Found: Ojibwa Dictionary

March 6, 2014

This small volume is an Ojibwa language word book published in the 1830s to help missionaries on American Indian reservations. It was owned by Dr. William Thornton Parker.

A detail from the Ojibwa dictionary

Born in Boston, Dr. Parker trained in medicine here and in Europe. On returning to the U.S., he was appointed the head of Bishop Whipple’s Hospital on the White Earth Ojibwe Reservation in Minnesota in 1879, which is the date inscribed in this book. Parker and Bishop Whipple were considered advocates for Native American rights at a time when the prevailing sentiment among the European-descended Americans was murderously hostile. Parker settled in Newport at 108 Church Street on his return east, and went on to write about Native American customs and practices, including medical ones. He practiced medicine in Newport along with Dr. Horatio R. Storer, who owned Hunter House.