MS 2734 Truman Michelson Stockbridge notes and texts, with copies by Frank Speck
odd: label: Local Numbers
content: NAA MS 2734
label: Local Note
content: Regarding Bernice Robertson's surname: In Michelson's notes, Bernice Robertson's name appears with "Robertson" crossed out and "Robinson" written in. According to Ives Goddard (2007, November 20), "Frank T. Siebert, Jr., collected some words from the same woman in 1935, and he refers to her as Bernice Robertson in notes he sent to Morris Swadesh (APS, Swadesh papers, Freeman Guide #2081 or 2083). I also heard him mention her many times, since he liked to point out that she was one of the last speakers of Mahican even though to look at her she was African American. In his own field notes (1937) Swadesh first wrote Robison and Robeson, but changed this to Robinson. (Robison is a possible mishearing of Roberston, if this name is unfamiliar; less likely that Swadesh would not have caught the common name Robinson.) In his typed list of informants, however, he writes 'Bernice Robertson' (APS as above)."
name: label: Creator
content: Michelson, Truman, 1879-1938
label: Creator
content: Speck, Frank G. (Frank Gouldsmith), 1881-1950
label: Informant
content: Quinney, Jameson "Sot"
label: Translator
content: Dick, William
label: Creator
content: Dick, Lucius
label: Creator
content: Miller, Edwin
label: Creator
content: Miller, Alfred
label: Creator
content: Peters, Sterling
label: Creator
content: Butler, Agnes
label: Creator
content: Robertson, Bernice
topic: label: Topic
content: Mahican language
label: Topic
content: Language and languages -- Documentation
label: Topic
content: Linguistics
label: Topic
content: Brothertown
label: Topic
content: Indians of North America -- Northeast
creator: label: Creator
content: Michelson, Truman, 1879-1938
label: Creator
content: Speck, Frank G. (Frank Gouldsmith), 1881-1950
label: Informant
content: Quinney, Jameson "Sot"
label: Translator
content: Dick, William
label: Creator
content: Dick, Lucius
label: Creator
content: Miller, Edwin
label: Creator
content: Miller, Alfred
label: Creator
content: Peters, Sterling
label: Creator
content: Butler, Agnes
label: Creator
content: Robertson, Bernice
culture: label: Culture
content: Mahican
label: Culture
content: Brotherton Indians
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 140 Pages
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1914
label: Date
content: circa 1940s-1950s
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: Truman Michelson's original notes were cataloged by the archives of the Bureau of American Ethnology. They were loaned to Speck and John P. Harrington during the 1940s and 1950s. In 1956, A. F. C. Wallace of the American Philosophical Society returned some notes borrowed by Speck and also sent Speck's copies that are in this manuscript. The original material was found among Harrington papers and identified by Ives Goddard in May 1977.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.MS2734
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Field notes
label: Type
content: Vocabulary
label: Type
content: Narratives
label: Type
content: Manuscripts
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Field notes
label: Genre/Form
content: Vocabulary
label: Genre/Form
content: Narratives
label: Genre/Form
content: Manuscripts
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Notes and texts on Stockbridge collected by Truman Michelson during his fieldwork in Wisconsin in 1914, with handwritten copies of his notes made by Frank Speck during the 1940s and 1950s. Michelson's notes consist mainly of vocabularies with small amounts of data on the history, population, and racial composition of the tribe and brief notes on the people who knew the language. A few words were collected from a Brotherton informant. The Stockbridge texts include strict interlineal translations and separate free translations. Speck's copies of the notes are in an order different from Michelson's originals. They are incomplete, in part because Speck omitted some vocabulary items when informants agreed as to their form. Speck's material also includes a copy of the report on Michelson's work in Explorations and field work of the Smithsonian Institution, 1914, pages 90-93 (1 page typescript).

All Stockbridge texts are by Jameson "Sot" Quinney, with some translated by William Dick. Other people that Michelson worked with include Lucius Dick (Brotherton), Edwin Miller, Alfred Miller, Sterling Peters, Agnes Butler (previously cataloged as Agnus Butler), and Bernice Robertson (previously cataloged as Robinson; see note below).