Turning Points
in Wisconsin History
Alfred Bridgman's English-Menominee word list from the 1870s
Menominee vocabulary, 1874-1879
The compiler of this vocabulary, Alfred Fearing Bridgman (1857-1924), was the son of Menominee Indian agent Joseph Clark Bridgman. The Bridgman family arrived in Keshena in Oct. 1874 and departed in April 1879. In 1880 John W. Powell, Director of the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of Ethnology, distributed 150 pages of forms with his Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages, asking readers to gather American Indian language vocabularies. Alfred Bridgman used a copy of Powell's forms to collect the roughly 50 pages of terms listed here. Albert Bridgman's brother Frank also kept a Menominee word list which is available elsewhere at Turning Points in Wisconsin History.
We have omitted pages that contained no handwritten Menominee terms. This is one of several works on American Indian languages to be found at Turning Points in Wisconsin History. Readers should note that this is a historical document rather than a modern one, and that it was produced by a white observer rather than a native speaker; students wishing to study the language should rely on materials produced by the tribal language office.
| Related Topics: |
Early Native Peoples Explorers, Traders, and Settlers First Peoples Colonialism Transforms Indian Life Americanization and the Bennett Law Indians in the 20th Century |
| Creator: | Bridgman, Alfred F. |
| Pub Data: | Unpublished manuscript (call no. US Mss 5F) in the Archives at the Wisconsin Historical Society. |
| Citation: | Bridgman, Alfred F. Menominee vocabulary, 1874-1879 (US Mss 5F at the Wisconsin Historical Society). Online facsimile at: http://wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/search.asp?id=1767; Visited on: 4/24/2024 |
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