Charles F. Hockett papers
name: label: Creator
content: Hockett, Charles Francis
topic: label: Topic
content: Anthropology
label: Topic
content: Kickapoo language
label: Topic
content: Linguistics, general and theoretical
label: Topic
content: Indians of North America -- Northeast
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Charles Hockett's daughter, Rachel Hockett.
creator: label: Creator
content: Hockett, Charles Francis
culture: label: Culture
content: Fijians
setName: label: See more items in
content: Charles F. Hockett papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: This collection contains the professional papers of linguist Charles F. Hockett. Included are research materials consisting of field notes and notebooks, correspondence, published and unpublished writings, annotated copies of other scholars' work, a few drawings, photographs, and sound recordings.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Charles Francis Hockett was a linguist best known for his contribution to structural linguistics. Strongly influenced by the work of Leonard Bloomfield, he was "widely considered Bloomfield's chief disciple, and the most prominent explicator and elaborator of Bloomfield's works" (Gair 7). While he primarily focused on Algonquian languages, Hockett also studied Chinese, Fijian, and English.

Hockett was born in Columbus, Ohio on January 17, 1916 to Homer and Amy Hockett. He matriculated at Ohio State University in 1932 and graduated in 1936 with a BA and MA in ancient history. He then went on to study at Yale where he received his PhD in 1939. Afterward, he completed two years of postdoctoral study and had the opportunity to work with Leonard Bloomfield directly.

Drafted into the US Army in 1942, Hockett prepared language-training materials, language guides, and dictionaries for military personnel. He was eventually promoted to Captain and left the military in 1946 when he became a professor of linguistics at Cornell University. In 1957 he joined the Department of Anthropology. Hockett stayed at Cornell until 1982 when he retired to emeritus status. He later served as an adjunct professor of linguistics at Rice University.

He died on November 3, 2000.

Sources Consulted

James W. Gair, "Charles F. Hockett," in Biographical Memoirs volume 89. Washington, D.C. : National Academies Press, 2007.

Chronology

1916 -- Born January 17 in Columbus, Ohio

1932 -- Entered Ohio State University at 16

1936 -- Graduated summa cum laude with BA & MA in ancient history

1939 -- Summer of fieldwork in Kickapoo and autumn in Michoacán, Mexico Received PhD in Anthropology from Yale; dissertation based on fieldwork in Potawatomi

1940-1941 -- 2 years of postdoctoral study, including two quarters with Leonard Bloomfield at Chicago, followed by a stay at Michigan

1942 -- Drafted into US Army

1945 -- Dispatched to Tokyo as a first lieutenant to help train U.S. troops in Japanese

1946 -- Began university teaching career as an assistant professor of linguistics in the Division of Modern Languages at Cornell where he was in charge of Chinese and continued to run the Chinese program for 15 years Separated from the army with a terminal leave promotion to captain

1957 -- Become a member of Cornell's Department of Anthropology (later named the Goldwin Smith Professor of Linguistics and Anthropology)

1964 -- President of the Linguistic Society of America

1974 -- Elected to the National Academy of Sciences

1982 -- Retired from Cornell to emeritus status

1983 -- Festschrift written (Agard et al., 1983)

1986 -- Distinguished lecturer of the American Anthropological Association Visiting professor, later adjunct professor of linguistics at Rice University

2000 -- Died on November 3

Selected Bibliography

1939 -- Potawatomi Syntax. Language 15: 235-248.

1944 -- with Zhaoying Fang. Spoken Chinese: Basic Course. Military edition published (without authors' names) as a War Department Education Manual. Civilian Edition. New York: Holt.

1947 -- Peiping phonology. Journal of the American Oriental Society 67: 253-267.

1948 -- Implications of Bloomfield's Algonquian Studies. Language 24: 17-131.

1955 -- A Manual of Phonology. Baltimore: Waverley Press. How to Learn Martian. Astounding Science Fiction 55: 97-106.

1958 -- A Course in Modern Linguistics. New York: Macmillan.

1960 -- The Origin of Speech. Scientific American 203(3): 88-89.

1970 -- A Leonard Bloomfield Anthology. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

1973 -- Man's Place in Nature. New York: McGraw-Hill.

1987 -- Refurbishing our Foundations: Elementary Linguistics from an Advanced Point of View. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

1997 -- Approaches to Syntax. Lingua 100: 151-170.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 5.4 Linear feet ((10 document boxes) plus 2 record storage boxes of sound recordings)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1934-2000
label: Date
content: bulk 1940-1989
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.2011-14
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Collection is organized into 9 series: 1) Field Research, 1937-38, 1940; 2) Writings, 1940-2000; 3) Correspondence, 1945-2000; 4) Professional Activities, 1965-1970, 1989, 1993; 5) Teaching Files, 1993; 6) Biographical Files, 1934, 1942-1957-1965, 1974, 1984, 1988, 1999; 7) Notes and Drawings, 1964, 1970-1983, 1987-1988; 8) Photographs, 1944, 1960, 1978-1991, 1999; 9) Sound Recordings, 1952-1957, 1961, 1970-1976
processinfo: label: Processing Note
content: The papers of Charles F. Hockett were partially organized and inventoried by Tammy L. Goss, a University of Wisconsin-Madison student, before deposited at the archives. Original folder titles were retained. Folder titles assigned by the archivist are indicated by square brackets. Files have been rehoused in acid free folders. The archivist kept existing groupings and organized the collection into nine series.

Processed by Christy Fic

Encoded by Jocelyn Baltz, June 2012
scopecontent: label: Scope and Content Note
content: This collection contains the professional papers of linguist Charles F. Hockett. Included are research materials consisting of field notes and notebooks, correspondence, published and unpublished writings, annotated copies of other scholars' work, a few drawings, photographs, and sound recordings.

The materials in this collection document Hockett's career as a structural linguist, and provides glimpses into his military service and his passion for music. Hockett's writings and notes, which comprise the majority of the materials in the collection, demonstrate his contributions to the field of linguistics.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Collections
content: National Anthropological Archives Manuscript 7402. Letters to Charles Hockett regarding Algonquian linguistics 1937-1938.

National Anthropological Archives Manuscript 2009-15. May Mayko Ebihara conducted this oral history interview with Hockett on August 25, 1981 as part of a larger oral history project with anthropologists.

For additional Hockett correspondence, see: 
C. F. Voegelin Papers, American Philosophical Society.
Henry Lee Smith Papers, 1935-1972 (bulk 1956-1972), University Archives, State University of New York at Buffalo.