For 50 years, controversial ethnographer John Peabody Harrington crisscrossed the United States, frantically searching and documenting dying Native American languages. Harrington amassed over a million pages of notes on over 150 different tribal languages. Some of these languages were considered dead until his notes were discovered. Today tribes are accessing the notes, reviving their once dormant languages, and bringing together a new generation of language learners in the hope of saving Native languages.

"The Story of John Peabody Harrington"

Credits

Daniel GoldingDirector

Jack MarrSelf - John P. Harrington's assistant

Kathryn KlarSelf - Harrington biographer, UC Berkeley

Ernestine DeSotoSelf - Barbareño Chumash, daughter of last native speaker

Gertrude Van Fleet-DashSelf - Mojave Elder