9/4/2009:
In the summer of 1912, two peculiar figures trekked across the Ft. Berthold Reservation wearing high-collared dresses and heavy petticoats in the hot summer sun. Ms. Frances Densmore and her sister Margaret stuck out like a sore thumb as they hauled ungainly machinery such as a typewriter, a phonograph, and camera equipment across the natives' land. It was unusual for any woman of the time to travel to a reservation unescorted. But Frances Densmore was not a typical woman. She was an amateur anthropologist who traveled throughout the United States to gather wax cylinder recordings of Native American songs for the Smithsonian's Bureau of American Ethnology.
Ms. Densmore's interest in Native American music was sparked as a young child when she and her family lived across the Mississippi River from a tribe of Sioux in Red Wing, Minnesota. "We could hear the throb of the drum when they were dancing," wrote Densmore, "and sometimes we could see the flickering light of their campfire." Densmore went on to receive a formal education in piano and organ music at a conservatory, yet her fascination with Native American music never faded. At a time when Indians were considered strange and their music uncivilized, Densmore recognized the importance of music in understanding native culture. "Indian song, in my observation, is far from being a spontaneous outburst of melody," wrote Densmore. "On the contrary there is around it the dignity and control which pervade the whole life of the race."
On this date in 1912, Ms. Densmore was recording and preserving tribal songs of the Indians at the Ft. Berthold reservation. While at the reservation, she transcribed the phonograms into sheet music, and with the help of a native woman named Scattered Corn, she was also able to provide the English translations of the songs.
During her visits to North Dakota, Densmore recorded songs and interviews with such tribes as the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Teton Sioux. Some of Densmore's best work came out of her research on the Dakota Sioux. For example, she managed to convince Sioux tribal members at the Standing Rock Reservation to talk on the phonograph about their sacred Sun Dance - a ceremony that had been outlawed by the U.S. government in 1882. Densmore's work is an early example of oral history recordings, an increasingly important part of historical preservation. Much of her North Dakota collection was donated to the State Historical Society, where it remains today.
Dakota Datebook written by Carol Wilson
Sources:
Bismarck Daily Tribune, September 5, 1912.
Bismarck Daily Tribune, September 7, 1912.
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/199702/01_smiths_densmore/docs/10lonely.shtml