These field notes, compiled by de Laguna and Catherine McClellan, include archaeological investigations, transcripts of interviews with community members and sketches. Tlingit material recorded at Yakutat, Angoon, Carcross, and Teslin, with small amount at Atlin; Ahtna material recorded at Chitina, Copper Center, and Chistochina.

Tlingit recordings made on 1 wire spool in Angoon, Alaska, 21 June 1950, by Frederica de Laguna and Catherine McClellan. Text, "How Angoon was destroyed in 1882"; translation on typed sheets made by native from recording. Song of the Raven Hat. Three "Tsimshian" songs. The recordings were made by wire recorder loaned by Wenner-Gren Foundation; research the result of funds from the Arctic Institute of North America.

Ahtna songs and stories recorded in Copper Center, Alaska by Frederica de Laguna in 1958. Includes numerous interviews on autobiographical topics, explanations of Ahtna songs, sleep doctors, and traditional narratives. Also includes vocabulary related to kinship terms. Songs include potlatch songs, love songs, drinking songs, and songs of Tlingit origin.

The material in the collection is an assembly of unrelated recording collections made by multiple collectors. This collection consists of recordings on wire or phonograph discs sent by the APS Library to the Library of Congress in December 1970 in exchange for duplication of the material on to archival reel-to-reel tapes. The original formats are housed at the Library of Congress.