This collection primarily contains Chitimacha material, with some additional Nootka material, originally recorded on 23 wax cylinders by Morris Swadesh in 1933 and 1934. The recordings were transferred circa 1951 to 2 sound tape reels. Due to the poor condition of the original cylinders, the sound quality of the recordings is generally poor. Tape 1 contains elicited sentences, folklore, and autobiographical stories told in Chitimacha by Benjamin Paul, chief from 1903 to 1934, and Delphine Ducloux, the last known speaker of Chitimacha. Recorded in Louisiana in 1933 on 22 wax cylinders. Tape 2 contains elicited sentences, unidentified narrative, and some singing in Nootka by Alex Thomas. Recorded at Port Alberni, British Columbia, on 1 wax cylinder in 1934.

Audio recordings, primarily linguistic field recordings of Native American languges, removed from the James M. Crawford papers. The bulk of the recordings are in three areas: Alabama songs, stories, and fiddle music; Cocopa folklore, autobiographical stories, songs, and elicited words and sentences; Yuchi autobiographical stories, conversations, and elicitied word lists. Other material includes: Cherokee conversations; Chickasaw word and phrases lists; readings from a Chontal-Spanish dictionary; a Diegueño text; words lists and discussion regarding the Mobilian trade language (Yama); intermixed Mobilian, Choctaw, and Koasati word lists; Mohave songs, with explanations; a Navajo elicitation session, with interview and conversation; elicited Shoshoni expressions; Tolowa songs, Yavapai word lists and texts; and Yuki words and expressions. The small amount of non-Native American material in the collection generally consists of unidentified conversations, readings of English and Russian texts, and recordings of baby talk.