Native American History

A New History of the Munsee Indians

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More enigmatic than they should be in this late age, even among historians of New York, the Munsee are less known than the story for which they are best known &#8211 the purchase of Manhattan Island for veritable pittance in 1626. One reason the Munsee (a northern sub-set of sorts of the Lenni Lenape or Delaware, as they were called by Europeans) have been ignored by historians is their rather early refugee status by the 1740s.

Anthropologist Robert S. Grumet’s The Munsee Indians: A History attempts to paint a portrait of the Munsee, whose territory stretched form the lower Hudson River Valley to the headwaters of the Delaware, as an Indian Nation in their own right. Previous histories, particularly those of the Lenape, have generally ignored the important role of the Munsee.

Grumet marshals archeological, anthropological and archival evidence to bring to life the memorial lives of Mattano, Tackapousha, Mamanuchqua, and other Munsee leaders who helped shape the course of American history in the mid-Atlantic before the American Revolution. The Musee emigrated to reservations in Wisconsin, Ontario, and Oklahoma where their descendants live to this day.

Grumet is the senior research associate at the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Historic Contact: Indian People and Colonists in Today’s Northeastern United States in the Sixteenth Through Eighteenth Centuries.

The Munsee Indians: A History is part of the Civilization of the American Indian Series by the University of Oklahoma Press.

Vermont Files Proposed Archeology Rule Change

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The State of Vermont has officially filed a proposed revised rule for protecting archeological and historical sites during development, beginning the formal process of review.

Under Vermont’s Act 250, the state’s environmental protection and development review law, the Division for Historic Preservation makes recommendations to the district environmental commissions on whether a proposed development would impact “historic sites,” including archeological sites.

The proposed rule revisions clarify that District Commissions, not the Division, have the final decision-making authority about such questions as whether to require additional field studies, and whether a site is historically significant enough to warrant protecting it.

“We don’t issue permits,” Peebles said. “The Division provides testimony to the District Commission about historic and archeological resources, on whether or not a project will adversely affect an ‘historic site,’ and on how much field study should be done to determine whether an area is historically significant and should be protected if a permit is issued. The District Commission makes those decisions.”

One concern raised by the archeology community was that undiscovered “potential” sites must continue to be considered and protected where possible. Peebles, who is also the State Archeologist, says that the revised rule clearly provides for this within the ability of existing state law.

Peebles said that the revised rules clarify that the definition of “historic site” includes archeological sites that have not yet been discovered, and encourages applicants to work with the Division as early as possible in the planning process to identify and protect sites, even well before an Act 250 application is submitted.

“Based on several steps during project review, Division staff can identify an area as historically significant and recommend to the District Commission that an archeological investigation be conducted by the applicant to ensure no undue adverse effect to significant archeological sites,” Peebles said. “The applicant still has the opportunity to present evidence to the commission disputing that.”

The proposed revised rule also sets additional time limits for reviews to make the process more predictable for permit applicants, with exceptions for winter months when the ground may be frozen and archeological field assessments impossible.

Officials with the Division for Historic Preservation said the changes reflected the feedback received during five public meetings this summer around the state.

“The public meetings to get informal feed-back on the proposed changes were very well attended. We heard from a broad spectrum of the archeology and applicant communities about the proposed rule changes,” said Giovanna Peebles, the State Historic Preservation Officer and head of the Division for Historic Preservation. “Based on that, we have further revised our original suggested changes to clarify all aspects of the original rule, including the roles of the participants in the Act 250 process.”

After review by the Interagency Committee on Administrative Rules, the proposed rule revisions will be submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office. The formal rules adoption process includes a public hearing.

After that the rule must be reviewed by the joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules before it can be put in place.

Additional details and the draft guidelines are available at www.HistoricVermont.org

Univ of Rochester to Hold Race and Gender Conference

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The University of Rochester has announced a two-day conference on April 16 and 17, 2010 to celebrate the launching of a new book series by the University of Rochester Press, &#8220Gender and Race in American History.&#8221 The Conference is free and open to the public. The conference organizers include Carol Faulkner (of Syracuse University), Alison M. Parker (of The College at Brockport, SUNY), and Victoria Wolcott (of the University of Rochester).

