Documentation of Yurok: Field notes and recordings

The following material is password-protected and accessible only to project researchers:

  • Yurok language field recordings: FieldRecordings.xml

  • Synopsis of A. L. Kroeber's Yurok field notes, by Lisa Conathan and Tess Wood: KroeberReelSummary.htm

  • Synopsis of C. Hart Merriam's Yurok field notes (Bancroft FILM 1022, C. Hart Merriam Papers), by Lisa Conathan:

    • Reel 31: Vocabularies
      407 Folder # B/2a/V13
      410 Coast Yurok Vocabulary/Phrases from Liza Warren Lindgren (widow of Charley Lindgren, Trinidad, Oct. 22, 27, 1920) and Maggie Skirk (of Stone Lagoonl Trinidad, Aug. 20, 1921)
      484 Placenames
      489 Folder # B/2a-b/V14
      Lower Klamath Vocabulary/Phrases from "Several men and women," including Kitty Henry, Frank Isles, Walter ?McKennan, Kirby Peters, Lucy Thompson, Jane Jefferson, Mary and Clarissy Dowd (various dates)
      569 Placenames
      575 End of Yurok Vocabulary material
    • Reel 52: Natural History vocabulary
      390-421 Folder B/2a/NH14
      Coast Yurok Flora and Fauna terms
      Name of Consultant not given (Trinidad, Aug. 20, 1921; Maggie Skirk?)
      422-55 Folder B/2b/NH15
      Lower Klamath Flora and Fauna terms
      Name of Consultant not given (various date)

Teaching, learning, and documenting Yurok

The Berkeley anthropologist A. L. Kroeber worked with Yurok elders to document their culture and language beginning in 1901, publishing Yurok narratives in 1940 (with Robert Spott) and Yurok myths in 1976, among many other books and articles. His 1954 testimony in the land claims case "Indians of California v. US" was crucial in the Indian Claims Commission recognition that California Indians have aboriginal title to all the land in their respective territories.
[Photo: Department of Anthropology, UC Berkeley.]