University of Arizona

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Papers of Berard Haile

Postcard Portrait of Berard Haile

Berard Haile was a Franciscan missionary, linguist, and anthropologist. He worked extensively with the Navajo at Lukachukai and St. Michaels Missions in Arizona and wrote several works on Navajo ceremonials, language and grammar.

Collection includes correspondence, manuscripts of published and unpublished works, notes, drawings, notebooks, sermons, prayers, and historical accounts relating to Haile's study of Navajo ceremonials and the Navajo language. Includes correspondence with church officials and anthropologists; manuscripts, notes, and drawings related to Navajo language, culture and ceremonials; interlinear Navajo-English notebooks; accounts of the founding and early history of the Lukachukai and St. Michaels Missions; and sermons, prayers, etc. from Haile's teaching in these missions. Also present is material from the Interpreters' Institute at Fort Wingate, NM, 1935; the Navajo constitution and related papers; reprints of articles about the Navajo by other authors; and related material on the Apache and Zuni people. Selected correspondents include Gladys Reichard, Edward Sapir, Clyde Kluckhohn, Anselm Weber, and Leopold Ostermann, as well as government officials, missionary organizations, and Navajo individuals.