Tamony, Peter (1902-1985), Collection, 1890-1985 (C3939)
877.6 linear feet, 14 records, 89 audio tapes, 2 audio cassettesINTRODUCTION
The Peter Tamony Collection consists of correspondence, articles, research files, personal papers, audio tapes, and word files of the noted San Franciscan etymologist and neologist. The collection primarily relates to the study of American colloquial language and neologisms but also includes rare jazz journals and materials on sports.
DONOR INFORMATION
The Peter Tamony Collection was donated to the University of Missouri by his sister, Kathleen Tamony, on 8 April 1986 (Accession No. 4710).
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Peter Tamony was born to Irish immigrants in San Francisco on 9 October 1902. His interest in etymology began when he took a job at a downtown bank and noticed that many speech patterns and usages of his colleagues and clients differed from those he had learned growing up in the Mission District.
Unable to participate in sports due to a bout with tuberculosis when he was 20, Tamony became an avid fan of baseball and college athletics through the sports pages. He took note of the vivid and unconventional language sports columnists used and started documenting their word usage as well as that of the people from other parts of San Francisco he came in contact with through his job. He then expanded his sources to include everything from books and magazines to matchbook covers, record jackets, early blues LPs, and posters.
To support himself, he worked as a real estate broker and notary but his passion was collecting examples of words and phrases used in American speech.
He was first published in American Speech in 1937 and two years later began writing a column, "The Origin of Words," for the San Francisco Newsletter and Wasp. Many of his etymologies were cited in works by H.L. Mencken, Damon Runyon, and other etymologists and linguists. He often contributed to "Among the New Words," a column in American Speech, and was consulted by editors of the Oxford English Dictionary, Dictionary of American Regional English, and Encyclopedia Britannica.
In addition to his collecting Tamony was a jazz enthusiast and founded the Hot Music Society of San Francisco in 1939. The society hosted events by some of the most popular jazz artists of the era including Lu Watters, Bunk Johnson, and Turk Murphy. This interest in jazz is also evidenced by his large collection of jazz magazines and journals.
Tamony died on 24 July 1985 leaving the second and third floors of the townhouse he shared with his sister filled with boxes, books, and magazines for his word files.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The Peter Tamony Collection consists of correspondence, articles, research files, personal papers, audio tapes, and word files which document Tamony's lifelong interest in etymology, neology, jazz, and sports. The collection is arranged into twelve series: Correspondence, Personal, Subject Files, Sports, Tad (Thomas A. Dorgan), Jazz, Lectures, CONTALK, Articles, Publications, Word Files, and Recordings.
FOLDER LIST
Correspondence Series
The Correspondence series contains letters written to and from Tamony, arranged alphabetically by correspondent. The correspondence started in the late 1930s with the bulk from the 1950s through the 1970s. People, including noted linguists and etymologists, wrote to him asking for information on various words and phrases. Tamony replied with detailed explanations of word origins based on the information in his word files. The correspondence also covers such topics as jazz and the fight over renaming Candlestick Park. Correspondence with editors of several journals for whom Tamony consulted are also included in this series.
Some correspondents include writer, H.L. Mencken, songwriters Pete Seeger and Richard Farina, and author, Thomas Pynchon.
f. 1 Abrahams f. 2 Abrahams-Aero f. 3 Aldam-Algeo f. 4 Algeo f. 5 Allen-Aman f. 6 Aman f. 7-8 American f. 9 American-Ampex f. 10 Andersen-Ash f. 11 Ashley f. 12 Association-Barlow f. 13 Barrick f. 14 Bates-Bay f. 15 Bay f. 16 Belch-Blum f. 17 Bokelman-Bolinger f. 18-19 Bolinger f. 20 Bomgardner-Botkin f. 21 Botkin-Boyd f. 22 Bradford-Bridges f. 23 Brill-Bryant f. 24 Bubka-Bueschel f. 25-29 Bueschel f. 30 Bullard-Burchfield f. 31-35 Burchfield f. 36 Burg-Burke f. 37 Burley-Butters f. 38 Byrd-Caen f. 39 Caen-California f. 40 California-Campa f. 41 Cannell-Cartoon f. 42 Case-Cassidy f. 43-44 Cassidy f. 45 Cassidy-Caylor f. 46 Chafetz-Charles f. 47 Chase-Christian f. 48 Claiborne-Cohen f. 49-55 Cohen f. 56 Collier's-Columbia f. 57 Committee-Connelly f. 58 Cowley-Cutter f. 59 Dalton-Denisoff f. 60 Dery-Dickison f. 61 Dill-Doss f. 62 Down-Dyer f. 63 Eames-Eisner f. 64 Electric-Evans f. 65 Fairclough-Fiske f. 66 Flanagan-Foster f. 67 Frank-Friedman f. 68 Fry-Funk f. 69 G. & C. Merriam-Gates f. 70 Gannon-Garner f. 71-72 Garner f. 73 Geiger-Gleason f. 74-75 Gleason f. 76 Goethe-Goldstein f. 77 Goody-Goudette f. 78 Grady-Green f. 79-85 Green f. 86 Greenway-Guzzo f. 87 Haas-Hambly f. 88 Hambly-Hand f. 89-90 Hand f. 91 Hanley-Harder f. 92 Harper-Haviland f. 93 Hayakawa-Hayward f. 94 Heath-Hinton f. 95 Hoeptner-Holbrook f. 96 Holbrook-Hubbard f. 97 Hubbard-Hugo f. 98 Inner-Jabbour f. 99 Jackson-Johnston f. 100 Joint-Joyner f. 101 Joyner-Junior f. 102 KPFA-KRON f. 103 Kahn f. 104 Kahn-Kelley f. 105 Kelley-Kelsey f. 106 Kelsey f. 107 Kelsey-Kinnaird