Guide to the Han Athabaskan Language Collection
Abstract
All materials in the Han collection are either written in or about the Han language.
The earliest documents come from expedition accounts and the later material comes
largely from contributions by the Alaska Native Language Center and the Yukon Native
Language Centre staff. Much of the collection dates from the mid- to late-1970s during
an era of more intensive fieldwork and educational outreach with the Han language.
The bulk of the collection consists of manuscripts related to Han educational materials
and to linguistic field research, including both field notes and products of research,
especially word lists, placenames, and dictionaries. Religious texts and traditional
stories form a smaller part of the collection, as do language class notes research
papers, and conference materials. Photocopied material occasionally represents original
material held by other repositories and certain reproduction and use restriction apply.
Language Information
Han is the Athabascan language spoken in Alaska in the village of Eagle and in the Yukon Territory at Dawson; it is closely related to Gwich’in and Upper Tanana. Of the total Alaskan Han population of about 50 people, perhaps 12 speak the language. A writing system was established in the 1970s, and considerable documentation has been carried out at the Alaska Native Language Center as well as at the Yukon Native Language Centre in Whitehorse.
Scope and Content Note
The Alaska Native Language Center Han holdings represent a relatively small collection
containing 85 items that date between 1865 and 1998. Fieldnotes are well represented
in the Han language, especially from the 1960s and 1970s. Other material types include
academic research, wordlists, translations and transcriptions of traditional stories,
and educational materials, such as literacy exercises.
Only two items date on or prior to 1900; both are wordlists, one anonymous and the
other by James Wickersham; they are photocopied from larger publications, the originals
of which are held by another repository. There are no items created between 1900 and
the late 1950s. Materials from the 1950s include the Han fieldnotes of Gordon Marsh
(1956) and vocabulary lists compiled by David Shinen (1958 and 1963).
More material is present from the 1960s, largely due to the fieldnotes and academic
research of Michael Krauss, beginning in 1962 and covering Han tone, dialectology,
grammar, and phonology (11 items). From the late 1960s and early 1970s, there are
fieldnotes of Catherine McClellan, Nancy McRoy, R. W. Jarvenpaa, and John Ritter.
The collection further includes approximately 15 traditional story transcriptions
from narrations by Louise Paul (1978).
The largest portion of the collection are John Ritter’s fieldnotes, class materials,
and literacy workshop materials collected and published between 1976 and 1984 (25
items), including his preliminary noun dictionary and literacy workshop session documents
published by the Yukon Native Language Centre, Whitehorse, Canada.
There is a dearth of materials from the 1980s, though the 1990s are more represented
by the continued work in literacy workshop publications, such as reading and listening
exercises written by Jane Montgomery, Percy Henry, Isaac Juneby, and Edward Roberts
in affiliation with the Yukon Native Language Centre. The most recent publication
is a subsistence study conducted by Craig Mischler for the Alaska Department of Fish
and Game; a document that includes some Han placenames and lexical items.
Extent: Six manuscript boxes totaling 2 linear feet.
Languages: All materials in the Han Collection are in Han or English.