Here are some summer updates from the California Language Archive:
For the fall 2025 semester the CLA welcomes
Tyler Lee-Wynant (GSR), Nyssa Combs and Sophia Hsu (undergraduate student assistants), and Priyanka Samant and Michaela Richter (BA Haverford 2025; volunteers)! In July, 23 boxes of archival materials related primarily to Pomoan languages (California), all from the estate of Sally McLendon (1933-2024; PhD 1966), reached the CLA from New York City (see photograph). Thanks to the cataloging work of Madison Fanucchi (BA 2025), we accessioned the
Mauricio J. Mixco Papers and Sound Recordings (PhD 1971), a large physical collection of 41 boxes (17 linear feet, plus some tapes) containing 418 items. The collection is organized into 12 series spanning research on several languages (primarily Kiliwa, Mandan, and Shoshoni, but also Paipai, Mojave, and others studied as part of field methods courses) over many years and including more than 100 notebooks, file slips, sound recordings, loose notes, draft manuscripts, correspondence, conference materials, miscellaneous literature, and copies of the notebooks of other researchers. We accessioned the
Gohar Barseghyan Collection of Armenian Films (Indo-European; Armenia), consisting of 43 MiniDV tape recordings of interviews, conversations, and cultural events among Bay Area Armenians. The acquisition of this collection was facilitated by
Julianne Kapner; digital transfer and metadata creation were done by then-LRAP students Sophia Hsu and Jeremy Saputo. We accessioned the
Roland B. Dixon Papers on California Languages, reorganizing some materials from our miscellaneous holdings and combining them with Dixon's five original notebooks on Chimariko (isolate; California) from work primarily with Polly Dyer, Sally Noble, and Friday in 1906. Also included is a digitized reel of microfilm including a few thousand loose pages of J.P. Harrington's notes on the language held by the National Anthropological Archives. We accessioned the
Colección de materiales de la lengua matsigenka de Allen Johnson (BA 1963; Arawakan; Peru), which consists of three series of text transcriptions, loose notes and other manuscripts, and 38 digitized cassette tape recordings from 1972 forward. Scott AnderBois (Brown) and Wilson Silva (Arizona) accessioned
Materials of the A'ingae Language Documentation Project (isolate; Ecuador, Colombia), consisting of audiovisual recordings of more than 65 sociolinguistic interviews and 125 texts, with transcription and translation of the texts in associated ELAN files. The project includes collaborators Leidy Quenamá Umenda, Shen Aguinda Ortiz, Martín Criollo Mendúa, Hugo Lucitante, Jorge Mendúa Quenamá, Thalya Mendúa, and Raúl Quieta Lucitante. We made several important sets of microfilmed notes available:
900+ pages of M.A.R. Barker's (1929-2012; PhD 1959) notes on Klamath (Klamath-Modoc; Oregon), seven notebooks made with speakers Aggie (Skellock) Butler, Robert David, Nora Hawk, Lizzie Kirk, Billet Lobert, Marian (David) Martin, Pansy Ohles, and Irene Skellock (bulk 1955-1957).
1,200+ pages of Wick Miller's (1932-1994; PhD 1962) notes on H'aakume Dzeeni (Keresan; New Mexico), 54 texts and 13 notebooks made between 1956 and 1959 with speakers George Garcia, Anne Hansen, Mary Histia, Andrew Lewis, Bell Lewis, Margaret Lim, Mary Valley, and Ruth Valley. 1,100+ pages of Karl Teeter's (1929-2007; PhD 1962) notes on Wiyot (Algic; California), as part of the
Karl Teeter Papers on Wiyot and Other Languages, from his collaboration (1956-1958) with Della Prince, Birdie James, Nettie Rossig, and Cy Thomas. Other accessions:
Julianne Kapner accessioned 21 items into
Materials of the Armenian Language in the Bay Area (ALBA) Project (see 2024-13.036 thru 2024-13.056). Pliny Goddard's (1869-1928; PhD 1905)
notebook on Chimariko from circa 1902
Cassette tape recordings of a 1982 interview by Sheldon Klein (1935-2005; PhD 1963) of anthropologist Maurice Zigmond (1904-1998) concerning Zigmond's early work with Kawaiisu (Uto-Aztecan; California) A 1989
cassette tape recording of Leonard Talmy (PhD 1972) reciting words in Atsugewi (Palaihnihan; California) made to assist language learners
