“Native North American Music and Oral Data” | Open Indiana

Preface

This catalogue is designed to serve as a guide to Native North American music and oral data holdings at the Indiana University Archives of Traditional Music. There are nearly 500 separate accessions contained in field, commercial and broadcast recordings which cover the native peoples of North America, including the Eskimo and the peoples of Central America.

These collections document the history of Native American ethnomusicology, beginning with James Mooney’s 1893 field recordings of Plains Indians. Of particular significance are early cylinder recordings collected by Franz Boas, Natalie (Curtis) Burl in and Constance DuBois for the American Museum of Natural History; George A. Dorsey for the Chicago Natural History Museum and Frank J. Speck for the museum at the University of Pennsylvania.

The catalogue utilizes a special computer program, GLIBSELIND, designed by Jean Nakhnikian, Applications Programmer for the Marshal H. Wrubel Computing Center at Indiana University. The format used in this project is based on the modified version of the program used in AfricanMusicandOralData, (Ruth M. Stone and Frank J. Gil lis, Indiana University Press, 1976).

Documentation provided by collectors was summarized on special data sheets (Fig. 1) and transferred to computer cards. The program enables the user to select, index and match information contained in each of the categories or fields in any order specified. Each field, except the last, ends with the symbol(&), whether or not there is information contained in that field (Fig. 2).

Of the fifteen fields used in the original data sheet, thirteen are printed in the main catalogue in the following order:

1.	Collector, performer, depositor, editor
2.	Accession number
3.	Culture group
4.	Culture area
5.	Year recorded
6.	Medium of recording
7.	Record company and issue number
8.	Options for field recordings
9.	Number of hours
10.	Quality of recording
11.	ATL number
12.	Documentation available
13.	Subject descriptions

In addition to the main catalogue, there are two indices, which include the following fields:

INDEX TO CULTURE GROUPS

— Collector

— Accession number

INDEX TO SUBJECT DESCRIPTIONS

— Collector

— Culture group

— Accession number

NOTES TO FIELD DESIGNATIONS

Field 1. Collector, depositor, editor, performer

The name of each collector (C), depositor (D), editor (ED) and performer (P) is listed alphabetically within a main entry. This permits the computer to index each individual separately throughout the main catalogue. Multiple listings within this field are separated by a plus (+) sign. The symbol * (C) indicates that the identity of a collector is unknown. If tentative identification of a collector has been made, an asterisk (*) follows the name. For collections in which there are a large number of performers, only a few are listed.

Some collections are subdivided according to culture group and may appear more than once in the main catalogue.

Field 2. Accession number

§	The accession number is the principal identification number assigned to a collection by the Archives.

Field 3. Culture group

§	Culture groups are listed alphabetically, with multiple listings separated by a comma.
§	The nature of the computer program used for this catalogue necessitates special ordering of information when indexing on this field. Thus, the following system was employed to accommodate problems raised regarding branches of larger culture groups:
	a. Branches of larger culture groups are listed with the larger group first, followed by two hyphens (—), followed by the name of the branch: e.g., IROQUOIS—CAYUGA.
	b. Culture group names of more than one word are joined by a single hyphen (-): e.g., NEZ-PERCE; as are the names of mixed culture groups: e.g., SHOSHONE-BANNOCK.
	c. The designation DAKOTA/SIOUX is used for all Sioux or Dakota listings: e.g.,DAKOTA/SIOUX—OGLALA.
§	An asterisk following a culture group name indicates tentative identification of an item or collection with that culture group.
§	Two references were used to standardize culture group entries: George P. Murdock, OutlineofWorldCultures, 4th ed. (New Haven: Human Relations Area Files, 1972) and George P. Murdock and Timothy O’Leary, EthnographicBibliographyofNorthAmerica, 4th ed. (New Haven: Human Relations Area Files, 1975). A supplementary cross-index, listing alternative names and variant spellings of culture groups follows the INDEX TO CULTURE GROUPS.

Field 4. Culture area

Culture area designations are based upon the classifications derived by William Sturtevant for the map “Indians of North America,” issued as a supplement to NationalGeographic, vol. 142, no. 6, Dec. 1972, p. 739a. An asterisk following a culture area designation indicates tentative identification of an item or collection with that culture area.

