From the Vault ~ Linguistics Led Him to the Classes of with His Latest Field Treasures
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an innovator. His Ph.D. thesis, an eth If you saw what we have been digging up you'd say, what a bunch of junk! But it's really a good nography of the Yuchi Indians of Okla historic record. homa (1908: University of Pennsyl Everybody thought that Abe and Ida had the money, had a lot of money. But I don't know what vania), became Vol. 1., No. 1. of the they found under their house, there's no tellin'. We didn't have anything but sugar hid under our Publications in Anthropology of the house. University Museum. As the principal Did any of the white folks eat chittlings or was that just black folks eat those? force in the Department of An Well, I never did know of no white through this country to eat 'em. But they do now. They go thropology at the University of Penn over to the restaurant and get a order 'em out. But I'll never eat any. sylvania as well as the founder of the Philadelphia Anthropological Society, Do you remember the china you had when you were down there? the associate editor of the American An I don't think we had none of that. thropologist for more than a decade, What did you eat off of? and vice-president of the American An We'd eat out of, we'd eat out of dishes. thropology Association for one year, Speck maintained a strong and continu You said that you had built many a cat tail chimney and I was wondering if maybe you could tell how you . ing influence on the discipline. He also It takes four hands, you know, you have to have two up there to catch them cats as you throw published articles in the Journal of Am them up there. erican Folklore and served for one year as president of the American Folklore How do you make cracklin' bread? Society. Well, now I don't like cracklin' bread. I never did. And I don't yet. Them that did like it, well they Speck was a prolific and enthusiastic just take this whole cracklin', you know, ... and they'd just throw them big old chunks in the meal collector of material "specimens" in the and stir it up, and put it in the skillets and cook it and just be big old gobs, so big, stickin' all over the field. The thousands of objects which he bread. Well now that's the way they liked it. brought back from research expeditions This house you're talking about, . .. how would they store the gold in there? were housed mainly in the University They had . .. big auger holes, . .. about two inches wide. And they put their gold in there and they Museum, but they also found their way had pegs made and they drove in behind this gold and they hung clothes on it just like it was clothes to a number of other museums in the hanging services, you see. United States and Canada and overseas. -excerpted from the Waverly and Bay Springs interviews Visitors to his University of Pennsyl vania office could expect to find the walls, the tables, and the floor covered ~ From the Vault ~ linguistics led him to the classes of with his latest field treasures. He also professor J. Dyneley Prince who re- had a reputation for pulling selected American Ethnologist Frank portedly was astonished to find a young living specimens (rare lizards or snakes) Gouldsmith Speck (1881-1950) student who could cite with authority from bags kept in dark corners beneath American Indian languages which were his desk, a gesture which was guaran- It is said that the influence of one not commonly known to be extant. teed to impress or profoundly startle adult on the life of an impressionable Speck and Prince eventually co- even the most somber and level-headed youngster can be the shaping force of authored three articles on Mohican and guest. that person's future career. Such was the He also had a reputation for pulling selected living specimens (rare lizards or case with the ethnologist, Frank Gould snakes) from bags kept in dark corners beneath his desk, a gesture which was smith Speck who, as a result of the years he spent with a vigorous non-conform guaranteed to impress or profoundly startle even the most somber and level ist, Mrs. F. A. Fielding, made a decision headed guest. to study the ways of life of the North Pequot-Mohegan. Prince sent Speck to But Frank Speck's professional life American Indian. As a child, Speck was Franz Boas, a significant introduction was devoted to more than an accumula sent away from the family horne in New which resulted in Boas' direction of tion of material objects. Throughout his York City because of poor health and he Speck's master's degree