Valuable archival documentation for Australian languages rediscovered

Claire Bowern recently went to Toronto to work on a collection of fieldnotes from several Australian languages. The materials are part of Gerhardt Laves’ extensive collection. Laves went to Australia after graduating with a BA from the University of Chicago, in order to conduct intensive study of Indigenous languages from different parts of the country. He was a student of Edward Sapir (who moved from Chicago to Yale in 1931). The bulk of Laves’ fieldnotes, including extensive notes on 6 languages and shorter information about many more, was sent to Australia in the 1980s. Additional materials turned up in the family papers of Benj Hellie, Gerhardt Laves’ grandson and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. 

The new materials include a photograph album of several hundred portraits of the Indigenous Australians whose languages Laves recorded, along with draft grammars of Bardi and Karajarri, and numerous other analytical materials. There are also around 700 pages of letters which Laves wrote to his parents, describing his experiences and plans. The letters in particular are an invaluable insight into Laves’ work. His analytical materials are also very valuable for understanding the other materials that he collected (for instance, in understanding how he was writing words from different languages, and where there are multiple spellings, what might be the preferred form). Work on the collection is ongoing.