John R. Swanton

John Reed Swanton (born February 19, 1873 – died May 2, 1958) was an American anthropologist, famous for his work among Native American Indians of the Southeastern and Northwestern United States.

Life

John R. Swanton was born on February 19, 1873 in Gardiner, Maine. He graduated from Harvard University in 1896, and earned his Masters degree a year later. His mentor at Harvard was famous Franz Boas, who influenced Swanton in his approach to anthropology. In 1900 Swanton received his Ph.D. and started with the fieldwork on the Northwestern coast of the United States.

In 1900 Swanton began working for the Bureau of American Ethnology, where he remained employed for almost 40 years. He served as an editor of the American Anthropological Association's flagship journal, American Anthropologist in 1911, and again from 1921-1923. In 1903 he married Alice Barnard, with whom he had three children - two sons and a daughter. Swanton was a family man, and spent most of his life with his family and friends.

Swanton served as Vice-president of AFS, was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Linguistic Society of America. He was president of the American Anthropological Association in 1932. He received the Viking Medal and award in 1948, for his contributions to anthropology, and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Swanton published numerous books and papers, among which were famous Haida Texts and Myths: Skidegate Dialect (1905), The Indians of the Southeastern United States (1946) and The Indian Tribes of North America (1952). He retired in 1944.

John Swanton died on May 2, 1958 in Newton, Massachusetts.

Work

Swanton’s work in the fields of ethnology and ethnohistory is well recognized. He is particularly noted for his work with indigenous peoples of the Southeastern United States and American Pacific Northwest. His first assignment for the Bureau of American Ethnology was the study of Haida Indians. The project was directly supervised by Franz Boas and W.G. McGee. He produced two extensive compilations of Haida stories and myths, and transcribed many of them into a compiled volume. Swanton did comprehensive study on the Chinooks, the Dakotas, and the Sioux peoples, and did some work on the Tlingit. He later turned his focus from Northeast to the Southeastern United States, and become one of the best authorities on the Native Indians in that area.

Swanton studied Muskogean speaking peoples in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. He published extensively on the Creek people, Chickasaw, and Choctaw as well as recording information about many other less well-known groups, such as the Biloxi and Ofo. He argued in favor of including the Natchez language with the Muskogean language group. His works included partial dictionaries, studies of linguistic relationships, collections of native stories, and studies of social organization. He also worked with Earnest Gouge, a Creek Indian who recorded a large number of traditional Creek stories at Swanton's request. These materials were never published by Swanton, but have recently received new attention and were finally published in 2004 (see Totkv Mocvse).

He also worked with the Caddo Indians, and published briefly on the quipu system of the Inca.

Among Swanton most famous works on Haida are his Contributions to the Ethnology of the Haida (1905) and Haida Texts—Masset Dialect (1908). They were the first comprehensive study documenting Haida myths and stories. Swanton coined the “"Haida spirit theory" in order to explain the beliefs of the Haida people. According to it, Haida see natural world full of forces, with supernatural beings walking among humans. Supernatural beings have a great power, and can disguise themselves as Salmon People, Herring People, Forest People, Bear People, Ocean People, Mouse People, etc. People also possess ability to enter with their mind into other animate or inanimate forms of life.

Swanton had a highest regard for the mystical and religious thinking. He himself was the follower of Swedenborgian philosophy, and had published a book under the name Superstition - But Whose? on the topic of extra-sensory perception.

Legacy

Swanton’s contribution to anthropology is significant. He was the foremost authority on the beliefs and customs of the Southeastern Indian tribes, and as such enhanced our understanding of that part of American culture. His essays on particular Indian tribes, especially the not so well-known ones, still serve as the source of information for modern scholars.

Swanton’s transcriptions of the Haida literature have served as the basis for Robert Bringhurst's recent (1999) translation of the poetry of Haida mythtellers Skaaye and Gandl.

Bibliography

• Swanton, John R. 1908. Haida texts—Masset dialect. G.E. Stechert & Company

• Swanton, John R. 1911 (original work from 1905). Contributions to the Ethnology of the Haida. AMS Press Inc. ISBN 0404581056

• Swanton, John R. 1918. An Early Account of the Choctaw Indians. American Anthropologist, 5, 51-72.

• Swanton, John R. 1927. Religious Beliefs and Medical Practices of the Creek Indians. Forty-second Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, pp. 639-670. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.

• Swanton, John R. 1928. Social Organization and the Social Usages of the Indians of the Creek Confederacy. Johnson Reprint Corp. ISBN 0384590403

• Swanton, John R. 1931. Modern Square Grounds of the Creek Indians. Smithsonian Institution.

• Swanton, John R. 1931. Source Material for the Social and Ceremonial Life of the Choctaw Indians, (Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 103). Reprint Services Corp. ISBN 0781241030

• Swanton, John R. 1943. The quipu and Peruvian civilization. U.S. Government Print Office

• Swanton, John R. 1948. Superstition: But whose? J. Swanton. ISBN B0007I7BJ8

• Swanton, John R. 1952. The Indian Tribes of North America, (Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 145). Washington, D.C. :Government Printing Office.

• Swanton, John R. 1991 (original work from 1905). Haida Texts and Myths: Skidegate Dialect, (Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 29). Native American Books Distributor. ISBN 1878592297

• Swanton, John R. 1995 (original work from 1929). Myths & Tales of the Southeastern Indians, (Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 88). University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0806127848

• Swanton, John R. 1998 (original from 1911). Indian Tribes of the Lower Mississippi Valley and Adjacent Coast of the Gulf of Mexico, (Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 43). Dover Publications. ISBN 0486401774

• Swanton, John R. 1998 (original work from 1922). Early History of the Creek Indians and Their Neighbors, (Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 73). University Press of Florida. ISBN 0813016355

• Swanton, John R. 1999 (original work from 1946). The Indians of the Southeastern United States, (Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 137). Reprint Services Corp. ISBN 078120514X

• Swanton, John R. 2003 (original work from 1909). Tlingit Myths and Texts, (Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 39). Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 0766177165

• Swanton, John R. & Dorsey, James O. 1912. A Dictionary of the Biloxi and Ofo Languages, (Bureau of America Ethnology Bulletin 47). Reprint Services Corp. ISBN 0781240476

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Bringhurst, Robert. 1999. Story As Sharp As a Knife: The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World. Douglas & Mcintyre Ltd. ISBN 1550546961

• Fenton, William N. 1959. John Reed Swanton (1873-1958). American Anthropological Association

• Ghandl. 2000. Nine Visits to the Mythworld: Ghandl of the Qayahl Llaanas (Robert Bringhurst, trans.). University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0803213166

External links

• John R. Swanton – Short biography

• The Indian Tribes of North America – Swanton’s list and description of Indian tribes in North Amerika

• Goose Food – Excerpt from Bringhurst’s book “A Story as Sharp as a Knife” that deals with Haida literature

• Totkv Mocvse – Creek folktales by Earnest Gouge

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