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Vanstone at Kotzebue, 1951 Author(s): Charles V. Lucier Source: Arctic Anthropology, Vol. 35, No. 2, No Boundaries: Papers in Honor of James W. Vanstone (1998), pp. 12-13 Published by: University of Wisconsin Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40316484 . Accessed: 17/06/2014 20:24 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . University of Wisconsin Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Arctic Anthropology. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 195.78.109.61 on Tue, 17 Jun 2014 20:24:09 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

No Boundaries: Papers in Honor of James W. Vanstone || Vanstone at Kotzebue, 1951

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Page 1: No Boundaries: Papers in Honor of James W. Vanstone || Vanstone at Kotzebue, 1951

Vanstone at Kotzebue, 1951Author(s): Charles V. LucierSource: Arctic Anthropology, Vol. 35, No. 2, No Boundaries: Papers in Honor of James W.Vanstone (1998), pp. 12-13Published by: University of Wisconsin PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40316484 .

Accessed: 17/06/2014 20:24

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

University of Wisconsin Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to ArcticAnthropology.

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Page 2: No Boundaries: Papers in Honor of James W. Vanstone || Vanstone at Kotzebue, 1951

VANSTONE AT KOTZEBUE, 1951

CHARLES V. LUCIER

I first met Jim VanStone nearly 50 years ago. Be- cause of our shared interest in anthropology we became friends and, decades later, co-authored ar- ticles based largely on my field notes from Kotze- bue Sound (see VanStone Bibliography, this volume). This long, rewarding relationship be- tween two dissimilar persons exemplifies Jim's pa- tience, generosity, and devotion to northern anthropology. The following reminiscence of our first meeting particularly illustrates those aspects of Jim's character and will strike a chord with all who know him (Fig. 1).

In the summer of 1951, VanStone returned to Alaska after a previous season excavating with J. Louis Giddings at Cape Denbigh. He spent the summer doing salvage archaeology at Kotzebue, where construction of access roads for the CAA (Civil Aeronautics Administration) airfield was destroying prehistoric houses. Jim's work that year led to the completion of his doctoral dissertation (VanStone 1954). His diggings were near freshly bulldozed roads, occupied homes, and dogyards. Not only did Jim have Kotzebue people to relate to, but also tourist groups, who were rotated daily by two hotly competitive airlines.

Tourists were driven past Jim's digs coming to and going from their lodgings, jouncing in the backs of ordinary stakeside trucks. These "tuuriit" overnighted in two airline hotels, wore brightly colored cloth parkas (provided by their hosts), and were shepherded to scheduled Eskimo activities, taken for umiaq rides, and given opportunities to buy curios. Hardier tourists walked about the vil- lage and nearby beaches and byways, there being no roads for distant sightseeing. The tourists' wish for souvenirs upped the demand for Native handi- work, new and old. The old stuff was evident: on the Kotzebue front shore dirt path, observant pedestrians saw bits and pieces of animal bones and artifacts underfoot. Disturbance of the mossy cover and soil in the low-brush tundra around

Kotzebue commonly revealed discarded animal bones and worked objects.

Kotzebue's roadside construction spoils pro- vided artifacts, but not enough to meet the height- ened demand, not enough to satisfy enterprising Inupiat who sold artifacts to tourists, retailers, res- ident government employees, and construction workers. For whatever reason, Inupiat who dug persistently for artifacts tended to be older women. They certainly knew the lay of the land and what sold. Old ladies therefore went to Van- Stone's active diggings in his absence and searched for saleable artifacts - no crummy pot- sherds. Their digging was possible because Jim, despite many hours excavating and despite his in- frequent meal breaks, had to sleep, and therefore went at some point in the long day to his tent, be- yond the CAA airstrip. VanStone chose to accept the old ladies' depredations.

