Citation
Manuscript 4690, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

More Information

Local Numbers

Local Numbers
NAA MS 4690

Other Title

Other Title
Seminole Music
Other Title
Seminole Hunting and Alligator Dance Songs
Other Title
The Seminole Indians
Other Title
Seminole Bird Dance and their Songs
Other Title
Buffalo Dance and Corn Dance
Other Title
A comparison between the structure of Nootka and Quileute songs and that of songs previously analyzed, also a description of a Seminole flute and Seminole customs
Other Title
Seminole Songs connected with Legends and Dances
Other Title
Chitimacha, Choctaw and Seminole Music, with a comparative survey of Indian music in the Gulf States
Other Title
Seminole text from manuscript "Choctaw and Seminole Songs"
Other Title
Dance Songs of the Seminole Indians
Other Title
Caloosa and Seminole Corn Dance and Hunting Dance Songs
Other Title
Songs of the Seminole in Floria
Other Title
Last of Josie Billie
Other Title
Discended from Osceola
Other Title
Annual Report, Narrative Section, 1935, Seminole Agency Dania, Fla.
Other Title
Indian Buried Unmourned; Tribesmen at Paleface Rites
Other Title
Souvenir of the Original Musa Isle Seminole Indian Village, Miami, Fla.
Other Title
Musa Isle Seminoles and Alligators
Other Title
Seminole Indians: Survey of the Seminole Indians of Florida

Bibliography

Bibliography
All manuscripts described were variously combined and utilized in publishing Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 161, "Seminole Music," 1956.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Music -- Seminole Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Language and languages -- Documentation Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Newsclippings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Seminole Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Indians of North America -- Southern states Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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