f. 108 Kinnaird-Koester f. 109 Kray-Landau f. 110 Landers-Lanza f. 111-112 Lanza f. 113 Larson-Levy f. 114 Lee-Legman f. 115-116 Legman f. 117 Lenz-Lighter f. 118 Lighter-Logsdon f. 119 Logsdon-Lowry f. 120 Lowry-Lyon f. 121 McAndrews-McCabe f. 122 McCall-McDavid f. 123 McDevitt-MacGregor f. 124-126 McLain f. 127 McLain-McLuhan f. 128 Macalester-Maher f. 129 Makara-Marshall f. 130 Marshall-Martin f. 131 Martin-Maslin f. 132 Maslin-Maurer f. 133 Maurer f. 134 Means-Mencken f. 135 Meredith f. 136 Mereness-Metcalf f. 137 Miller-Mitchell f. 138-140 Moe f. 141 Mogar-Moxie f. 142 Mullaney-New f. 143 New f. 144 Nichols-O'Faircheallaigh f. 145 Olivier-Paluson f. 146 Papina-Partridge f. 147 Passman-Paulson f. 148 Pearce-Philo f. 149 Pickering-Power f. 150 Practicum-Pynchon f. 151 Quinn-Rawlings f. 152 Read f. 153 Read-Reuss f. 154 Reynolds-Roche f. 155 Roehrick-Room f. 156-157 Rosenbaum f. 158 Rudnyvkyj-Russell f. 159-163 Russell f. 164 Safety-Safire f. 165 Safire f. 166 Saint-San Francisco f. 167-169 San Francisco f. 170 Schaeffer-Schroeder f. 171 Schroeder-Schuchat f. 172 Sebeok-Sharp f. 173 Shebl-Slovenko f. 174 Smit-Spann f. 175 Spencer-Stanford f. 176 Stanley-Stuart f. 177 Sullivan-Szwed f. 178 Tamony-Taylor f. 179 Taylor f. 180 Tenot-Timoney f. 181 Tobiason-Tomatis f. 182 Torti-Twombley f. 183 United-Utley f. 184 Van Dam-Watters f. 185 Weller-Whiting f. 186 Wight-Wilgus f. 187 Wilhoft-Winkleman f. 188 Wolf-Yawata f. 189-190 Unidentified Correspondents Personal Series
The Personal series consists of biographical notes, photographs, publicity clippings, and a list of his record collection, which he donated to the John Edwards Memorial Foundation. Photographs of many jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong, Lu Watters, Charlie Byrd, and Bob Scobey are contained in this series, which is arranged alphabetically by topic.
f. 191-193 Autobiographical Notes f. 194-195 Bibliography f. 196-198 Biographical Notes f. 199 Miscellaneous f. 200 Photographs, 1945 f. 201 Photographs, Jazz f. 202 Photographs, Miscellaneous f. 203 Photographs, Tamony f. 204-206 Publicity Clippings f. 207-209 Record Collection Subject Files Series
The Subject Files series is arranged alphabetically and contains information on various topics in which Tamony had an interest. These topics include Black English and jive, limericks, music, gambling, homosexuals, and profanity. Also included in this series are worksheets from the New Words Committee of Encyclopedia Britannica, records from the 24th Street Boosters, an organization led by Tamony in support of urban renewal in his neighborhood in the 1930s and 1940s, and notes from a class on linguistics taught by S.I. Hayakawa. In addition Tamony’s "Scrabble" game and an educational game on troublesome verbs and pronouns are part of this series.
Other items in this series include class papers from Roger Abraham’s University of Texas course on linguistics from the early 1960s. The papers his students wrote concerned the jargon they used on campus, in the military, in the workplace, and as athletes.
f. 210-213 24th Street Boosters, Correspondence f. 214 24th Street Boosters, Photographs and Miscellany f. 215-216 24th Street Boosters, Public Housing Publications f. 217-218 24th Street Boosters, Publicity Clippings f. 219-220d 24th Street Boosters, Scrapbooks f. 221 Abrahams Papers: Air Force Jargon f. 222 Abrahams Papers: Baseball Lingo f. 223 Abrahams Papers: Basic Guide to Campusology f. 224 Abrahams Papers: Bowling Jargon f. 225 Abrahams Papers: A Brief Examination of an Esoteric Folk f. 226 Abrahams Papers: Campus Slang f. 227 Abrahams Papers: College Lore f. 228 Abrahams Papers: Common Jargon and Weather Proverbs Used By Seamen f. 229 Abrahams Papers: Dope Head Definitions f. 230 Abrahams Papers: Folklore in the Hospital f. 231 Abrahams Papers: Folklore--Texas Football Style f. 232 Abrahams Papers: Folklore--West Point Style f. 233 Abrahams Papers: The Gas Plant: Tools, Materials, and Tales f. 234 Abrahams Papers: Jargon of Surfing f. 235 Abrahams Papers: Jargon of the U.S. Army in Germany f. 236 Abrahams Papers: Jargon Used By University of Texas Co-Eds f. 237 Abrahams Papers: Journalese f. 238 Abrahams Papers: Lore of the Airborne Soldier f. 239 Abrahams Papers: Naval Jargon f. 240 Abrahams Papers: Negro Folk Speech f. 241 Abrahams Papers: Observed Speech Patterns f. 242 Abrahams Papers: Racetrack Jargon f. 243 Abrahams Papers: Railroad Jargon f. 244 Abrahams Papers: Rookies to Roaches [Police Jargon] f. 245 Abrahams Papers: Skydiver's Jargon f. 246 Abrahams Papers: Slang Expressions and Definitions in Baseball f. 247 Abrahams Papers: Slang, Jargon, Terms, and Practical Jokes in the Oilfield f. 248 Abrahams Papers: Slang on the 40 Acres f. 249 Abrahams Papers: Spelunkers f. 250 Abrahams Papers: Talk of a Texas Cowboy f. 251 American Dialect Society f. 252 American Language f. 253-261 Black English f. 262 Broadsides and Brochures f. 263 Cartoonists f. 264 Cartoonists--Tom McNamara f. 265-273 Course Notes f. 274-276 Cow Palace f. 277-278 Criminal Slang f. 279 Dictionaries f. 280-284 Encyclopedia Britannica Worksheets, 1944-1952 f. 285-289 Encyclopedia Britannica Worksheets, 1953-1961 f. 290 Encyclopedia Britannica Worksheets Completed, 1945-1953 f. 291 Encyclopedia Britannica Worksheets Completed, 1954-1956 f. 292 Encyclopedia Britannica Worksheets Completed, 1957-1961 f. 293-294 Gambling f. 295-300 Gambling, Slot Machines