Guide to the Norman A. Mcquown Papers 1850-2004
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University of Chicago Library Guide to the Norman A. McQuown Papers 1850-2004 © 2018 University of Chicago Library Table of Contents Descriptive Summary 4 Information on Use 4 Access 4 Citation 5 Biographical Note 5 Scope Note 7 Related Resources 10 Subject Headings 11 INVENTORY 11 Series I: Personal and Biographical 11 Subseries 1: Biographical 11 Subseries 2: Correspondence 15 Subseries 3: General files 18 Subseries 4: Clippings, related publications, and personal card catalog 19 Series II: Correspondence and Subject files 23 Series III: Writing 248 Subseries 1: Writings, translations, and language notes 249 Subseries 2: Instructional Texts 295 Series IV: Research 309 Subseries 1: Archival Research 310 Subseries 2: Computing 313 Subseries 3: Central American Languages 325 Subseries 4: Mayan languages – projects and general resources 351 Subseries 5: Mayan languages – writings by others 356 Subseries 6: Turkish 375 Subseries 7: Card file boxes 379 Series V: Chiapas Projects 385 Subseries 1: Field work and research 386 Subseries 2: Correspondence 413 Subseries 3: Writing 420 Series VI: Teaching 458 Series VII: Manuel Andrade Papers 475 Subseries 1: Correspondence 475 Subseries 2: Writings 478 Subseries 3: Research and texts 482 Series VIII: Writings by Others 505 Series IX: Audiovisual 687 Subseries 1: Audio and video recordings 688 Subseries 2: Microfilm and microfiche 689 Subseries 3: Negatives and Photographs 689 Subseries 4: Slides 696 Subseries 5: Magnetic computer data tapes and floppy disks 732 Series X: Oversize 733 Series XI: Artifacts 781 Series XII: Interview Analysis projects 782 Subseries 1: Correspondence 783 Subseries 2: General files 784 Subseries 3: Natural History of an Interview Text 787 Subseries 4: Transcripts 790 Series XIII: Restricted 791 Subseries 1: Department of Anthropology records 792 Subseries 2: University Senate 792 Subseries 3: Professional recommendations, appointments, applications, and financial792 records Subseries 4: Grants 811 Subseries 5: Student work, student recommendations, and personal information814 Subseries 6: Teaching 835 Subseries 7: Oversize 839 Descriptive Summary Identifier ICU.SPCL.MCQUOWNN Title McQuown, Norman A., Papers Date 1850-2004 Size 452 linear feet (722 boxes) Repository Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A. Abstract Norman A. McQuown (1914-2005) was an anthropologist and linguist best known for his efforts to document and study indigenous languages in Mexico and Central America and for his work in the field of non-verbal communication. He studied, conducted field and archival research, taught, and wrote on a wide range of languages, including Huastec, Quiche Maya, Yucatec Maya, Nahuatl, Totonac, Turkish, Russian, and Esperanto. He published in English, Spanish, and German, was comfortable writing and conversing in a large number of additional languages, and wrote frequently on the process of language teaching and learning. McQuown spent nearly his entire career at the University of Chicago, with the exception of numerous visiting appointments at institutions in Europe and the Americas.This collection documents his research, writing, teaching, and administrative work and contains a small amount of personal material. It range in date from 1850-2004, with the bulk dating from roughly 1945-1975. Information on Use Access The collection is open for research, with the exception of Series XIII, which contains administrative, financial, personnel, and student information to which access is restricted. Subseries 1 contains departmental administrative records that are restricted for 30 years from the date of the record’s creation. Subseries 2 contains University Senate Council minutes that are restricted for 30 years from the end of the respective University President’s term. Subseries 3 and 4 contain material such as financial records, professional recommendations, and personnel information that is restricted for 50 years from the date of the record's creation. Subseries 5 and 6 contain student work and recommendations as well as miscellaneous personal information that is restricted for 80 years from the date of the record's creation. Subseries 7 contains oversize restricted material that is restricted for 50 or 80 years from the date of the record’s creation. 