William Pidgeon (ca. 1800 – ca. 1880) was an American antiquarian and archaeologist most famous for his 1858 work, Traditions of Dee-Coo-Dah and Antiquarian Researches, a putative history about lost tribes of the Upper Mississippi and the mounds they left behind. This book was eventually revealed to be partly a hoax, and partly embellishment of actual research. Combining elaborate sketches and maps of mound groups in Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Minnesota, Pidgeon claimed to have discovered an elaborate network of coded earthen symbols used by an ancient race that predated Native Americans; one of the last survivors of this putative race, "Dee-Coo-Dah", was interviewed by Pidgeon. (From Wikipedia)
More about William Pidgeon:Books by William Pidgeon:
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Pidgeon, William: Traditions of De-coo-dah and Antiquarian Researches (New York: H. Thayer, 1858) (multiple formats at archive.org)
Additional books by William Pidgeon in the extended shelves:
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Pidgeon, William: Traditions of De-coo-dah, and antiquarian researches comprising ... explorations of the ... remains of the Mound builders in America ... (S. Low, Son & Co., 1853) (page images at HathiTrust)- Pidgeon, William: Traditions of De-coo-dah : And antiquarian researches: comprising extensive explorations, surveys, and excavations of the wonderful and mysterious earthen remains of the mound-builders in America; the traditions of the last prophet of the Elk nation relative to their origin and use; and the evidences of an ancient population more numerous than the present aborigines (Thayer, 1852) (page images at HathiTrust)
- Pidgeon, William: Traditions of De-coo-dah. And antiquarian researches: comprising extensive explorations, surveys, and excavations of the wonderful and mysterious earthen remains of the mound-builders in America (Thayer, Bridgman & Fanning, 1853) (page images at HathiTrust)
- Pidgeon, William: Traditions of De-coo-dah. And antiquarian researches: comprising extensive explorations, surveys, and excavations of earthen remains of the mound-builders in America; the traditions of the last prophet of the Elk nation relative to their origin and use; and the evidences of an ancient population. (H. Thayer, 1858) (page images at HathiTrust)
- Pidgeon, William: Traditions of De-coo-dah. And antiquarian researches: comprising extensive explorations, surveys, and excavations of the wonderful and mysterious earthen remains of the mound-builders in America; the traditions of the last prophet of the Elk nation relative to their origin and use; and the evidences of an ancient population more numerous than the present aborigines. (H. Thayer, 1858), also by Elk Indian De-coo-dah (page images at HathiTrust)
- Pidgeon, William: Traditions of De-coo-dah and antiquarian researches comprising extensive explorations, surveys ... the traditions of the last prophet of the Elk nation relative to their origin and use and the evidences of an ancient population more numerous than the present aborigines (H. Thayer, 1858) (page images at HathiTrust)
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