Collection ID: 0002 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

A traditional brief history of the Passamaquoddy Indians, with some account of their customs, etc. :

Authors

• Mitchell, Louis, 1847-1931
• Leland, Charles Godfrey, 1824-1903
• Gabriel, Peter John

Other related names

• Brinton, Daniel G. 1837-1899, former owner (http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n78096900)

Call number

Ms. Coll. 700 Item 250
(3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6206, University of Pennsylvania, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 9957589033503681
• http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/794594491

Publisher

University of Pennsylvania

Language

In Passamaquoddy and English

Origin

Date

1884

Summary

Manuscript of the history of the Passamaquoddy Indians in Passamaquoddy language (40. p.), followed by an English translation (40 p.), dated 1884. The manuscript is written on 40 loose sheets of lined notebook paper, with 2 leaves of notes by the American writer and folklorist Charles Leland inserted between the Passamaquoddy and the English versions. Included is the contemporary cardboard folder in which the manuscript was stored, with a label bearing the title pasted on the front. A caption title in both versions of the history reads: Early history of the Passamaquoddy Indians. The statement of responsibility on the cover label reads in full: Written in Indian and English by Louis Mitchell, Indian member of the Legislature of Maine. The English portion includes a few notes on the translations of certain words, and in a few instances uses the Indian word instead of an English equivalent. After an account of general beliefs and customs (p. 1-12), the English narrative tells of the Indians' first interaction with white people at a site that later became the town of Robbinston, Maine (p. 13). The narrator then tells of the Indians' relations with the white settlers, the various moves they undertook as a result, their Christianization by French missionaries (p. 17), and, finally, their move, about 160 years previous, to Pleasant Point (p. 25). The last part of the text appears to be devoted to accounts of the Indians' games and sports (p. 27-40). Leland's notes tell of the authorship of the work by Mitchell; Leland states that Mitchell did not invent the work but had it from oral tradition. Tipped in on the notes is a printed broadside (2 leaves) of a poem given both in the original Indian language, under the title Amwes-winto-wagen, and in English translation by Leland (The song of the bees), with printed date of Campobello, New Brunswick, 12 August 1883. The Indian version is attributed to the Passamaquoddy Peter John Gabriel, and is said by Leland to have been written and sold for the purpose of raising money to build the rectory at Campobello, July 1883.

Extent

1 box (I item, 42 leaves)

Provenance

• Formerly owned by Charles Godfrey Leland (notes of Leland, signed by him; included with the manuscript). In the preface to his book Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems (New York: Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1902), Leland refers to the great number of manuscripts of narratives and poems that Louis Mitchell wrote out for him, and states the following: Among the former was a History of the Passamaquody Tribe ... which I transferred to my friend the late Dr. D. G. Brinton as its most appropriate possessor.
   
• Formerly owned by Daniel G. Brinton (no ex libris stamp); transferred as part of the Berendt-Brinton Linguistic Collection from the University of Pennsylvania Museum Library.
   

Subjects topical

• Indians of North America--Languages
• Passamaquoddy Indians--Social life and customs
• Indians of North America--Languages
• Passamaquoddy Indians--Legends
• Passamaquoddy language--Texts
• Indians of North America--Games
• Indians of North America--New England--History--Sources
• Indians of North America
• History
• Passamaquoddy Indians
• Manners and customs
• Passamaquoddy language
• Indians of North America--Games
• Maine
• Maine--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
• New England

Genres

• Chronicles
• Translations (documents)
• Poems
• Sources
• Legends
• Legends
• Texts

Licenses

• Text

  These images and the content of Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts Ms. Coll. 700 Item 250: A traditional brief history of the Passamaquoddy Indians, with some account of their customs, etc. : are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

• Text

  Metadata is ©2023 University of Pennsylvania Libraries and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

  URL

  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode