4078814Pliny Earle Goddard American Indian notebooks 4078814Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Butler Library, 6th FloorColumbia University, Mail Code 1127535 W. 114th St.New York, NY 10027Business Number: (212) 854-5153Fax Number: (212) 854-1365rbml@libraries.cul.columbia.eduURL:

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This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2025-08-07 20:20:24 -0400.Description is written in: English, Latin script.Describing Archives: A Content Standard2013-01-08xml document instance created by Carrie Hintz2019-05-20EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration. Rare Book and Manuscript Library Pliny Earle Goddard American Indian notebooks Goddard, Pliny Earle, 1869-1928 Sapir, Edward, 1884-1939 4078814 MS#0492 English , Navajo; Navaho , Athapascan languages . /repositories/2/resources/4877 2 linear feet 33 notebooks in 4 half-manuscript boxes 1901-1929 Arrangement

Arranged.

Restrictions on Access

This collection is located on-site.

Scope and Content

Thirty-three notebooks containing transcriptions of Native American texts by Pliny Earle Goddard, and some English translations. While some of the material is of a primarily linguistic nature, much is folkloric in nature. The collection contains eleven notebooks of Mescalero Apache texts; three notebooks of Pomo, Maple Creek, and Mad River tribes and four of the Coquille, Chasta Costa, and Tututni languages (Native American tribes from the Pacific Coast); five notebooks of Navajo texts; and ten notebooks of Sarsi texts. It also includes 23 pages of notes on Chasta Costa attributed to Edward Sapir.

Preferred Citation

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Pliny Earle Goddard American Indian notebooks; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession number--M-59.

Biographical / Historical

Anthropologist. Goddard held several curatorial positions with the American Museum of Natural History from 1909 to 1928. In 1914 he became Curator of Ethnology and from 1915 to 1928 he was a Lecturer in Anthropology at Columbia University. A remembrance in the American Anthropologist (https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1525/aa.1929.31.1.02a00020, Vol. 31, No. 1, January-March 1929) includes a bibliography.

Processing Information

Cataloged Christina Hilton Fenn 06/--/89.

Processing Information

Notebooks were individually housed in four-flap enclosures by conservation. The collection was rehoused into four half-manuscript boxes. kws 2022-08-12

Processing Information

Numbers and series were assigned based on information written on the notebook covers by Kevin Schlottmann in August 2022. This information may be subject to change based on future expert review of the notebooks.

Existence and Location of Copies

Materials have been digitized. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.

Related Materials

Additional field notebooks from Goddard are found in the Melville Jacobs papers at the University of Washington (https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv95437#dscID), specifically three Galice Athabaskan notebooks and four Lassik Athabaskan notebooks.

Related Materials

Additional field notebooks from Goddard are found in the American Council of Learned Societies Committee on Native American Languages at the American Philosophical Society: https://search.amphilsoc.org/collections/view?docId=ead/Mss.497.3.B63c-ead.xml

Mescalero Indians -- Folklore Mescalero language -- Texts Navajo Indians -- Folklore Navajo language -- Texts Sarsi Indians -- Folklore Sarsi language -- Texts Indians of North America -- Languages -- Translations into English Indians of North America -- Folklore Linguistics -- United States Ethnology Anthropology American Museum of Natural History -- Employees Columbia University -- Employees Series I: Mescalero/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453627Mescalero 1/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453628191711General

Digital identifier: cul:fqz612jnwm

Mescalero 2/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453629190612General

Digital identifier: cul:pc866t1hm4

Mescalero 3/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453630190913General

Digital identifier: cul:xwdbrv1732

Mescalero 4/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453631190914General

Digital identifier: cul:79cnp5hrwv

Mescalero 5/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453632190915General

Digital identifier: cul:83bk3j9n18

Mescalero 6/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453633190816General

Digital identifier: cul:4xgxd255vc

Mescalero 7/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453634190617General

Digital identifier: cul:00000001mp

Mescalero 8/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453635190618General

Digital identifier: cul:73n5tb2sx9

Mescalero 9/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453636190619General

