Alice C. Fletcher

Indexed in the Sears Song Index.

This classic treatise on the Omahas is based on twenty-nine years of study and observation in the field. "Nothing has been borrowed from other observers,'" Alice C. Fletcher writes in the Foreword. Volume II considers social life and societies, music, warfare, treatment of disease, death and burial customs, religion, and language. The first chapter on Social life includes information on kinship, courtship, marriage, child raising, etiquette, avocations of men, of women, clothing, adornment, property, and amusement. An Appendix traces the history of the tribe since the coming of the white man and describes the effects of that contact.

Indexed in Sears Song Index.

"Fletcher and Francis La Flesche, her Omaha coworker and adopted son, divided the songs into three categories: religious ones, to be sung by a certain class either through initiation or inheritance; social ones, involving dances and games, always sung by a group; and ones to be sung singly, including dream songs, love songs, captive songs, prayer songs, death songs, sweat lodge songs, and songs of thanks. John Comfort Fillmore, a professional musician, added a "Report on the Structural Peculiarities of the Music."" "Those interested in a vital aspect of Indian culture will want to own this book, which contains the musical scores as well as the native-language words for the songs."--BOOK JACKET.