"Universal Indian Sign Language" -- Boy Scouts Guide to Native American Sign Language and Symbols with Significant Native American Studies Provenance

William Tomkins

Published by William Tomkins, San Diego, California, 1926

About this Item

First edition of a visual guide to Native American sign language, symbols, and pictographic word symbols of the Ojibway and Sioux Nations, self-published by the author and used by the Boy Scouts of America. Includes dozens of visual symbols and definitions, giving Boy Scouts the opportunity to learn more about Native American language and culture. Notes the differences between the Nations, but also conflates all of the diverse groups under the single term "Indian". This copy is notable for its provenance. It has been signed by its contemporary owner in both his given name (Ralph Hubbard) and his "Native American Name" ("Black Hawk"). Ralph "Doc" Hubbard (1886-1980) was a White man from East Aurora, New York who dedicated his life to preserving Native American culture in the form of children's books ("Queer Person", published in 1930, and "The Wolf Song", published in 1935). He also promoted Native American culture via touring dance troupes, and wrote a section in the 1927 Boy Scout Handbook on Native American handicraft. He founded a museum and heritage center with his personal collection of Native American artifacts at Wounded Knee that was burned to the ground by Native American activists from the American Indian Movement (AIM) in the 1973 "Wounded Knee Incident". An interesting chapter in Native American history; for more on this, see Thomas Grillot. Familiar in Many Shapes: A Historical (and Contemporary) Overview of Museums in Native American Country. Berose - Encyclopedie internationale des histoires de l'anthropologie, 2023. This copy has also been signed in the rear by a subsequent owner, the American historian Richard N. Current (1912-2012), a spcialist in Lincoln history. Blue ink stamp of Boy Scouts to title-page. Single vol. (9.75" by 6.5"), pp. 77, [3], in original illus. wrps depicting two Native Americans on horseback in the West. OCLC -1 (July 2024). N.B. the four-sided symbol on the lower cover is not a German Swastika, but a pre-WWII Navajo symbol of protection, healing, and good luck.

Seller Inventory # 27001587

Bibliographic Details

• Title: "Universal Indian Sign Language" -- Boy Scouts Guide to Native American Sign Language and Symbols with Significant Native American Studies Provenance
• Publisher: William Tomkins, San Diego, California
• Publication Date: 1926
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very good. Toned
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Social History
  • Cultural History