Table of Contents
Abstract

Beginning in the 1790s, the American Philosophical Society began to accumulate vocabularies and texts written in Native American languages, guided by Thomas Jefferson's idea of using comparative linguistics to reconstruct the histories of Indian peoples and discern their origins.

The American Indian Vocabularies Collection was initially assembled by the Historical and Literary Committee of the APS for publication in 1816. They include information on seventeen North American languages and one each from the Caribbean and Central America, collected between 1784 and 1828. A number of individuals were invovled in recording the vocabularies, including Benjamin Hawkins, William Thornton, David Campbell, Daniel Smith, Constantine Volney, Constantine Rafinesque, William Vans Murray, John Heckewelder, Martin Duralde, Campanius Holm, and Jefferson himself. Most followed the standardized word set established by Jefferson.

Background note

The indigenous languages of the Americas first became a significant interest at the American Philosophical Society under the Society's third President, Thomas Jefferson. In his Notes on the State of Virginia (1783), Jefferson had laid the conceptual foundation for reconstructing a history of Indian peoples based upon a systematic analysis of their languages, and while he collected some vocabularies himself to that end, he was remarkably effective at spurring others. Most famously, in about 1791 he had a form printed that included a standard vocabulary of about 280 English words with adjacent blanks in which Indian equivalents were to be recorded. Distributed to his friends, military officers, and others likely to come into contact with Indians, the forms were returned to Jefferson for analysis, and over the course of decade, he accumulated over 400 vocabularies. Unfortuantely, many of these were destroyed in 1809, with the remainder arriving at the APS in 1817.

Since Jefferson's initial efforts, several other APS members have contributed to the project. The Historical and Literary Committee took a special interest in Indian vocabularies, as they did in other historical documents, publishing an important collection of them as the first volume of their Transactions in 1816. The head of the committee, Peter Stephen Du Ponceau, prefaced this volume with the statement that he was not wedded to any particular theory of Indian origins, but wished only to obtain a "bird's eye view" of them all to guage the depth of linguistic diversity in North America and to discern how these languages relate to those of the Old World. The APS has collected materials on Indian languages continuously since that time.

Scope and content

The vocabularies comprising the American Indian Vocabulary Collection were assembled by the Historical and Literary Committee in 1816, when preparing for the first volume of their Transactions. The resulting collection consists of 23 vocabularies of 19 languages collected between 1784 to 1828, along with letters of transmittal and other associated information. A number of individuals were invovled in recording the vocabularies, including Benjamin Hawkins, William Thornton, David Campbell, Daniel Smith, Constantine Volney, Constantine Rafinesque, William Vans Murray, John Heckewelder, Martin Duralde, Campanius Holm, and Jefferson himself.

The majority of the vocabularies record languages in what is now the eastern half of the United States, ranging from Osage, Quapaw, and Shawnee in the lower Mississippi Valley to Natick and Mohegan in New England. Rafinesque submitted vocabularies for two non-North American languages, the extinct Taino language of Haiti and for Chontal in Central America, and Jefferson himself recorded one vocabulary, Unquachog from the Pusspatock settlement near Brookhaven, Long Island.

A number of the original printed forms of the Jefferson vocabulary (ca. 1790-1792) are included. These materials were in many instances copied by Peter S. Du Ponceau into his private collection of Indian vocabularies (Mss. 497 In2) and were, in this form, utilized by Albert Gallatin for his Synopsis (1836). Gallatin had also seen the Jefferson manuscripts.

Collection information

Provenance

Acquired by the Historical and Literary Committee of the APS from John G. E. Heckewelder, Peter Stephen Du Ponceau, Thomas Jefferson and others, 1816-1828.

Preferred citation

Cite as: American Indian Vocabulary Collection, American Philosophical Society.

Processing information

Recatalogued by rsc, 2002.

Other finding aids

The vocabularies are also described in the online Daythal Kendall Guide to Native American Collections at the American Philosophical Society.

Related material

Among several other Indian language collections at the APS, two are directly related to the Historical and Literary Committee Collection:

Thomas Jefferson's comparative vocabulary ( Call no. 497.3 J35), which includes Du Ponceau's Indian Vocabulary Collection ( Call no. 497.3 In2) includes information on 73 languages. The North American languages recorded by Du Ponceau provided the basis for Albert Gallatin's "A Synopsis of the Indian Tribes Within the United States East of the Rocky Mountains and in the British and Russian Possessions in North America," Transactions and Collections of the American Antiquarian Society 2 (1836): 1-422.

Bibliography

Peter S. Du Ponceau, "Report of the Corresponding Secretary...," Transactions of the Historical and Literary Committee of the American Philosophical Society 1 (1819): xvii-1.

Early American History Note

These three volumes contain APS's correspondence and records relating to Native American languages. MOLE contains a detailed inventory of the collection. The first volume contains extensive correspondence on Native American languages, some of which is addressed to Thomas Jefferson. Much of this material is from the early to mid nineteenth centutry. The second volume contains Thomas Jefferson's printed form that he sent out to individuals asking for Native American language information. The third volume contains photostats of a dictionary of the Miami language.

