Peter Tamony Collection (C3939)
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C Peter Tamony Collection, 1890-1985 3939 877.6 linear feet, 14 audio discs, 89 audio tapes, 2 audio cassettes This collection is available at The State Historical Society of Missouri. If you would like more information, please contact us at [email protected]. INTRODUCTION The Peter Tamony Collection consists of correspondence, articles, research files, personal papers, audio tapes, and word files of the noted San Franciscan etymologist and neologist. The collection primarily relates to the study of American colloquial language and neologisms but also includes rare jazz journals and materials on sports. DONOR INFORMATION The Peter Tamony Collection was donated to the University of Missouri by his sister, Kathleen Tamony, on 8 April 1986 (Accession No. 4710). BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Peter Tamony was born to Irish immigrants in San Francisco on 9 October 1902. His interest in etymology began when he took a job at a downtown bank and noticed that many speech patterns and usages of his colleagues and clients differed from those he had learned growing up in the Mission District. Unable to participate in sports due to a bout with tuberculosis when he was 20, Tamony became an avid fan of baseball and college athletics through the sports pages. He took note of the vivid and unconventional language sports columnists used and started documenting their word usage as well as that of the people from other parts of San Francisco he came in contact with through his job. He then expanded his sources to include everything from books and magazines to matchbook covers, record jackets, early blues LPs, and posters. To support himself, he worked as a real estate broker and notary but his passion was collecting examples of words and phrases used in American speech. He was first published in American Speech in 1937 and two years later began writing a column, “The Origin of Words,” for the San Francisco Newsletter and Wasp. Many of his etymologies were cited in works by H.L. Mencken, Damon Runyon, and other etymologists and linguists. He often contributed to “Among the New Words,” a column in American Speech, and was consulted by editors of the Oxford English Dictionary, Dictionary of American Regional English, and Encyclopedia Britannica. In addition to his collecting Tamony was a jazz enthusiast and founded the Hot Music Society of San Francisco in 1939. The society hosted events by some of the most popular jazz artists of the era including Lu Watters, Bunk Johnson, and Turk Murphy. This interest in jazz is also evidenced by his large collection of jazz magazines and journals. Tamony died on 24 July 1985 leaving the second and third floors of the townhouse he shared with his sister filled with boxes, books, and magazines for his word files. SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE The Peter Tamony Collection consists of correspondence, articles, research files, personal papers, audio tapes, and word files which document Tamony’s lifelong interest in etymology, neology, jazz, and sports. The collection is arranged into twelve series: Correspondence, C3939 Peter Tamony Collection Page 2 Personal, Subject Files, Sports, Tad (Thomas A. Dorgan), Jazz, Lectures, CONTALK, Articles, Publications, Word Files, and Recordings. FOLDER LIST Correspondence Series The Correspondence series contains letters written to and from Tamony, arranged alphabetically by correspondent. The correspondence started in the late 1930s with the bulk from the 1950s through the 1970s. People, including noted linguists and etymologists, wrote to him asking for information on various words and phrases. Tamony replied with detailed explanations of word origins based on the information in his word files. The correspondence also covers such topics as jazz and the fight over renaming Candlestick Park. Correspondence with editors of several journals for whom Tamony consulted are also included in this series. Some correspondents include writer, H.L. Mencken, songwriters Pete Seeger and Richard Farina, and author, Thomas Pynchon. f. 1 Abrahams f. 2 Abrahams-Aero f. 3 Aldam-Algeo f. 4 Algeo f. 5 Allen-Aman f. 6 Aman f. 7-8 American f. 9 American-Ampex f. 10 Andersen-Ash f. 11 Ashley f. 12 Association-Barlow f. 13 Barrick f. 14 Bates-Bay f. 15 Bay f. 16 Belch-Blum f. 17 Bokelman-Bolinger f. 18-19 Bolinger f. 20 Bomgardner-Botkin f. 21 Botkin-Boyd f. 22 Bradford-Bridges f. 23 Brill-Bryant f. 24 Bubka-Bueschel f. 25-29 Bueschel f. 30 Bullard-Burchfield f. 31-35 Burchfield f. 36 Burg-Burke f. 37 Burley-Butters f. 38 Byrd-Caen f. 39 Caen-California C3939 Peter Tamony Collection Page 3 f. 40 California-Campa f. 41 Cannell-Cartoon f. 42 Case-Cassidy f. 