Explorations in Sights and Sounds
Orginal Publication Date
1994
Journal Title
Explorations in Sights and Sounds
Volume
14
Issue
ess/vol14/iss1
First Page
58
Last Page
60
Abstract
Naturalist C. Hart Merriam devoted the last years of his life to research on Indians of California, meticulously recording and documenting his observations and the knowledge he gained from the various tribes. In 1910, he published a collection of myths and tales told to him by the elders of the California Mewan Indians under the title, The Dawn of the World: Myths and Weird Tales Told by the Mewan Indians of California. Eighty-three years later the University of Nebraska Press has published a Bison Book Edition of Merriam’s collection. Except for the change in title, the Bison Book Edition is a faithful reproduction of the earlier publication, including the original error in pagination (page numbers 85 and 86 are omitted, although no text is missing). The Bison Book Edition of Merriam’s collection includes a brief but informative introductory essay by anthropologist Lowell J. Bean that provides biographical data on Merriam and historical information on the Miwok Indians (referred to in Merriam’s text as Mewan and/or Mewuk).
Rights
Copyright, ©EES, The National Association for Ethnic Studies, 1994