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By Zachary R. Jones, Archivist
Collection Overview
Scope and Contents of the Materials
This collection contains twelve cassette recordings of Nora Marks Dauenhauer (formerly Nora Marks Florendo) teaching Tlingit language in a classroom setting between 1969 and 1971 at Alaska Methodist University (now Alaska Pacific University). This collection documents Nora, one of the longest active teachers of Tlingit language in the era of Self Determination, teaching language early in her academic career.
The recordings, captured on cassette, contain labels about the contents of the recordings. Some of the recordings contain sound and pronunciation drills, vowel usage, case, spelling, and other. The label on one recording states it contains the “Killer Whale House story” and “Strong man” story.
Biographical Note
Nora Marks Dauenhauer (b. 1927) is an American poet, short-story writer, and a scholar of the language and traditions of the Tlingit Indians of Southeast Alaska. Nora Marks herself is Tlingit, and was born May 8, 1927, the first of sixteen children of Emma Marks (1913-2006) of Yakutat, Alaska, and Willie Marks (1902-1981), a Tlingit from near Juneau, Alaska. Nora's Tlingit name at birth was Keixwnéi, and following her mother in the Tlingit matrilineal system, she is a member of the Raven moiety, L’ukaax.ádi clan, and of the Shaka Hít or Canoe Prow House, from Alsek River. Emma's maternal grandfather had been Frank Italio (1870-1956), an informant to the anthropologist Frederica de Laguna whose knowledge was incorporated into De Laguna's 1972 ethnography of the northern Tlingit, Under Mount St. Elias. In circa 1972 Nora was selected and endorsed by Tlingit elders to document the Tlingit culture, and since that time Nora collected recordings and interviewed Tlingit elders. Nora earned a degree in anthropology and, with her husband Richard Dauenhauer, a poet and translator, she has authored numerous articles and also co-edited the Sealaska Heritage Institute's highly regarded four volume Classics of Tlingit Oral Literature series, titles which includes, Haa Shuká, Our Ancestors: Tlingit Oral Narratives (1987), Haa Tuwanáagu Yís, for Healing Our Spirit: Tlingit Oratory (1992), Haa Kusteeyí, Our Culture: Tlingit Life Stories. (1994), and Anóoshi Lingít Aaní Ká: Russians in Tlingit America, The Battles of Sitka 1802 and 1804 (2009).
Subject/Index Terms
Administrative Information
Repository:
Sealaska Heritage Institute Archives
Use Restrictions:
Intellectual Properties Note: Since SHI adheres to the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials, and since we desire to honor Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian traditional cultural belief that clans retain the intellectual property rights to clan stories or songs, patrons who use or study clan songs or stories are asked to credit clan ownership to stories and songs.
Acquisition Method:
The materials in the collection were obtained by SHI prior to Oct. 2007.
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Box:
[
Box 1: Cassette recordings, twelve cassettes, dated 1969-1971.],
[All]
- Box 1: Cassette recordings, twelve cassettes, dated 1969-1971.