f. 301 Gleason, Ralph J. f. 302-316 Hayakawa Course Notes f. 317-319 Homosexual f. 320 Hootenanny f. 321-324 Jive f. 325 John Edwards Memorial Foundation f. 326 Korzybski, Alfred f. 327 Labor f. 328 Language f. 329 Lawrence, D.H. f. 330 Legman, The Fake Revolt f. 331-334 Limericks f. 335 McDonald's f. 336 Maledicta Interview f. 337-339 Mencken, H.L. f. 340 Military Slang f. 341 Miscellaneous f. 342-343 Music f. 344 Music,Song Books and Sheet Music f. 345-348 Music, "Songs of Roving and Raking" f. 349 Neologisms f. 350 Oxford English Dictionary f. 351 Phelan, James D., 1928 Presidential Election f. 352 Police Slang f. 353 Presidential Election Handbook, 1960 f. 354-358 Profanity f. 359 Pynchon, Tom f. 360 Radio Program, "What Am I Saying?" f. 361-364 Rhyming Slang f. 365 Scrabble Board Game f. 366 Shakespeare f. 367-369 Slang f. 370 Space f. 371 Taylor, Archer f. 372 Tobiason, James, "Sexual Symbolism in the Popular Negro Blues" f. 373 Torskript f. 374 Troublesome Verbs and Pronouns Game Sports Series
The Sports series consists of programs from sporting events, trading cards, rule books, and miscellaneous materials about baseball, football, boxing, and basketball. Tamony was an avid sports fan and attended many college basketball and football games. Programs and ticket stubs from these games, dating back to the 1920s, are included here.
This series also contains a baseball themed child’s game, which appears to be a forerunner of the pinball machine, and thumbnail sketches of the players and coaches in the Pacific Coast League from 1951.
This series is arranged alphabetically by sport.
f. 375 Baseball f. 376-377 Baseball, California f. 378 Baseball, Home Diamond Game f. 379-381 Baseball, Pacific Coast League f. 382 Basketball f. 383 Basketball, College f. 384 Boxing f. 385 College Athletics f. 386-387 Football f. 388-392 Football, College f. 393-394 General f. 395 Olympic Games, 1948 f. 396 Terminology Thomas A. Dorgan (Tad) Series
Thomas A. Dorgan, known as Tad, drew a cartoon, "Indoor Sports," which appeared in the sports pages of newspapers around the country in the early part of the twentieth century. Dorgan is credited with creating and influencing the use of many American colloquialisms. Tamony became fascinated with his work and started collecting the new words and phrases Dorgan used in his cartoons—the first of Tamony’s collecting projects.
The bulk of this series is the card file of Tad terms but the series also contains biographical information as well as publications and scrapbooks of his cartoons. This series is arranged alphabetically by topic.
f. 397 "Daffydils" f. 398 Indoor Sports f. 399 "Indoor Sports," "Outdoor Sports" f. 400-402 Notebook and Word Files (See also card files 1-2) f. 403 Notes f. 404 Publicity Clippings f. 405 Scrapbook f. 406 Silk Hat Harry's Divorce Suit Jazz/Hot Music Society Series
The Jazz/Hot Music Society series contains Tamony’s research material on jazz musicians such as Art Hickman and Bunk Johnson, transcripts from Tamony’s radio show, and concert posters.
The series also includes records from Tamony’s Hot Music Society, comprising scrapbooks, membership data, tickets and posters from Hot Music Society concerts, issues of the Hot Music Society Bulletin, and other mailings.
This series is arranged alphabetically by topic.
f. 407-411 Art Hickman f. 412-413 History f. 414 Hot Music Society, Bulletins f. 415 Hot Music Society, Bunk Johnson f. 416 Hot Music Society, Correspondence f. 417 Hot Music Society, History f. 418 Hot Music Society, Mailings f. 419 Hot Music Society, Membership Records f. 420 Hot Music Society, Publicity Clippings f. 421-425c Hot Music Society, Scrapbooks f. 426 Hot Music Society, Tickets f. 427 Lu Watters f. 428-429 Miscellaneous f. 430 Posters f. 431-432 Radio Transcripts f. 433 Sacramento f. 434 Shorty Pederstein f. 435 Terminology Lectures Series
The Lectures series consists of lecture notes from presentations Tamony gave for universities and civic organizations. The poorly organized handwritten notes were cluttered with scraps of paper and newspaper clippings, which had been stapled to the larger sheets of paper. The staples have been removed and the clippings have been photocopied for preservation purposes.
The topics of his lectures range from Americanisms to Erotica to Hippies and California-isms. The notes are arranged alphabetically by topic.
f. 436 AARP, San Francisco f. 437 American Folk Speech f. 438 American Language f. 439-440 American Words and Phrases f. 441 Advertising f. 442 California f. 443 California Writer's Club f. 444 Entertainment f. 445 Erotica f. 446 Genealogy f. 447 Hearst f. 448 Hippies f. 449 Labor f. 450 Language f. 451-460 Miscellaneous f. 461 Sports f. 462 UCLA, 1968 f. 463 Varied, Colonial, Revolution, California f. 464 Varied, California (cont.) f. 465 Varied, Civil War, Americanisms, 1900 and After, Dictionaries, Names, Enunciation f. 466 Words CONTALK Series
In 1958 the San Francisco Chapter of the International Society for General Semantics began visiting the California prison system’s medical facility at Vacaville as part of an educational program. Three years later Frank E. Prewitt and Francis K. Schaeffer, Jr. started to collect usages of slang used at the facility in order to help various factions in the prison understand each other. Tamony consulted on this project and ultimately was the recipient of the card files that accumulated during the project.
