General, 1939.
Scope and Content
The Robert W. Young collection contains newspaper clippings, papers, manuscripts (published and unpublished), data, handwritten and typed notes, memoranda, court cases and correspondence concerning linguistics (Athabaskan - Navajo), anthropology, history, BIA records, and Navajo Nation Tribal records from 1880 to 1992.
The collection is divided into 7 overlapping series: Linguistics, History/Anthropology, Navajo Condition, Government Relations, and Other Native American Related Publications, Oversize, and Office Files..
The Linguistics series divides into General, Comparative Canadian Athabaskan, and Applied. The General Linguistics subseries contains manuscripts, conference papers, typed, and handwritten notes regarding Navajo grammar. The subseries also contains correspondence between Robert Young and William Morgan, Sr. during their collaborative efforts on The Navajo Language: A Grammar and Colloquial Dictionary (1980) and Analytical Lexicon of Navajo (1992). The Comparative Canadian Athabaskan subseries regards comparative field work across the Beaver, Carrier, Chipewyan, and Sarci languages with audio samples of the Thlingit and Haida languages. The Applied Linguistics subseries concerns materials for classroom instruction.
History/Anthropology contains correspondence, reports, articles, and historical sketches concerning early Spanish and Anglican contact in the Southwest. The theme for this series surrounds agriculture/hunting, dancing, kinship, peyote, place names, stars/constellations, and witchcraft. This series includes materials on peyotism by David Aberle.
The Navajo Condition incorporates several subseries: 1) General - summaries/reports regarding the Navajo situation from 1939-1969, 2) Education - materials concerning boarding schools and special education, 3) Employment - reports and articles of employment statistics in the Navajo Reservation area, 4) Industry, 5) Land/Resources/Surveys - land purchases, irrigation, soil & moisture programs, and uranium drilling, 6) Livestock - range resources and stock reduction programs, 7) Welfare - charities, reports, and articles concerning alcohol consumption.
Government Relations divides into three subseries: Federal, Tribal/Constitution, and Court Cases/Legal Issues. The Federal subseries contains correspondence reflecting early U.S. Government-Navajo contact, Navajo trading, administration, policies, progress on Navajo withdrawal, and census statistics. Materials in the Tribal/Constitution subseries concern early Navajo government, self-administration, formation of the Navajo constitution, and Ramah Navajo jurisdiction to the Pueblo Lands Board. Court Cases/Legal Issues mostly concerns the activities of Norman Littell, Navajo General Council and Claims Attorney hired in 1947. A particular focus concerns Littell's private negotiations with outside mining interests while bypassing the Navajo Tribe's own mining engineers. Material also relates to the time period when the Navajo Council was divided on the renewal of Littell's contract, ultimately involving Secretary of the Interior, Stewart Udall.
Oversize series contains a few large publications, plates, and miscellaneous items.
The Office Files series was added to the collection in april 2010. These are files that remained in Dr. Young's office at the time of his death.
Dates
- Creation: 1939.
Language of Materials
English.
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Extent
From the Collection: 6 boxes (6 cu. ft.) + 1 oversize folder
Repository Details
Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
cswrref@unm.edu