Barry F. Carlson Salish Notes and Sound Recordings
name: label: Collector
content: Thompson, Laurence
label: Collector
content: Carlson, Barry F.
label: Collaborator
content: Sherwood, Margaret
label: Collaborator
content: Flett, Pauline
label: Speaker
content: Sam, Albert
label: Speaker
content: Peuse, Lucy
label: Collector
content: Santon, Christine
label: Collector
content: Orser, Brenda
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Barry F. Carlson in 2012.
creator: label: Collector
content: Thompson, Laurence
label: Collector
content: Carlson, Barry F.
label: Collaborator
content: Sherwood, Margaret
label: Collaborator
content: Flett, Pauline
label: Speaker
content: Sam, Albert
label: Speaker
content: Peuse, Lucy
label: Collector
content: Santon, Christine
label: Collector
content: Orser, Brenda
setName: label: See more items in
content: Barry F. Carlson Salish Notes and Sound Recordings
abstract: label: Summary
content: This collection contains the field work of anthropologist Barry F. Carlson regarding his linguistic study of the Salish dialects spoken by the elders at the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington State from 1969-1992. Included are 39 notebooks containing vocabularies, grammatical examples, transcripts of native texts, and line-by-line analyses of native texts; six notebooks from native Spokane speaker Pauline Flett; 147 reel tapes of Salish dialects (Spokane, Kalispel, Chewelah, and Flathead/Montana Salish); microfiche; handwritten notes; newspaper clippings; and a tape log. The majority of the notebook contents are direct transcriptions of the recordings. The collection also contains information that Carlson provided to the NAA regarding his primary consultants, Margaret Sherwood and Pauline Flett, as well as Albert Sam and Lucy Peuse, two other Spokane speakers with whom he worked.
bioghist: label: Biographical/Historical note
content: Barry F. Carlson is an anthropologist known for his linguistic work with the Salish language of Washington State. Born in Evanston, Illinois, Carlson attended the University of Colorado and graduated with a B.A. in English/ Education in 1966. A year later he received a Masters in Linguistics from the same institution.

While a doctoral student at the University of Hawaii, Carlson began to study the Interior Salish languages spoken by the elders residing at the Spokane Indian Reservation, specifically the Spokane, Kalispel, and Chewelah dialects. He eventually wrote his doctoral dissertation on his fieldwork in Washington State. After receiving his Ph.D. in Linguistics in 1972, Carlson joined the Department of Linguistics at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, where he continued to teach until 2007.

Throughout his anthropological career, Carlson continued his work with those fluent in the Salish dialects. From 1969 to the late 1980s Carlson collected over 200 native texts, including both traditional stories and more recent contact narratives. He also worked closely with his fluent narrators to gather vocabularies and grammatical examples of their language. Margaret Sherwood and Pauline Flett were his primary consultants.

Sources Consulted

Carlson, Barry F. Carlson, "Curriculum Vitae," Accession Files, National Anthropological Archives
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1.7 Linear feet ((1 storage box, 2 document boxes))
label: Extent
content: 147 Sound recordings
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1969-2013
label: Date
content: bulk 1969-1987
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.2012-08
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: This collection is organized in 2 series: Series 1. Salish Notes, 1969-2013; Series 2. Sound Recordings, 1969-1992.
processinfo: label: Processing Information note
content: The papers of Barry F. Carlson were received partially organized. The processing archivist kept existing groupings and arrangement. Original notebook and folder titles were retained with titles assigned by the archivist placed within square brackets.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: This collection contains the field work of anthropologist Barry F. Carlson regarding his linguistic study of the Salish dialects spoken by the elders at the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington State. Included are 39 notebooks containing vocabularies, grammatical examples, transcripts of native texts, and line-by-line analyses of native texts; six notebooks from native Spokane speaker Pauline Flett; 147 reel tapes of Salish dialects (Spokane, Kalispel, Chewelah, and Flathead/Montana Salish); microfiche; handwritten notes; newspaper clippings; and a tape log. The majority of the notebook contents are direct transcriptions of the recordings. The collection also contains information that Carlson provided to the NAA regarding his primary consultants, Margaret Sherwood and Pauline Flett, as well as Albert Sam and Lucy Peuse, two other Spokane speakers with whom he worked. The Tape Log in Salish Notes Series, Box 3, contains a list of all the speakers and their dialects that Carlson worked with. 

Folders are arranged alphabetically. Reel tapes are arranged in numerical order. The majority of these sound recordings were collected by Barry Carlson during his fieldwork with the Spokane and Chewelah Salish People of Washington State from 1969 to the late 1980s. They contain native texts in Spokane, Kalispel, Chewelah, and Flathead (Montana Salish). They are more than 200, including the traditional 'Coyote Stories'  and more recent contact stories called either 'French Stories' or 'Cowboy and Indian Stories'. The narrators include all the fluent Spokane and Chewelah Kalispel storytellers that lived on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington State when Carlson did his fieldwork. In addition, there are 4 tapes collected by Carlson's student Christine Santon in 1974, which contain terminology relating to traditional Spokane foods. There are 2 tapes of Spokane collected by Carlson's student Brenda Orser in 1992. There is one tape of the Flathead (Montana Salish) language collected by Carlson's professor, Laurence Thompson in the 1960s. 

Titles for the tapes were taken from Carlson's Tape Log which is in the Salish Notes series, Box 3.