Adams] SHONTO: ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 21 



SUMMARY OF SOURCES 



Background (part 1) : Information on the physical setting is based 

 on my personal familiarity with the region plus a few published 

 sources. Earlier phases of Navaho history are extracted from the 

 literature, while more recent information comes from first-hand 

 observation supplied largely by Shonto's owner. 



Navaho life: Account of social organization is based heavily on 

 the school census, augmented by the tribal census of 1936 and by a 

 great deal of verbal information supplied by many Whites and 

 Navahos in the community. My wife obtained some of the informa- 

 tion through direct interviews. Kemaining portions of this section 

 are based largely on my own observation, various random inquiries 

 of Navahos, and comparable published material. 



Navaho economics: Data on economic structure and f miction in 

 opening pages is essentially etlmographic and was obtained in much 

 the same way as ethnographic data in the preceding section. Income 

 figures and detailed information on various economic pursuits are 

 based on my own observations and especially on the numerous and 

 varied economic records kept at Shonto Trading Post by myself and 

 others. They were slightly augmented by income figures furnished by 

 other agencies from their files. 



Background (part 2) : Historical data is derived to some extent 

 from the published literature, but much more from first-hand infor- 

 mation furnished by traders at Shonto and Inscription House. 

 Descriptive material comes from my personal familiarity. 



Trading Post economics: This discussion derives very heavily 

 from my own observations and from mformation supplied wittingly 

 and unwittingly by my employers, the trader at Inscription House, 

 and salesmen for the off-reservation general wholesale houses. It 

 owes little or nothing to published sources. Modern economic analy- 

 sis is consistently processual rather than structural, the latter 

 approach being confined to ideal models presented in elementary 

 business textbooks (e.g., Beckman and Engle, 1951; Comish, 1946; 

 Ny Strom, 1930) . As for actual descriptions of retail operations simi- 

 lar to Shonto Trading Post (e.g., Atherton, 1939 ; Carson, 1954) , they 

 tend to be flavored with a kind of contrived nostalgia which renders 

 them practically useless for straight comparative purposes. 



Retail trade, Community Services, the Structure of Contact, and 

 Cross-Cultural Eole: Based almost entirely upon my own observa- 

 tions, records specially devised and kept by me, and standard trading 

 post records. 



The Entrepreneur in Culture Contact : Contains no new material 

 on Shonto. 



635893—63 3 



