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Creator
Jochelson, Waldemar, 1855-1937
Call number
MssCol 1565
Physical description
5 linear feet (10 boxes)
Language
Materials in English
Preferred Citation

Waldemar Jochelson papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library

Repository
Manuscripts and Archives Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

Papers consist of ethnological and linguistic materials on the Aleut and Kamchadal peoples. Aleutian material includes the texts of 81 folk tales collected by Jochelson during the Riaboushinsky Expedition (1909-1911), with interlinear literal translation and appended free translation in English; his unpublished "Essay On the Grammar of the Aleutian Language;" two shorter studies on Aleut grammar; and his card file Aleut-Russian/Russian-Aleut dictionary. Accompanying Jochelson's work is a critical study of his "Essay" prepared by Ethel Aginsky in 1933 as a Master's thesis and her card file Aleut-English dictionary.

Biographical/historical information

Waldemar Jochelson (1855-1937), the Russian ethnographer known for his studies of the Aleut, Koryak, Yukaghir, and Yakut peoples was born and educated in Vilna. As a student he joined the revolutionary populist and terrorist organization, the People's Will (Narodnaya Volya) was arrested in 1884 and sentenced to three years imprisonment and ten years exile in Siberia. While there Jochelson and fellow revolutionaries Waldemar Bogoras and Lev Sternberg devoted their attention to the native population, producing some of the first studies of the indigenous tribes. Their work so impressed the authorities that they were allowed to participate in the Sibiriakoy Expedition (1894-1895) to the Yakut provinces of northeastern Siberia sponsored by the Imperial Russian Geographic Society. Jochelson remained in Siberia after his term of exile expired to continue his work. He participated in the Jesup North Pacific Expedition (1900-1902) sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History and the Riaboushinsky Expedition (1909-1911) to Kamchatka and the Aleutian Islands. Beginning in 1912 he held various positions in the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology and was made professor of ethnology at the University of Leningrad after the Revolution. Jochelson emigrated to the United States in 1922 where he was associated with the American Museum of Natural History and the Carnegie Institute. Much of his later life was spent refining his work on the Aleut language and preparing a study of the Kamchadal people.

Scope and arrangement

The Jochelson Papers consist of ethnological and linguistic materials on the Aleut and Kamchadal peoples. The Aleutian material includes the texts of 81 folk tales collected by Jochelson during the Riaboushinsky Expedition, with interlinear literal translation and appended free translation in English, his unpublished "Essay On the Grammar of the Aleutian Language", two shorter studies on Aleut grammar, and his card file Aleut-Russian/Russian-Aleut dictionary. Accompanying Jochelson's work is a critical study of his "Essay" prepared by Ethel Aginsky in 1933 as a Master's thesis and her card file Aleut-English dictionary. The Kamchadal material consists of Jochelson's card file Kamchadal Russian/Russian-Kamchadal dictionary, a typescript draft of his unpublished monograph on the Kamchadals and the Kamchatka Peninsula, a Kamchadal-English vocabulary, 48 photographs taken by Jochelson during the Riaboushinsky Expedition, and the texts of 41 Kamchadal folk tales collected during the expedition with interlinear literal translation and appended free English translation. Both the Aleutian and Kamchadal texts are accompanied by an introduction and summary prepared by Roman Jakobson. The Kamchadal tales have been published as Kamchadal Texts Collected by Waldemar Jochelson by Dean Stoddard Worth (Mouton & Co., 1961). The Aleutian texts are presently being prepared for publication. The remainder of the collection consists of several manuscripts, typescripts, and reprints of essays by Jochelson, mostly in Russian, including memoirs of his revolutionary activities and early years in Siberia, and a manuscript - map of Siberia.

Arrangement

Three series: I. Aleut Materials; II. Kamchadal Materials; III. Writings

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

1943, 1944, 1946, Received from estate of Franz Boas

Processing information

Accessioned by MY, December 1985

Bibliography

Kamchadal folk tales published in: Worth, Dean Stoddard. Kamchadal Texts Collected By Waldemar Jochelson. (Mouton & Co., 1961)

Using the collection

Location

Manuscripts and Archives Division
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328

Conditions Governing Use

Restrictions literary rights belong to Lydia Domherr, Jochelson's niece (see memo)

Alternative form available

Aleut materials available on microfilm; New York Public Library