Forty-Eighth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1930-1931, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1933. — John Shaqi
Forty-Eighth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1930-1931, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1933.
History
Forty-Eighth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1930-1931, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1933.
Indexes
accordingly he instituted a “beneficial dance,” which was attended by
Miss Densmore, and the songs heard for a considerable time. These,
like the songs in the tipi, resembled the songs of the Chippewa Grand
Medicine Society.
The study of Indian music was continued by a trip to Kilbourn, Wis.,
during August and September. Two pageants are given simultaneously at
the Dalles of the Wisconsin River, near Kilbourn, each employing about
100 Indians. In the pageants the swan and hoop dance, as well as war
and social dances of the Winnebago, were seen. The dances of other
tribes presented in the pageants included the eagle dance and other
pueblo dances. Songs of the swan, hoop, and frog dances were later
recorded by leading pageant singers.
At Kilbourn Miss Densmore recorded numerous songs of Pueblo Indians
from Isleta and Cochiti, these consisting chiefly of corn-grinding and
war songs. The words of these songs are highly poetic and many of the
melodies resemble Acoma songs in structure.
As John Bearskin and his family were traveling from Kilbourn to their
home in Nebraska they passed through Red Wing, Minn., and songs were
recorded at Miss Densmore’s home. Bearskin recorded three complete sets
of the Winnebago medicine lodge songs and a set of Buffalo feast songs.
In January, 1931, Miss Densmore went to Washington, where she worked on
the preparation of material for publication, and proceeded thence to
Miami, Fla., where she began a study of Seminole music, recording songs
of the corn dance from the man who leads the singing in that ceremony;
also the songs that precede a hunting expedition. The customs of the
Seminole were studied and a collection of specimens was obtained. This
collection includes two complete costumes and is now the property of
the United States National Museum.
The second phase of the research is represented by eight manuscripts
which include the transcriptions and analyses of 77 songs and two
flute melodies recorded by Winnebago, Isleta, Cochiti, and Seminole
Indians. The cumulative analyses of Indian songs has been continued and
now comprises 1,553 songs. The 14 tables submitted during this year
constitute a comparison between a large series of Nootka and Quileute
songs and the songs previously analyzed by the same method.
The third phase of work comprised the preparation for publication of
“Menominee Music” and “Acoma Music.”
Frank M. Setzler, assistant curator, division of archeology, United
States National Museum, was detailed to the bureau for the purpose
of conducting an archeological investigation in Texas. After briefly
examining several sites at Victoria and Brownsville along the Gulf
coast, he excavated four caves and one rock shelter on the Mollie B.
Knight ranch, in Presidio County, and visited several other caverns in
the vicinity.
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