A traditional brief history of the Passamaquoddy Indians, with some account of their customs, etc. : [manuscript], 1884.

Format:

Other

Author/Creator:

Mitchell, Louis, 1847-1931.

Contributor:

Gabriel, Peter John.

Brinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison), 1837-1899, former owner.

Language:

Algonquian (Other)

English

Subjects (All):

Passamaquoddy language--Texts.

Passamaquoddy language.

Passamaquoddy Indians--Legends.

Passamaquoddy Indians.

Passamaquoddy Indians--Social life and customs.

Indians of North America--Languages.

Indians of North America.

Indians of North America--Games.

Indians of North America--New England--History--Sources.

History.

Manners and customs.

Maine--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775.

Maine.

New England.

Genre:

translations (documents)

chronicles

poems

Sources.

Legends.

Texts.

Penn Provenance:

Formerly owned by Charles Godfrey Leland (notes of Leland, signed by him; included with the manuscript). In the preface to his book Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems (New York: Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1902), Leland refers to the great number of manuscripts of narratives and poems that Louis Mitchell wrote out for him, and states the following: Among the former was a History of the Passamaquody Tribe ... which I transferred to my friend the late Dr. D. G. Brinton as its most appropriate possessor.

Formerly owned by Daniel G. Brinton (no ex libris stamp); transferred as part of the Berendt-Brinton Linguistic Collection from the University of Pennsylvania Museum Library.

Physical Description:

1 box (I item, 42 leaves)

Contained In:

Berendt-Brinton Linguistic Collection. Item 250

Place of Publication:

1884.

Language Note:

In Passamaquoddy and English.

Biography/History:

Passamaquoddy Indian who was born at the Pleasant Point.reservation, near Eastport, Maine; served as a representative of the Passamaquoddy in the Maine state legislature in the early 1880s.

Summary:

Manuscript of the history of the Passamaquoddy Indians in Passamaquoddy language (40. p.), followed by an English translation (40 p.), dated 1884. The manuscript is written on 40 loose sheets of lined notebook paper, with 2 leaves of notes by the American writer and folklorist Charles Leland inserted between the Passamaquoddy and the English versions. Included is the contemporary cardboard folder in which the manuscript was stored, with a label bearing the title pasted on the front. A caption title in both versions of the history reads: Early history of the Passamaquoddy Indians. The statement of responsibility on the cover label reads in full: Written in Indian and English by Louis Mitchell, Indian member of the Legislature of Maine. The English portion includes a few notes on the translations of certain words, and in a few instances uses the Indian word instead of an English equivalent. After an account of general beliefs and customs (p. 1-12), the English narrative tells of the Indians' first interaction with white people at a site that later became the town of Robbinston, Maine (p. 13). The narrator then tells of the Indians' relations with the white settlers, the various moves they undertook as a result, their Christianization by French missionaries (p. 17), and, finally, their move, about 160 years previous, to Pleasant Point (p. 25). The last part of the text appears to be devoted to accounts of the Indians' games and sports (p. 27-40). Leland's notes tell of the authorship of the work by Mitchell; Leland states that Mitchell did not invent the work but had it from oral tradition. Tipped in on the notes is a printed broadside (2 leaves) of a poem given both in the original Indian language, under the title Amwes-winto-wagen, and in English translation by Leland (The song of the bees), with printed date of Campobello, New Brunswick, 12 August 1883. The Indian version is attributed to the Passamaquoddy Peter John Gabriel, and is said by Leland to have been written and sold for the purpose of raising money to build the rectory at Campobello, July 1883.

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Coll. 700, Item 250

Contains:

Leland, Charles Godfrey, 1824-1903. Song of the bees.

OCLC:

794593118