By Ishmael Hope, Language/Archives Staff
Title: Narratives & Conversations in Tlingit Recordings Collection, 1972-2010
ID: MC/055
Primary Creator: Sealaska Heritage Institute
Other Creators: Tlingit Indians.
Extent: 1.0 Boxes
Date Acquired: 08/09/2012
Subjects: Tlingit Indians--History., Tlingit language.
This collection is comprised of recordings and translated transcriptions that were the outcome work a National Science Foundation award no. 0554163, administered by the Sealaska Heritage Institute, and initiated and carried to completion by linguist Keri Edwards Eggleston. The objective of the grant was to document, transcribe and translate new audio/visual recordings of Tlingit speakers conversing and telling traditional stories in the Tlingit language, and to find existing audio recordings in the Tlingit language to edit which interested the project’s colleagues comprised of Edwards Eggleston, Alice Taff, James Crippen, Hans Chester, Richard Dauenhauer and Tlingit Elders, including Anita Lafferty, Johnny Marks, June Pegues, Helen Sarabia, Nora Dauenhauer, David Katzeek, Paul Marks and George Davis. The recordings date from 1972 to 2010.
This collection is important for significantly expanding the quite scant available texts transcriptions and translations in the Tlingit language, and for contributing an almost completely unexamined aspect of the Tlingit language; everyday, colloquial, conversational speaking. Beginning, intermediate and advanced students will be able to mine the texts for many phrases and to begin to understand how Tlingit speakers think through the language. The story also contributes to the extant Tlingit oral literature, including stories from Robert Zuboff, Andrew Johnnie, Austin Hammond and George Davis (of the T’akhdeintaan, not either of the two previous tradition bearers also named George Davis, of the Deisheetaan and L’uknaxh.ádi).
The Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) is a regional Native non-profit organization founded for the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people of Southeast Alaska. SHI was established in 1981 by Sealaska Corp., a for-profit company formed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). SHI, formerly Sealaska Heritage Foundation, administers Sealaska Corp.'s cultural and educational programs.
SHI was conceived by Clan Leaders, Traditional Scholars and Elders at the first Sealaska Elders Conference in 1980. During that meeting, the Elders likened Native culture to a blanket. The late George Davis (Kichnáalx—Lk’aanaaw) of Angoon, spoke these memorable words: “We don’t want what you did here to only echo in the air, how our grandfathers used to do things… Yes. You have unwrapped it for us. That is why we will open again this container of wisdom left in our care.” These wise traditional leaders told the new leaders that their hands were growing weary of holding onto the metaphorical blanket, this "container of wisdom." They said they were transferring this responsibility to the Corporation. In response to this directive, Sealaska Corporation created its non-profit arm, Sealaska Heritage Institute, to administer cultural and educational programs for the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian.
During its first decade of operation, under the leadership of David Katzeek, SHI began to administer its Scholarship Program from funds set aside by Sealaska Corporation for this purpose. The second major focus at that time was the documentation of oral traditions, a project led by Tlingit scholar Dr. Nora Marks Dauenhauer and her husband, Dr. Richard Dauenhauer. Over nearly a 20-year period, these efforts led to several major publications by the Institute of the Dauenhauer’s work, including: “Because We Cherish You…” Sealaska Elders Speak to the Future, in 1981; Haa Shuká, Our Ancestors, Volume I of our Tlingit Oral Narratives (1987); Haa Tuwunáagu Yís: for Healing our Spirit. Vol. 2, Tlingit Oral Narratives. (1990); the Third Edition of Beginning Tlingit in 1991; Haa Kusteeyí, Our Culture: Tlingit Life Stories (1994); and Aan Aduspelled X’úx’, Tlingit Spelling Book in 1999. A number of these publications were co-published by the Institute and University of Washington Press. During this period, the Institute also created Naa Kahídi Theater, which won national acclaim for its dramatic presentation of Native legends.
One year after SHI was founded the Institute sponsored the first United Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian Traditional Celebration, held in Juneau. Celebration '82 was so popular that our Board of Trustees decided the festival should become a biennial event. New dance groups began to form in response to Celebration, and every other year, the festival grew. Today, nearly every community in Southeast as well as Anchorage, the Seattle area, Hawaii and Canada, are represented by roughly two-thousand dancers in nearly fifty dance groups. During Celebration, workshops on various aspects of traditional culture and history also occur. Because SHI is the only major region-wide organization dedicated to cultural preservation, its Board of Trustees has mandated that Celebration be dedicated solely to honoring our traditional culture.
More recently, while continuing to honor the Institute's mission statement, “To perpetuate the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures,” the Trustees in 1997 adopted language restoration as the foremost priority of the Institute. Few funds were available initially for this objective, but the Institute launched an aggressive fund-raising campaign, and today, SHI sponsors and supports numerous language and culture programs across Southeast Alaska. The Institute also sponsors archival projects, historical research, and new publications. Since SHI’s founding, it has had four presidents; David Katzeek (1980-1991), Dennis Demmert (1992-1996), Ted Wright (1996-1998), and Rosita Worl (1998-present).
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 Source: Sealaska Heritage Institute
Acquisition Method: The materials in the collection were generated by SHI between 2007 and 2014 via a National Science Foundation Grant. Final products from the grant were transferred to archives on August 9, 2012, November 24, 2012 and April 2014.
Fd 1: Original grant to the National Science Foundation; a log of transcribed and translated texts for the Tlingit of the NSF award no. 0554163; earlier drafts of log of transcribed and translated texts for the NSF grant.
