Kenneth L. Pike (1912–2000)
Pike Special Collection
Including papers of Kenneth Lee Pike, Evelyn Griset Pike, and Eunice Victoria Pike
In March of 1999, Kenneth Pike, Evelyn Pike, and Eunice Pike donated a large body of their personal and work-related papers to the Summer Institute of Linguistics. These papers are comprised of unpublished academic papers, lecture and sermon notes, teaching resource materials, personal and SIL corporation correspondence, diaries, awards and honorary recognitions, as well as various photos and work-related artifacts.
After Kenneth Pike's death on December 31, 2000, some additional deposits of papers from his home office were made by Evelyn Pike. In addition, a small number of papers were deposited from some of the academic offices at the International Linguistics Center in Dallas.
These collected papers now reside as a special collection in the SIL International Language and Culture Archives in Dallas, Texas. The papers have been arranged in eleven series, each of which is briefly described below.
Researchers desiring access to the collection must complete and submit the SIL International Language and Culture Archives Access Policies and Registration before making an appointment with the curator.
- Correspondence Series
- Corporation History Series
- Honors and Awards Series
- Lecture Series
- Research Topics Series
- Publications Series
- Poetry Series
- Personal History Series
- Eunice Victoria Pike Series
- Evelyn Griset Pike Series
- Artifacts
Correspondence Series
(Three and one half file cabinet drawers)
This series spans nearly a century. There are copies of some William Cameron Townsend correspondence from 1917-1938 that were in the materials the Pikes deposited. The Pike correspondence begins in 1931 with a 14 page handwritten letter to Pike's sister Sally and ends in December 2000 with a handwritten note responding to a professor in Iraq who had requested some of Pike's publications. The materials are arranged chronologically in file folders. A database lists date, author, recipient and place of writing [if known] and brief note of content. Some of the correspondents by decade are:
- WCT correspondence copies: Letters to Townsend's parents or "dear home folks" written from Guatemala and Honduras from 1917-1928. The WCT letters from 1930-1937 include a 1930 letter to WCT from Edward Sapir concerning Cakchiquel; a 1935 letter from L.L.Legters concerning the Pioneer Missionary Agency and the beginning of work in Mexico to include Bible translation. The correspondence between WCT and KLP is included in the Pike chronological arrangement.
- 1930s: Leonard Bloomfield, Thomas Cummings, J.O. Fraser, Charles Fries, Marjorie Glover, Mary Haas, Miles Hanley, Zellig Harris, Mrs. Hull, Roland Kent, Brainerd Legters, Edna Legters, E.L. McCreery, Raven McDavid, Eugene Nida, Eric North, Isaac Page, Edward Sapir, Mariano Silva y Acheves, E. H. Sturtevant, Morris Swadesh, William Cameron Townsend, Javier Uranga H.
- 1940s: Bernard Bloch, Dwight Bolinger, Della Brunsteter, J.C. Catford, Chiang Pei Lo, George Cowan, J. Milton Cowan, George Cross, Benjamin Elson, J.R. Firth, Eugene Griset, Robert Hall, Einar Haugen, C.F. Hockett, Carleton Hodge, Frank Houghton, Roman Jakobson, Daniel Jones, Martin Joos, Bob Lado, Norman McQuown, William Nyman, Velma Pickett, Richard Pittman, Paris Reidhead, Marie Riley, Thomas Sebeok, S.H. Sutherland, Ed Sywulka, George Trager, Dawson Trotman, Carl Voegelin, Ethel Wallis, Viola Waterhouse, Rulon Wells, Ralph Winter, William Wonderly
- 1950s: Frank Andersen, Edward Anthony, Ruth Brend, Jean Caudmont, Wilfred Douglas, Eli Fischer-Jorgensen, Sarah Gudschinsky, Robert Hall, Zellig Harris, Hans Hartman, Del Hymes, Harlan Kerr, Robert Longacre, Louis Luzbetak, Andre Martinet, A.J. McAlister, Howard McKaughan, Herbert Penzl, Herbert Pilch, Willard Van Quine, Darcy Ribeiro, Warner Rice, Sol Saporta, Elaine Townsend, Ken Watters, William Welmers, S.A. Wurm, E. Zwirner