Featured Speakers will include:

Deborah Gray White (Rutgers University), &#8220What Women Want: The Racial Paradoxes of Post-Modernity.&#8221

Michelle Mitchell (New York University), title TBA

Meredith Clark-Wiltz, Ph.D. Candidate, History Department, Ohio State University, &#8220Persecuting Black Men, Gendering Jury Service: The Interplay between Race and Gender in the NAACP Jury Service Cases of the 1930s.&#8221

Kendra Taira Field, Assistant Professor, U.C. Riverside, &#8220&#8216-You mean Grandma Brown. Grandpa Brown didn’t have no land.’ Race, Gender, and An Intruder of Color in Indian Territory.&#8221

Rashauna Johnson, Ph.D. Candidate, History Department, NYU, &#8220&#8216-Laissez les bon temps rouler!’ and Other Concealments: Households, Taverns, and Irregular Intimacies in Antebellum New Orleans.&#8221

Michelle Kuhl, Assistant Professor of History, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, &#8220Countable Bodies, Uncountable Crimes: Sexual Assault and the Anti-Lynching Movement.&#8221

Vivian May, Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, Syracuse University, &#8220Historicizing intersectionality as Theory and Method: Returning to the Work of Anna Julia Cooper.&#8221

Helene Quanquin, Associate Professor, University of Paris 3-Sorbonne Nouvelle, &#8220&#8216-There are Two Great Oceans’: The Slavery Metaphor in the Antebellum Women’s Rights Movement as &#8216-redescription’ of Race and Gender.&#8221

For more information visit:
http://www.rochester.edu/College/humanities/projects/index.php?history&events

Atlantic World Literacies: Before and After Contact

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Atlantic World Literacies: Before and After Contact will be a an international, interdisciplinary conference sponsored by the Atlantic World Research Network, October 7-9, 2010 at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s Elliott University Center. Featured Speakers will include
Laurent DuBois (Professor of French and History, Duke University), Susan Manning (Professor of English, University of Edinburgh), Peter Mark (Professor of Art History and African-American Studies, Wesleyan University), and Julio Ortega (Professor of Hispanic Studies, Brown University). Read more →

2010 Meeting of the American Society for Ethnohistory

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The 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Ethnohistory, will take place at the Lord Elgin Hotel, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on October 13 &#8211 17, 2010. The American Society for Ethnohistory (ASE) was founded in 1954 to promote the interdisciplinary investigation of the histories of the Native Peoples of the Americas. The ethnohistorical method, as it has come to be known, involves developing histories informed by ethnography, linguistics, archaeology, and ecology.

The theme for the ASE Ottawa 2010 is titled ‘Creating Nations and Building States: Past and Present,’ focusing on indigenous societies and their relations with expanding colonial and modern state structures of Canada, America, and Latin America. This general theme is intended to initiate discussions on the complex and often fractious relations between Native societies and expanding state structures in the Americas from contact onward.

Papers on instances of ethnogenesis, persistence and transformation of identity, culture and social structures over time are especially welcomed. Since the meeting is being held in Canada’s capital during the 125th anniversary of the second Metis provisional government and resistance movement at Batoche, the organizers are encouraging discussions and reflection on alternative models of indigenous nation building, displacement and violence in the interior, and the vast process of native exclusion in the construction of modern states.

The organizers invite proposals that speak to and think creatively about this year’s theme on the formation and transformation of both state and national entities, but they accept other ethnohistorical topics as well. Complete panel proposals with presenters, and chair are preferred, but individual paper proposals are also accepted.

The firm deadline for applications is April 15, 2010. Note the earlier than customary date of the conference as well as the earlier than usual deadline for the submission of proposals and abstracts. Applicants will be notified of the status of their proposals by June 15, 2010.

