Eckstorm was the daughter of a fur trader living in Maine who published six books and many articles on natural history, woods culture, and Indian language and lore. A writer from Maine with a national readership, Eckstorm drew on her unique relationship with both Maine woodsmen and Maine's Native Americans that grew out of the time she spent in the woods with her father. She developed a complex system of work largely based on oral tradition, recording and interpreting local knowledge about animal behavior and hunting practices, boat handling, ballad singing, Native American languages, crafts, and storytelling. Her work has formed the foundation for much scholarship in New England folklore and history and clearly illustrates the importance of indigenous and folk knowledge to scholarship. Fannie Hardy Eckstorm and Her Quest for Local Knowledge, 1865–1946 reveals an important story which speaks directly to contemporary issues as historians of science, social science and humanities begin to re-evaluate the nature, content, and role of indigenous and folk knowledge systems. Eckstorm's life and work illustrate the constant tension between local lay knowledge and the more privileged scientific production of academics that increasingly dominated the field from the early twentieth century. At the time Eckstorm was writing, the growth in professionalism and eclipse of the amateur led to a reorganization of knowledge. As increasing specialization defined the academy, indigenous knowledge systems were dismissed as unscientific and born of ignorance. Eckstorm recognized and lauded the innate value of traditional knowledge that could, for example, fell trees in the interior of Maine and ship them internationally as finished lumber.

Fannie Hardy Eckstorm and Her Quest for Local Knowledge, 1865 1946 reveals an important story which speaks directly to contemporary issues as historians of science, social science, and humanities begin to re-evaluate the nature, content, and role of indigenous and folk knowledge systems. Eckstorm's life and work illustrate the constant tension between local lay knowledge and the more privileged scientific production of academics that increasingly dominated the field from the early twentieth century."

Crossing time and oceans, this fascinating history of the McIlwraiths tracks the family's imperial identities across the generations to tell a story of anthropology and empire.

The bark canoes of the North American Indians, particularly those of birchbark, were among the most highly developed manually propelled primitive watercraft. Built with Stone Age tools from available materials, their design, size, and appearance were varied to suit the many requirements of their users. Even today, canoes are based on these ancient designs, and this fascinating guide combines historical background with instructions for constructing one. Author Edwin Tappan Adney, born in 1868, devoted his life to studying canoes and was practically the sole scholar in his field. His papers and research have been assembled by a curator at the Smithsonian Institution.

More than 160 songs drawn from recordings and archives of Maine singers and collectors; powerful stories of sailing, fishing, storms, shipwreck, piracy, sea battles, and loved ones left at home. With lyrics, tunes, and historical notes,

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

"'Folksongs' interest many people nowadays, because they are meant to be the kinds of songs most of our ancestors sang, before industrialisation, before the mass media, before music and song became commodities, and before all the assorted evils associated with advanced capitalist society. 'Folksongs' and 'ballads' represent real values something honest and straightforward and beautiful to hang on to, and make us feel our roots in the Britain of 1900 or 1800 or even 1700. The only problem with this way of thinking is that it is based on myths. What we now know as 'folksongs' and 'ballads' were sought after, collected, edited and published by individuals who were either members of the rising bourgeoisie, or were ideologically sympathetic to bourgeois culture and values. The working people who sang their songs, and had them chopped up, amended and sometimes re-written or invented on their behalf, are remarkably absent from the story of 'folksong'. Before we can begin to piece together the real history of our ancestors' culture, we have to penetrate the 'mediations' of people like Cecil Sharp, Francis James Child and Albert Lancaster Lloyd, and to begin building again on firmer foundations. This book sets out to clear the ground"--Page 4 of cover.

An intriguing history of the survival of a Native American people.