He transcribed the card files into glossaries covering ten different areas of convict life: Drug Addicts, Homosexuals, Juvenile Delinquents, Monikers, Prison Slang, Professional Criminals, Prostitutes, Rhyming Slang, Beat Generation, and Carny Talk.
This series contains the card files and glossaries.
f. 467 CONTALK Project Overview f. 468 Beat Generation (See also card file 2) f. 469 Carny Talk (See also card file 2) f. 470 Drug Addicts (See also card file 4) f. 471 Homosexual (See also card file 3) f. 472 Juvenile Delinquents (See also card file 3) f. 473 Monikers (See also card file 2) f. 474 Prison Slang (See also card file 4) f. 475 Professional Criminals (See also card file 3) f. 476 Prostitutes (See also card file 2) f. 477 Rhyming Slang (See also card file 2) Articles Series
The Articles series consists of articles Tamony wrote for various publications and his own: Americanisms: Content and Continuum. An index to the first fifteen issues of Americanisms follows this inventory in Appendix A. Also included are journal articles in which Tamony is cited as a contributor, most often in the "Among the New Words" column in American Speech. This series contains a large number of unpublished articles and shows the wide scope of his collection.
The series is arranged alphabetically by publication title and then chronologically within that publication. An alphabetical list of the unpublished writings concludes this series.
f. 478 American Speech, 1937 f. 479 American Speech, 1941, 1944 f. 480 American Speech, 1945 f. 481 American Speech, 1946 f. 482 American Speech, 1947 f. 483 American Speech, 1948 f. 484 American Speech, 1949 f. 485 American Speech, 1950 f. 486 American Speech, 1951 f. 487 American Speech, 1952 f. 488 American Speech, 1953 f. 489 American Speech, 1954 f. 490 American Speech, 1955 f. 491 American Speech, 1956 f. 492 American Speech, 1961 f. 493 American Speech, 1962 f. 494 American Speech, 1963 f. 495 American Speech, 1964 f. 496 American Speech, 1965 f. 497 American Speech, 1966 f. 498 American Speech, 1967 f. 499 American Speech, 1968 f. 500 American Speech, 1972, 1976 f. 501 American Speech, 1980, 1981 f. 502 American Speech, 1983 f. 503 American Speech, 1984, 1985 f. 504 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Lie Detector" f. 505 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Yellow, the Color" f. 506 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "The Fuzz Should Be Ringey" f. 507 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "The World's Serious" f. 508 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "The Real McCoy" f. 509 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "B-Girl" f. 510 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Hubba-Hubba" f. 511 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Phoney Revisited" f. 512 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Camp" f. 513 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "The Hot Dog" f. 514 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Gurney" f. 515 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Keeks, Kikes, Kooks, and Courreges" f. 516 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Everything is Copenhagen" f. 517 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "King's X" f. 518 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Go: Au Go-Go" f. 519 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "The Shill" f. 520 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "The Hippie: Hip, Hep, or Hype?" f. 521 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Balls" f. 522 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Hijack" f. 523 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Funky" f. 524 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Al Capone's Nickname and Excellence" f. 525 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Cheesecake" f. 526 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Jazz" f. 527 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Beat Generation" f. 528 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Casting Couch" f. 529 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Suede Shoe Boys" f. 530 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Putting on the Dog" f. 531 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Rap" f. 532 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Dope" f. 533 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Mickey Mouse" f. 534 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Dike" f. 535 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Scatalogical" f. 536 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Wiretapping" f. 537 Americanisms: Content and Continuum, "Goons" f. 538 Comments on Etymology, "Bippy" f. 539 Comments on Etymology, "Downtown" f. 540 Comments on Etymology, "Hot Dog" f. 541 Comments on Etymology, "Hubba-Hubba" f. 542 Comments on Etymology, "Hunky-Dory/Fink" f. 543 Comments on Etymology, "Kelsey's