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: Text of transcription and translation of George Davis (of the T’akhdeintaan, not an earlier George Davis of either Deisheetaan and the L’uknax.ádi) and David Katzeek, with George telling the story of Xh’a Eetí Shuwee Kháa, Slop Bucket Man, 9/11/09. Transcribed by Anita Lafferty and Keri Edwards Eggleston, and translated by George Davis and Alice Taff. This is an outstanding example of traditional Tlingit storytelling, and it may be compared with the story of The Origin of Copper by “Katishan’s Mother,” Léek, in John Swanton’s Tlingit Myths and Texts, 1909. No visual/audio recording presently available.
Fd 2: Text of transcription and translation, and audio/visual recording, of Andrew Johnnie discussing traditional subsistence activities, telling the Glacier Bay story, and a personal hunting story, 2/3-4/97. Transcription and translation by Keri Edwards Eggleston and Helen Sarabia.
Fd 3: Text of transcription and translation, and audio/visual recording, of Nellie Lord, Lena Farkas and Hans Chester discussing living by the seasons and gathering food from the Situk and Anklin Rivers, 7/19/10. Transcribed by Anita Lafferty and Keri Edwards Eggleston, and translated by Florence Sheakley and Alice Taff.
Fd 4: Text of transcription and translation, and audio/visual recording, of Nellie Lord and Lena Farkas discussing traditional lifestyle, 7/19/10. Transcribed by Anita Lafferty, Helen Sarabia and Keri Edwards Eggleston, and translated by Florence Sheakley and Alice Taff.
Fd 5: Text of transcription and translation, and audio/visual recording, of Nellie Lord, Lena Farkas and Hans Chester telling stories from childhood, 7/19/10. Transcribed by Anita Lafferty and Keri Edwards Eggleston and translated by George Davis and Alice Taff.
Fd 6: Text of transcription and translation, and audio/visual recording, of George Ramos, Walter Soboleff and Hans Chester discussing traditional culture, 9/24/10. Transcribed by Keri Edwards Eggleston, Helen Sarabia and Anita Lafferty, and translated by Margaret Dutson and Alice Taff.
Fd 7: Text of transcription and translation of George Ramos and Hans Chester discussing traditional culture and Yakutat history, 7/21/10. Transcribed by Keri Edwards Eggleston, Helen Sarabia and Anita Lafferty, and translated by George Davis and Alice Taff. No audio/visual recording is currently extant.
Fd 8: Text of transcription and translation of Helen Sarabia and Florence Sheakley playing with a baby, 11/21/09. Initial transcription by Kassy Littlefield, edited by Keri Edwards Eggleston, Helen Sarabia and Anita Lafferty, and translated by Florence Sheakley and Alice Taff. No audio/visual recording is currently extant.
Fd 9: Text of transcription and translation, and audio/visual recording, of Bessie Cooley, Nora Dauenhauer and Selena Everson picking berries and touring Bessie’s garden in Teslin, and Jimmie Johnston and Smitty Katzeek discussing culture and language, 8/12/10. Transcription and translation by Keri Edwards Eggleston, Helen Sarabia and Anita Lafferty.
Fd 10: Text of transcription and translation of Andrew P. Johnson, Forrest DeWitt and Cyrus Peck, Sr. discussing traditional Tlingit beliefs, 12/5/74. Transcribed and translated by Helen Sarabia and Keri Edwards Eggleston.
Research Note: No audio/visual recording is available in this collection, but it is available in the Dauenhauer Oral Literature Collection, Item 99, Tape 83, although it appears most of DeWitt’s story is missing from that recording, while it is transcribed in this text.
Fd 11: Miscellaneous recordings and digital files from the collection.
Fd 12: Transcription/translation document of Andrew P. Johnson and Forrest DeWitt speaking in Tlingit about traditional Tlingit beliefs and spirituality. Also included is a DVD-R with a digital copy of this transcription/translation and audio files of George Betts speaking in Tlingit. Obtained on Nov. 24, 2012.
