A sculpture of Brigadier General Peter Gansevoort stands in a city park named in his honor at Rome, Oneida County, NY. This bronze, dedicated November 8, 1906, was created by Emilio F. Piatti. It presents the General in dress uniform grasping his sword and holding what is perhaps one of the most impactful tools (or weapons) ever devised – an accurate map. [Read more…] about General Peter Gansevoort’s Map
Iroquois
Red Jacket Peace Medal Returned to Seneca Nation by Buffalo Museum
The Red Jacket Peace Medal, an object of cultural patrimony under federal law, has been returned to the Seneca Nation by The Buffalo History Museum.
The medal, considered to be of central importance by many in the Nation, was gifted to Seneca Chief Red Jacket by President George Washington in 1792 to commemorate discussions that culminated in the Treaty of Canandaigua of 1794, in which the Seneca Nation played a crucial role. The medal was meant to be a symbol of peace, friendship, and enduring relationships among the United States and the Six Nations. [Read more…] about Red Jacket Peace Medal Returned to Seneca Nation by Buffalo Museum
Elms: The Giving Tree
For thousands of years, the American elm (Ulmus americana) was the go-to tree for building supplies and home furnishings, kind of a Home Depot of the forest.
For the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) and other First Nations peoples, it provided roofing and walls for longhouses measuring over a hundred feet long, as well as for smaller dwellings and outbuildings.
Elm also furnished top-notch material to make items as diverse as ladles, canoes, trays, snow shovels, grain scoops, baskets, and containers of all sizes. [Read more…] about Elms: The Giving Tree
Iroquois Indian Museum Cancels All 2020 Special Events
In response to COVID-19 and in the interest of public health, The Iroquois Indian Museum in Howes Cave, Schoharie County, NY, has announced they are cancelling all special events for 2020. [Read more…] about Iroquois Indian Museum Cancels All 2020 Special Events
Geology and the Iroquois Homeland
The bedrock of New York and its erosion created the landscape the Iroquois people made their home. It influenced their territorial boundaries, defenses, settlement patterns, trail systems, agriculture, and key natural resources. [Read more…] about Geology and the Iroquois Homeland
Haudenosaunee Events at Ganondagan on Memorial Spaces
The Iroquois, or Haudenosaunee, (“People of the Longhouse”), are a northeast Native American confederacy in North America. They were known during the colonial years to the French as the Iroquois League, and later as the Iroquois Confederacy, and to other European immigrants as the Five Nations, comprising the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca. After 1722, they accepted the Tuscarora people from the Southeast into their confederacy, and became known as the Six Nations.
The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience is set to host two events on Haudenosaunee culture and women and how they relate to museum and memorial sites, on December 12th and 13th, at the Seneca Art & Culture Center in Victor. [Read more…] about Haudenosaunee Events at Ganondagan on Memorial Spaces
The Treaty of Canandaigua, 1794
The Treaty of Paris 1783 ended the American War for Independence, but it did not bring peace to North America. After 1783, warfare and violence continued between Americans and Native Americans.
So how did the early United States attempt to create peace for its new nation?
In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World: A Podcast About Early American History, Michael Oberg, Distinguished Professor of History at the State University of New York-Geneseo, joins us to investigate how the United States worked with the Haudenosaunee or Iroquois people to create peace through the Treaty of Canandaigua in 1794.
Haudenosaunee Folklore & Indigenous Tales in Utica
The Iroquois or Haudenosaunee are a historically powerful northeast Native American confederacy in North America. Storytelling is an important component of Haudenosaunee culture. Oral traditions and legends have been passed from generation to generation, teaching communities how to live, act, and care for one another, as well as how to manage during the unpredictable seasons. [Read more…] about Haudenosaunee Folklore & Indigenous Tales in Utica
Sullivan-Clinton Campaign Symposium in Fort Plain
The Fort Plain Museum will host a symposium on the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign against Native Americans in 1779 on Saturday, November 2nd. Pre-registration is recommended, but walk-ins are welcome. [Read more…] about Sullivan-Clinton Campaign Symposium in Fort Plain
Adirondack Iroquoian and Algonquian History Published
Melissa Otis’ new book Rural Indigenousness, A History of Iroquoian and Algonquian Peoples of the Adirondacks (Syracuse University Press, 2019) takes a fresh look at the rich history of Algonquian and Iroquoian people, offering a study of the relationship between Native Americans and the Adirondacks.
The Adirondacks have been an Indigenous homeland for millennia, and the presence of Native people in the region was obvious but not well documented by Europeans, who did not venture into the interior between the seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries. Yet, by the late nineteenth century, historians had scarcely any record of their long-lasting and vibrant existence in the area. [Read more…] about Adirondack Iroquoian and Algonquian History Published