Chasing Voices: The Story of John Peabody Harrington
The Story of John Peabody Harrington
For 50 years, controversial ethnographer John Peabody Harrington crisscrossed the United States, frantically searching and documenting dying Native American languages. Harrington amassed over a million pages of notes on over 150 different tribal languages. Some of these languages were considered dead until his notes were discovered. Today tribes are accessing the notes, reviving their once dormant languages, and bringing together a new generation of language learners in the hope of saving Native languages.
Cast
Jack Marr
Self - John P. Harrington's assistant
Kathryn Klar
Self - Harrington biographer, UC Berkeley
Ernestine DeSoto
Self - Barbareño Chumash, daughter of last native speaker
Gertrude Van Fleet-Dash
Self - Mojave Elder
David Oechsner
Self - Fort Mojave Tribe
Leanne Hinton
Self - Prof Emeritus of Linguistics UC Berkeley
Richard Applegate
Self - Linguist
Nora McDowell
Self - Fort Mojave Tribe
Nakia Zavala
Self - Santa Ynez Band of Chumash
Frank Dominguez
Self - Santa Ynez Band of Chumash
Kathleen Marshall
Self - Santa Ynez Band of Chumash
Carmen Sandoval
Self - Santa Ynez Band of Chumash
Victor Golla
Self - Prof of Anthropology, Humboldt State
Catherine Callaghan
Self - Prof Emerita of Linguistics, Ohio State Univ
Storyline
For 50 years, controversial ethnographer John Peabody Harrington crisscrossed the United States, frantically searching and documenting dying Native American languages. Harrington amassed over a million pages of notes on over 150 different tribal languages. Some of these languages were considered dead until his notes were discovered. Today tribes are accessing the notes, reviving their once dormant languages, and bringing together a new generation of language learners in the hope of saving Native languages.
Recommended
John Candy: I Like Me
2025
The Class of ‘92
2013
The Last Waltz
1978
Elvis on Tour
1972
Sidney
2022
Seduced and Abandoned
2013
Heart of a Dog
2015
180° South
2010
Superheroes
2011
Spider-Man: All Roads Lead to No Way Home
2022
Hawking
2013
Tabloid
2011
More Like This
Comprehensive School
1962
As Long as the Rivers Run
1971
Anti-Objects, or Space Without Path or Boundary
2017
Deerfoot of the Diamond
2022
Language Does Not Lie
2004
Pride of the Buffalo Soldier
2017
Foundational Black American
NUKED
2023
Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting
2021
Jeff Weise: My Personal Documentary
2010
La grande prairie, le pacte du bison
2025
The Land is Ours
1997