Field 5. Year recorded

§	Of particular importance for those accession numbers beginning with Pre’54, this field indicates the earliest dates known for the recorded material. The symbol “C,” printed before the year, designates copyright; “CA” designates approximate year.

Field 6. Medium of recording

§	This field identifies the type of original recording: Cylinder, Wire, Tape or Disc (LP, 45 or 78 rpm).

Field 7. Record company and issue number

§	The names of commercial record companies and their issue numbers for commercial discs are indexed in this field. The field is left blank if the collection is field-recorded or non-commercial.

Field 8. Options for field recordings

§	The degree of public access permitted by collectors, depositors, or institutions to materials deposited in the Archives. The following designations are used:
	Option 1 - Unrestricted use of materials at the discretion of the Archives.
	Option 2 - The depositor retains all commercial rights for the material deposited in the Archives but use for educational purposes is permitted.
	Option 3 - Not available for commercial or educational use without written permission from the depositor.
	No Contract - No written agreement concerning the disposition of deposited material has been signed by the depositor. Material deposited without a contract may not be used without written permission from the depositor.

Field 9. Number of hours

The approximate size of a collection in terms of duration is given in this field. Durations of less than an hour are rounded off to the nearest quarter hour. Thus, the designation .25 indicates a duration of fifteen minutes or less. Duration is not computed for segments of a collection, but rather for the collection as a whole.

Field 10. Quality of recording

§	The fidelity of recorded materials as determined by the editor and by members of the Archives staff. The following broad categories are used: Excellent Good Fair Poor

Field 11. ATL number

§	The identification number for listening copies in the Archives Tape Library.

Field 12. Documentation available

§	Indicates the quantity of documentation provided by the collector or depositor to the Archives. The following categories are used:
	Documentation Extensive - Listing of contents; descriptive notes and other data.
	Documentation Adequate - Basic explanatory notes.
	Documentation Limited - Partial, incomplete data.
	Documentation None - No data.

Field 13. Subject Descriptions

§	The subject descriptions are derived from the documentation provided by collectors. We have tried to reproduce these subject descriptions as accurately as possible. The headings are not intended to be classificatory; many Native American terms and some overlapping descriptions have been retained.
§	The word SONG is implied for all subject descriptions with the following exceptions:
	AMERINDIAN THEME-EUROPEAN ARRANGEMENT, CHANT, DOG CALLS, DRAMA, IMITATION, INST., INTERVIEW, ORAL DATA, RHYTHM-DRUM.
	In the case of borrowed songs or songs of one culture culture group collected in another, the name of the original culture group is enclosed in parentheses and immediately follows the subject description: e.g., YEIBECHAI(NAVAJO).
§	INST, designates musical instrument.

§ § § § §

Many individuals have contributed their time and expertise towards the completion of this catalogue. The editor wishes first to thank Louise S. Spear, Assistant Director and Associate Librarian at the Archives of Traditional Music, for her immeasurable assistance and boundless support and enthusiasm. I would also like to thank Frank J. Gillis, Director and Librarian of the Archives, for providing the opportunity to work on this project and for his kindly editorial suggestions.

The following members of the Archives staff cheerfully contributed towards checking, typing and keypunching portions of the catalogue: Lorraine Behney, Marilyn Graf, Richard Henderson, William Poling, Deborah Rauch, Alan Shorter, Charles Stanfield and Judith Vitaliano. Lynne S. Wheeler helped to proof-read the final text.

I would also like to acknowledge those individuals who offered comments and advice during various stages of the project: Ann Briegleb, Raymond J. DeMallie, Charlotte Heth, Anya P. Royce, Barbara Seitz, Ronald R. Smith and Ruth M. Stone. Finally, I wish to thank Jean Nakhnikian, who patiently and sympathetically explained the mysteries of computer indexing.

I have tried throughout the project to faithfully interpret and reproduce the intentions of the collectors. I accept all responsibility for the catalogue in its final form.

FIGURE 1. SUMMARY OF COLLECTION

FIGURE 2. SAMPLE ENTRY

Native North American Music and Oral Data