Anthropology, History, and American Indians - Smithsonian

372 Pages·2006·17.47 MB·English

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Anthropology, History,
and American Indians:
Essays in Honor of
William Curtis Sturtevant
WILLIAM L. MERRILL
and
IVES GODDARD
EDITORS
SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY • NUMBER 44
SERIES PUBLICATIONS OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
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commencing with Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge in 1848 and continuing with the
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Lawrence M. Small
Secretary
Smithsonian Institution
SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY • NUMBER 44
Anthropology, History,
and American Indians:
Essays in Honor of
William Curtis Sturtevant
William L. Merrill and Ives Goddard
EDITORS
Smithsonian Institution Press
Washington, D.C.
2002
ABSTRACT
Merrill, William L., and Ives Goddard, editors. Anthropology, History, and American Indi
ans: Essays in Honor of William Curtis Sturtevant. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropol
ogy, number 44, 357 pages, frontispiece, 86 figures, 13 tables, 2002.—This collection of 31
essays and one bibliographic compilation is presented as a festschrift for William Curtis Sturte
vant. Since 1956 a research anthropologist, and, since 1965, a museum curator, at the Smith
sonian Institution in Washington, D.C, Sturtevant is one of the world's leading scholars of the
cultures, languages, and histories of the indigenous peoples of the New World. Over the course
of his career, he has also served as general editor of the Handbook of North American Indians,
president of four of anthropology's major professional organizations, university professor, con
sultant, and public lecturer. He has contributed in myriad ways to the development of contem
porary anthropology and to the research endeavors of scores of anthropologists and scholars in
many other disciplines.
The volume is organized into six sections. The first begins with recollections of Sturtevant's
childhood and early adulthood by his younger sister, Harriet Sturtevant Shapiro, followed by
an overview of his professional career and a compilation of his writings from 1952 through
2001. The second section offers a range of perspectives on the history of anthropological and
historical research on themes related to Native Americans, and the third examines the transfor
mations that have occurred in their lives and circumstances from the time of European contact
to today. The fourth section considers the relationship of anthropological collections and repos
itories to the development of the field and the shifting significance of museums, archives, and
universities as the settings where anthropological research has traditionally been conducted.
The fifth section presents the results of a series of research projects focused on museum and
archival collections, and the sixth explores the complex interconnections between the cultural
and natural worlds.
The essays provide an indication of the variety of topics and approaches represented in
North Americanist studies at the turn of the twenty-first century. Together they address issues
central to current scholarly debate: the political implications of cross-cultural research; the
transcending of traditional disciplinary boundaries; the impact of colonialist and post-colonial
ist projects on native peoples and their responses to these projects; the relevance of anthropo
logical repositories and collections to research; and the linkages among material and
nonmaterial dimensions of human existence. Reflecting the scope of Sturtevant's own
research, they stand as testimony to his intellectual breadth and to the extent of his influence
on contemporary scholarship.
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION DATE is handstamped in a limited number of initial copies and is
recorded in the Institution's annual report, Annals of the Smithsonian Institution.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Anthropology, history, and American Indians: essays in honor of William Curtis
Sturtevant / William L. Merrill and Ives Goddard.
p. cm. — (Smithsonian contributions to anthropology ; no. 44)
Includes bibliographic references.
1. Anthropology—History. 2. Anthropologists—History. 3. Indians—History. 4.
Ethnological museums and collections—History. 5. Sturtevant, William C. I. Sturtevant,
William C. II. Merrill, William L. III. Goddard, Ives, 1941-IV. Series.
GN27 .A672 2002
301'.09—dc21 2001042020
© The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48—1984.
