John Peabody Harrington
Encyclopedia
John Peabody Harrington was an American linguist
and ethnologist and a specialist in the native peoples of California
. Harrington is noted for the massive volume of his documentary output, most of which has remained unpublished: the shelf space in the Library of Congress
dedicated to his work spans nearly seven hundred feet.
, Harrington moved to California as a child. From 1902 to 1905, Harrington studied anthropology
and classical languages at Stanford University
. While attending specialized classes at the University of California, Berkeley
, he met anthropologist Alfred L. Kroeber
. Harrington became intensely interested in Native American languages and ethnography
.
and Berlin, Harrington became a high school language teacher. For three years, he devoted his spare time to an intense examination of the few surviving Chumash people. His exhaustive work came to the attention of the Smithsonian Museum's Bureau of American Ethnology
. Harrington became a permanent field ethnologist for the bureau in 1915. He was to hold this position for 40 years, collecting and compiling several massive caches of raw data on native peoples, including the Chumash
, Mutsun, Rumsen
, Chochenyo
, Kiowa
, Chimariko
, Yokuts, Gabrielino, Salinan
, Yuma
and Mojave. Harrington also extended his work into traditional culture, particularly mythology and geography. His field collections include information on placenames and thousands of photographs. The massive collections were disorganized in the extreme, and contained not only linguist manuscripts and recordings, but objects and realia
of every stripe; a later archivist described how opening each box of his legacy was "an adventure in itself."
Harrington is virtually the only recorder of some languages, such as Obispeño (Northern) Chumash, Kitanemuk
, and Serrano
. He gathered more than 1 million pages of phonetic notations on languages spoken by tribes from Alaska to South America. When the technology became available, he supplemented his written record with audio recordings - many recently digitized - first using wax cylinders, then aluminum discs.http://thereporter.com/news/ci_8289386 He is credited with gathering some of the first recordings of native languages, rituals and songs and perfecting the phonetics
of several different languages. Harrington's attention to detail, both linguistic and cultural, is well-illustrated in "Tobacco among the Karuk Indians of California," one of his very few formally published works.
Harrington was married to Carobeth Laird
(née Tucker) from 1916-1923. They had one daughter, Awona Harrington.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
and ethnologist and a specialist in the native peoples of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Harrington is noted for the massive volume of his documentary output, most of which has remained unpublished: the shelf space in the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
dedicated to his work spans nearly seven hundred feet.
Early life and education
Born in Waltham, MassachusettsWaltham, Massachusetts
Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, was an early center for the labor movement, and major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, the city was a prototype for 19th century industrial city planning,...
, Harrington moved to California as a child. From 1902 to 1905, Harrington studied anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
and classical languages at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
. While attending specialized classes at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, he met anthropologist Alfred L. Kroeber
Alfred L. Kroeber
Alfred Louis Kroeber was an American anthropologist. He was the first professor appointed to the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, and played an integral role in the early days of its Museum of Anthropology, where he served as director from 1909 through...
. Harrington became intensely interested in Native American languages and ethnography
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
.
Linguistic legacy
Rather than completing his doctorate at the Universities of LeipzigUniversity of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
and Berlin, Harrington became a high school language teacher. For three years, he devoted his spare time to an intense examination of the few surviving Chumash people. His exhaustive work came to the attention of the Smithsonian Museum's Bureau of American Ethnology
Bureau of American Ethnology
The Bureau of American Ethnology was established in 1879 by an act of Congress for the purpose of transferring archives, records and materials relating to the Indians of North America from the Interior Department to the Smithsonian Institution...
. Harrington became a permanent field ethnologist for the bureau in 1915. He was to hold this position for 40 years, collecting and compiling several massive caches of raw data on native peoples, including the Chumash
Chumash
The Chumash are a Native American people who historically inhabited the central and southern coastal regions of California, in portions of what is now San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties, extending from Morro Bay in the north to Malibu in the south...
, Mutsun, Rumsen
Rumsen
Rumsen is one of eight language divisions of the Ohlone Native American people of Northern California...
