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Melville Jacobs papers, 1918-1978

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Jacobs, Melville, 1902-1971
Title
Melville Jacobs papers
Dates
1918-1978 (inclusive)
1941-1971 (bulk)
Quantity
66.66 cubic feet (196 boxes) including textual materials and sound recordings plus 24 microfilm reels, positive and negative, 35mm
Collection Number
1693 (Accession No. 1693-001)
Summary
Papers, audio recordings, speeches and writings of an author, anthropologist, folklorist and former UW professor of anthropology and linguistics
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

Paper based materials are open to all users. Portions of field notes and recordings are restricted. Audio recordings may not have user access copies available. Contact Special Collections for more information.

Request at UW

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was partially provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities
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Biographical Note

Melville Jacobs, an author, anthropologist, folklorist, and professor of anthropology and linguistics, was born in New York City on July 3, 1902 to parents Alexander and Rose Blau Jacobs. After attending DeWitt Clinton High School, he received his undergraduate degree in history and philosophy from the College of the City of New York in 1922. He then earned both his master's degree (American history, 1923) and his doctorate (anthropology, 1931) from Columbia University. While at Columbia, he studied language structure and phonetics under the noted anthropologist Franz Boas.

Beginning in 1928, Jacobs was an anthropology professor at the University of Washington. With the exception of some visiting appointments, he taught at the University until his death in 1971. Also in 1928, and until 1936, Jacobs conducted field research for six months each year. This field research, which was made possible with funds from Boas, allowed Jacobs to document and preserve the languages, cultures, music, and oral traditions of Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest. In particular, he worked with the Clackamas Chinook, Tillamook Salish, Alsea, Hanis and Miluk Coos, Upper Umpqua and Galice Creek Athabaskan, Sahaptin, Molale, and Kalapuya (Tualatin, Santiam, and Yonkalla). He also studied Chinook Jargon (Chinuk Wawa). The people with whom he worked were often the last speakers able to recall traditions in these languages.

In order to preserve these languages and traditions, Jacobs recorded words, grammatical paradigms, and traditional stories. He also made audio recordings of music using wax cylinders, acetate records, and a custom-built portable phonograph recorder. Furthermore, much of his work was devoted to publishing phonetically-transcribed texts and translations. He published many different works, including A Sketch of Northern Sahaptin Grammar (1931), Notes on the Structure of Chinook Jargon (1932), Northwest Sahaptin Texts, I (1934), Texts in Chinook Jargon (1936), Northwest Sahaptin Texts, II (1937), Coos Narrative and Ethnologic Texts (1939), Coos Myth Texts (1940), Historic Perspectives in Indian Languages of Oregon and Washington (1941), Kalapuya Texts (1945), Outline of Anthropology (1947), General Anthropology: A Brief Survey of Physical, Cultural, and Social Anthropology (1952), Clackamas Chinook Texts (1959), The People are Coming Soon: Analyses of Clackamas Chinook Myths and Tales (1960), Pattern in Cultural Anthropology (1964), and The Anthropologist Looks at Myth (1966).

Jacobs' wife, Elizabeth Louise Derr Jacobs, whom he married on January 3, 1931, also conducted anthropological field research from 1933 to 1935. Although she worked for most of her career as a psychiatric social worker, she also recorded materials from the Nehalem Tillamook, Upper Coquille, and the southwestern Oregon Athabaskan languages and cultures. Her book, Nehalem Tillamook Tales, was published in 1959.

Other aspects of Jacobs' professional career include his work as a Fellow of the American Anthropological Association, associate editor of the American Anthropologist (1939-1944), president of the American Folklore Society (1963-1964), and as a delegate from the American Folklore Society to the American Council of Learned Societies from 1966 to 1968. He was also interested in science, and hosted a weekly local "Science Headlines" radio broadcast from 1934 to 1951. Additionally, for many years he gave public lectures throughout the Pacific Northwest. Melville and Elizabeth Jacobs were also members of the Communist Party from 1935 to 1945, which threatened Melville's work as a professor at the University of Washington.

Melville Jacobs died of cancer on July 31, 1971.

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Content Description

Correspondence, field notes, notebooks, sound recordings, holographs and typescripts, published and unpublished speeches and writings, reports, and other items relating primarily, but not exclusively, to Jacobs' career as an anthropologist, folklorist, linguist, and Professor of Anthropology and Linguistics at the University of Washington. The collection also contains writings, field notes, recordings, and similar items of some of Jacobs' students and colleagues.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Some restrictions exist on copying, quotation or publication. Contact Special Collections for details.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged in 32 series.

  • Series 1, Biographical Features
  • Series 2, General Correspondence
  • Series 3, Recommendations, Evaluations, and Student Correspondence
  • Series 4, Speeches and Writings by Jacobs
  • Series 5, Speeches and Writings by Others
  • Series 6, Student Papers
  • Series 7, Student Exams
  • Series 8, Linguistic Slip Files
  • Series 9, Field Notebooks (languages)
  • Series 10, Linguistic and Ethnographic Field Notes
  • Series 11, Northwest "Trait File"
  • Series 12, Subject Series
  • Series 13, University of Washington
  • Series 14, Research Grants -- Jacobs
  • Series 15, Research Proposals -- Jacobs, 1964
  • Series 16, Research Proposals -- Others
  • Series 17, Conferences and Conventions
  • Series 18, Newsletters and Bulletins
  • Series 19, Announcements
  • Series 20, Drawings by Indian Children, 1955
  • Series 21, Maps
  • Series 22, Miscellany
  • Series 23, Related Groups and Organizations
  • Series 24, Family Papers
  • Series 25, Publications and Reprints
  • Series 26, Bibliography
  • Series 27, Student Grade Books
  • Series 28, Clippings
  • Series 29, "Strip Charts"
  • Series 30, Microfilms
  • Series 31, Sound Recordings
  • Series 32, Photographs

Processing Note

11 CD copies (box 193) of selected "Science Headlines" recordings, (box 191-192). Gold CDs for use as archival copies and working masters.

Separated Materials

Photographs separated and transferred to Visual Materials Curator.

Related Materials

UW Ethnomusicology Archives audio recordings: Melville Jacobs recordings (Pacific NW Native American Music)

Acquisition Information

Bibliographic Source: Elizabeth D. Jacobs, 1972

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Detailed Description of the Collection

 

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Subject Terms

Personal Names

Other Creators


2007 (Last modified: 5/2/2025)

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