Sample cover from Elaine Jahner's exploration of narrative and story within the Lakota/Dakota on Standing Rock and central Dakota German-Russian cultures. University of Nebraska Press.
The late Elaine Jahner is best known for her work with Raymond Demaille as co-editor of the James R. Walker papers. The editing created the landmark books Lakota Myth and Lakota Belief and Ritual that draw on information recorded by Walker from men like George Sword in the early 1900s. SBC Library has copies of these two important books in addition the James R. Walker papers in microfilm format. The papers include much that was not within the books and remain important primary sources. A guide to the microfilm edition can be found here.
Spaces of the Mind draws on Elaine's work here on Standing Rock in the 1960s. It is a complex book, replete with the academic focus that requires a bit more knowledge and concentration to get through, but worth the time. Within the text are tantalizing clues to recordings and notes made during her time here. We have yet to locate where these recordings might be archived or stored. Possibly with family or former colleagues? The next step is to follow the trail of colleagues and family to discover if copies do indeed still exist.
We know of their existence because the library once had copies donated by Jodi Gillette in the 1990s. When I arrived in 2001, these important recording were no longer here. It would be great to locate copies of this information both for Standing Rock history and for the descendants of the informants who were recorded at that time. Her primary informants were the late Harry and Lillian Fasthorse of Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Lillian can be viewed in an unrelated hour and a half video interview at Northern Michigan University in 1976 by clicking here