, Chochenyo
Chochenyo
The Chochenyo are one of the divisions of the indigenous Ohlone people of Northern California...
, Kiowa
Kiowa
The Kiowa are a nation of American Indians and indigenous people of the Great Plains. They migrated from the northern plains to the southern plains in the late 17th century. In 1867, the Kiowa moved to a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma...
, Chimariko
Chimariko
The Chimariko were a Native American group living primarily in a narrow, 20-mile section of canyon on the Trinity River in Trinity County in northwestern California....
, Yokuts, Gabrielino, Salinan
Salinan
The Salinan Native Americans lived in what is now the Central Coast of California, in the Salinas Valley. Said to have gone extinct by the Census of 1930, the Salinan Native Americans survived and are now in the process of applying for tribal recognition from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.There...
, Yuma
Quechan
The Quechan are a Native American tribe who live on the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation on the lower Colorado River in Arizona and California just north of the border with Mexico...
and Mojave. Harrington also extended his work into traditional culture, particularly mythology and geography. His field collections include information on placenames and thousands of photographs. The massive collections were disorganized in the extreme, and contained not only linguist manuscripts and recordings, but objects and realia
Realia
Realia may refer to:* Realia * Realia * Realia...
of every stripe; a later archivist described how opening each box of his legacy was "an adventure in itself."
Harrington is virtually the only recorder of some languages, such as Obispeño (Northern) Chumash, Kitanemuk
Kitanemuk
The Kitanemuk were a Native American tribe and people who lived in the Tehachapi Mountains and the Antelope Valley area of the western Mojave Desert of southern California, United States.-Language:...
, and Serrano
Serrano
-People:* Serrano , a Native American tribe of Southern California** The Serrano language spoken by the Serrano people*Serrano , people with the surname Serrano-Places:*Serrano Intermediate School, in Lake Forest, CA...
. He gathered more than 1 million pages of phonetic notations on languages spoken by tribes from Alaska to South America. When the technology became available, he supplemented his written record with audio recordings - many recently digitized - first using wax cylinders, then aluminum discs.http://thereporter.com/news/ci_8289386 He is credited with gathering some of the first recordings of native languages, rituals and songs and perfecting the phonetics
Phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
of several different languages. Harrington's attention to detail, both linguistic and cultural, is well-illustrated in "Tobacco among the Karuk Indians of California," one of his very few formally published works.
Harrington was married to Carobeth Laird
Carobeth Laird
Carobeth Laird is known for her ethnographic studies of the Chemehuevi people of southeastern California and western Arizona. Her book, The Chemehuevi, was characterized by ethnographer Lowell John Bean as "one of the finest, most detailed ethnographies ever written".Carobeth Tucker was born in...
(née Tucker) from 1916-1923. They had one daughter, Awona Harrington.
See also
- Indigenous languages of California
- Traditional narratives (Native California)Traditional narratives (Native California)The Traditional Narratives of Native California are the legends, tales, and oral histories that survive as fragments of what was undoubtedly once a vast unwritten literature.-History of Studies:...
- Native American history of California
- Native Americans in California
- Survey of California and Other Indian LanguagesSurvey of California and Other Indian LanguagesThe Survey of California and Other Indian Languages at the University of California at Berkeley documents, catalogs, and archives the indigenous languages of the Americas...
External links
- J.P. Harrington Database Project
- Bibliography
- John Peabody Harrington: the clue to lost Native American languages: Mike Anton LA Times Staff Writer (archived)
- Keepers of Indigenous Ways: J.P. Harrington Biography
- "Reconstituting the Chumash: A Review Essay," Peter Nabokov, American Indian Quarterly, Vol. 13, No. 4, Special Issue: The California Indians. (Autumn, 1989), pp. 535-543.
- A Harrington Chronology
- John P. Harrington Papers 1907-1959 (some earlier)
- Los Angeles Times article and video about Harrington's research amongst the Chumash