The Nehalem Tillamook
William R. Seaburg and Elizabeth Derr Jacobs
The first book-length ethnography of any Western Oregon native group, The Nehalem Tillamook fills an important gap in what was previously known about southern Northwest Coast native cultures.
In 1933 and 1934, Elizabeth Jacobs, advised by her husband, the noted anthropologist Melville Jacobs, conducted fieldwork on the Nehalem Tillamook culture of northwestern Oregon. Working with her extraordinarily able Nehalem Tillamook consultant Clara Pearson, Jacobs recorded extensive ethnographic and folkloric materials that far surpass in quality and quantity the Tillamook research of previous investigators.
Jacobs's collaboration with Pearson eventually resulted in the publication of Nehalem Tillamook Tales, an exceptional collection of myths and tales recorded in English. But the companion ethnography was never finished.
The Nehalem Tillamook grew from that unfinished manuscript. In consultation with Elizabeth Jacobs, the manuscript was expanded and extensively edited by William Seaburg. After Elizabeth Jacobs's death in 1983, Seaburg added careful annotations and a detailed historical introduction. The result is a remarkable book that makes a major contribution to our understanding of Nehalem Tillamook culture and will be invaluable for drawing comparisons with other Northwest native cultures.
About the author
William R. Seaburg is co-author of Coquelle Thompson, Athabaskan Witness: A Cultural Biography and co-editor of Badger and Coyote were Neighbors: Melville Jacobs on Northwest Indian Myths and Tales (OSU Press). He is associate professor of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington, Bothell. He lives in Seattle.
Read more about this author
Elizabeth Derr Jacobs (1903-1983) was an anthropologist specializing in the native cultures of the Pacific Northwest. Her fieldwork with the Nehalem Tillamook and southwestern Oregon Athabaskans made significant contributions to the linguistic, ethnographic, and folkloristic documentation of the Native peoples of western Oregon.
Read more about this author
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Maps
Principal Ethnolinguistic Groups of the
Southern Northwest Coast
Major Tillamook Ethnolinguistic Subgroups
Principal Nehalem Tillamook Villages in the
Mid-Nineteenth Century
Editor's Introduction to The Nehalem Tillamook: An Ethnography
1. The Tillamook
2. Rocking Chair Ethnography
3. History of Ethnographic and Linquistic
on the Tillamook Indians
4. Jacobs's Tillamook Research in Comparative
Perspective
5. Biographies
6. The Editor's Role in Transforming
the Ethnography
Author's Introduction
1. Material Culture and Subsistence
Introduction
Houses
Canoes
Hunting
Cooking
Important Seasonal Foods
Body Decoration
Clothing
Ceremonial Attire and Accessories
Natural Medicines and Hygiene
Miscellany
2. Social Organization
Introduction
Slaves and Slave Raiding
War Expeditions
Dispute Settlement
Headmen
Marriage and Sexuality
Wedding Arrangements and Ceremony
Polygyny
Extent of Levirate-Sororate
Child Betrothal
Behavior Toward In-Laws and Other Affines
Post-Menopause Sexuality
Transvestism
3. The Life Cycle
Birth, Infant Care, and Adolescence
Babyland
Pregnancy
Wet Nurse
Ear Piercing and Naming
Care of Children
Daily Round of a Child
Adolescence
Death, Burial, Purification, and Mourning
Death
Burial
Reburial
Purifications
Mourning
Inheritance
4. Worldview and Ceremonial Expression
Introduction
Obtaining Guardian Spirit Powers
Shamans and Shamanism
Introduction
Procedures of a Drawing Doctor
Sucking Doctors: Female
The Winter Dance
Spirit Doctors and the Spirit World
Two Spirit Doctors Known Pearson
General Notes on Shamans
The Love-Doctor
Guardian Spirit Powers
Doctoring Powers
Hunting Powers
Wealth Powers
Bird Powers
Miscellaneous Powers
Bad Powers
Wild Womand and Insanity Concepts
The Southwest Wind Dance
Cosmology
Sun and Moon
Eclipses
Solstices
Stars
Earth
Weather
The First Salmon Ceremony
Treatment of Animals
5. Expressive Culture
Folklore
Music and Songs
Lullaby
Spirit Power Songs
Fun Songs
Dreams
Games
Etiquette
Appendix 1: Northwest Coast Language
Classification
Appendix 2: Biographical Notes on Tillamootk
Persons Discussed in the Ethnography
Appendix 3: Inventory of Jacobs's Nethalem Tillamook
Linguistic Transcriptions
Notes
Bibliography
Index
"A significant contribution. It is very rich in the sense that there is a great deal that is new, or not widely available. This work will be mined by a variety of people-ethnographers, ethnohistorians, historians, archaeologists, tribal people, coastal residents-with an interest in these matters."
Their Archaeology and Prehistory
