John Peabody Harrington: Exploring a
Legacy
Carmen Jany, Cal State San Bernardino
[email protected] Ramon Learning Center
January 17, 2011
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)
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
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
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
Who was Harrington? Carobeth Tucker (Laird) (1895 -
1983) Carobeth Laird wrote a vivid portrait of the obsessed geniusLaird, Carobeth. 1975. Encounter With an Angry God: Recollections of My Life with John Peabody Harrington. Malki Museum Press, Banning, CA.
Who was Harrington?
Source: American Anthropologist Vol 65, 1963.
Source: National Anthropological Archives
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
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
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)
Harrington’s Legacy & Nature of Data
Chimariko; reel 21
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
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
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)
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
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
Where and How to Access the Data The Harrington Database Project
(2010) http://nas.ucdavis.edu/NALC/JPH.ht
ml
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
Importance for California Languages
California indigenous languages
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
Importance for California Languages
Importance for California Languages
Source: Mills, Elaine, and Ann J. Brickfield. 1986. The Papers of John Peabody Harrington, Volume 3 (Southern California).
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
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)
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
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’
My work on Chimariko: Stress
Higher pitch in stressed vowel ’á’ah ‘deer’
Time (s)0 0.835918
0
500
Time (s)0 0.859138
0
500
Time (s)0 0.835918
0
104
Time (s)0 0.835918
0
500
My work on Chimariko: Narratives
Reel 21: 539 pages containing Chimariko narratives with some translations
Pieced together 9 narratives (20 pages in Word)
My work on Chimariko: Narratives
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
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
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
Thank you!