4 The audio recordings, microfilm, microfiche, magnetic computer tape, and video in Series IX do not contain access copies. Researchers should consult with staff before requesting this material. Citation When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: McQuown, Norman A., Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library Biographical Note Norman A. McQuown was a linguist and anthropologist specializing in the indigenous languages of Mexico and Central America. He spent nearly his entire career at the University of Chicago, where he was a professor with a dual appointment in the departments of anthropology and linguistics. Over the course of his career he studied, conducted field and archival research, taught, and wrote on a wide range of languages, including Huastec, Quiche Maya, Yucatec Maya, Nahuatl, Totonac, Turkish, Russian, and Esperanto. He published in English, Spanish, and German, was comfortable writing and conversing in a large number of additional languages, and wrote frequently on the process of language teaching and learning. Norman A. McQuown was born in Peoria, Illinois on January 30, 1914. Until roughly the time he received his doctorate his middle name generally appears as Anton on documents, but subsequently it consistently appears as Anthony. He received his AB in 1935 and MA in 1936, both in German, from the University of Illinois, where his MA thesis was “A Comparative Study of Esperanto from the Standpoint of Modern German.” He briefly attended Brown University from 1936-1937 and then went on to earn his PhD in linguistics from Yale University in 1940, where he studied under Edward Sapir and Leonard Bloomfield and wrote his thesis on the Totonac language. From 1939-1942 he taught in Mexico, first at the Instituto Politécnico Nacional and then at the Mexican National School of Anthropology. During this time he also worked on a Turkish Language project for the American Council of Learned Societies. McQuown continued in this area during the World War II years, where he served as a Turkish specialist and editorial supervisor for the Language Section of the Army Service Forces and co- edited the book Spoken Turkish. After teaching briefly at Hunter College in New York City from 1945-1946, McQuown came to the University of Chicago in 1946 and remained there for the rest of his career, spending time as chair of both the anthropology and linguistics departments. He held a number of visiting appointments at institutions such as the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences (1955-1956), Universidad Sevilla (1962-1963), Universidad Autónoma de México (1967-1968, 1982-1986), University of Buffalo (Summer 1971), and Universistät Hamburg (1971-1972). Throughout his career, teaching and creating resources to help others learn remained important to McQuown. He edited, compiled, or translated a significant number of instructional texts for language learning, including Konusulan Ingilizce (English for Turks, 1954), El Tzeltal Hablado 5 (1957-1958), Spoken Yucatec Maya (1965), Spoken Quiché Maya (1966), and Introducción al Náhuatl Clásico (1976). He edited and contributed to the Handbook of Middle American Indians, Volume 5, Linguistics (1967). In 1981, Stanford University Press published Language, Culture, and Education, edited by Anwar S. Dil, a collection of eighteen essays written by McQuown over the course of his career. As a researcher, McQuown was involved in several influential projects. The Man in Nature Project, funded by the National Science Foundation, took place from 1956-1959 in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. It involved faculty from archaeology, anthropology, botany, linguistics, and geography and aimed to conduct a multidisciplinary study of the region and its people. This was followed by the Chiapas Project (1960-1964), another multidisciplinary study in Chiapas that took a narrower focus by investigating the language and culture of specific Tzeltal and Tzotzil communities. It aimed to shed light on their origins and changes over time. In addition to numerous trips to Mexico and Guatemala to conduct field research for these and other projects, McQuown conducted archival research at libraries in Europe and the Americas and compiled catalogs of sources available on indigenous languages at various institutions. He was also an early user of computers to document and study languages, and he wrote frequently on the process of language learning and teaching. In addition to his work on indigenous languages, McQuown was a core contributor to The Natural History of an Interview, a project in which he and colleagues conducted an in-depth microanalysis of a personal interview and related family interactions, covering both verbal and nonverbal communication. The manuscript was never published in English, but project group members presented at conferences and made use of The Natural History of an Interview in their teaching, and their work in the area of nonverbal communication was considered particularly groundbreaking. McQuown was dedicated to preserving research and fieldwork, both his own and that of others. Upon arrival at Chicago, he inherited