I.1. Alexander M. Stephen (Vols. 1-30)
- Abstract Or Scope
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This numerically arranged subseries encompasses (30) volumes containing the notebooks of Alexander MacGregor Stephen (1850?-1894), who was a Scottish mining prospector trained in metallurgy at the University of Edinburgh. He came to the United States in 1861. After service in the American Civil War, he travelled to Keams Canyon, Arizona, where he made acquaintance with Tom Keam, the trader, and built relationships with many members of the Navajo tribe. Stephen learned to speak Navajo. Diné bizaad was also his first language among the Hopi. Stephen's language skills made him an invaluable guide for investigators of the Bureau of American Ethnology (Bureau) (1882-1894). The bulk of his notebooks comprise the period (1891-1894), when he systematically recorded the ceremonial and daily life of the Hopi on the First Mesa Reservation. Some of Stephen's accounts were published by the Bureau. Dr. Parsons asserted that one of the most important contributions of Stephen's journal is the picture it presents of the relations at this time and earlier between the Navajo and Hopi tribes. There are also a few references to the Native American Tewa and Hokya tribes.