Memoranda Prepared in Response to Letters of Inquiry
odd: label: Local Numbers
content: Accession #1976-95
name: label: Creator
content: Harrington, John Peabody, 1884-1961
label: Creator
content: Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology
label: Collection Creator
content: Harrington, John Peabody, 1884-1961
topic: label: Topic
content: Language and languages
label: Topic
content: Names, Geographical
label: Topic
content: Language and languages -- etymology
creator: label: Creator
content: Harrington, John Peabody, 1884-1961
label: Creator
content: Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology
setName: label: See more items in
content: John Peabody Harrington papers
label: See more items in
content: John Peabody Harrington papers / Series 8: Notes and Writings on Special Linguistic Studies
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Item (box)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1940s-circa 1950s, undated
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.1976-95, Subseries 8.10
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Memorandums
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The memoranda have been grouped roughly by the name of the individual to whom they were addressed.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Microfilm and digital surrogates of microfilm are available. See Volume 8, reel 6, which also contains materials from other subseries.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Memorandums
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: This subseries is part of the Notes and writings on special linguistic studies series in the John P. Harrington papers. The memoranda are a result of Harrington's responsibility as ethnologist at the Bureau of American Ethnology to respond to various letters of inquiry from scholars and members of the general public. Harrington did not answer these reference letters directly but drafted memoranda which were used as the basis for replies by the current clerk or chief of the bureau, specifically Matthew W. Stirling and Frank H. H. Roberts. The inquiries deal with many American languages as well as some others throughout the world. The subjects usually involve questions on the etymology of words or geographic names or requests for translations into other languages of English greetings, names, numbers, or such common words as "man," "mother," and "father."