Contents
Page
Preface viii
I. William Curtis Sturtevant 1
Sibling Review
Harriet Sturtevant Shapiro 3
William Curtis Sturtevant, Anthropologist
William L. Merrill 11
The Writings of William C. Sturtevant
Compiled by William L. Merrill 37
II. Anthropologists, Historians, and American Indians 45
Sleepwalking Through the History of Anthropology: Anthropologists on Home
Ground
Laura Nader 47
Charlatan, Scientist, or Poet? Frank Hamilton Cushing's Search for a Language of
Experiential Knowledge
Curtis M. Hinsley 55
George A. Dorsey and the Development of Plains Indian Anthropology
Raymond J. DeMallie and Douglas R. Parks 59
American Indian Migrations: A Neglected Dimension of Paleodemography
Dean R. Snow 75
From Ethnohistory to Anthropological History
Shepard Krech III 85
Editing a Cambridge History in a Postmodern Context
Bruce G. Trigger 95
A Historian Among the Anthropologists
Wilcomb E. Washburn 105
III. Worlds Transformed 111
"A Very Great Harvest of Souls": Timucua Indians and the Impact of European
Colonization
Jerald T. Milanich 113
The Interstices of Literacy: Books and Writings and Their Use in Native American
Southern New England
Kathleen J. Bragdon 121
From Manifest Destiny to the Melting Pot: The Life and Times of Charlotte Mitchell,
Wampanoag
William S. Simmons 131
Indian Imagery and the Development of Tourism in the Southwest
JoAllyn Archambault 139
Hawaiian Art: From Sacred Symbol to Tourist Icon to Ethnic Identity Marker
Adrienne L. Kaeppler 147
The Neets'aii Gwich'in in the Twentieth Century
Jack Campisi 161
in
iv SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY
IV. Anthropology Evolving 171
Classifying North American Indian Languages before 1850
Elisabeth Tooker 173
Origins of Museum Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution and Beyond
William W. Fitzhugh 179
Collections as Currency
Jane MacLaren Walsh 201
The Creation of Anthropological Archives: A California Case Study
Ira Jacknis 211
Starring the Anthropologists in the American Men of Science
David J. Meltzer 221
V. Collections in Anthropological Research 239
At the Cutting Edge: Patchwork and the Process of Artistic Innovation
Sally Price 241
European Motifs in Protohistoric Iroquois Art
Edmund Carpenter 255
Quilled Knife Cases from Northeastern North America
Christian F. Feest 263
Pabookowaih Unmasked
William N. Fenton and Donald B. Smith 279
The Linguistic Writings of Alfred Kiyana on Fox (Meskwaki)
Ives Goddard 285
The Munich Chukchi Collection
Jean-Loup Rousselot 295
VI. Nature in Culture 303
Totemism Reconsidered
Raymond D. Fogelson and Robert A. Brightman 305
Coyote, Acorns, Salmon, and Quartz: Verse Analysis of a Karok Myth
DellHymes 315
The Distribution and Habits of the Ringed Seal and Central Eskimo Settlement Patterns
David Damas 325
Species Transformations in Northern Mexico: Explorations in Raramuri Zoology
William L. Merrill 333
Quenching Homologous Thirsts
Sidney W. Mintz 349
FIGURES
Frontispiece x
Sibling Review, Harriet Sturtevant Shapiro
Figure 1.—Passport photograph of the Sturtevant family, 1932 4
Figure 2.—Harriet, Bill, and Fritz Sturtevant in Newcastle, England, 1933 5
Figure 3.—Fritz, Harriet, and Bill Sturtevant in Pasadena, California, ca. 1936 6
Figure 4.—Bill Sturtevant photographed in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, ca. 1938... 6
Figure 5.—Bill Sturtevant in his room in Pasadena, California, 1945 7
Figure 6.—Bill Sturtevant at his desk, Pasadena, California, 1945 8
Figure 7.—The Sturtevant family at lunch in Pasadena, California, 1945 8
Figure 8.—Bill Sturtevant in the Navy, 1945 10
NUMBER 44
William Curtis Sturtevant, Anthropologist, William L. Merrill
Figure 1.—Mrs. Charley Cypress demonstrating grating of coontie (Zamia) roots,
Big Cypress Reservation, 1957 15
Figure 2.—William Sturtevant with Solon Jones, New York, 1957 15
Figure 3.—Josie Billie and William Sturtevant, Big Cypress Reservation, 1959 16
Figure 4.—William Sturtevant in his Bureau of American Ethnology office, 1965 ... 20
Figure 5.—The staffs of the Bureau of American Ethnology and the River Basin
Survey, 1965 23
Figure 6.—William Sturtevant collecting botanical specimens, Kashmir, 1968 26
Figure 7.—William Sturtevant in the Department of Anthropology, 1980 28
Figure 8.—William Sturtevant with Claude Levi-Strauss, Paris, 1981 29
Figure 9.—William Sturtevant in the offices of the Handbook of North American
Indians, 1985 31
George A. Dorsey and the Development of Plains Indian Anthropology, Raymond J.
DeMallie and Douglas R. Parks
Figure 1.—Ayer Hall, Field Columbian Museum, 1894 61
Figure 2.—Cleaver Warden, Washington, D.C, 1895 63
Figure 3.—Richard Davis, Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, 1904 65
Figure 4.—George A. Dorsey, William Jones, and James R. Murie, 1907 68
American Indian Migrations: A Neglected Dimension of Paleodemography, Dean R.