Nuts" f. 544 Comments on Etymology, "Real McCoy" f. 545 Comments on Etymology, "Skarf" f. 546 Jazz, "Jazz, The Word" f. 547 Jazz, "BOP. The Word" f. 548 Jazz, "Is Jive Linguistic Jaberwocky?" f. 549 Jazz, "Bessie: Vocumentary" f. 550 Jazz, "Swing, The Big Word" f. 551 JEMF Quarterly, "Jazz: The Word" f. 552 Maledicta, "Keeks, Kikes, Kook, and Correges" f. 553 Names, "Phoebe Snow," "Coca-Cola" f. 554 Pacific Historian, "From Fofarraw to Foofarah" f. 555 Pacific Historian, "Gurney" f. 556 Pacific Historian, "To See the Elephant" f. 557 San Francisco Newsletter and Wasp, "B-Girl" f. 558 San Francisco Newsletter and Wasp, "Jitters-Jitterbug," "Chinaman's Chance," "Jazz," "Sucker," "Up to the Nines" f. 559 San Francisco Newsletter and Wasp, "Lam," "Baseball," "Racket," "Hot Oil" f. 560 San Francisco Newsletter and Wasp, "Podunk," "Dick," "Lulu," "TAD" f. 561 San Francisco Newsletter and Wasp, "Gurney," "Birdie and Eagle," "Angle," "Stalling/Standing Pat," "Yes Man" f. 562 San Francisco Newsletter and Wasp, "Beef--Rhyming Slang," "Bushwah," "Indian Sign," "Cockfighting" f. 563 San Francisco Newsletter and Wasp, "Cocktail," "Oomph," "Goon Squad," "Hep (Hip)" f. 564 San Francisco Newsletter and Wasp, "Jive," "College Words--Frosh, Apple Polish, Bull Session, Poler," "Dick Smith," "OK," "For Alma Mater, Dear" f. 565 San Francisco Newsletter and Wasp, "Break," "World Championship," "Solar Plexus" f. 566 San Francisco Newsletter and Wasp, "Two-Dollar Bill- Jinx" f. 567 Western Folklore, "Hootenanny" f. 568 Western Folklore, "Poker Dice in San Francisco" f. 569 Western Folklore, "Steamboat Day" f. 570 Western Folklore, "Ten Gallon Hat" f. 571 Western Folklore, "Chinaman's Chance" f. 572 Western Folklore, "Shanghai" f. 573 Western Folklore, "Martini Cocktail" f. 574 Western Folklore, "Sailors Called It 'Frisco'" f. 575 Western Folklore, "One-Armed Bandit" f. 576 Western Folklore, "Sandlot Baseball" f. 577 Western Folklore, "Hoodlums" f. 578 Western Folklore, "Beat Generation" f. 579 Western Folklore, "Hell's Angels" f. 580 Western Folklore, "Ecology Pollution" f. 581 Western Folklore, "1851 Vigilante" f. 582 Western Folklore, "Chinatown" f. 583 Western Folklore, "Business Names" f. 584 Western Folklore, "Sourdough" f. 585 Western Folklore, "Malarkey" f. 586 Western Folklore, "Teddy Bear" f. 587 Western Folklore, "Skid Road" f. 588 Western Folklore, "The Wobblies" f. 589 Words, "Graft, Underworld, and Josiah Flynt" f. 590 Words, "Allusion to Cheese It" f. 591 Words, "Baseball and Its Fans" f. 592 Words, "Jitterbug" f. 593 Words, "Chinaman's Chance" f. 594 Words, "Racket" f. 595 Words, "Beef" f. 596 Words, "Lulu" f. 597 Words, "Lam" f. 598 Words, "Yes Man" f. 599 Words, "Up to the Nines" f. 600 Words, "Stalling and Standing Pat" f. 601 Words, "Bushwah" f. 602 Words, "Break" f. 603 Words, "Angle" f. 604 Words, "Dick" f. 605 "Advance Man" f. 606 "American Colloquial English" f. 607 "American Slanguage" f. 608 "Arthur the Rat" f. 609 "The Background of Jive" f. 610 "Bomb: A Homophone" f. 611 "Chisel" f. 612 "Cow Palace" f. 613 "Emergence of Swing" f. 614 "English A" f. 615 "Etymology" f. 616 "Fitzgerald and the Tentmaker" f. 617 "High Flyers" f. 618 "How Our Language Works" f. 619 "How to Write a Dictionary" f. 620 "Jazz, Swing, and American Language" f. 621 "Life of Our Slang" f. 622 "Limpy, Limpy, Lamplighter, California Fleabiter" f. 623 "The Morphology of Mugger" f. 624 "Mother Fucker" f. 625 "Nostalgia and Change in the Mission District" f. 626 "Not According to Hoyle" f. 627 "Notes on Slang" f. 628 "Off the Wall" f. 629 "The Origin of Cat" f. 630 "Our Hewgag" f. 631 "Palms of Victory, Palms of Glory" f. 632 "The Po-lice or Fuzz" f. 633 "The Post Office Did Not See the Elephant" f. 634 "A Proposal to Newly Denote Aspects of a Word" f. 635 "Quotes on Turkey" f. 636 "Real McCoy/Rileyed" f. 637 "Review of Cowboy Lingo" f. 638 "Review of All Sports Magazine" f. 639 "Scene in Time and Space: Skiffle" f. 640 "Slang Dictionaries" f. 641 "Smiggy McGlural" f. 642 "Status Symbols" f. 643 "Swing" f. 644 "2-Strike Words" f. 645 "Validity of Oral Tradition" f. 646 "What Does Advertising Communicate" f. 647 "What's the Beef?" f. 648 "Words and Music" f. 649 "Words and Things" f. 650 "Words Around Us" Publications Series
The Publications series consists of publications Tamony collected for research or simply because he had an interest in them. Among these publications are a large number of jazz journals and books on tramps and hobos. Of note are several issues of racy New York tabloid newspapers from the 1920s and 1930s.
Tamony also kept a large collection of glossaries. Some of these glossary subjects include military slang, Black English, jive, regional English, and labor terminology.
The publications are arranged into three subseries: Monographs, Journals, and Glossaries. The monographs and journals are organized alphabetically by title within each of those subseries and the glossaries are arranged alphabetically by topic.
