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MF 079 Molly Spotted Elk Collection
Description: Molly Spotted Elk (b. 1903) was the stage name
of a Penobscot Indian woman from Maine who entered the world of
vaudeville and entertainment at a young age. In the late 1920s she
starred in a motion picture, “The Silent Enemy” filmed in northern
Canada. She became a dancer on the Paris stage and married a French
journalist, but was forced to flee the country during the German
occupation in World War II. The collection was donated in 1979 and
1999 by Jean Moore. The materials are currently housed in seven
archival document cases occupying roughly 3 linear feet. A
preliminary inventory folder listing is available, but the
collection is otherwise unprocessed. This collection consists of two
accessions.
NA 1116 includes photocopies of some of Molly Spotted Elk’s
writings, including a draft of a book entitled "Katahdin: Wigwam’s
Tales of the Abnaki Tribes" (15 stories - 236 pp.); a story,
"Plump-Plump" (45 pp.); a play, "The Captive"; an informant’s
history about Santu; sheet music; Indian words for part of the body;
short stories. The originals of these materials are part of NA 2573.
NA 2573 consists of papers belonging to or relating the life
and career of Molly Spotted Elk and her family. They document her
accomplishments as a professional dancer and also as a writer and
chronicler of traditional Penobscot tales and legends. Papers
include correspondence, legal documents, handbills and flyers
relating to her stage career and especially the the movie “The
Silent Enemy,” handwritten notes and music, newsletters relating to
Penobscot and Abenaki affairs and Indian Island, Maine, a small
scrapbook relating to the Penobscot Indian [Brass] Band, and
extensive unpublished drafts and typescripts of Indian legends.
There are also diaries of Molly Spotted Elk (ca. 1923-1959?) which
detail her daily life during the 1920s-1940s. One folder contains
material relating to the published biography of Molly Spotted Elk by
author Bunny McBride, published by University of Oklahoma Press in
1995.
See also:
1115 Brooks, Joan. Summer 1977. Maine: Indian Island (Old Town).
8 pp. Tape: 1/2 hr. w/ brief cat. Interview with Jean Moore
about the life of her mother, Molly Spotted Elk, who was a dancer,
writer, and actress. T1161
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