This list of scholarship incorporates not only the project bibliography, but also extensive scholarship on repatriation, archival practices, sound theory, and Densmore herself. We recognize that many educators may not have access to scholarly libraries and sites that house these resources—hence the mission of the project, to make some of their knowledge more public—but this list is provided anyway for those who have the ability and desire to further their learning beyond the bounds of this site.
Browner, Tara. Music of the First Nations: Tradition and Innovation in Native North America. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009.
Campbell, Patricia Shehan, and J. Christopher Roberts. 2019. “Teachers as Agents of the Repatriation of Music and Cultural Heritage.” In The Oxford Handbook of Musical Repatriation, edited by Frank Gunderson, Robert C. Lancefield, and Bret Woods, 0. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190659806.013.16.
De Vale, Sue Carole. “Densmore and the Smithsonian’s Instrument Collection.” Ethnomusicology 25, no. 3 (1981): 500–502. https://doi.org/10.2307/851560.
Densmore, Frances. Frances Densmore and American Indian Music: A Memorial Volume. Edited by Charles Hofmann. New York: Museum of the American Indian, 1968.
Densmore, Frances. “The Study of Indian Music in the Nineteenth Century.” American Anthropologist 29, no. 1 (1927): 77–86. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1927.29.1.02a00050.
Diamond, Beverly. “Purposefully Reflecting on Tradition and Modernity,” in Music and Modernity Among First Peoples of North America. Edited by Victoria Lindsay Levine and Dylan Robinson. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 2019.
Gunther, E.. North America: The American Indians and Their Music. Frances Densmore. American Anthropologist, 30 (1928): 710-711. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1928.30.4.02a00210.
Humphreys, A. W.. Frances Densmore and American Indian Music. Journal of Research in Music Education 18, no. 2 (1970): 188–189. https://doi.org/10.2307/3344274
Jaakola, Lyz, and Timothy B. Powell. 2019. “575 ‘The Songs Are Alive’: Bringing Frances Densmore’s Recordings Back Home to Ojibwe Country.” In The Oxford Handbook of Musical Repatriation, edited by Frank Gunderson, Robert C. Lancefield, and Bret Woods, 0. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190659806.013.32.
Jensen, Joan M. “Gone but Not Quite Forgotten.” In Travels with Frances Densmore: Her Life, Work, and Legacy in Native American Studies, edited by Joan M. Jensen and Michelle Wick Patterson, 242–84. University of Nebraska Press, 2015. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1d98bg6.11.
Meade, Kan. “Uncle Sam to Record Indian Music.” The Library of Congress. The Meade County News, August 1911. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn85030287/1911-08-17/ed-1/?sp=3&q=frances+densmore&r=-0.658,0.116,2.316,1.132,0
McAllester, D.P. (1970), Ethnology: Frances Densmore and American Indian Music: A Memorial Volume. Charles Hofmann, comp, and ed. American Anthropologist, 72: 142-144. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1970.72.1.02a00400
Moon, Krystyn R. “The Quest for Music’s Origin at the St. Louis World’s: Frances Densmore and the Racialization of Music.” American Music 28, no. 2 (2010): 191–210. https://doi.org/10.5406/americanmusic.28.2.0191.
O’Neal, Jennifer R. 2015. “‘The Right to Know’: Decolonizing Native American Archives.” The Right to Know.
Patterson, Michelle Wick. “She Always Said, ‘I Heard an Indian Drum.’” In Travels with Frances Densmore: Her Life, Work, and Legacy in Native American Studies, edited by Michelle Wick Patterson and Joan M. Jensen, 29–64. University of Nebraska Press, 2015. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1d98bg6.6.
Patterson, Michelle Wick. “Becoming Two White Buffalo Woman.” In Travels with Frances Densmore: Her Life, Work, and Legacy in Native American Studies, edited by Michelle Wick Patterson and Joan M. Jensen, 65–117. University of Nebraska Press, 2015. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1d98bg6.7.
Patterson, Michelle Wick. “Cut, Paste, Delete, Preserve.” In Travels with Frances Densmore: Her Life, Work, and Legacy in Native American Studies, edited by Michelle Wick Patterson and Joan M. Jensen, 202–41. University of Nebraska Press, 2015. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1d98bg6.10.
Powers, William K., and Frances Densmore. “Teton Sioux Music and Culture.” Ethnohistory. Duke University Press, 1994. https://doi.org/10.2307/482843.
Reed, Trevor G. 2019. “Sonic Sovereignty: Performing Hopi Authority in Öngtupqa.” Journal of the Society for American Music 13 (4): 508–30. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1752196319000397.
Reed, Trevor. 2019. “Reclaiming Ownership of the Indigenous Voice: The Hopi Music Repatriation Project” The Oxford Handbook of Musical Repatriation, Edited by Frank Gunderson, Robert C. Lancefield, and Bret Woods.