Monographs Subseries
f. 651 A No. 1, Vols. 1, 2 f. 652 A No. 1, Vols. 3, 4 f. 653 A No. 1, Vols. 6, 7 f. 654 A No. 1, Vol. 10 f. 655 An American Hobo in Europe f. 656 The American Language f. 657 Analysis of 100 Greatest Swing Recordings f. 658 Autobiography of a Beggar f. 659 The Bull Fest f. 660 The Elephant As They Saw It f. 661 Full Disclosure f. 662 Hot Discography f. 663 Interesting Missouri Place Names, Vol. 1 f. 664 Jazz Americana f. 665 Jazz: New Orleans f. 666 Jazz Records f. 667 Jazzways f. 668 King of the Beggars f. 669 King Solomon and His Followers f. 670 Literature of Jazz f. 671 Love Sonnets of a Hoodlum f. 672 Main Stem f. 673 Russian Secret Tales f. 674 The Shadow Eater f. 675 Sharing the News f. 676 A Son of Rest f. 677 The Story of Jazz f. 678 This Is Jazz f. 679 This Was…In Fact…The West f. 680 Tramping with Tramps f. 681 Trumpet on the Wing f. 682 What Was Bugging Ol' Pharaoh? f. 683 Who's Who in Jazz Collecting Journals Subseries
f. 684 AMS News f. 685 Autoharp, 1961 f. 686 Autoharp, 1962 f. 687-689 Autoharp, 1963 f. 690-692 Autoharp, 1964 f. 693-694 Autoharp, 1965 f. 695 Autoharp, 1967 f. 696 Autoharp, 1968 f. 697 Autoharp, 1970 f. 698 Autoharp, 1972 f. 699 Brevities f. 700-701 Current Slang f. 702-706 Downbeat f. 707 Forum Anglican, "Shyster" f. 708 Hot Jazz f. 709 Hot Record Society Rag f. 710 Hot Wax f. 711 Impressions f. 712 In the Groove f. 713 Index to Jazz f. 714-719 Jazz Directory f. 720-721 The Jazz Finder f. 722 Jazz Forum f. 723-724 Jazz Information f. 725 Jazz Magazine f. 726 Jazz Photography f. 727 Jazz Quarterly f. 728 Jazz Record f. 729 Jazz Report f. 730-740 Jazz Review f. 741 Jazz Music f. 742-744 Les Cahiers du Jazz f. 745 Milwaukee Folk f. 746 National Police Gazette f. 747-750 New Orleans Jazz Club News f. 751 New York Life f. 752 On the Spot f. 753-755 Playback f. 756-759 Record Changer f. 760 Rhythm f. 761 The Tattler f. 762 Views and Comments Glossaries Subseries
f. 763 Aviation f. 764-766 Beatniks/Jive f. 767 Black English f. 767a College students f. 768 Criminals f. 769-772 Criminals--Blackguardiana f. 773-775 Criminals--New Dictionary of the. . .Canting Crew f. 776 Criminals--Slang Dictionary of New York, London, and Paris f. 777 Feminism f. 778 Gangs f. 779 Hippies f. 780 Insurance f. 781-783 Labor f. 784-787 Military f. 788 Miscellaneous f. 789 Regional--Alaska f. 790 Regional--Australia f. 791 Regional--Barrio f. 792 Regional--Chinook f. 793 Regional--Haitian Creole f. 794 Regional--Hawaii f. 795 Regional--Maine f. 796-797 Space f. 798 Sports Word Files Series
The Word Files series comprises over 800 boxes of examples of word and phrase usages, which are arranged in alphabetical order. Tamony stored these clippings from newspapers, books, and magazines by cutting the ends off used envelopes and writing the word or phrase at the top. He then folded the item containing the word and inserted it into the envelope.
A list of the words in this series is available to researchers online and also in hardcopy from the reference staff.
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z Recordings Series
The Recordings series contains records and audio tapes of jazz performances, college fight songs, and discussions of linguistics and other topics in which Tamony had an interest. Many of the audio tapes contain talks by noted philosopher Alan Watts on Buddhism, psychology, religion, and other Eastern philosophies recorded from a local San Francisco radio station in the 1950s and 1960s.
This series is organized by type of recording. The records are further arranged alphabetically by title and the audio tapes are arranged by the number Tamony gave them.
rec. 1 Alfred Korzybski, "Historical Note on the Structural Differential, 3 July 1947 [See also f. 326] rec. 2 Torskript [See also f. 373] rec. 3 Side A: Interview with Shorty Petterstein [See also f. 434]
Side B: Interview with Dr. Sholem Steinrec. 4 Side A: American Speech--Charleston, South Carolina
Side B: American Speech--Goose Creek Gullahrec. 5 Esquire Jazz Book Companion Record rec. 6 Side A: Fats Waller Appearance, Sweets, Oakland, 24 June 1939
Side B: Peter Tamony, 24 June 1940rec. 7 Greatest Moments in Sports rec. 8 The Indecisive Rat rec. 9 Side A: Knute Rockne Talks to His Team
Side B: Notre Dame Victory Marchrec. 10 Side A: St. Mary's Victory Song
Side B: Fight for Santa Clararec. 11 University of California School Songs rec. 12 Side A: Washington and Lee Swing
Side B: VMI Spiritrec. 13 Side A: Washington and Lee Swing
Side B: Peruna [Southern Methodist University Song]rec. 14 Bell Telephone Laboratories, Sounds from Space, 1960
