Collection Summary
Information for Researchers
Administrative Information
Biographical Information
Scope and Content of Collection
Collection Summary
Collection Title: Margaret Langdon papers
Date (inclusive): 1957-2001
Collection Number: BANC MSS 2005/238
Creators :
Margaret Langdon
Extent:
Number of containers: 29 cartons, 63 boxes
Linear feet: 48.85
Repository: The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Abstract: The Margaret Langdon papers contain correspondence; proposals and projects, primarily the Comparative Dictionary of Yuman
Languages consisting of correspondence, contracts, evaluations, data entries, and drafts. Also included are Langdon's conference
and workshop presentations along with numerous articles published in professional journals. The bulk of the collection contains
research materials of Langdon and other anthropologists, linguists, language consultants, and students. They include correspondence,
papers, workshop handouts, grammar notes, transcriptions, student papers, language lessons, articles, and notes. The research
concentrates mainly on Native American languages such as Cocopa, Diegueño, Karuk, Kumeyaay, Mohave, Paipai, Yavapai, Yuman;
from the areas of Southern California, Baja California, the Southwest, and Northwest Mexico. Included are the research of
James Crawford, Judy Crawford, Ted Couro, Leanne Hinton, Abraham Halpern, Judith Joel, and Pamela Munro. Many unpublished
field notes and language slips/notes were moved by Langdon from the University of California, San Diego archive collections
of Yuman languages to The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. There are some biographical information
for Langdon and her class notebooks from the University of California at Berkeley, a few under the name of Margaret Hoffman.
Langdon's teaching materials include mainly courses in Linguistics and Anthropology at the University of California at San
Diego from 1965-1991.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Information for Researchers
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head
of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The
Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright
owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Margaret Langdon Papers, BANC MSS 2005/238, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Alternate Forms Available
There are no alternate forms of this collection.
Separated Material
Photographs have been transferred to the Pictorial Collections of The Bancroft Library, BANC PIC 2005.186.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Langdon, Margaret, 1926-2005--Archives
Historical linguistics
Indians of North America--California--Languages
Linguistics--Congresses
Yuman languages
Hokan languages
Kumiai language
Indians--Languages
Proto-Yuman language
Indians of North America--Arizona
Diegueño Indians
Yuman Indians
Indians of Mexico
Paipai language
Karok language
Mohave language
Cocopa language
Field notes.
Halpern, Abraham M. (Abraham Meyer), 1914-
Munro, Pamela
Hinton, Leanne
Joël, Judith
Online Archive of California
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information
The Margaret Langdon Papers were given to The Bancroft Library by Loni Langdon on May 17, 2005.
Accruals
No additions are expected.
System of Arrangement
Arranged to the folder level.
Processing Information
Processed by Janice Otani in 2013
Biographical Information
Margaret Langdon was born in Belgium and immigrated to the United States where she attended the University of California at
Berkeley, receiving her doctoral degree in 1966. For her dissertation, she did her fieldwork deciphering the spelling and
grammar of Mesa Grande's Diegueño dialect in the San Diego area and worked with elders, Ted Couro and Christina Hutcheson,
to create the first local Indian dictionary. During her years of teaching at the University of California at San Diego from
1965 to 1991, her contributions also included numerous publications on the native languages of Southern California and the
Southwest. Langdon, professor emeritus of linguistics, was the primary expert in Kumeyaay, Northern Diegueño (Ipai) and Luiseño
dialects. She was the leading figure in Hokan Studies and a founding member of the Society for the Study of Indigenous Languages
of the Americas, serving as their president in 1985. Langdon died at the age of 79 in 2005.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Margaret Langdon papers contain correspondence; proposals and projects, primarily the Comparative Dictionary of Yuman
Languages consisting of correspondence, contracts, evaluations, data entries, and drafts. Also included are Langdon's conference
and workshop presentations along with numerous articles published in professional journals. The bulk of the collection contains
research materials of Langdon and other anthropologists, linguists, language consultants, and students. They include correspondence,
papers, workshop handouts, grammar notes, transcriptions, student papers, language lessons, articles, and notes. The research
concentrates mainly on Native American languages such as Cocopa, Diegueño, Karuk, Kumeyaay, Mohave, Paipai, Yavapai, Yuman;
from the areas of Southern California, Baja California, the Southwest, and Northwest Mexico. Included are the research of
James Crawford, Judy Crawford, Ted Couro, Leanne Hinton, Abraham Halpern, Judith Joel, and Pamela Munro. Many unpublished
field notes and language slips/notes were moved by Langdon from the University of California, San Diego archive collections
of Yuman languages to The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. There are some biographical information
for Langdon and her class notebooks from the University of California at Berkeley, a few under the name of Margaret Hoffman.
Langdon's teaching materials include mainly courses in Linguistics and Anthropology at the University of California at San
Diego from 1965-1991.