Tlingit songs and texts collected by Nora Marks Dauenhauer and Richard Dauenhauer, 1950-1997

Scope and Content

The collection consists of interviews with Tlingit language speakers in Alaska and recordings from Tlingit gatherings and events. The bulk of the recordings were made between the 1960s to the 1980s, some in the 1950s, a few are copies of field recordings made by Frederica de Laguna (1950s) and John Swanton (1904). Through personal narratives, songs, and stories, these tradition bearers impart knowledge about inter-tribal relationships and relationships with outside communities, economic life, medicine, fishing, religious expression, and other aspects of community life.