Days were darkening in late August, the dig- ging season was ending, when I caught a mail flight from Eschscholtz Bay to Kotzebue. I was on my way back to Fairbanks after spending more than a year doing archaeological and ethnographic fieldwork around Kotzebue Sound. Upon landing at Kotzebue, I walked to town. From some dis- tance I saw a man inside a pit, legs obscured, alter- nately bending and standing. He was shoveling dark brown dirt high onto a rubble pile. When I came nearer, I called out. Jim stood upright and turned toward me. He was a sight: his face, cloth- ing, and work gloves were covered with dirt from the wet, greasy house deposits; his hair hung in clumped strands over his forehead and eyes.

After our introductions had been made, I in- dicated that I hoped to record some Eskimo songs in Kotzebue, continuing work begun the previous winter. Right away Jim offered to help organize the recording sessions. I was fortunate to have en- countered Jim in two respects. The first was his digging crew, which consisted of Saggaaluraq

Charles V. Lucier, 862 G St., Springfield, OR 97477

ARCTIC ANTHROPOLOGY Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 12-13, 1998

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Page 3: No Boundaries: Papers in Honor of James W. Vanstone || Vanstone at Kotzebue, 1951

References

Lucien VanStone at Kotzebue, 1951 13

Figure 1. VanStone near Fairbanks, spring, 1954. (Photo courtesy of James W. VanStone.)

Charlie Jensen (b.1893) and his son-in-law. I won- dered how much work the two could get done; Charlie's eyesight was very poor and neither of the two were imposing physical specimens. But even if Jim did not derive the optimum amount of phys- ical labor from his hires, he was still ahead. It would have been worth paying Charlie simply to sit there because he was highly gifted in the prin- cipal Inupiat performing arts: singing, drumming, dancing, and storytelling. The second reason I was fortunate to have encountered Jim was the web of personal relationships he had developed amongst the Native community and which allowed him to draw on a reservoir of good will in recruiting peo- ple for the recording sessions.

Saggaaluraq's voice and drumbeats are heard on the last three tapes recorded on August 23 and 25 within the confines of a living room in a Kotze- bue CAA staff bungalow. Jim knew the house's oc- cupants and they were more than willing to lend

their home for two evenings of tape recording. I re- gret not recalling our hosts' names. The CAA houses were the only ones in the community with a professionally maintained power supply; there- fore I was able to record the singing without the shifts in volume and speed produced by the oscil- lations of generators found elsewhere in Kotzebue Sound.

VanStone arranged the participation of most of the contributors. The recording session in- volved several Kotzebue residents. In addition to Charlie, there was Arjaaq Paul Knox (b.1888), Avinnaq Agugluq Flora Penn (b.1914), and Sivviq Chester Seveck, (b. 1890), who translated for the most elderly participant, Misigaq Mark Mitchell (b.1865). The songs and stories recorded during those two days were magnificent. In particular, I remember one of Paul's songs, which featured a steady, tap-tapping beat (meant to accompany the motions of puppets, rowing) and faintly undulat- ing melody. It was hypnotic and without a doubt one of the supposed "devil's works" that Friends missionaries banned, but which against all odds survived. The originals of the August 1951 tape recordings, missing number five of Misigaq, reside in the Alaska Native Language Center, at the Uni- versity of Alaska Fairbanks.

Were it not for our meeting in Kotzebue and participation in the recording sessions, it is doubt- ful Jim and I would have begun our long friend- ship. Personal significance aside, I mention this episode for two other reasons. I emphasize Saggaaluraq to highlight him as an early, potent, and lasting influence on Jim VanStone and, one might well add, a teacher of Ernest S. Burch, Jr. Historical records and biographies often do not name, let alone note the importance of a folk men- tor such as Saggaaluraq to professionals such as VanStone and Burch. The episode also illustrates Jim VanStone's effectiveness and helpfulness as a newly independent anthropologist. With his great modesty, Jim would not allow that he enabled the August 1951 recordings, and no one would know the better. This modesty, generosity, and profes- sionalism are the traits, of course, that we all have come to associate with this person.

VanStone, James W. 1954 Archaeological Excavations at Kotzebue,

Alaska. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of An- thropology, University of Pennsylvania.

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