James Mooney

James Mooney was an American ethnographer who lived among the Cherokee. He was known as "The Indian Man". His major works include The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees (1891) and Myths of the Cherokee (1900). The Bureau of American Ethnology published all his works.

James Mooney was born on 10 February 1861 in Richmond, Indiana. His parents were Irish Catholic immigrants. His formal education was limited to the city's public schools. He became a self-taught expert on American tribes through his own studies. He observed different groups during long periods of residence with them.

In 1885, James Mooney started working with the Bureau of American Ethnology in Washington, D.C. He worked under John Wesley Powell. In 1887, he moved to live among the Eastern band of the Cherokee. He compiled a list of Native American tribes that totalled 3,000 names.

Mooney conducted major studies of Indians in the Southeast. He also studied tribes on the Great Plains. After Sitting Bull's death in 1890, he conducted studies of the Ghost Dance. This was a spiritual movement among various Native American culture groups. The US Army massacred the Lakota people at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1890. Mooney became recognised as a national expert on the American Indian.

Mooney's writing style was widely considered to be evocative. His sympathetic portrayal of Native Americans stemmed from his upbringing and ethnic background. He approached his writing as a scientist. His objective attitude towards Native Americans contrasted with that of other writers. Other accounts were often either romanticised or discriminatory.

Mooney visited Wovoka, the Ghost Dance prophet, at his home in Nevada. He traced the Ghost Dance's movement from place to place. He described the ritual and recorded the song lyrics of seven separate tribes.

Mooney said: "The desire to preserve for future ages the memory of past achievements is a universal human instinct". He added: "The reliability of the record depends chiefly on the truthfulness of the recorder".

Mooney earned the Kiowa's confidence. They told him about their system for recording events. The Kiowa recorded two events for each year. This provided a finer-grained record than that of other tribes. Other Plains tribes kept pictorial records known as winter counts.

Mooney spent much time with the Cherokee in Indian Territory. For many years, he worked with Will West Long. Long was an Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians elder and translator. Mooney studied their language, culture and mythology.

Myths of the Cherokee compiled 126 Cherokee myths. These included sacred stories, animal myths, local legends and wonder stories. The book also included original Cherokee manuscripts. Topics covered include history, archaeology, geographic names, personal names and botany. It also addressed medicine, arts, home life, religion, songs and ceremonies.

Mooney married Ione Lee Gaut on 28 September 1897 in Washington, D.C. They had six children. One son was the writer Paul Mooney.

James Mooney died of heart disease in Washington, D.C., on 22 December 1921. He was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Washington, D.C. His papers and photographs are held in the National Anthropological Archives at the Smithsonian Institution.

Photo credit: Bureau of American Ethnology "Bulletin" (1901)