Summary
- Collection ID:
- NMAI.AC.435
- Creators:
-
Lloyd, J. Wm. (John William), 1857-1940
- Dates:
-
circa 1903
- Languages:
-
- Physical Description:
-
- Repository:
-
This collection contains 12 wax cylinder sound recordings of Akimel O'odham (Pima) songs that were sung by Comalk-Hawk-Kih [Akimel O'odham (Pima)], translated by his grandnephew Edward H. Wood, and recorded by J. William Lloyd (1857-1940) on the Gila River Reservation, Arizona in 1903.
Scope and Contents
Scope and Contents
This collection contains 12 Edison moulded wax cylinder sound recordings of Akimel O'odham (Pima) songs sung by Comalk-Hawk-Kih (also known as Thin Buckskin and William Higgins), translated by his grandnephew Edward H. Wood, and recorded on wax cylinders by J. William Lloyd (1857-1940) on the Gila River Reservation, Arizona in 1903.
The songs titles as recorded by Lloyd include:
1. Song of Creation 2. Before the Flood 3. Song of Superstition Mountains 4. Ee-ee-toy Makes the World Serpents 5. When Noo-ee Meets the Sun 6. When Noo-ee Kills Ee-ee-toy 7. Song of Ee-ee-toy's Army 8. Song of the Hunter's Failure 9. Song Before the Fight with Cheof-hahvo Seeven 10. Corn To Tobacco's Father 11. Tcheunassat Seeven's song 12. Lark's Song about his Lost Wife, flute song
Arrangement
Arrangement
The recordings are arranged in the order that Comalk-Hawk-Kih presumably sung them to J. William Lloyd in 1903.
Biographical / Historical
Biographical / Historical
J. William Lloyd (1857-1940) was known as an American utopian anarchist. In 1901, he befriended Edward H. Wood [Akimel O'odham (Pima)] at the Pan-American Fair, at Buffalo. According to Lloyd, the two became friendly and Wood relayed that his grand-uncle Comalk-Hawk-Kih (also known as Thin Buckskin and William Higgins) was a see-nee-yaw-kum, or professional traditionalist, and that he had no successor to learn ancient Akimel O'odham (Pima) stories.
In 1903, Lloyd and Wood visited the Gila River Reservation in Arizona. Over the course of several weeks, Comalk-Hawk-Kih told several Akimel O'odham (Pima) stories, which were translated by Wood and transcribed by Lloyd. According to Lloyd, "The stories were also embellished with songs, some of which I had translated. They were chants of from one to four lines each, seldom more than two, many times repeated in varying cadence; weird, somber, thrillingly passionate in places, and by no means unmusical, but, of course, monotonous. I obtained phonograph records of a number, and the translations given are as literal as possible."
In 1911, Lloyd published,
Aw-Aw-Tam Indian Nights Being the Myths and Legends of the Pimas of Arizona
, which recounted this trip, his meetings with Comalk-Hawk-Kih, and transcriptions of the translated songs and stories. Lloyd's transcriptions of the song lyrics are included in this finding aid.
However, it should be noted that Lloyd's language and terminology reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation, and may include culturally sensitive information. As a historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Administration
Custodial History
According to Museum of the American Indian wax cylinder inventory undated paperwork, these wax cylinders were originally in a wooden box with a pencil notation on top: "Mouldy when packed--July 14--1922." The papework also reads, "Phonograph records of Pima Songs prsented by J. Wm. Lloyd Esq. July 1922." This inventory also includes handwritten annotations numbering the song titles from 1-12.
At some point, these wax cylinders were transferred to archival boxes and were labeled with the following ID number: 83-906-F. Each wax cylinder was also at some point assigned a number and a letter: SCY 6026/A- SCY 6037/L.
It is believed that SCY 6026/A corresponds to song title #1 on this list, SCY 6026/B cooresponds to song title #2 and so on. However the order of the songs 1-12 does not appear to match Lloyd's description of the order of the songs as they were told to him. Therefore, in this finding aid, the songs have been organized by the order which they were sung to Lloyd, but each original item number was preserved in the finding aid.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated to the Museum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation by J. William Lloyd in 1922.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Emily Moazami, Supervisory Archivist, 2023.
Using the Collection
Conditions Governing Use
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's
Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's
Digital Image request website.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is closed until the materials have been digitized and further tribal community consultation.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Comalk-Hawk-Kih songs of Akimel O'odham (Pima) stories, image #, NMAI.AC.435; National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.
Bibliography
Bibliography
J. William Lloyd's 1911 publication,
Aw-Aw-Tam Indian Nights Being the Myths and Legends of the Pimas of Arizona
, contains additional information about his visit to Gila River Reservation in 1903, about the stories told and sung by Comalk-Hawk-Kih, and his interpretations of this information. This publication has been digitized and is available online through various sources.
Keywords
National Museum of the American Indian
4220 Silver Hill Rd
Suitland, Maryland 20746-2863
nmaiarchives@si.edu