Snow
Figure 1.—Distribution of home territories of eastern North American societies .... 79
Figure 2.—Distribution of home territories of Northern Iroquoian societies 80
"A Very Great Harvest of Souls": Timucua Indians and the Impact of European
Colonization, Jerald T. Milanich
Figure 1.—The region of the Timucua 114
Figure 2.—Timucuan chiefdoms in the sixteenth century 115
The Interstices of Literacy: Books and Writings and Their Use in Native American
Southern New England, Kathleen J. Bragdon
Figure 1.—An artist's rendering of pictographs on Dighton Rock 122
Figure 2.—Conveyance, Martha's Vineyard, 1706 125
Figure 3.—Verso of New Testament title page, Massachusett Bible, Nantucket 126
Hawaiian Art: From Sacred Symbol to Tourist Icon to Ethnic Identity Marker,
Adrienne L. Kaeppler
Figure 1.—Feathered cloak of Kalani'opu'u 149
Figure 2.—Feathered cloak with circle design 149
Figure 3.—Pahu drum with crescent design 150
Figure 4.—Feathered cape with crescent design 151
Figure 5.—Replicas of feathered cloaks worn by the Royal Court during Aloha
Week, Hawaiian Village, Ala Moana Park, ca. 1947 152
Figure 6.—Funeral of Prince Albert Kuniakea in front of Tolani Palace, 1903 152
Figure 7.—Hawaii Visitors Bureau sign, 1990 153
Figure 8.—Kodak Hula Show, ca. 1961 154
Figure 9.—Menu cover based on a mural painting by Eugene Savage 155
Figure 10.—Menu cover by Frank Mcintosh 155
Figure 11.—Performance by the Zuttermeister Hula Studio, Merrie Monarch Fes
tival, 1990 156
vi SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY
Figure 12.—Postcard of a pageant presented at the Mid-Pacific Carnival, ca. 1910 ... 157
Figure 13.—Three generations of Hawaiian dancers, Washington, D.C, 1984 158
The Neets'aii Gwich'in in the Twentieth Century, Jack Campisi
Figure 1.—Neets'aii Gwich'in territory 162
Origins of Museum Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution and Beyond, William
W. Fitzhugh
Figure 1.—Spencer F. Baird 181
Figure 2.—Robert Kennicott 187
Figure 3.—Extract from Kennicott's field ledger 188
Figure 4.—Caribou hide tunic 189
Figure 5.—Flag of the Western Union "Scientific Corps" 190
Figure 6.—"Kegiktowruk in the Fall" 191
Figure 7.—Edward W. Nelson on one of his trips up the Yukon River, ca. 1880.... 192
Figure 8.—"Native village [Gambell] on SW. Point of St Lawrence Is. Copied from
sketch by J[ohn] Muir, Summer 1881" 193
Figure 9.—Ingaliks from Lower Yukon, 1880 193
Figure 10.—Norton Sound kayak hunting photographed by Edward W. Nelson and
hunting visor collected from this hunter 194
At the Cutting Edge: Patchwork and the Process of Artistic Innovation, Sally Price
Figure 1.—Flow chart constructed by Donna Kathleen Abbas and William C.