It is not necessary to register for the conference in order to have a paper or panel accepted. Once papers and panels are accepted, however, participants MUST register as an ASE member by August 1, 2010.

Click here for conference information.

Special Editor’s Session

The Editors and Editorial Board of Ethnohistory invite proposals for an invited Editors’ Session to be held at the 2010 meeting in Ottawa. They are looking for a session proposal that closely mirrors the theme of the conference “Creating Nations and Building States: Past and Present,” which involves representatives from several regions and disciplinary orientations exploring a common theme. The successful session proposal will be published as a special issue of the journal. Completed papers will be due within six months of the meeting. The session should consist of 6-8 papers. In order to for a session to be considered for the Editor’s Session, submit a session proposal, including a session abstract and abstracts of individual papers by the April 15th deadline. Be sure to check the box &#8221For consideration of the Editor’s Session.&#8221 Submissions not accepted for the Editors’ Session will be considered for inclusion in the regular program without prejudice.

Program questions should be directed to:
ASE Program Committee Chair
Professor Jean Francois Belisle
History Department
University of Ottawa
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K1N 6N5
[email protected]
1-613-562-5800 #1293

Local arrangements questions should be directed to:
ASE Local Arrangements Committee Chair
Professor Nicole St-Onge
History Department
University of Ottawa
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K1N 6N5
[email protected]
1-613-562-5800 # 1317

NY Native American and Rev War Records Go Online

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A collection of records from New York State pertaining to American Revolution and Native American policy have been recently scanned from paper copy volumes in the New York State Library collection. The documents are full-text searchable and freely available online as PDF documents on the State Library’s website. The newly available records include documents relating to military bounty lands, and volumes of New York in the Revolution as Colony and State, which was compiled in the late 19th century from available records of the American Revolution.

The records also include several items related to Native American affairs from the 1940s. Particulalrly those of the New York State Joint Legislative Committee on Indian Affairs, which was established in 1943 &#8220to make a comprehensive study of the rights and obligations of the several tribes of Indians residing upon Indian reservations within the state- to inquire into all treaties, and the nature and extent of the title to lands granted to Indians- and to inquire into all matters relevant to its investigation&#8221.


Revolutionary War materials:
The Balloting Book and Other Documents Relating to Military Bounty Lands in the State of New York

This book contains copies of several acts relative to Revolutionary War bounty lands and the payment given of officers and soldiers for service in the War. An alphabetical listing of the names of soldiers and officers in each regiment is provided and includes the rank and company of the soldier, the township number, the lot number, the acreage, and date of patent. Dead and miscellaneous persons laying claim to land are also listed. The book also contains Lieutenant Michael Collonly’s return of names from Continental Army muster rolls and an accompanying list of names from the return of Colonel John Lamb. Another section of the book provides the number and names of townships in the military tract. The final section lists the names and lots of Canadian and Nova-Scotia refugees.

New York in the Revolution as Colony and State

This publication is a compilation of papers located in the NYS Comptroller’s Department that were arranged and classified by James A. Roberts, Comptroller. The papers included in the volume relate to the services performed by New York in the Revolutionary War, including muster and pay rolls of men serving in the Line, Levies, Militia, and Navy (Privateers). A personal name index and indexes to “sundry persons”, pensioners and applicants for pensions and commanding officers are included in the volume. This 2nd edition was published in 1898.

New York in the Revolution as Colony and State: Supplement

This supplement is a compilation of papers located in the NYS Comptroller’s Department related to the participation of New York State in the Revolutionary War. Included in this supplement is information on aspects of the military and naval service during the War including Courts-Martial, deserters, pay, bounties, pensions, American prisoners of war, hospitals, Indians, fortifications, military Roads, military stores, clothing, provisions, privateers and ships. The volume also includes information on the civil service during the War including the judiciary, the legislature and the executive and executive bodies. This supplement was printed in 1901.

