Archives West Finding Aid

Bibliography

Lucile Saunders McDonald, Swan Among the Indians: Life of James G. Swan, 1818-1900; Based Upon Swan's Hitherto Unpublished Diaries and Journals (Portland, Or.: Binfords & Mort, 1972). This volume provides a detailed biography.

Ivan Doig, Winter Brothers: A Season at the Edge of America (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980). This biography offers a an interesting, but less detailed interpretation of Swan's life.

James Gilchrist Swan, Almost Out of the World: Scenes from Washington Territory: the Strait of Juan de Fuca, 1859-61, ed. by William A. Katz (Tacoma: Washington State Historical Society, 1971). This book reprints many of Swan's newspaper articles and contains a list of all of Swan's publications.

James Gilchrist Swan, The Northwest Coast; or, Three Years' Residence in Washington Territory (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1972). Reprint of the 1857 edition (New York, Harper & Brothers).

James Gilchrist Swan, The Indians of Cape Flattery, at the Entrance to the Strait of Fuca, Washington Territory (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1870). Vol. 16 in the series: Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge.

James Gilchrist Swan, The Haidah Indians of the Queen Charlottes Islands, British Columbia (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1874). Vol. 21 in the series: Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge.

Franz Stenzel, Early Days in the Northwest: Prints, Paintings; Drawings by James G. Swan (Portland: Portland Art Museum, 1959). Reprints of some of Swan's drawings.

Related Materials

A large collection of Swan's correspondence and case files, 1852 to 1907, is held by the University of British Columbia Library, Rare Books and Special Collections division, under the title the James Gilchrist Swan Papers. This material is available on microfilm in the University of Washington Libraries Microform and Newspaper Collections, microfilm no. A8576 (9 reels). A copy of the finding aid for the UBC collection is available in the repository and online .

Swan's address to the legislature of British Columbia and his report to the Smithsonian Institution, both dated 1884 and both regarding the Haida Indians and the Queen Charlotte Islands, is available on microfiche in the University of Washington Libraries Microform and Newspaper Collections. Originals are held by the British Columbia Provincial Archives.

Swan's correspondence with the Smithsonian Institution concerning his Indian artifact collecting activities, 1860s-1890s, is held by the National Archives, Washington, D.C.; one reel of microfilm is available in the University of Washington Libraries Microform and Newspaper Collections, microfilm no. A2923.

The Museum of History and Industry in Seattle has five of Swan's letterpress copybooks, 1883 to 1891, containing outgoing letters relating to his government positions, as well as personal correspondence, 1890 to 1896.

The Seattle branch of the National Archives holds a volume entitled, Docket and Record of James G. Swan, U.S. Commissioner, Pt. Townsend, 1892-1897.

The Eastern Washington Historical Society in Spokane has copies of Isaac Stevens's correspondence with Swan.

The Jefferson County Historical Society in Port Townsend has approximately a dozen Swan letters, as well as a series of newspaper clippings about him.

Artwork by Swan, as well as several boxes of correspondence and materials about Swan, are available in the Franz R. and Kathryn M. Stenzel Collection of Western American Art (WA MSS S-2368), and their collection of Research Files on Western American Art (WA MSS S-2369), held by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

Many of Swan's drawings, as well as his diaries from 1898 to 1900, are in private hands and are therefore currently inaccessible to researchers.