and in further studies of the Sioux, Omaha, Cherokee, was cared for by Mrs. Fielding, a family research and graduate work. and Iroquois Indians, he maintained a friend, in rural Connecticut. Fielding, an Throughout his life, Frank Speck was philosophical interest in the religious Indian widow, was one of the last native speakers of American Indian languages : I would like to become a Friend of the Archives for 1983 and help ensure the continued publication: in southern New England. She taught : of Resound. Enclosed is my check for: the young Speck Mohegan and showed ___ $100.00 (Sustaining Friend). I will choose a record from the Archives Ethnomusicological: him the value of living a life which was Series. close to nature. An herbalist, she intro duced Speck to many varieties of native ___ $15.00 (Supporting Friend). plants, and she helped him to initiate a ___ $7.50 (Student Friend). My institution is _________________ deep, life-long respect for all aspects of natural history. : Name When Speck entered Columbia Uni versity at the turn of the century, ' he : Address brought with him the talents which had developed during his stay with Mrs. : Please send this coupon and your check to Friends of the Archives, c/ o Indiana University Founda· : Fielding. His knowledge of comparative :.t~o.n: .P:?: ~?: .5?q,. ~1.O?'!lf~~t?~,. ~~ ~~~~2: ..................................... : 3 practices of the people he observed. The on cylinders in the Archives of Tradi Myths and Folk-lore of the Tirrziskaming songs, rituals, myths, and tales of North tional Music. George Herzog, director of Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa American Indians were to him an impor the Archives from 1948 to 1954, checked (1915) tant manifestation of a powerful indig over many of Sapir's transcriptions. A Decorative Art of the Indian Tribes of enous world view. It is fortunate that selection of Sapir-Herzog notated songs Connecticut (1915) this aspect of his ethnographic research from Speck cylinder recordings can be Bird Lore of the Northern Indians (1921) was not neglected, for Speck left behind found in a late publication, Penobscot Beothuk and Micmac (1922) a large number of cylinder recordings Man (1940). Detailed transcriptions The Nanticoke and Conoy Indians and acetate disc recordings of actual done completely by Herzog of Speck (1927) North American Indian tales and cere cylinder recordings may be found in The A Study of the Delaware Indian Big monial songs. At present the Indiana Tutelo Spirit Adoption Ceremony House Ceremony (1931) University Archives of Traditional 1942). Included in this volume is an Catawba Texts (1934) Music has in storage 182 original Speck article by Herzog, "Transcriptions and Naskapi, the Savage Hunters of the wax cylinder recordings, 57 original ten Analysis of Tutelo Music." Labrador Peninsula (1935) inch acetate discs, 71 original six inch Oklahoma Delaware Ceremonies, * Archives accession n urn bers acetate discs, and 44 aluminum disc Dances, and Feasts, Memoirs (1937) Pre' 54-023,029-030,082-084,107, copies of many of the acetate originals. * Penobscot Man, the Life History of a 141,205,212-F,60-018-F Some of the cylinders, including 67 Forest Tribe in Maine (1940) cylinders which were deposited in the REFERENCES Gourds of the Southeastern Indians Archives by the American Museum of Hallowell, Irving A. (1941) Natural History have been copied onto 1951 Frank Gouldsmith Speck, 1881- The Tutelo Spirit Adoption Ceremony, Archives tapes, and may be heard in the 1950. American Anthropologist Reclothing the Living in the Spirit Archives Listening Library, 221 Maxwell 53:67-87. of the Dead (1942) Hall. Witthoft, John The Iroquois, a Study in Cultural Ev olu Through the help of Jacob Sapir, the 1974 Frank Gouldsmith Speck. In tion (1945 ) father of the anthropologist Edward Dictionary of American Biography, Midwinter Rites of the Cayuga Long Sapir, many of the melodies which supplement IV, pp. 761-763. House (1949) Speck recorded were transcribed. An MAJOR PUBLICATIONS Rituals and Night Dances of the Eastern early monograph, Ceremonial Songs of BY FRANK GOULDSMITH SPECK Cherokee (1950) the Creek and Yuchi (1911) contains Ceremonial Songs of the Creek and many of the songs which are preserved Yuchi Indians (1911) Nancy Cassell, Archives staff Archives of Traditional Music Non Profit Org. Maxwell Hall 057 Bulk Rate US Postage Paid Indiana University Permit No.2 Bloomington, IN 47405 Bloomington, Ind. Prof. Ronald R . An th ropo 1OQ ' • Sml th Johns Hopk i~s D~p~ ~tme ~ t Baltimore, MD ~;~f~Sl ty .