a.t. 1 Track 1: Sample of Tamony's Voice; American Speech; Grip,the Rat, 1956 Track 2: W.H. Auden and Walter Kerr--Writers of Today, 1957 a.t. 2 Alan Watts: Track 1: Philosophy, East & West--Implications of Christianity; Kristnamurti--Religion as It Is Institutionalized; Program Note on Alan Watts, 1956 Track 2: On Life After Death--Buddhist Idea of Reincarnation; Bliss--Pleasure and Pain--Semantics of Masochism, 1956 a.t. 3 Alan Watts: Track 1: Philosophy East & West--Order; Dream Theory in Malaya, 1956 Track 2: I Ching; Yun and Yin; On the Bhagavad-Gita, 1956 a.t. 4 Alan Watts: Track 1: Non-communication; Privacy-Solitariness; Implications of Christianity, 1956 Track 2: Liberation – Muchsha; Psychiatrist-Priest, Psychology-Religion--Anti-Dependence on Psychiatry and Psychology, 1956 a.t. 5 Leo Johnson: Track 1: On the World Wide Significance of the Basic Assumptions of Asian Culture, 1956 Track 2: Japanese Thought--Buddhism; Bliss--Pleasure and Pain--Semantics of Masochism, 1956 a.t. 6 Alan Watts: Track 1: Changing Oneself, 1956; Pantheism-Quietism vs. Muscular Christianity, 1957 Track 2: Eastern Sages and Western Learners; Feeling of Nothingness on Consideration of the Immensity of the Universe, 1957 a.t. 7 Alan Watts: Track 1: On Recapturing Experience; Spread of Zen in the United States, 1957 Track 2: Western Conception of Asian Wise Man; Psychotherapy and the Philosophy of Nature, 1957 a.t. 8 Alan Watts: Track 1: The Head of a Dead Cat; The Study of Asia, 1957 Track 2: Lao-Tze; Mysticism, Christian-Buddhist, 1957 a.t. 9 Alan Watts: Track 1: Sexuality-Obscenity; Fundamentals of Indian-Hindu Ideas, 1957 Track 2: Fundamentals of Indian-Hindu Ideas; Uncle Sham, 1957 a.t. 10 Alan Watts: Track 1: Immovable Intelligence; Popularity of Eastern Ideas and Philosophies, 1957 Track 2: Western Interest in Asiatic Cultures; Advantage of Mathematicians in Building Internally Logical Structures of Infinity, 1957 a.t. 11 Alan Watts: Track 1: Freedom from Labels, 1957; On Life After Death, 1956 Track 2: Bliss--Pleasure and Pain--Semantics of Masochism; On Ethics of Buddhism, 1957 a.t. 12 Alan Watts: Track 1: Life After Death Proven; Compassion, 1957 Track 2: Quotations from Freud and Gardiner Murphy of Awareness Other Than Self; Tribute to Lewis Hill; The Parting of the Way, 1957 a.t. 13 Alan Watts: Track 1: Population Bomb Greater Menace than Nuclear Bombs; Sex--India--Dance of the Shiva, 1957 Track 2: Sex (cont.); Pantheism, Quietism and Muscular Christianity, 1957 a.t. 14 Alan Watts: Track 1: Connotation of 'East' in Title of Program; I Ching, 1957 Track 2: Zen; Letter on Masters--Mahatmas, 1957 a.t. 15 Alan Watts: Track 1: Zen Poetry, 1956; Talk with Japanese Professor, 1957 Track 2: Language Barrier [American and Japanese]; Acceptance of Human Situation; Drugs Such as Mescalin Not Regressive, 1957 a.t. 16 Alan Watts: Track 1: Institutionalized Religion; Human Development of Man; Maya, 1957 Track 2: Review of Several Books; Mahatma; Zen, 1958 a.t. 17 Alan Watts: Track 1: Drug Induced Experiences; Identification Role with Reality, 1958 Track 2: Thinking Under No Pressure; Unity of the World; The Head of a Dead Cat, 1958 a.t. 18 Alan Watts: Track 1: Who, What Am I?; Indian Sages, 1958 Track 2: Instinct, Intelligence, and Anxiety, 1958 a.t. 19 Alan Watts: Track 1: His Philosophy of Nature; Intellectuals-Out of Touch with People, 1958 Track 2: Haiku Poetry in U.S.; Conversation with Dr. Jung, 1958 a.t. 20 Alan Watts: Track 1: Cornell University Conference, 1958 a.t. 21 Alan Watts: Track 1: Wine; Review of Books, 1958 Track 2: Chicken Out--Relation to National Policy; God and Lucifer, 1958 a.t. 22 Alan Watts: Track 1: Comment on Favorite Chinese Philosopher-Chuang-Tzu; Lao-Tze; On Naming; Chuang Tzo, 1958 Track 2: On Shamanism and the Priesthood; Book Reviews, 1958 a.t. 23 Alan Watts: Track 1: Letter from Listeners; Awakening--Simply to Exist, 1958 Track 2: To Be as a Child; Jesus Christ as Union of Man with God, 1958 a.t. 24 Track 1: Sort Experience into Classes, 1959 Track 2: Palms--Buddhism, 1958 a.t. 25 Alan Watts: Track 1: Alternative to Atomic War; Interview with Taoist Philosopher, 1959 Track 2: Spurious Zen; Homosexuality, 1959 a.t. 26 Alan Watts: Track 1: Zen; Book Reviews; Repression, 1959 Track 2: Philosophy of Paradox; Mescalin--Lysergic Acid; On Ouspensky's Fourth Way, 1959 a.t. 27 Alan Watts: Track 1: Psychiatrists and Their Interest in the East; Darwin; Spontaneity and Discipline in Composition of Music; Mastery of Nature, 1959 Track 2: Beat Generation; Psychoanalysis as the Art of One-Up-Manship, 1959 a.t. 28 Alan Watts: Track 1: Beat Generation; Lack of Tenderness and Emotion in Modern Life; Words and Things; Nature of Verbal Problems Track 2: Letter of Women Who Had Mystical Experience Under Anesthesia, 1957-1958; Spengler--Decline of the West, 1959; Myth, 1959; Immortality, 1960 a.t. 29 Alan Watts: Track 1: Catholic Church as an Institution; Split-Oneness; Play and Sincerity; Law--Natural Law, 1960 Track 2: Conscientious Objector; Disaffiliation; On Books on Philosophy of the East, 1960 a.t. 30 Alan Watts: Track 1: In the Long Run; Relativism in Ethics; The Praise of Wine; The Ascetic and the Sinner, 1960 Track 2: Karma, 1960 a.t. 31 Alan Watts: Track 1: So Many Things That Aren't So; Psychotherapy and Zen; 10 Stages of Spiritual Oxherding; Double Bind-Psychotherapy, 1960 Track 2: Chronic Buddhism; Existentialism; Life Is a Drag Because of Human Nature, 1960 a.t. 32 Alan Watts: Track 1: Myth; Arthur Koestler's Coming Book; Complexity of Rhythms, 1960 Track 2: The Square; Humor in Religion; Haiku Poetry; Whyte's Next Development in Man, 1961 a.t. 33 Alan Watts: Track 1: Japanese--Practical