Kamloops Wawa (BC, 1891-1905)

Publication History:

Place of Publication: Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada

Frequency:  Irregular

Volume and Issue Data:  Vol. 1, May 2, 1891-Vol.14, No. 1, 1905; Nos. 1-213

Size and Format:  Text largely in shorthand of Chinook jargon; three columns; small format; copies mimeographed

Editor/Publisher:  Father LeJeune

Title Changes and Continuation:  None

General Description and Notes:

Kamloops Wawa (BC, 1891-1905 )

This newspaper was published in Kamloops, British Columbia between 1891 and 1905 in a Chinook script developed by Father LeJeune.  The paper was handwritten then mimeographed.

The first page’s three columns are each written in a different script.  The first transliterates the Chinookan script of column two and column three translates both into English.  Column three reads:

“This paper is named Kamloops Wawa.  It is born just now.  It wants to appear and speak every week, to all who want to learn to write fast.  No matter if they be white men.”

[Note: The box containing the Kamloops Wawa includes separately paged inserts in various languages with duplicate numbering.  Also includes:  The Kamloops phonographer, no. 4 (Oct. 1892); circular (2 pp.):  Coldwater, Aug. 24, 1892; printed letter dated April 1, 1892 in French.  Five unidentified fragments;  2 pp. leaflet, at head of paper, the Kamloops Wawa symbols, on back, “the Duployan phonetic alphabet complete”; 2 copies (4 pp.) of the Chinook shorthand; pp. 49-80 ith chapter headings, “Stations of the Cross”,  “Preparation for confession”, “Act of miracle,” “Monseigneur Laurence”, “Fruitless temptation,” etc.]

Kamloops Wawa (BC, 1891-1905)

Information Sources:

Bibliography:  James C. Pillings, Bibliography of the Chinookan Languages, Bulletin 15 (Washington, D.C.:  Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of Ethnology, 1893), pp. 46-47; Pillings, Bibliography of the Salishan Language, Bulletin 16 (Washington, D.C.:  Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of Ethnology, 1893), p. 38.

Locations:  McFarlin Library, Special Collections, University of Tulsa