Legacy Materials

[Robert Leopold]

The National Anthropological Archives has thousands of texts, narratives,
dictionaries, grammars, word lists, sound recordings and moving images that
document the indigenous languages of the world, with an emphasis on the
languages of North America. The NAA's collection began as the archives of
the Smithsonian's Bureau of American Ethnology in 1879, but many items are
considerably older. Among the most significant collections are those of John
Peabody Harrington, comprising more than 500,000 pages of linguistic and
ethnographic fieldnotes as well as 1,300 sound recordings of Native American
myths, legends, stories and songs. Our archives collects and preserves
anthropological and linguistic materials in all media and works closely with
native communities involved in language preservation and revitalization
projects. Our most recent collaborations, as well as our online catalog and
collection guides, are available here: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/naa/
 
Another source of information on legacy materials is our Guide to
Anthropological Fieldnotes and Manuscripts in Archival Repositories:
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/naa/other_archives.htm
 
Robert Leopold
Director, National Anthropological Archives
Smithsonian Institution
leopold at si.edu
301.238.1311