Ends; Change from Artistic to Objective Track 2: Progress; Explanation of Nature a.t. 34 Alan Watts: Track 1: Personal Journey West; Karma; The City in History; What Is the Purpose of It All?, 1961 Track 2: India--Philosophy; The Irresponsible Corporation; Relativity of Time, 1961 a.t. 35 Alan Watts: Track 1: Philosophy--Review of Good Book by Kaplan of UCLA; Irrational Drives in Human Behavior; The Male Homosexual, 1961 Track 2: On the Berlin Crisis; Some Misplaced Ideas on Democracy; Myth--the Pathetic Fallacy; Animal and Human Worlds, 1961 a.t. 36 Track 1: Japan, 1960; Biology--Society--Spengler, 1960; Ecstasy--Semantics, 1961 Track 2: Judaism; Wisdom of Christianity, 1961 a.t. 37 Track 1: The Changing View of Western Culture; Symbols; Logical Positivism, 1957 Track 2: The Remarkable Psychic Experiments of Edgar Cayce, 1956 a.t. 38 Track 1: The Changing View of Western Culture, 1956; Philosophy and Science, 1957 Track 2: Art, Ghandi, Revolution, Mammon, 1957; The English Language in 2061, 1961 a.t. 39 Track 1: Henry L. Mencken Remembers, 1957 Track 2: The 'Howl' Controversy, 1957 a.t. 40 Track 1: Prisoners of Liberation; Making a Pallet, 1957 Track 2: Bertrand Russell--The Importance of Nationality, 1957; Dr. Carl Rogers--Non-Directive or Client-Centered Therapy, 1959 a.t. 41 Track 1: Pornography and Obscenity, 1957 Track 2: The Decline of the Left, 1959 a.t. 42 Track 1: Dr. Ray Birdwhistell--Literacy, 1958 Track 2: Question and Answer Period for Dr. Birdwhistell; The Concepts of Insanity, 1958 a.t. 43 Henry Lee Smith: Track 1: Language and Writing; Language Is Not Writing, 1958 Track 2: Do Primitive People Have Primitive Languages? What and Who Make Words and Why?, 1958 a.t. 44 Marshall McLuhan--Language Is a Probe, 1966 a.t. 45 Track 1: Dialect; Patterning of Words, 1958 Track 2: Words to Phrases; Historical Linguistics, 1958 a.t. 46 Track 1: Henry Lee Smith: Language and Linguistics Track 2: Reading--Phonics--Word Method; Psycholinguistics Interview a.t. 47 Bertrand Russell--The New Impact of Science, 1959 a.t. 48 Mafia a.t. 49 Irving Ackerman Interviewed by Dr. A. Friedman, 1958 a.t. 50 The Love Ways of the Beatniks, 1959 a.t. 51 Track 1: The Creative Mind--Rabbi Louis Finkelstein, Reinhold Niebuhr, Frank Lloyd Wright, Harlow Shapley, 1959 Track 2: Agnes de Mille, Allen Tate, Aaron Copland, 1959 a.t. 52 The Creative Mind--Robert Penn Warren, Ben Shahn; Walter Piston, 1959 a.t. 53 Track 1: Jacques Barzun--The Cult of Research Creativity, 1959; Our Scientific Culture, A Sketch of Its Anatomy, 1960 Track 2: Our Scientific Culture" (cont.); Jerome Bruner--A Man's View of Himself, 1961 a.t. 54 Western Values and Total War, 1961 a.t. 55 Robert Oppenheimer; The Problems of Man; The Problem of Identity, 1961 a.t. 56 Track 1: S.I. Hayakawa--Jazz Seminar, 1956 Track 2: St. John Missionary Baptist Church, 1956 a.t. 57 Track 1: Jazz Archive--Lu Watters, 1956, 1957 Track 2: Jazz Archive--Bob Scobey, 1956, 1957 a.t. 58 Track 1: Hendricks, Lambert, and Annie Ross Track 2: Miles Davis, 1954 a.t. 59 Track 1: Leonard Bernstein: What Is Jazz?, 1958; The Big Reunion--Fletcher Henderson All-Stars Track 2: Fletcher Henderson (cont.) a.t. 60 Symposium on Bernard De Voto, 1960 a.t. 61 Peter Tamony and Errol Garner Interviewed by Owen Spann a.t. 62 Alan Watts--Zen Buddhism, 1962 a.t. 63 Art Hickman a.t. 64 LSD a.t. 65 The Five String Banjo, 1963 a.t. 66 Eric Fromm--Freedom, Humanity, Detrimental Nationalism, 1962 a.t. 67 Peter Tamony--San Francisco, Frisco, Fuzz, Police, Real McCoy a.t. 68 Sexual Symbolism in the Popular Negro Blues a.t. 69 Peter Tamony--Origin of Words, 26 September 1976 a.t. 70 Joshua Wardell--Computers, 9 March 1980 a.t. 71 Peter Tamony--San Franciscans Remember, 1978 a.t. 72 Bawdy Ballads a.t. 73 Track 1: LSD, 1978 Track 2: Bob Dylan Press Conference, 1965 a.t. 74 Huey Newton a.t. 75 Mack McCormick a.t. 76 Eric Fromm--Children and Sexuality a.t. 77 Evan William Cameron--Semiotics; Ludwig Wittengenstein, 1980 a.t. 78 The English Tongue, 1960 a.t. 79 Bergen Evans--Ezra Pound; Brooklynese, 1957 a.t. 80 Caspar Weinberger--LSD, 1966 a.t. 81 Peter Tamony Interviewed by Tom Saunders, 1 February 1972--Media, Psychedelic, Bugger, Hooker, Freak, Alakazam, Abracadabra, Kudos, Bust, Hijack a.t. 82 Wynone Harris a.t. 83 Track 1: McKinney's Cotton Pickers; Ella Fitzgerald/Chick Webb, 1959 Track 2: Jack Teagarden; Washboard Sam; Mildred Bailey, 1959 a.t. 84 Etymology, 1956 a.t. 85 Peter Tamony Interviewed by Tom Saunders, 14 September 1971 a.t. 86 Peter Tamony--Cow Palace a.t. 87 Alan Dundes--Four-Letter Words a.t. 88 Louis Armstrong--Mack the Knife a.t. 89 Changing the Name of Arkansas a.c. 1 Irving Ackerman Interview, 1959 a.c. 2 American Dialect Society, Tamony Session, 1987 Card Files (See also folders 402, 467-477)
c.f. 1 Tad Dorgan c.f. 2 Tad Dorgan; Rhyming Slang, Carny Talk, Beatnik, Prostitute, Monikers c.f. 3 Juvenile Delinquents, Homosexuals, Professional Criminals c.f. 4 Professional Criminals (cont.), Drug Addicts, Prison Slang c.f. 5-6 Master File
APPENDIX A: AMERICANISMS
TAMONY WORD LISTS:
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z INDEX TERMS