James Constantine Pilling

Background

He was born on November 16, 1846 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States, the son of James and Susan (Collins) Pilling.

Education

He received his education in the public schools and Gonzaga College, a Jesuit institution at Washington.

Career

He worked in a book store for a time and became proficient in stenography, which qualification, rare at the time, was to lead to important results in his life work. Beginning as stenographer in the courts of the District of Columbia when he was twenty, he later became an employee of congressional committees and commissions.

He was asked by John W. Powell to join the survey of the Rocky Mountains in 1875. His imagination was stimulated by this field work with Powell, during which he was one of the party to explore the Grand Canyon, and his interest in the diverse languages of the Indians was aroused by contact with the little-known tribes of the Rockies. He began the life work he was henceforth indefatigably to pursue.

The next five years, 1875 to 1880, he spent in collecting ethnological material concerning the Indians and acquiring skill in bibliographical method. He was then appointed chief clerk of the geological survey, and he also served as chief clerk of the ethnological bureau. His preoccupation with the Indian was mainly in the literature on the languages of the various groups. At the inception of the Bureau of American Ethnology this groundwork was especially needed, and in 1892 he began to devote his whole time to bibliographical work.

He produced in a few years an unparalleled work on the bibliography of the Indian tribes. As a preliminary he had begun a "Catalogue of the Linguistic Manuscripts in the Library of the Bureau of Ethnology" published in the United States Bureau of American Ethnology, First Annual Report (1881). It was followed by Proof-sheets of a Bibliography of the Languages of the North American Indians (1885). This preliminary work was in the nature of a record of the titles he was able to collect from his own research and from other investigators. Bibliographies of the Athapascan Languages in 1892, the Chinookan in 1893, the Salishan in 1893, and the Wakashan in 1894 completed his great works. The last article from his pen was published in the American Anthropologist in January 1895, entitled "The Writings of Padre Andres de Olmos in the Languages of Mexico. "

Much of his later work was accomplished in a struggle against advancing disease. He died at Olney, Maryland.

Achievements

• James Constantine Pilling was chiefly known for compiling a series of extensive bibliographies of the cultures, mythologies and languages of the North and Central American aboriginal peoples. Organizing his data sets in card catalogues and using a cross-reference system, Pilling published revised bibliographies of Eskimo–Aleut, Siouan–Catawban, Iroquoian, Muskogean, Algonquian, Athabaskan, Chinookan, Salishan, and Wakashan language families. He was also responsible for the initial development of the BAE library and for maintaining its archives system.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Bibliography Of The Athapascan Languages

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • Bibliography Of The Eskimo Language

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • Bibliography of the Muskhogean Languages

    (Will be dispatched from UK. Used books may not include co...)

  • Catalogue Of Linguistic Manuscripts In The Library Of The Bureau Of Ethnology. (1881 N 01 / 1879-1880 (Pages 553-578))

Connections

In 1888 he married Minnie L. (Harper) Pilling and they had one daughter.

Father:

James Pilling

Mother:

Susan (Collins) Pilling

Spouse:

Minnie L. (Harper) Pilling

References

• In Memoriam James Constantine Pilling, 1846-1895 (Classic Reprint)