Papers, 1915-1933. - View Resource (original) (raw)

Abstract

Wilson's papers consist of his field notebooks detailing aspects of Hidatsa life on the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota as told to him by informants Good Bird, Buffalo-Bird-Woman, Wolf Chief, and others. Subsistence, clothing, tattooing, weapons, transportation, arts and industries, life cycle, social honors, games and amusements, and supernaturalism are described. Sketches, captioned drawings, vocabulary, and photographs appear in the notebooks as well. Also included in the collection are transcriptions of extracts from the notebooks edited for publication by Bella Weitzner (Bella Weitzner was on the staff of the Dept. of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History); a draft of Weitzner's edited manuscript; transcriptions of miscellaneous Hidatsa narratives extracted from the notebooks; and Wilson's unpublished manuscript "Myths and Legends of the Hidatsa."