- 1960s: David Aberle, John Beekman, John Bendor-Samuel, John Callow, A. Capell, Ian Catford, Walter A. Cook, Bus Dawson, Karl Franklin, Austin Hale, Millie Larson, Bernie May, Angel Merecias, John & Carolyn Miller, Cal Rensch, Frank Robbins, Francis A. Schaeffer, Thomas Sebeok, Hansjakob Seiler, S.K. Shaumyan, B. Siertsema, Mary Ruth Wise, Dick Young
- 1970s: Elinor Abbot, Richard Bailey, Pete Becker, Y.R. Chao, Vida Chenoweth, Teun van Dijk, Artemisa Echegoyan, Peter L. Fries, Ward Goodenough, Kent Gordon, Ken Gregerson, Paul Holmer, Dick Hugoniot, George Huttar, Sydney Lamb, Liu Run-ching, Adam Makkai, Andre Martinet, George L. Mavrodes, James McCawley, W.H. Nedderman, P.P. Newmark, D.P. Pattanayak, Vern Poythress, Frank Rhodes, John Robert Ross, William Smalley, V.I. Subramoniam, Ignatius Suharno, Takashi Manabe, David Thomas, E.M. Uhlenbeck, John Verhaar, Leslie White
- 1980s: Don Burquest, Lon Diehl, Jerold Edmondson, Suzette Haden Elgin, Victoria A. Fromkin, John Goldsmith, Walter Hooper, Kurt Jankowsky, Konrad Koerner, Thomas Kwei, Lenore Langsdorf, Donald Larson, W.P. Lehmann, A.A. Leontiev, Jacob Loewen, Eugene Loos, Ignacio Montenegro, Alvin Plantinga, Bernard Ramm, Harry Reeder, Rachel Saint, J.C. Sharma, Steve Sheldon, Michael Silverstein, Gary Simons, Eva Sivertsen, A.K. Srivastava, Paul Tench, John Upton, Victor Vitanza, Darrell Whiteman, Xueping Li, Eva Zapico Garcia, Ernesto Zierer
- 1990s: Robert De Beaugrande, Robert Di Pietro, Bruce Edwards, Francisco Gomes de Matos, Ming Chao Gui, Tom Headland, Sharon Heimbach, Cal Hibbard, Alan Kaye, Angel Merecias- Sanchez, David Payne, Catherine Peeke, Mark Peterson, Miguel Portilla, Terry Prewitt, Randolph Radney, Michael Shapiro, Jan Swearingen, Wu Tie-ping, Fe Aldave Yap, Victor H. Yngve, Uwe Zelmer
An attempt has been made to list the correspondents above only in the decade when the correspondence first started, though there may be additional correspondence in the following decades. There are many more correspondents than those listed. There are over 200 pieces of correspondence to or from William Cameron Townsend between 1935 and 1975. There are 8,220 pieces of correspondence listed in the database. In addition there are over a hundred greetings and reminiscences from friends around the world in a volume made for Pike's 80th birthday celebration.
Corporation History Series
(One file cabinet drawer) is divided into four subsections
- SIL Corporation History. This includes bits of the corporation history that Pike kept during his years as SIL president and president emeritus. Official records are kept by the SIL International Board Secretary. There are 841 items listed in this subseries which includes issues of the Wycliffe Chronicle from the summer schools, some minutes and financial statements from early SIL and WBT board meetings, Steam from the Kettle of the Mexico Branch, correspondence related to Canadian SIL, the Australian school, and the British Wycliffe Language Course.
- Travel and other reports. There are 257 entries in the database listing date, author, recipient, title, and length of report. These include Pike's original one page report to the Pioneer Mission Agency in 1938, some of his reports as President to the Biennial Conferences of SIL, reports to the SIL Board or to the membership about international trips and attendance and participation in various conferences. Travel itineraries are included here.
- Issues and Responses. There are seven file folders of articles, comments, and correspondence related to NDEA (1963), AAA 1967 statement and committee on ethics, NACLA (1975), Misc. oppositions and answers, AAA misc. correspondence 1992-97, Colby book reviews and responses, 1999-2000.
- Misc. Linguistic Society of America materials. There are five file folders. These include materials from the second summer session in Ann Arbor 1939, correspondence of the executive committee of 1946-1947, misc. correspondence from the 1950s–1990s.