Digital identifier: cul:2jm63xskqc

Mescalero 10/repositories/2/archival_objects/14536371906210General

Digital identifier: cul:qz612jm7rg

Mescalero 11/repositories/2/archival_objects/14536381906211General

Digital identifier: cul:pk0p2nggn3

Mescalero 12/repositories/2/archival_objects/14536391901212General

Digital identifier: cul:0zpc866vp2

Series II: California / Northwest/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453640Maple Creek/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453641213General

Digital identifier: cul:dr7sqv9ts0

Mad River/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453642214General

Digital identifier: cul:gxd2547fvp

Scope and Contents

Based on evidence internal to the item (handwriting, attribution on cover), this notebook is most likely by Alfred L. Kroeber.

Coquille 1/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453643215General

Digital identifier: cul:wstqjq2f3v

Coquille 2/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453644216General

Digital identifier: cul:7pvmcvdqkr

Chasta Costa/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453645217General

Digital identifier: cul:j3tx95x8jz

Chasta Costa - Edward Sapir notes/repositories/2/archival_objects/1460307234Scope and Contents

In September 2022, 23 pages of notes attributed to Edward Sapir were discovered tucked into the back of Goddard's Chasta Costa notebook. These were removed, placed in a separate folder, and assigned item number 34 in the collection

General

Digital identifier: cul:x95x69pbq6

Tututni/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453646218General

Digital identifier: cul:9zw3r22b8r

Series III: Navajo/repositories/2/archival_objects/14536471923-1925Existence and Location of Copies

Published in Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, vol. 34, pt. 1, pp. 1-179, 1933. Digital version of published text: https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/231. Per the introduction of the published text, "The Navajo texts were collected in 1923 and 1924 by Doctor Pliny Earle Goddard [...] Doctor Goddard had recorded the texts at the dictation of Sandoval, a Navajo, learned in his lore, but not a medicineman."

Scope and Contents

The page order for these notebooks is not always clear, as they are not paginated. If upon consulting a digital copy the page order seems unclear or incorrect, please contact rbml@columbia.edu to request a review of the physical item.

Navajo 1/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453648219General

Digital identifier: cul:08kprr50sr

Navajo 2/repositories/2/archival_objects/14536491923320General

Digital identifier: cul:9zw3r22bcg

Navajo 3/repositories/2/archival_objects/14536501924-1925321General

Digital identifier: cul:8kprr4xk8n

Navajo 4/repositories/2/archival_objects/14536511924322General

Digital identifier: cul:3bk3j9kgj4

Navajo 5/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453652323General

Digital identifier: cul:s1rn8pk2zd

Series IV: Sarsi/repositories/2/archival_objects/14536531905-1911Scope and Contents

Published in University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, vol. 11, pp. 189-277, 1915. Digital version of published text: https://archive.org/details/universityof11univ/page/188/mode/2up. Per the introduction of the published text, "The texts here presented were collected during the summer of 1905. [...] The larger number of these texts were revised in 1911 with the aid of Charlie Crowchief, who was the interpreter used in obtaining them originally. [...] The main informant was Eagle-ribs, a man then about 65 years old. As he says in one of his narratives, he ranked as a chief according to the old order."

Sarsi 1/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453654324General

Digital identifier: cul:9w0vt4bb9g

Sarsi 2/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453655325General

Digital identifier: cul:zgmsbcc48x

Sarsi 3/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453656426General

Digital identifier: cul:9kd51c5cs4

Sarsi 4/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453657427General

Digital identifier: cul:zpc866t39f

Sarsi 5/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453658428General

Digital identifier: cul:p5hqbzkjxz

Sarsi 6/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453659429General

Digital identifier: cul:79cnp5hs5h

Sarsi 7/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453660430General

Digital identifier: cul:7h44j0zr77

Sarsi 8/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453661431General

Digital identifier: cul:8w9ghx3hct

Sarsi 9/repositories/2/archival_objects/1453662432General

Digital identifier: cul:m0cfxpnxs5

Sarsi 10/repositories/2/archival_objects/14536631911433General

Digital identifier: cul:zw3r2282cg