Research Guide: Native American Languages
This guide provides an overview for resources at SBMAL relating to Indigenous languages of the Americas.
This guide is a work in progress. Not all materials that contain Indigenous languages are labeled as such. This page will be updated as more are identified. Researchers are encouraged to contact us at research@sbmal.org about any materials that may have been misidentified or described incorrectly.
Primary source materials
Mission Era Document Collections
CMD 45 | San Antonio. c. 1787.
Indian words and phrases in hand of Fray Buenaventura Sitjar, O.F.M., Photocopy. Archives of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. 1 p.
CMD 621 | 1804(?).
Act of Faith and ritual for receiving the Viaticum in the Indian language of Mission Santa Ines. Santa Bárbara Mission Archive-Library. Spanish. 4 pp.
CMD 3835 | Rome. 12/13/1841.
"Conversion de los San Luiseños de la Alta California" by Pablo Tac, Christian Indian of San Luis Rey and student for the priesthood at the Propagation of the Faith, Rome, written at the insistence of Cardinal Mezzofonti. Tac died at Rome in 1841. The document comprises a short history of the Indians and description of the mission of San Luis Rey, a grammatical sketch of the Luiseño language and a vocabulary of 1,200 words together with a few drawings. MS in the University of Bologna. Photocopy. Spanish. 180 pp.
Confesionarios - A confesionario (handbook for confessors) provided formulas for making confessions and granting absolutions. These include specimens in Native languages (Mutsun, Barbareño, and Ventureño).
Apostolic College (Our Lady of Sorrows) Collection
L 48 | 12/8/1854.
Bull of Pope Pius IX on the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of December 4, 1854, translated into the Indian language known as Mich-canacan (Ventureño). Translator unknown. 28 pp.
L 220a | Washington, D.C. 3/1863.
Smithsonian miscellaneous collections. 161. Dictionary of the Chinook Jargon, or trade language of Oregon, prepared for the Smithsonian Institution, by George Gibbs. Inscriptions on title page: "A.S. Taylor. Mont. mailed by S. F. B. 21 Oct./63. recd. 25 Nov. 63." and in pencil in another hand: "Mission Santa Barbara." 43 pp.
Rare Book Collection
This section includes books containing handwriting that is a primary source. Other relevant printed books are below under "Published materials."
Theologia Christiana dogmatico-moral su autor Daniel Concina ... (En Madrid, En la Imprenta de Pantaleon Aznar, 1770). Contains notes in Mutsun; see book record for more information.
Personal Paper Collections
These collections may contain a mix of primary and published sources.
Sylvia Broadbent Papers
Dr. Sylvia Broadbent's papers include photographs, notes, letters, and articles from a career researching linguistics, language and culture, archaeology, prehistory and symbolism of communities in the Americas.
Published materials