Honors and Awards Series
(Five boxes; two linear feet)
This series of sixty listed items includes copies of Pike's earned and honorary degrees, academic appointments, honorary memberships, papers related to Pike's nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Lecture Series
(Two file cabinet drawers + 18 inches linear shelf space) is divided into three subseries:- SIL course lectures. These span the years from 1937 to 1998. The materials are filed chronologically in 14 inches of file folders. The 154 entries in the database include miscellaneous materials of course prospectuses from the SILs in the U.S. and England, book orders and financial statements, reading lists, lecture notes, 12 cds of lectures from the summer of 1963, cassette tapes of SIL lectures in the 70s (13) and the 80s (14).
- Lectures given at workshops and other venues. These span the years from 1938 to 2000. They are filed chronologically in 22 inches of file folders. There are 275 entries in the database listing date, place, and title of lecture or workshop. Ten of the entries represent file folders including more than one item.
- Chapel and other religious talks/sermons.There are 521 numbered items in this series. Most of these are typed transcriptions taken from tapes of talks given by Pike. Some of the non-transcription material is handwritten notes. The individual items range from a single page to over 50 pages. Almost all of the items have been scanned. The items for the most part are arranged chronologically in file folders in three five-inch archival boxes. There are also 87 cassette tapes that were deposited. They are of varying sound quality and require preservation work.
Research Topics Series
(30 linear feet) is divided into topical and chronological sub-series, a collection of miscellaneous conference papers, and a book collection.
- Alphabetical arrangement by topic of miscellaneous materials including newspaper clippings, reprints (with annotations), photocopied pages from articles, some correspondence, 3x5 note slips, student papers. Most of the items are marked by Pike with a topic either written in or circled in the item. A few of the topics have only one item. Others (as tagmemics) fill an archival box. The boxes fill 14 linear feet of shelf space. Most of Pike's own handwritten or typed notes that are dated are filed in the chronological series.
- Chronological arrangement of research and writing notes. These materials are stored in dated file folders in archival boxes on three linear feet of shelf space. Included are 3x5 slips, unpublished articles, handwritten notes, some language materials, notes from phone conversations, notes, lists and folders of potential writing projects.
- Conference Papers. Includes miscellaneous papers and programs from conferences attended by Pike from 1967–1997.
- Book Collection. About 200 books from Pike's personal library containing some-to-extensive margin notes. Approximately 100 of these books belong to the GIAL Library but are deposited in the Archives to maintain the integrity of the collection.
Publications Series
(Three file cabinet drawers )
Most of Pike's published articles are in the collection. A few not included here are in the Language and Culture Archives along with some of the books. There are three file drawers of folders arranged chronologically. Some early drafts are included here, as well as correspondence related to publication. Also included are published reviews of Pike's works.
Poetry Series
(Two boxes; 18 linear inches)
This series includes copies of Pike's poems arranged alphabetically by title in two archival boxes. Included are original handwritten copies, typed copies, computer print out copies, and some reprints of early published poems. A third box includes correspondence related to the publication of Seasons of Life, a file on Poetry chapels, and a file of poetry not included in Seasons of Life. A database lists title, variant title(s), date and occasion of writing, publication prior to Seasons of Life, and volume and page in Seasons of Life, plus some 30 unpublished poems.
Personal History Series
(One file cabinet drawer)
This series includes diaries, photos, newspaper clippings, financial records and address lists.
Eunice Victoria Pike Series
(One file cabinet drawer)
The major part of this series consists of copies of some 3,500 letters which EVP wrote between 1936 and 1997. There are copies of some published articles, some drafts of other articles, a few papers on Mazatec village life, syllabus and lesson plans for a 40-day course on analysis of tone languages, and articles on the mushroom ceremony of the Mazatec.
Evelyn Griset Pike Series
(One half file cabinet drawer)
This series includes correspondence; a folder with "some of Ken's poems—E's copy"; some lesson plans and class notes for grammar classes and language learning classes; Vitae; some of Evelyn's published and unpublished materials.
Artifacts
A small number of artifacts and memorabilia including passports; original photo-ready copy of most of the pages of the Mixtec-Spanish New Testament; pocket calendar diaries from 1963-2000; the 16 mm. film reels of "Pike on Language"; Pike's wood desk from Michigan and Dallas days; Gray audograph machine and plastic discs of Pike's recordings.