Indexing Terms

Genre(s)

Occupation(s)

Personal Name(s)

Subject(s)



Detailed Inventory
Vocabularies and Correspondence
1784-1828 0.25 lin. feet Request Collection
1. [Peter S. DuPonceau].
List of vocabularies communicated by Jefferson, Heckewelder, and Murray
n.d 1p. Request Item
1a. Peter S. DuPonceau.
ALS to John Vaughan
Oct. 5, 1820 1p. Request Item

List of additional vocabularies communicated

1b. Address sheet to Thomas Jefferson
ca.1809 1p. Request Item

Note: "papers which were lost in the trunk no. 28 found on the S. side of the river 3 or 4 miles above Manchester & returned to me by Mr. Jefferson July 2, 1809."

1c. [John Vaughan].
Endorsement
Oct 1825 1p. Request Item

In hand of John Vaughan: "Indian vocabularies sent to A.P. Soc. By Thos. Jefferson."

2. Hawkins, Benjamin, 1754-1816.
Vocabulary of the Cherokee and Choctaw languages
prior to 1784 8p. Request Item

Communicated by Jefferson, with note in his hand attributing authorship to Benjamin Hawkins Freeman and Smith 663

3. W[illiam] Thornton.
Vocabulary of the Miami language taken in part from Little Turtle
Jan. 11, 1802 17p. Request Item

Communicated by Jefferson, with note attirbuting to William Thornton, as taken from Little Turtle and William Wells, the translator Freeman and Smith 2225

4. Hawkins, Benjamin, 1754-1816.
ALS to Thomas Jefferson
July 12, 1800 4p. Request Item

Letter of transmittal accompanying vocabulary no. 5, and describing informants and conditions of collection Freeman and Smith 809

5. Hawkins, Benjamin, 1754-1816.
A comparative vocabulary of the Muskoges, or Creek, Chickasaw, Chocktaw, and Cherokee languages
[1800] 15p. Request Item

Freeman and Smith 662 and 810

6. [David Campbell].
Vocabulary of the Cherokee language
[received August 5, 1800] 8p. Request Item

Freeman and Smith 649

7. Daniel Smith.
ALS to [Thomas Jefferson]
July 6, 1800 1p. Request Item

Letter of transmittal accompanying vocabulary no. 8 Freeman and Smith 702

8. [Daniel Smith].
Vocabulary of the Chickasaw Indians, Tennessee
July 6, 1800 2p. Request Item

Freeman and Smith 703

9. Chasseboeuf, Constantin François , comte de Volney.
Vocabulary of the Miami Indians
March, 1798 4p. Request Item

Employing Jefferson's printed form for vocabulary Freeman and Smith 2226

10. Martin Duralde.
Suite du vocabulaire de la langue des Atacapas
April 13, 1802 8p. Request Item

Freeman and Smith 422

11. Martin Duralde.
Vocabulaire de la langue des Chatimachas et Croyance des Chetimachas
April 23, 1802 9p. Request Item

Includes commentary on Chitimacha religion Freeman and Smith 729

12. Martin Duralde.
ALS to William Dunbar
April 24, 1802 11p. Request Item

Letter of transmittal accompanying vocabularies no. 10, 11, in French, with commentary on the Indians and collection of information. Freeman and Smith 421

13. Martin Duralde.
Translation of ALS to William Dunbar
April 24, 1802 7p. Request Item

Freeman and Smith 421

14. [Thomas Jefferson].
Vocabulary of the Unquachog Indians
1791 2p. Request Item

Freeman and Smith 2335

15. William Vans Murray.
ALS to [Thomas] Jefferson
Sept. 18, 1792 2p. Request Item

Letter of transmittal accompanying vocabulary no. 16, with brief comments on the Nanticokes. Freeman and Smith 2365

16. [William Vans Murray].
Vocabulary of the Nanticoke Indians
Sept. 18, 1792 1p. Request Item

Submitted on Jefferson's printed vocabulary form. Freeman and Smith 2366

17. Vocabulary of the Delaware Indians
Dec. 1792 1p. Request Item

Submitted on Jefferson's printed vocabulary form. Freeman and Smith 1190

18. [Thomas Jefferson].
Vocabulary [broadside]
ca.1792 1p. Request Item

Blank version of Jefferson's printed vocabulary form. Freeman and Smith 2051

19. J[ohn G. E.] H[eckewelder].
Mahicanni [Mohegan] words taken down from the mouth of one of that nation who had been born in Connecticut
  8p. Request Item

Freeman and Smith 2077

20. J[ohn G. E.] H[eckewelder].
Vocabulary of the Shawanese [i.e. Miami] language
  Request Item

"Taken down by means of a White Woman who had been 20 Years a Prisoner with that Nation." Despite the identification, the language is Miami, not Shawnee. Freeman and Smith 3670

21, 22b. Heckewelder, John Gottlieb Ernestus, 1743-1823.
Comparative vocabulary of the Delaware, Minsi, Mohicon, Natick, Chippeway, Shawanoe [i.e. Miami], and Nanticoke languages
  6p. Request Item

See also Heckewelder to Du Ponceau, July 14, 1828. Freeman and Smith 349

22, 22a. Heckewelder, John Gottlieb Ernestus, 1743-1823.
Comparative vocabulary of the Lenni Lenape, Mahicanni, Nanticoke, Shawano, Natick, Chippuwa and Algonquin languages
  3p. Request Item

Freeman and Smith 350

23. [Murray, Dr.].
A vocabulary of the Osage language
[communicated] Oct. 23, 1818 5p. Request Item

Communicated by John C. Warren from Murray, "who resides at Louisville." Freeman and Smith 2611

24. James Barbour.
[Circular requesting that Indian languages of the U.S. be recorded and sent to the War Department]
  1p. Request Item

Freeman and Smith 1973. Duplicate in Broadside Collection, no. 112.

