MS 4800 James O. Dorsey papers
name: label: Creator
content: Dorsey, James Owen, 1848-1895
label: Names
content: Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology
label: Names
content: Bushotter, George, 1864-1892
label: Names
content: Gatschet, Albert S. (Albert Samuel), 1832-1907
label: Names
content: Hewitt, J. N. B. (John Napoleon Brinton), 1859-1937
label: Names
content: Mooney, James, 1861-1921
label: Names
content: Powell, John Wesley, 1834-1902
label: Names
content: Riggs, Stephen Return, 1812-1883
place: label: Place
content: Siletz Indian Reservation (Or.)
topic: label: Topic
content: Language and languages -- Documentation
label: Topic
content: Ethnology
label: Topic
content: Indians of North America -- Northeast
label: Topic
content: Social structure
label: Topic
content: Kinship
label: Topic
content: Manners and customs
label: Topic
content: Shahaptian languages
label: Topic
content: Yakonan languages
label: Topic
content: Athapascan languages
label: Topic
content: Kusan languages
label: Topic
content: Linguistics
label: Topic
content: Siouan languages
label: Topic
content: Dhegiha language
label: Topic
content: Siuslaw Indians
label: Topic
content: Hidatsa language
label: Topic
content: Omaha language
label: Topic
content: Dakota language
label: Topic
content: Catawba language
label: Topic
content: Biloxi language
label: Topic
content: Caddoan languages
label: Topic
content: Osage language
label: Topic
content: Alsea language
label: Topic
content: Kansa language
label: Topic
content: Mandan language
label: Topic
content: Chastacosta language
label: Topic
content: Coquille language
label: Topic
content: Tutelo language
label: Topic
content: Winnebago language
label: Topic
content: Siuslaw language
label: Topic
content: Takelma language
creator: label: Creator
content: Dorsey, James Owen, 1848-1895
culture: label: Culture
content: Indians of North America -- Subarctic
label: Culture
content: Athapascan Indians
label: Culture
content: Catawba Indians
label: Culture
content: Minitari (Hidatsa)
label: Culture
content: Numakiki (Mandan)
label: Culture
content: Biloxi Indians
label: Culture
content: Tutelo
label: Culture
content: Iowa
label: Culture
content: Chiwere
label: Culture
content: Ho-Chunk (Winnebago)
label: Culture
content: Oto
label: Culture
content: Quapaw Indians
label: Culture
content: Osage
label: Culture
content: Sioux
label: Culture
content: Lakota (Teton/Western Sioux)
label: Culture
content: Dhegiha Indians
label: Culture
content: Assiniboine (Stoney)
label: Culture
content: Ponca
label: Culture
content: Omaha
label: Culture
content: Tututni (Tutuni)
label: Culture
content: Kaw (Kansa)
label: Culture
content: Siletz
label: Culture
content: Coos (Kusan)
label: Culture
content: Yaquina (Yakwina)
label: Culture
content: Arctic peoples
label: Culture
content: Indians of North America -- Northwest Coast of North America
label: Culture
content: Indians of North America -- Great Plains
label: Culture
content: Indians of North America -- Southeast
label: Culture
content: Takelma (Rogue River Indians)
label: Culture
content: Klikitat
label: Culture
content: Chasta Costa (Chastacosta)
setName: label: See more items in
content: MS 4800 James O. Dorsey papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: Reverend James Owen Dorsey (1848-1895) was a missionary and Bureau of American Ethnology ethnologist who conducted extensive research on Siouan tribes and languages.The papers of James Owen Dorsey comprise mostly ethnographic and linguistic materials on various tribes of the Siouan language family as well as tribes from Siletz Reservation in Oregon. These materials include texts and letters with interlineal translations; grammar notes; dictionaries; drawings; and his manuscripts. In addition, the collection contains Dorsey's correspondence, newspaper clippings, his obituaries, and reprints.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Reverend James Owen Dorsey (1848-1895) was a missionary and Bureau of American Ethnology ethnologist who conducted extensive research on Siouan tribes and languages.

Dorsey was born on October 31, 1848 in Baltimore, Maryland. He exhibited a talent for languages at an early age. At age 6 he learned the Hebrew alphabet and was able to read the language at age 10. In 1867 Dorsey attended the Theological Seminary of Virginia and was ordained a deacon of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1871. In May of that year, Dorsey traveled to the Dakota Territory to serve as a missionary among the Ponca. Plagued by ill health, Dorsey was forced to end his missionary work in August 1873. By that time, however, he had learned the Ponca language well enough to converse with members of the tribe without an interpreter. 

Dorsey returned to Maryland and engaged in parish work while continuing his studies of Siouan languages. His linguistic talents and knowledge of these languages attracted the attention of Major John Wesley Powell. Powell arranged for Dorsey to work among the Omaha in Nebraska from 1878 to 1880 to collect linguistic and ethnological notes. When the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) was established in 1879, Powell recruited Dorsey to join the staff.

As an ethnologist for the BAE, Dorsey continued his research on Siouan tribes. His studies focused on languages but also included Siouan personal names, folklore, social organization, religion, beliefs, and customs. He conducted fieldwork among the Tutelo at Six Nations on Grand River in Upper Canada (1882); the Kansa, Osage, and Quapaw in Indian Territory (1883-1884); the Biloxi at Lecompte, Rapides Parish, Louisiana (1892); and again with the Quapaw at the Quapaw Mission (1894). He also worked with Native Americans that visited DC, including George Bushotter (Teton), Philip Longtail (Winnebago), Samuel Fremont (Omaha), and Little Standing Buffalo (Ponca). He also spent time at Siletz Reservation in 1884 to collect linguistic notes on the Athapascan, Kusan, Takilman, and Yakonan stocks. 