43-44 Cassidy f. 45 Cassidy-Caylor f. 46 Chafetz-Charles f. 47 Chase-Christian f. 48 Claiborne-Cohen f. 49-55 Cohen f. 56 Collier’s-Columbia f. 57 Committee-Connelly f. 58 Cowley-Cutter f. 59 Dalton-Denisoff f. 60 Dery-Dickison f. 61 Dill-Doss f. 62 Down-Dyer f. 63 Eames-Eisner f. 64 Electric-Evans f. 65 Fairclough-Fiske f. 66 Flanagan-Foster f. 67 Frank-Friedman f. 68 Fry-Funk f. 69 G. & C. Merriam-Gates f. 70 Gannon-Garner f. 71-72 Garner f. 73 Geiger-Gleason f. 74-75 Gleason f. 76 Goethe-Goldstein f. 77 Goody-Goudette f. 78 Grady-Green f. 79-85 Green f. 86 Greenway-Guzzo f. 87 Haas-Hambly f. 88 Hambly-Hand f. 89-90 Hand f. 91 Hanley-Harder f. 92 Harper-Haviland f. 93 Hayakawa-Hayward f. 94 Heath-Hinton f. 95 Hoeptner-Holbrook f. 96 Holbrook-Hubbard f. 97 Hubbard-Hugo f. 98 Inner-Jabbour f. 99 Jackson-Johnston f. 100 Joint-Joyner f. 101 Joyner-Junior C3939 Peter Tamony Collection Page 4 f. 102 KPFA-KRON f. 103 Kahn f. 104 Kahn-Kelley f. 105 Kelley-Kelsey f. 106 Kelsey f. 107 Kelsey-Kinnaird f. 108 Kinnaird-Koester f. 109 Kray-Landau f. 110 Landers-Lanza f. 111-112 Lanza f. 113 Larson-Levy f. 114 Lee-Legman f. 115-116 Legman f. 117 Lenz-Lighter f. 118 Lighter-Logsdon f. 119 Logsdon-Lowry f. 120 Lowry-Lyon f. 121 McAndrews-McCabe f. 122 McCall-McDavid f. 123 McDevitt-MacGregor f. 124-126 McLain f. 127 McLain-McLuhan f. 128 Macalester-Maher f. 129 Makara-Marshall f. 130 Marshall-Martin f. 131 Martin-Maslin f. 132 Maslin-Maurer f. 133 Maurer f. 134 Means-Mencken f. 135 Meredith f. 136 Mereness-Metcalf f. 137 Miller-Mitchell f. 138-140 Moe f. 141 Mogar-Moxie f. 142 Mullaney-New f. 143 New f. 144 Nichols-O’Faircheallaigh f. 145 Olivier-Paluson f. 146 Papina-Partridge f. 147 Passman-Paulson f. 148 Pearce-Philo f. 149 Pickering-Power f. 150 Practicum-Pynchon f. 151 Quinn-Rawlings f. 152 Read f. 153 Read-Reuss C3939 Peter Tamony Collection Page 5 f. 154 Reynolds-Roche f. 155 Roehrick-Room f. 156-157 Rosenbaum f. 158 Rudnyvkyj-Russell f. 159-163 Russell f. 164 Safety-Safire f. 165 Safire f. 166 Saint-San Francisco f. 167-169 San Francisco f. 170 Schaeffer-Schroeder f. 171 Schroeder-Schuchat f. 172 Sebeok-Sharp f. 173 Shebl-Slovenko f. 174 Smit-Spann f. 175 Spencer-Stanford f. 176 Stanley-Stuart f. 177 Sullivan-Szwed f. 178 Tamony-Taylor f. 179 Taylor f. 180 Tenot-Timoney f. 181 Tobiason-Tomatis f. 182 Torti-Twombley f. 183 United-Utley f. 184 Van Dam-Watters f. 185 Weller-Whiting f. 186 Wight-Wilgus f. 187 Wilhoft-Winkleman f. 188 Wolf-Yawata f. 189-190 Unidentified Correspondents Personal Series The Personal series consists of biographical notes, photographs, publicity clippings, and a list of his record collection, which he donated to the John Edwards Memorial Foundation. Photographs of many jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong, Lu Watters, Charlie Byrd, and Bob Scobey are contained in this series, which is arranged alphabetically by topic. f. 191-193 Autobiographical Notes f. 194-195 Bibliography f. 196-198 Biographical Notes f. 199 Miscellaneous f. 200 Photographs, 1945 f. 201 Photographs, Jazz f. 202 Photographs, Miscellaneous f. 203 Photographs, Tamony f. 204-206 Publicity Clippings C3939 Peter Tamony Collection Page 6 f. 207-209 Record Collection Subject Files Series The Subject Files series is arranged alphabetically and contains information on various topics in which Tamony had an interest. These topics include Black English and jive, limericks, music, gambling, homosexuals, and profanity. Also included in this series are worksheets from the New Words Committee of Encyclopedia Britannica, records from the 24th Street Boosters, an organization led by Tamony in support of urban renewal in his neighborhood in the 1930s and 1940s, and notes from a class on linguistics taught by S.I. Hayakawa. In addition Tamony’s “Scrabble” game and an educational game on troublesome verbs and pronouns are part of this series. Other items in this series include class papers from Roger Abraham’s University of Texas course on linguistics from the early 1960s. The papers his students wrote concerned the jargon they used on campus, in the military, in the workplace, and as athletes. f. 210-213 24th Street Boosters, Correspondence f. 214 24th Street Boosters, Photographs and Miscellany f. 215-216 24th Street Boosters, Public Housing Publications f. 217-218 24th Street Boosters, Publicity Clippings f. 219-220d 24th Street Boosters, Scrapbooks f. 221 Abrahams Papers: Air Force Jargon f. 222 Abrahams Papers: Baseball Lingo f. 223 Abrahams Papers: Basic Guide to Campusology f. 224 Abrahams Papers: Bowling Jargon f. 225 Abrahams Papers: A Brief Examination of an Esoteric Folk f. 226 Abrahams Papers: Campus Slang f. 227 Abrahams Papers: College Lore f. 228 Abrahams Papers: Common Jargon and Weather Proverbs Used By Seamen f.