About this record
Walter Hoffman (1846-1899) was an Army doctor who became a fieldworker for the Smithsonian's Bureau of American Ethnology after 1879. He worked mainly with tribes in the far West until 1884, when he began living among Great Lakes nations; he spent 1887-1890 with Ojibwe bands in Minnesota and 1890-1891 with the Menominee in Wisconsin. One of Hoffman's main research interests was American Indian languages; this short vocabulary is one part of his book-length report on the Menominee, as he observed them about 1890. This is one of several works on American Indian languages to be found at Turning Points in Wisconsin History. Readers should note that this is a historical document rather than a modern one, and that it was produced by a white observer rather than a native speaker; students wishing to study the language should rely on materials produced by the tribal language office.
Citation
Hoffman, Walter James. "Vocabulary," in The Menomini Indians, 14th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O., 1896);