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John Peabody Harrington: Exploring a Legacy

John Peabody Harrington: Exploring a Legacy. Carmen Jany , Cal State San Bernardino cjany@csusb.edu Dorothy Ramon Learning Center January 17, 2011. Why talk about Harrington?. Documented numerous Native American languages (many are no longer spoken)

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John Peabody Harrington: Exploring a Legacy

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  1. John Peabody Harrington: Exploring a Legacy Carmen Jany, Cal State San Bernardino cjany@csusb.edu Dorothy Ramon Learning Center January 17, 2011

  2. Why talk about Harrington? • Documented numerous Native American languages (many are no longer spoken) • His field notes are a great source for many California indigenous languages • Notes are accurate - good ear for phonetics • Notes are available on microfilm & can be used for language revitalization • ‘One of the most colorful personages’ in anthropology (Stirling 1963)

  3. This presentation • Harrington’s life • Overview of his legacy (type of data) • Where and how to access data • Importance of his work for California indigenous languages • My work on Chimariko • Notes for language revitalization

  4. Who was Harrington? • John Peabody Harrington (1884 -1961) • Linguist and ethnographer • Left behind archival legacy of unique importance • Born in Massachusetts, raised in Santa Barbara • From early age interest in languages and indigenous peoples • Graduated from Stanford University • Graduated in 1905: Classical languages/anthropology • Studied philology in Leipzig and Berlin • Returned to US in 1906 • Worked as high school teacher in Santa Ana 1906-9

  5. Who was Harrington? • John Peabody Harrington (1884 -1961) • While working in Santa Ana • Spare time: documented Diegueño, Mohave, Yuma • Publications gained him supporters from the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) • 1915 hired by BAE as Research Ethnologist • Worked for nearly 40 years for the BAE • Retired in 1954 • 1916-1921 married to Carobeth Tucker • Married on field trip; carried out research together • Daugher: Awona

  6. Who was Harrington? • Carobeth Tucker (Laird) (1895 -1983) Carobeth Laird wrote a vivid portrait of the obsessed genius Laird, Carobeth. 1975. Encounter With an Angry God: Recollections of My Life with John Peabody Harrington. Malki Museum Press, Banning, CA.

  7. Who was Harrington? Source: American AnthropologistVol 65, 1963. Source: National Anthropological Archives

  8. Who was Harrington? • John Peabody Harrington (1884 -1961) • Gave up all social life to document languages • Collected close to a million pages of notes • Data on more than 125 separate languages • Obsessed (16-18 hrs/day, on deathbeds, no breaks) • Linguistics began moving away from massive data collection to more interpretive research • Only one honorary doctorate from USC 1934 • Very chaotic and secretive • Sent only small portion of work to BAE

  9. Who was Harrington? • John Peabody Harrington (1884 -1961) • Very chaotic and secretive (con’t) • Paranoic that others would steal/publish materials • Worked until his death (on Chumash) • Died in 1961 in Santa Barbara • After his death • Smithsonian began cataloguing his papers • Materials started to show up (until late 1960s) • Organizing and microfilming 1977-1991

  10. Harrington’s Legacy & Nature of Data • Data collection of close to one million pages on over 125 indigenous languages • Mostly interested in the collection of words & texts (little or no interest in grammar) • When he became familiar with a language, he omitted translations (also often used Spanish) • Notes on loose sheets with no organization or labeling (language, speaker, etc) • Excellent ear for phonetics (accurate data) • Many abbreviations nowhere explained (“ch.” = clearly heard; “nescit” or “n.” = don’t know)

  11. Harrington’s Legacy & Nature of Data Chimariko; reel 21

  12. Harrington’s Legacy & Nature of Data • Sometimes only one word per page (space for later annotations); data disorganized • Contents • Language (words, phrases) and culture (practices) • Narratives (personal, local history, ceremonies, creation stories, etc) • Placenames & tribal names • Botany (plant names and uses) • Numerous sound recordings on wax cylinder • Thousands of photographs

  13. Harrington’s Legacy & Nature of Data • This treasure of indigenous knowledge is useful for • Indigenous communities and tribal scholars • Linguists • Anthropologists • Biologists • Geographers • Historians • Archaeologists

  14. Where and How to Access the Data • 1960s-1970s • Most materials at the National Anthropological Archives (NAA) • 1977-1991 • Archiving, organizing, microfilming • 1980s: Guides to the field notes • Nine guides (Mills, Mills & Brickfield) • 1992-present • Conferences and workshops on materials • Sound recordings digitized: online (NAA)

