Guide to MS 66 Ojibwe vocabularies, texts, and other information collected by Albert Gatschet, 1883-1885

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of a notebook containing information obtained by Albert Gatschet from Ignatius Tomazin and John B. Bottineau concerning Ojibwe language and culture. The notebook contains three sections:

1. "Odshibwe words obtained from Rev. Ignatius Tomazin of Red Lake Reserve, when comparing with him the Boothuk [Beothuk] vocabulary, March 1883" (13 pages).

2. "Odjibwe: by Jean B. Bottineau" -- contains ethnographic information, vocabulary, songs, and personal information (1 page).

3. "Odj. History Williams, pg. 256"--contains a short text from Bottineau (2 pages). "Williams" in Gatschet's title may be a reference to William W. Warrens History of the Ojibways (1885), edited by J. Fletcher Williams.

Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.

Biographical Note

Albert Samuel Gatschet (1832-1907) was a Swiss-American ethnologist and pioneer in the study Native American languages. Educated in his native Switzerland and in Germany (University of Bern; University of Berlin, Ph.D., 1892), early in his career Albert S. Gatschet pursued antiquarian research in European museums and wrote scientific articles. Among his projects was the study of the etymology of place names in Switzerland. After coming to the United States in 1869, he worked on the American Indian vocabularies collected by Oscar Loew of the United States Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meridian (Wheeler Survey). Eventually he was employed as an ethnologist with the United States Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Regions (Powell Survey). He joined the staff of the Bureau of American Ethnology when it was founded in 1879 and continued there until he retired in 1905.

Biographical Note

Ignatius Tomazin (1843-1916) was a Slovenian Catholic priest stationed at Red Lake and White Earth, Minnesota.

Biographical Note

John Baptiste Bottineau (also known as Jean Baptiste Bottineau) (died 1911) was a lawyer who worked as an advocate for the Ojibwa/Chippewa Nation in Minnesota and North Dakota.