Crowdsourcing challenge: find “A Book of Songs” by Erskine Wood
Said to have been published in an edition of just 250 copies, Erskine Wood’s “A Book of Songs” contains some in Chinook Jargon. Can you find it?
I learned of this 1939 Portland, Oregon publication by [Charles] Erskine [Scott] Wood via a University of Oregon master’s thesis.
Erskine Wood’s autograph in the book (image credit: Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission)
Apparently the lyrics are by Erskine Wood, with music by the notable choral composer Randall Thompson (1899-1984). Which of the following do you suppose were in Chinuk Wawa?
One source seems to indicate that many of the lyrics besides “A Summer Lullaby” and “An Indian Lullaby” are from other authors, such as Shakespeare, Justin Huntly, and François Villon.
All of this is wonderful and useful information, but we haven’t gotten a copy of the item yet to share with the Chinook Jargon world.
Courtesy of WorldCat, here’s a list of libraries holding copies of it. I see that it’s in Portland, Eugene, Victoria, and San Francisco — are you going to stop by to request a photocopy or scan of it?



There is one copy I London, one in San Francisco, one in Victoria and three in Oregon, according to:
https://search.worldcat.org/title/55049616
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Hi all! I’m putting a note here to tell you to look for a followup article by me about this item…Dave Robertson
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