This subseries of the Alaska/Northwest Coast series contains Harrington's Northern Athapascan research. This section comprises a comparative vocabulary, a comparative dictionary, and other miscellaneous linguistic material, with widely scattered ethnographic information. It combines some secondary source data with original notes which were compiled for the most part during a fieldtrip Harrington made with Robert W. Young to Alberta and British Columbia from October through early December 1939. The two men had corresponded extensively regarding Navajo in 1936 to 1938 and subsequently decided to determine its provenience through the study of languages closely related in vocabulary and construction at the northernmost end of what Harrington termed' 'the chicken-wishbone of Athapascan languages." The northern Athapascan languages for which they obtained data were Sarsi (Sarcee, Sar.), Cold Lake Chipewyan (Cl., Clchip.), Beaver, Carrier (Car.), Babine (Babin), and Sekani (Sekeney, Sek., Sikny, Sik.). They also elicited a short vocabulary in Cree from bilingual speakers, obtained during Harrington's survey of neighboring Canadian languages. The amount of comparative data was increased by the addition of original notes from the earlier work on Navajo and later (1940) work on Tlingit, Eyak, and Upper Umpqua. Harrington may have made these last additions as late as August of 1941 as suggested by the reference "Wn. Aug. 41." The Tlingit notes were subsequently removed to a separate section.
John Peabody Harrington papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
The preferred citation for the Harrington Papers will reference the actual location within the collection, i.e. Box 172, Alaska/Northwest Coast, Papers of John Peabody Harrington, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
However, as the NAA understands the need to cite phrases or vocabulary on specific pages, a citation referencing the microfilmed papers is acceptable. Please note that the page numbering of the PDF version of the Harrington microfilm does not directly correlate to the analog microfilm frame numbers. If it is necessary to cite the microfilmed papers, please refer to the specific page number of the PDF version, as in: Papers of John Peabody Harrington, Microfilm: MF 7, R34 page 42.
