author
Marie L. McLaughlin
b. 1842
Raised among the eastern Sioux in Minnesota, she preserved traditional stories she had heard since childhood in a landmark 1916 collection. Her work offers a rare early written record of Sioux myths and storytelling from a writer with family ties to the community.
1 Audiobook
Myths and Legends of the Sioux
by Marie L. McLaughlin
About the author
Born on December 8, 1842, at Wabasha, Minnesota, Marie L. McLaughlin wrote from close personal knowledge of Sioux life. In the brief autobiographical note connected with Myths and Legends of the Sioux, she said she was of one-fourth Sioux ancestry and that many of the stories in the book had been told to her by her mother, Mary Graham Buisson.
Her best-known book, Myths and Legends of the Sioux, was published in 1916. It gathers traditional tales she wanted to preserve, and later editions describe her as having grown up among the eastern Sioux of Minnesota and later serving as an interpreter alongside her husband, James McLaughlin, during his years connected with the Devils Lake and Standing Rock agencies.
What makes her especially interesting is the way her book bridges oral tradition and print. Rather than presenting the stories as distant folklore, she wrote as someone trying to carry family and community memory forward for new readers.