  15. Guides to Harrington Collection • 494 reels divided into 9 sections • Part 1: Alaska/Northwest Coast, 1982, 30 reels • Part 2: Northern and Central California, 1985, 101 reels • Part 3: Southern California/Basin, 1986, 182 reels • Part 4: Southwest, 1986, 58 reels • Part 5: Plains, 1987, 17 reels • Part 6: Northeast/Southeast, 1987, 18 reels • Part 7: Mexico/Central & South America, 1988, 36 reels • Part 8: Notes & Writings on Special Linguistic Studies, 1989, 35 reels • Part 9: Correspondence & Financial Records, 1991, 17 reels

  16. Where and How to Access the Data • Today • Data finding their way back to communities • http://www.nmnh.si.edu/naa/guides.htm • http://siris-archives.si.edu (search engine for Smithsonian) • Various UC libraries, Santa Barbara Natural History Museum • The Harrington Database Project • UC Davis: NSF funded project to increase access to the linguistic & ethnographic notes • Coding & creating searchable database

  17. Where and How to Access the Data • The Harrington Database Project (2010) • http://nas.ucdavis.edu/NALC/JPH.html

  18. Importance for California Languages • California is home to some of the greatest and densest linguistic diversity in the world • Pre-contact: about 100 languages • 1994 (Hinton): only about 50 languages still spoken by elders • Some languages with only one speaker • Harrington’s most extensive work was on California indigenous languages • Harrington worked with last fluent speakers

  19. Importance for California Languages California indigenous languages

  20. Importance for California Languages • Southern California (local languages) • Serrano • 1918: Manuel Santos; Tomás Manuel; placenames • Reel 101; 862 pages • Cahuilla • 1922: Macario Lugo; Adan Castillo • Reels 107-114; about 6000 pages • Luiseño/Juaneño • 1919: rehearings of older documents, texts, vocabulary • Reels 115-129; about 12000 pages • Cupeño • 1915: Martin J. Blacktooth • Reel 130; 712 pages

  21. Importance for California Languages

  22. Importance for California Languages Source: Mills, Elaine, and Ann J. Brickfield. 1986. The Papers of John Peabody Harrington, Volume 3 (Southern California).

  23. My work on Chimariko • Few villages along Trinity River & New River • Small tribe (250 people in 1850s) • Gold mining in the area • Mostly fled to live with neighboring tribes • Today not recognized tribe; descendants with Hupa Source: Shirley, Silver, ‘Shastan Peoples’, Handbook of North American Indians

  24. My work on Chimariko: Grammar • Chimariko Grammar • 3500 pages collected by Harrington in 1920s from last speakers • Notes include: Narratives with translations, sentences, vocabulary items, ethnographic information • Other sources: Data collected by other linguists and anthropologists(Dixon 1910, Sapir in Berman 2001) • Sound recording (wax cylinder; words)

  25. My work on Chimariko: Stress • Sound recording • Speaker: Martha Ziegler • Length: 13 minutes • Content: Elicitation of words; some repetitions • Media: from wax cylinder to cassette tape; digitized from cassette tape • Finding out how stress is reflected phonetically

  26. My work on Chimariko: Stress • Predictable stress = stress determined by shape of word (on penultimate root syllable) • Phonetically? Length, intensity, pitch: pitch • Examples • áqha ‘water’ • á’ah ‘deer’ • áqhaqhut ‘river’

  27. My work on Chimariko: Stress • Higher pitch in stressed vowel ’á’ah ‘deer’

  28. My work on Chimariko: Narratives • Reel 21: 539 pages containing Chimariko narratives with some translations • Pieced together 9 narratives (20 pages in Word)

  29. My work on Chimariko: Narratives

  30. My work on Chimariko: Narratives • Contents • Personal accounts, personal stories relating to historic events (flood, tribal wars), • Cultural practices (healing rituals), • Stories with animals as characters (watersnake, doe, bear) => material of great cultural & historic value • Challenges • No interlinear or missing translations • Scattered segments of same narrative • Goals • Make materials more accessible to tribal descendants • Examine the structure and language of narratives

  31. Harrington & Language Revitalization • Great potential of Harrington’s notes for language revitalization • Accurate data; sound recordings • Comprehensive, but not easily accessible • Some projects • Mutsun revitalization since 1996 • Rumsen revitalization • Chumash

  32. Harrington & Language Revitalization • Source: LA Times, 1/31/2010 • “John Peabody Harrington relentlessly studied Indian families for decades. Today, a 71-year-old woman who considered him a pest is grateful for his intense scholarship.” • “It's due to his madness that we are who we are today," said De Soto, a 71-year-old nurse who works at a Santa Barbara rest home. "We have a language. We have an identity.” • Article author: Steve Chawkins

  33. Thank you!

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