Sturtevant, 1969 242
Figure 2.—A Dutch explorer with his Saramaka guides, 1908 244
Figure 3.—Detail of cloth collected in the 1890s 245
Figure 4.—Saramaka cape, sewn between 1900 and 1910 246
Figure 5.—Bits-and-pieces cape, sewn between 1920 and 1940 247
Figure 6.—Saramaka cape, probably sewn in the 1960s or early 1970s 248
Figure 7.—Cape with cross-stitch embroidery, sewn between 1960 and 1965 249
Figure 8.—Cape and breechcloth with cross-stitch embroidery, sewn in the 1970s... 250
Figure 9.—Top of two-piece calabash container 251
Figure 10.—Saramaka calabash bowl, 1970s 251
European Motifs in Protohistoric Iroquois Art, Edmund Carpenter
Figure 1.—Two antler figurines 256
Figure 2.—Mezzotint Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow, King of the Maquas (Mohawks),
London, 1710 257
Figure 3.—Effigy comb of antler 258
Figure 4.—Petroglyph at Esopus Landing, New York 259
Figure 5.—Effigy comb of antler, horse, and rider 259
Figure 6.—European white clay pipe 259
Figure 7.—Cast-iron handle with pewter shaft 260
Quilled Knife Cases from Northeastern North America, Christian F. Feest
Figure 1.—"An Indian dress'd for war with a scalp," 1759 265
Figure 2.—Chief Oshkosh wearing a double knife case 267
Figure 3.—"Bad Hail, Chief of the Sioux nation Minnesota Territory October
1852" 268
NUMBER 44 vii
Figure 4.—Knife case with decoration of woven and applique quillwork and
moosehair 270
Figure 5.—Knife case with porcupine quill embroidery on birch-bark reinforce
ment 270
Figure 6.—Knife case with two-lane quill-wrapped panel and "zipper" edging in
white glass beads 270
Figure 7.—Knife and knife case with applique quillwork 272
Figure 8.—Single knife case with applique quillwork 272
Figure 9.—Single knife case with asymmetrical applique quillwork 273
Figure 10.—Belt-worn knife case with moosehair embroidery and porcupine quill
applique 273
Pabookowaih Unmasked, William N. Fenton and Donald B. Smith
Figure 1.—Full-face, profile, and back views of the mask at Blantyre, Scotland
280-281
Figure 2.—Two comparable Munsee (Delaware) masks 282
Figure 3.—Pabookowaih of Rev. Peter Jones, after the original 283
The Munich Chukchi Collection, Jean-Loup Rousselot
Figure 1.—Two reindeer toys 297
Figure 2.—Fire board 298
Figure 3.—Fish lure with rod to attract fish 299
Figure 4.—Leather pouch to carry human urine 299
Figure 5.—Needle case with thimble holder 299
Figure 6.—A cook at work at a Chukchi camp 300
The Distribution and Habits of the Ringed Seal and Central Eskimo Settlement
Patterns, David Damas
Figure 1.—Central Eskimo utilization of the ringed seal 326
Preface
Of all its major figures, North Americanist anthropology today is perhaps most closely
identified with William Curtis Sturtevant. The last North Americanist hired by the Smith
sonian Institution's Bureau of American Ethnology—long the center of North American
Indian studies in the world—Sturtevant has provided continuity and leadership in a field
that has undergone radical changes in the decades since he began contributing to it.
Through his research and writings, his editorship of the Handbook of North American In
dians, and his participation in professional societies and conferences, he has been a guid
ing force in the development of North Americanist anthropology, both in the United States
and abroad. Few North Americanists have failed to have at least passing contact with him,
and most can recount occasions on which his willingness to share his knowledge and in
sights has been of enormous benefit to them and their research. His lifelong fascination
with and respect for the native peoples of the Americas, his unwavering commitment to
North American Indian studies and to anthropology in general, and the quality of his work
have inspired several generations of North Americanists and have set the standard against
which they have measured their own careers.
This volume is intended to recognize William Sturtevant's contributions to North Amer
icanist research and to the field of anthropology as a whole. The authors of these essays—
representing at least five generations of Americanist scholars—have all been influenced in
one fashion or another by Sturtevant, and most are linked to him in multiple ways, as
former professors or students, as collaborators on research projects, as Smithsonian col
leagues, or as interlocutors at professional conferences. All are leading scholars in their
own right who have made, and continue to make, substantive contributions to scholarship.
The essays prepared for this volume necessarily reflect only certain aspects of their con
tributors' work, but together they suggest the range of topics that have been of concern to
Americanists over the past half century and the different approaches that have been adopt
ed to explore them. The essays also reveal the breadth of Sturtevant's interests and the im
pact he has had on the field.
We have grouped the essays into six general sections. The first section provides an over
view of Sturtevant's development as a scholar and an assessment of his contribution to an
thropology and other disciplines. The second treats the history of anthropological and his
torical research among North American Indians, with particular emphasis on the political
factors that have affected this research and the presentation of its results. The consequenc
es of European colonialism and the responses of native people to the profound changes
that have taken place in their worlds over the past five centuries is the subject of the third
section. The fourth section deals with the development of anthropological research collec
tions and repositories and the evolving roles that they and the scholars associated with
them have played in the anthropological endeavor. The value of these collections to an
thropology and the challenges facing collections-based research is demonstrated in the
fifth section. The final section explores the complex linkages between cultural and natural
worlds as exemplified through case studies from various parts of North America as well as
Europe.
This particular organization should not obscure the fact that the essays presented in one
section of the volume often are linked to the themes of others. Also, the essays contribute
to the development of a number of additional topics not explicitly recognized in this organ
ization. These include the history of anthropology in general and its relationship to other
disciplines, particularly history and the natural sciences; American Indian linguistics and
literacy; the connections between material and nonmaterial dimensions of culture; ethno-
vin