Fd 2: Texts of transcriptions and translations of the Council of Traditional Scholars Meeting at the Sealaska Heritage Institute, 4/08, Personal Introductions. Speakers include David Katzeek, George Ramos, Joe Hotch, Lillian (Lily) White, and Herman Kitka. Prepared by Keri Edwards Eggleston, and transcribed and translated by Keri Edwards Eggleston, June Pegues, Helen Sarabia, Anita Lafferty, and Johnny Marks. Audio recording not included.
Fd 3: Two texts of transcriptions and translations, and audio recordings, of KTOO Live Tlingit Conversations, prepared by Keri Edwards Eggleston: 1) Track 1, 1995, Nora Dauenhauer, Walter Soboleff, Cecilia Kunz, Al McKinley, Richard McKinley, Helen Sarabia, and Selina Everson, giving personal introductions, telling stories from childhood, and discussing the state of the Tlingit language and culture. Transcribed and translated by Keri Edwards Eggleston, June Pegues, Helen Sarabia, Anita Lafferty and Johnny Marks; 2) Track 2, 1998, Nora Dauenhauer, Helen Sarabia, Florence Sheakley, Mamie Williams, and Jennie Lindoff giving personal introductions, telling stories from childhood, and discussing the state of the Tlingit language and culture. Transcribed and translated by Keri Edwards Eggleston and Helen Sarabia. Includes handwritten edits from Richard Dauenhauer for both Track 1 and Track 2, 2/14.
Fd4: Text of transcribed and translated KTOO Live Tlingit Conversations, 1996, with Nora Dauenhauer, Walter Soboleff, Richard McKinley, Helen Sarabia, and Richard Stitt. Prepared by Keri Edwards Eggleston, and transcribed and translated by Keri Edwards Eggleston, June Pegues, Helen Sarabia, Anita Lafferty, and Johnny Marks. Includes handwritten edits from Richard Dauenhauer.
Fd 5: Text of transcriptions and translation and audio recording of KTOO Live Tlingit Conversations, 1999, with Nora Dauenhauer, Cecilia Kunz, Irene Lampe, and Helen Sarabia. Prepared by Keri Edwards Eggleston, and transcribed and translated by Keri Edwards Eggleston, June Pegues, Helen Sarabia, and Anita Lafferty. Audio recording not included. Includes handwritten edits from Richard Dauenhauer, 2/14.
Fd 6: Two texts of transcriptions and translations, and audio recordings, of KTOO Live Tlingit Conversations, prepared by Keri Edwards Eggleston: 1) Track 1, 2000, Nora Dauenhauer, Helen Sarabia, Irene Lampe, transcribed and translated by Keri Edwards Eggleston, June Pegues, Helen Sarabia, and Anita Lafferty. 2) Track 2,
2003, Nora Dauenhauer, Walter Soboleff, Richard McKinley, Helen Sarabia, Richard Stitt, Cecilia Kunz, Margaret Osborne, transcribed and translated by Keri Edwards Eggleston and Helen Sarabia. Includes handwritten edits from Richard Dauenhauer for the Track 1 and 2 contents, 2/14.
Fd 7: Text of transcription and translation, and audio recording, of David Katzeek, Anna Katzeek, and Clarence Jackson discussing names and at.óow of the Shangukeidí, 7/24/07. Transcribed by Keri Edwards Eggleston and translated by David Katzeek.
Fd 8: Transcription and translation of Anita Lafferty and George Davis meeting for the first time and telling stories, 1/16/2009, transcribed and translated by Keri Edwards Eggleston and Anita Lafferty. Anita tells personal stories about growing up, and George (of the T’akhdeintaan from Kake, not to be confused with the older George Davis of the Deisheetaan from Angoon of George Davis of the L’uknaxh.ádi from Sitka) tells personal stories and also a traditional story about young men who battled with the Náakhw, the Devilfish. This story is remarkable for the extreme rarity of traditional Tlingit stories told in the Tlingit language in the 21st Century, and it is also a story that is also likely non-existent elsewhere in the available extant Tlingit audio-visual recordings and published and unpublished literature, though it is within a firmly identifiable Northwest Coast traditional motif of humans battling with powerful spirit creatures of the sea. Includes handwritten edits by Richard Dauenhauer, 2/14.
Fd 9: Two texts of transcriptions and translations, and audio recordings, of: 1) Andrew Johnnie, Sr. telling the Glacier Bay story, 7/12, transcribed and translated by Keri Edwards Eggleston, Helen Sarabia, and Anita Lafferty; 2) Austin Hammond telling the history of his clan, the Lukaaxh.ádi, transcribed and translated by Keri Edwards Eggleston Eggleston and Helen Sarabia. Includes handwritten edits by Richard Dauenhauer for both the Andrew Johnnie and Austin Hammond texts, 2/14.
Fd 10: Text of transcription and translation, and audio recording, of Jimmie Johnson talking about traditional Tlingit foods, and telling a traditional story about The Flood, Keedáxh, 11/4/61, initial transcription by Constance Naish and Gillian Story and edited and translated by Keri Edwards Eggleston and Helen Sarabia. Includes handwritten edits by Richard Dauenhauer, 2/14.
Fd 11: Text of transcription and translation, and audio recording, of David Kadashan telling the One Horned Goat story, 8/10/72. Transcription and translation by Nora Marks Dauenhauer and Richard Dauenhauer, and edited by James Crippen, Linda Belarde and Keri Edwards Eggleston.
Fd 12: Text of transcription and translation, and visual/audio recording, of George Davis (of the T’akhdeintaan, not an earlier George Davis of either Deisheetaan and the L’uknaxh.ádi) and David Katzeek, conversing and telling stories, 9/11/09. Transcribed by Anita Lafferty and Keri Edwards Eggleston and translated by George Davis, Paul Marks and Alice Taff.