In addition to his research, Dorsey helped found the American Folklore Society and served as the first vice-president of the association. He also served as vice-president of Section H of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

At the age of 47, Dorsey died of typhoid fever on February 4, 1895. 

Sources Consulted

1st-16th Annual Reports of the Bureau of American Ethnology. 1881-1897.

Hewitt, J.N.B. 1895. "James Owen Dorsey" American Anthropologist A8, 180-183.

McGee, W.J. 1895. "In Memoriam." Journal of American Folklore 8(28): 79-80.

1848 -- Born on October 31 in Baltimore, Maryland.

1871 -- Ordained a deacon of the Protestant Episcopal Church.

1871-1873 -- Served as a missionary among the Ponca in Dakota Territory.

1878-1880 -- Conducted fieldwork among the Omaha in Nebraska.

1879 -- Joined the staff of the Bureau of American Ethnology.

1882 -- Conducted fieldwork among the Tutelo at Six Nations on Grand River in Upper Canada.

1883-1884 -- Conducted fieldwork among the Kansa, Osage, and Quapaw in Indian Territory.

1887 -- Worked with George Bushotter to record information regarding the language and culture of the Dakota.

1884 -- Conducted fieldwork at Siletz Reservation.

1892 -- Conducted fieldwork among the Biloxi at Lecompte, Rapides Parish, Louisiana.

1894 -- Conducted fieldwork among the Quapaw at the Quapaw Mission in Indian Territory.

1895 -- Died of typhoid fever on February 4th at the age of 47.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 30 Linear feet (70 boxes, 1 oversized box, 20 manuscript envelopes, 4 rolled maps, and 23 map folders)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1870-1956
label: Date
content: bulk 1870-1895
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.MS4800
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Field notes
label: Type
content: Drawings
label: Type
content: Vocabulary
label: Type
content: Folklore
label: Type
content: Sermons
label: Type
content: Manuscripts
label: Type
content: Obituaries
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Newspaper clippings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is organized into 6 series: 1) Siouan; 2) Siletz Reservation; 3) Caddoan; 4) General Correspondence; 5) Personal Papers; 6) Miscellaneous & Reprints.
processinfo: label: Processing Information note
content: Processed by NAA Staff.

Encoded by Nancy Kennedy and Lorain Wang.
altformavail: label: Funding Note
content: Digitization and preparation of many of these materials for online access has been funded through generous support from the Arcadia Fund.
bibliography: label: Selected Bibliography
content: 1881. Omaha Sociology. 3rd Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology: 205-370.

1884. Siouan Folk-lore and Mythologic Notes. American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal 6: 174-176.

1885. On the comparative phonology of four Siouan languages. Smithsonian Institution Annual Report for 1883: 912-929.

1886. Migrations of Siouan tribes. American Naturalist 20(3): 211-222.

1888. Osage traditions. 6th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology: 373-397.

1889. Indians of Siletz Reservation, Oregon. American Anthropologist A2(1): 55-62.

1889. Ponca and Omaha Songs. The Journal of American Folklore 2(7): 271-276.

1889. Teton Folk-lore. American Anthropologist A2(2): 143-158.

1890. The Cegiha Language. Contributions to North American Ethnology 6. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office.

1890. The Gentile System of the Siletz Tribes. The Journal of American Folklore 3(10): 227-237.

1890 Indian Personal Names. American Anthropologist A3(3): 263-268.

1890. Riggs, Stephen Return. A Dakota-English Dictionary. Contributions to North American Ethnology 7. James Owen Dorsey, ed. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office.

1891 Omaha and Ponca Letters. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 11. Washington D.C.:  Government Printing Office.

1891. The Social Organization of the Siouan Tribes. Journal of American Folklore 4(14, 15): 257-266, 331-342.

1912 with John Swanton. A Dictionary of the Biloxi and Ofo languages. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 47. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office.

1897 Siouan Sociology. 15th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology: 205-244.

1892. Siouan Onomatopes. American Anthropologist A5(1): 1-8.

1894 A Study of Siouan Cults. 11th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology: 361-544.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Field notes
label: Genre/Form
content: Drawings
label: Genre/Form
content: Vocabulary
label: Genre/Form
content: Folklore
label: Genre/Form
content: Sermons
label: Genre/Form
content: Manuscripts
label: Genre/Form
content: Obituaries
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence
label: Genre/Form
content: Newspaper clippings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: This collection contains James O. Dorsey's research and writings as a BAE ethnologist, as well as his earlier work as a missionary among the Ponca. The vast majority of the collection pertains to his research on Siouan-Catawban languages, including the Dakota and Dhegiha languages, Chiwere, Winnebago, Mandan, Hidatsa, Tutelo, Biloxi, and Catawba. His research on Athapascan, Kusan, Takilman, and Yakonan languages from his field work at Siletz Reservation are also present, as well as some notes on the Caddoan languages. Dorsey's research files include linguistic and ethnological field notes, reading notes, stories and myths, vocabularies, drawings, and unpublished and published manuscripts. The collection also contains Omaha, Ponca, Quapaw, and Biloxi dictionaries that he compiled and materials relating to his work editing Steven Riggs' Dakota-English Dictionary. Additional noteworthy materials in the collection are Teton texts and drawings from George Bushotter and drawings by Stephen Stubbs (Kansa), Pahaule-gagli (Kansa), and George Miller (Omaha). The collection also contains Dorsey's correspondence, newspaper clippings, obituaries, and his collection of reprints.