25. C[onstantine] S. Rafinesque.
Vocabulary of the extinct Haytian or Taino language
  3p. Request Item

Comparing Taino to Old World language (berber, Cantabrian, Celtic, Coptic, etc. Freeman and Smith 3708

26. C[onstantine] S. Rafinesque.
Vocabulary of the Chontal language and its dialects s reading from Guatimala to Panama & Darien
Sept. 1826 7p. Request Item

Includes some commentary on comparative linguistics of indigenous languages of Guatemala. Freeman and Smith 746

27. George Izard.
ALS to Robert Walsh
March 21, 1825 1p. Request Item

Offers services in collecting languages in Arkansas. Freeman and Smith 3095

28. William H. Keating.
ALS to George Izard
May 7, 1825 1p. Request Item

Freeman and Smith 3097

29, 30. American Philosophical Society..
Report of committee to which George Izard's letter requesting data to guide his inquiries in Arkansas was referred, with notes for his guidance
May 6, 1825 7p., 9p. Request Item

Freeman and Smith 3092

31. George Izard.
ALS to the American Philosophical Society
Jan. 10, 1827 5p. Request Item

Transitting Quapaw vocabulary, with comments on mode of collection, and transmits specimens of a "water witch" and tarantulas. Freeman and Smith 3094

32. American Philosophical Society..
Report of committee to which was referred the communications of George Izard on the Arkansas territory and a vocabulary of the Quapaw language
[Jan. 18, 1828] 1p. Request Item

Freeman and Smith 3093

33. [George Izard].
Notes respecting the Arkansas territory's aboriginal inhabitants, the Quapaw Indians
[Jan. 10 1827] 7p. Request Item

Freeman and Smith 3096

34. [George Izard].
Vocabulary of the Quapaw Indians
[Jan. 10, 1827] 6p. Request Item

Freeman and Smith 3099

35. [Walter Bromley].
ALS Cy to Thomas Wistar
April 26, 1819 3p. Request Item

Comparing Micmac and Delaware from resident of Halifax. Freeman and Smith 2238

36. [Walter Bromley].
A few specimens of the verbs of the Micmac Indians
[April 26, 1819] 8p. Request Item
37. [John] Campanius Holm.
A vocabulary of the language of the Delawares of New Sweden, translated by Peter S. Du Ponceau
  4p. Request Item
38. Peter S. DuPonceau.
A vocabulary of the language of the Massachusetts Indians... extracted from Eliot's grammar and from his translation of the Bible and New Testament
  2p. Request Item

Regarding efforts to learn Cherokee; recommending Daniel Butrick.

39. John Gambold.
ALS to Peter S. Du Ponceau
July 20, 1818 3p. Request Item

Complaining of white harassment of Cherokees to remove.

40. John Gambold.
ALS to Peter S. Du Ponceau
Dec. 16, 1818 3p. Request Item
41. Dan[iel] S. Butrick.
Conjugation of a verb in the Cherokee language
[Oct. 29, 1818] 4p. Request Item
42. Dan[iel] S. Butrick.
Remarks on the verbs of the Cherokee language; Sounds of the Cherokee
  2p. Request Item
43. Robert, Vicar general of Quebec.
ALS to Peter S. Du Ponceau
Aug. 8, 1818 3p. Request Item

Relaying information on contacts for Catholic missionaries among the Iroquois, Algonkian, Abnakis, and Micmac of Lower Canada.

44. [Benjamin Smith Barton].
Queries concerning the northern Indians
March 31, 1797 2p. Request Item
45. Gottlob Senseman.
Answers to Dr. Benjamin Smith Bartton's queries concerning the northern Indians, for David Zeisberger
[ca.1797] 3p. Request Item
46. Heckewelder, John Gottlieb Ernestus, 1743-1823. Zeisberger, David, 1721-1808.
Answers to Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton's queries on the Northern Indians
1797-1798 7p. Request Item
47. R[ichard] Kells.
ALS to William Short
May 25, 1784 1p. Request Item

Has engaged Mr. Gurley, a clergyman, to collect vocabulary for Jefferson among the Nottoway.

48. Geo[rge] Gurley.
ALS to Rich[ar]d Kells
May 15, 1784 1p. Request Item
49. [George Gurley].
Remarks on Indian names still to be found
[May 25, 1784] 2p. Request Item

Etymology of "Tuckahoe" and other Nottoway rods, tracing them to Arabic and Hebrew roots.



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