Tonawanda Senecas: Preserving the Past and Illuminating the Present

In cooperation with the Historical Club of the Tonawanda Reservation, the Museum created this exhibit which explores the changing lives of Tonawanda Senecas from Pre-European contact to the twentry-first century. The Senecas are the "Keepers of the Western Door," because they are located at the western end of the Six Iroquois Nations. A significant collection of artifacts is on permanent exhibit here at the Holland Land Office Museum. The Seneca exhibit won an Award of Merit at the 2001 Western New York Association of Historical Agencies' annual conference.

The exhibit features a book of the treaties made with the Senecas, several tools, a collection of baskets, beautiful bead work, a case displaying recreation and leisure toys and traditions, and a model showing the internal and external structure of a long house. Also, the exhibit includes a case highlighting parts of present-day Seneca life.

Several books on the Senecas, including Genesee Country Senecas by Irene A Beale, Warrior in Two Camps: Ely S. Parker, Union General and Seneca Chief by William H. Armstrong, Iroquois Legends Volume II by Marian Miller, Red Jacket: Iroquois Diplomat and Orator by Christopher Densmore, and The Six Nations of New York: The 1892 United States Extra Census Bulletin (Cornell University Press), are available at the Joseph Ellicott Book and Gift Shop.