Researchers at the University of California-Davis are poring through six tons of material collected by John Peabody Harrington, a linguist and anthropologist who spent his life studying tribal cultures.

A lot of the material is junk, researchers say. But they have also found invaluable, if sometimes incomprehensible, notes on tribal language, history and culture.

As a Smithsonian field linguist, Harrington spent much of his time among California tribes. He has recordings of the last speakers of languages like Juaneo and Kitanemuk. The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe is using his notes to revive the Chochenyo language.

The goal of the project is to transfer the material to an electronic database. The effort is expected to take 20 years because Harrington's notes are difficult to read, written in code, Spanish or phonetic script.

Get the Story:
A Packrat's Path to Indian Past (The Los Angeles Times 7/2)
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Relevant Links:
John Peabody Harrington, biography - http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information
/biography/fghij/harrington_john.html