Ofo

[R. Rankin]

> Thank you for mentioning the wonderful new Southeast volume, with the
previously unpublished photo of Rosa Pierrite.  When you taught us in Kansas, I
remember you giving us a xerox of the "Aunt Jemimah" picture, but I had
forgotten where that was from (I can no longer find it in my papers).  So I am
glad a better picture was published, because the Swanton one was the only one I
knew.

Me too.  The original was in one of the John R. Swanton survey volumes.  It was
either his Indian Tribes of the US or his Southeastern tribes book.  Both
volumes are at the office and I don't remember which one it's in.  I didn't know
there were any other photos of Mrs. Pierrite in existence.  We owe a great debt
to her and to Swanton.

BTW there is a short novel entitled "The Last Ofo" by an Indian writer from the
U. of Oklahoma (not an Ofo descendent).  When I heard of it, I bought a copy.
It's an interesting read -- an avowed work of fiction -- about the last Ofo, a
man with the surname Darko in this account, who grew up in Louisiana and who,
near the end of his life, worked with some rather unpleasant Smithsonian
anthropologists documenting his language.  List members with an interest in Ofo
and Biloxi might want to pick it up.  I got a used copy from Amazon.

> I have, of course, a very special fondness for Rosa Pierrite, since I whupped
> up "Grassmann's Law in Ofo", my first ever publication, ultimately thanks to
> her.

Willem also did the chapters on the Biloxi and Ofo languages for the Handbook
volume, although they didn't allot him enough space to do his knowledge justice.

> Do you have your Ofo vocabulary with corrected spellings in sharable form?  I
> would love to have a copy of that.

It's not in the latest version, but I can get one out later this week.

Bob