“Remedying Native Teacher Shortages for Native Students’ Success.” n.d. Accessed January 18, 2024. https://www.teachforamerica.org/one-day/top-issues/a-key-to-native-students-success-making-the-teaching-profession-a-home-for.
“Returning Music to the Makers: The Library of Congress, American Indians, and the Federal Cylinder Project | Cultural Survival.” n.d. Accessed January 26, 2024. https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/returning-music-makers-library-congress-american-indians.
Robinson, Dylan. 2020. Hungry Listening, 37–76. Resonant Theory for Indigenous Sound Studies. University of Minnesota Press. https://doi.org/10.5749/j.ctvzpv6bb.4.
Sakakibara, Chie. 2018. “Collaborative Reciprocity Revisited: Giving Back through the Community-Partnered Iñupiaq Music Heritage Repatriation Project” in Giving Back: Research and Reciprocity in Indigenous Settings, ed. by rdk herman. Oregon State University. 109-127.
Recording Location Data Primary Sources
Densmore, Frances. Cheyenne and Arapaho Music. Vol. no. 10. Los Angeles: Southwest Museum, 1936.
Densmore, Frances. Chippewa Music. Washington: Govt. print. off., 1910.
Densmore, Frances. “Chippewa Music – II.” Bulletin – Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology, no. 53 (1913): 1–334.
Densmore, Frances. Choctaw Music. New York: Da Capo Press, 1972.
Densmore, Frances. Nootka and Quileute Music. Washington: U.S. Govt. print. off., 1939.
Densmore, Frances. Northern Ute Music. Washington: Govt. Print. Off., 1922.
Densmore, Frances. Mandan and Hidatsa Music. Washington: Govt. print. off., 1923.
Densmore, Frances. Menominee Music. Washington: U.S. Govt. print. off., 1932.
Densmore, Frances. Music of Acoma, Isleta, Cochiti, and Zuñi Pueblos. New York: Da Capo Press, 1972.
Densmore, Frances. Music of the Indians of British Columbia. New York: Da Capo Press, 1972.
Densmore, Frances. Music of Santo Domingo Pueblo, New Mexico. Vol. no. 12. Los Angeles: Southwest Museum, 1938.
Densmore, Frances. Papago Music. Washington: U.S. Govt. print. off., 1929.
Densmore, Frances. Teton Sioux Music. New York: Da Capo Press, 1972.
Densmore, Frances. Seminole Music. Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1956.
Densmore, Frances. Songs of the Chippewa : from the Archive of American Folk Song. Washington, DC: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1950.
Additional Media Sources
Densmore, Frances, and Hofmann, Charles. Healing Songs of the American Indians. Spotify – Healing Songs of the American Indians. Folkways Records: FE 4251. Accessed December 9, 2022. https://open.spotify.com/album/1XEJcB1bQ1PEVtnSxqKrul?si=TyI22vZWReKGWQrfiVS6Pg.
Frances Densmore. Collections Online: Mnhs.org. Minnesota Historical Society. Accessed December 9, 2022. http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display.php?irn=10752533.
Indians, American. Frances Dinsmore [I.e. Densmore] of Smithsonian Transcribing the ‘Canned’ Music. Library of Congress. LOC. Accessed December 2, 2022. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016866652/.
Jenks, Ann. “Voices of History: Frances Densmore’s Century-Old Recordings.” Backstage Pass to North Dakota History – State Historical Society of North Dakota Blog. SHSND, August 18, 2014. https://blog.statemuseum.nd.gov/blog/voices-history-frances-densmore%E2%80%99s-century-old-recordings.
Miss Frances Densmore, Expert in Indian Music, Who Has Been Added to the Staff of the Nat’l Museum at Wash., She Was Formerly Connected with the Amer. Bureau of Ethnology, the Smithsonian. She Is Now in Charge of the Unique Collection of Musical Instruments Gathered from All Lands and Located in the Museum. Here Shows with 2 of the Oldest Musical Instruments of the Indians, an Old Violin and a Horn Made from Elephant Tusk. Library of Congress. LOC. Accessed December 2, 2022. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016893319/.
[Piegan Indian, Mountain Chief, Listening to Recording with Ethnologist Frances Densmore]. Library of Congress. LOC. Accessed December 2, 2022. https://www.loc.gov/resource/npcc.20061/.
“Section 8: Frances Densmore.” North Dakota Studies – Grade 4 Curriculum. SHSND. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://www.ndstudies.gov/gr8/content/unit-iii-waves-development-1861-1920/lesson-3-building-communities/topic-7-telling-our-story/section-8-frances-densmore.
Walker, Sarah. “Food for Thought.” Backstage Pass to North Dakota History – State Historical Society of North Dakota Blog. SHSND, June 20, 2016. https://blog.statemuseum.nd.gov/blog/food-thought.