Object Details
sova.naa.ms4558_ref202
- Collection Creator
- La Flesche, Francis, 1857-1932
- Fletcher, Alice C. (Alice Cunningham), 1838-1923
- See more items in
- MS 4558 Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche papers
- MS 4558 Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche papers / Series 2: Francis La Flesche papers
- Date
- 1881-1930
- Archival Repository
- National Anthropological Archives
- Identifier
- NAA.MS4558, Subseries 2.12
- Type
- Archival materials
- Collection Citation
- Manuscript 4558 Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
- Arrangement
- The material is arranged chronologically by subject. Dates are non-inclusive. Correspondence is mixed incoming and outgoing.
- Collection Rights
- Contact the repository for terms of use.
- Scope and Contents
- This subseries encompasses items which were separated topically from La Flesche's general correspondence. Materials relating to La Flesche's employment reflect his work as a clerk in the Office of Indian Affairs (1881-1910) and as an ethnologist for the Bureau of American Ethnology (1910-1929). Items include La Flesche's instructions for work under both bureaus, records of his field expenses for the BAE (particularly 1910-1912), and updates on his ethnographic work. La Flesche's fictionalized account of young Indian boys at school, The Middle Five, was published in 1900. Materials under this subject heading include business letters from his publisher and personal letters from friends and fans. Many of the latter items are addressed to Alice Fletcher. Material under the headings of La Flesche family and Omaha tribal affairs reflect La Flesche's concern about land possession and welfare on the Omaha reservation. La Flesche spent many years studying Osage sacred bundles owned by museums, private collectors and Native Americans. For more material on sacred packs, see La Flesche's general correspondence with Harry L. George and George H. Pepper, 1915-1916 in his general correspondence (subseries 2.11). Additional materials on sacred bundles may be found among La Flesche's general correspondence (subseries 2.11) and Osage ethnography (subseries 3.22). In 1916, La Flesche sought the results of George Pettigrew's mound survey in the Sioux Falls region, which had likely come to his attention through Alice Fletcher. Fletcher corresponded with George Pettigrew in the 1890s (these letters are included in this subseries) and La Flesche corresponded with his descendants in order to obtain Pettigrew's findings. Photographs and diagrams of the Pettigrew survey are located elsewhere (subseries 3.25). In 1918, the Missouri Historical Society commissioned La Flesche to complete a dictionary of Osage which was ultimately published by the Bureau of American Ethnology in 1932. Drafts of the dictionary are located in a separate subseries (3.22).
- Collection Restrictions
- The Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche papers are open for research. Access to the Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche papers requires an appointment.
NAA.MS4558_ref202
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nw346e63ad4-2e52-4825-a9ea-3210d03d34c2
NAA.MS4558
NAA
- Record ID
- ebl-1562718027608-1562718027657-0