Native American materials:

Hearing before the Joint Committee on Indian Affairs
Thursday, Jan. 4, 1945 at Ten Eyck Hotel, Albany, N.Y., 10 a.m.

This hearing considers federal legislation concerning the criminal and civil jurisdiction of New York State courts over Indian Reservations in New York State. The legislation was intended to end confusion over the extent of federal and state jurisdiction over offenses committed on Indian property within New York State.

Public hearing had at Salamanca, New York Court Room, City Hall
August 4-5, 1943

This hearing was convened by the Joint Legislative Committee on Indian Affairs to gain information on the issues that arose over attempts by New York State to gain and maintain civil and criminal jurisdiction over the Seneca Nation’s Allegany Reservation, which included the city of Salamanca. The dispute arose over the authority of the Seneca Nation to cancel land leases in Salamanca for non payment. The leases had been authorized by Congress to establish villages within the Allegany Reservation.

Public hearing had at Thomas Indian School, Cattaraugus Reservation, N.Y.
Wednesday, Sept. 8, 1943

This hearing was convened by the NYS Joint Legislative Committee on Indian Affairs to gain information on the operation of the Thomas Indian School and problems with its operation caused by the conflict between the federal and state governments over what legal authority has jurisdiction on the reservation and ultimate responsibility for regulating affairs of the school.

Report of New York State Joint Legislative Committee on Indian Affairs

The New York State Joint Legislative Committee on Indian Affairs was established by Senate resolution in 1943 &#8220to make a comprehensive study of the rights and obligations of the several tribes of Indians residing upon Indian reservations within the state- to inquire into all treaties, and the nature and extent of the title to lands granted to Indians- and to inquire into all matters relevant to its investigation&#8221. (New York State Legislative Manual, 1943). Reports were made annually to the Legislature from 1944-1964. In addition, a supplemental report was made in 1959.

The Lenape: Lower New Yorks First Inhabitants

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Dr. David Oestreicher will present a lecture, The Lenape: Lower New York’s First Inhabitants on Sunday, November 8, 2:00-4:00 PM at the SUNY Albany Center for Arts and Humanities. For over twelve thousand years, the region that is now lower New York, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware was home to groups of Lenape (Delaware Indians) and their prehistoric predecessors. By the late 18th and early 19th centuries, however, after a tragic series of removals had taken them halfway across the continent, the broken remnants of these tribes finally came to settle in parts of Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Ontario. By the late 20th century, only a handful of elders could still speak their native language, or had knowledge of the traditional ways.

In this lecture, David M. Oestreicher combines archaeological and historical evidence with decades of firsthand ethnographic and linguistic research among the last Lenape traditionalists. He gives a brief overview of the prehistory of the Mid-Atlantic region, describes how the Lenape and their neighbors subsisted at the time of European contact, why they ultimately left their homeland, and where they are living today.

Dr. Oestreicher touches upon the major historic events involving the Lenape, including the arrival of Henry Hudson &#8212- contrasting Hudson’s own words with Lenape oral traditions collected by Oestreicher and others over the centuries. He relates how the Lenape language, ceremonies, religious beliefs and life ways were impacted by removal from their traditional homeland.

The presentation includes a slide (or powerpoint) program featuring native artifacts, maps, illustrations and photographs of various life activities, and images of some of the most important tribal traditionalists &#8212- the last repositories of their culture. The talk concludes with an account of efforts today by the Lenape to reclaim their ancient heritage and revive long abandoned traditions. Those attending the presentation will have a unique opportunity to learn about our region’s original inhabitants &#8212- not the romanticized Lenape of popular mythology and recent new-age literature, but a special people as they really are.

For further information about this event, please contact:

E. James Schermerhorn
The Dutch Settlers Society of Albany
Phone: (518) 459-0608

http://www.dutchsettlerssociety.org

This lecture is a part of the New York Council for the Humanities Speakers in the Humanities program.

http://www.nyhumanities.org

Candidate Forum For Historic Abenaki Election

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Denise Watso, a descendant of the legendary Abenaki Chief Louis Watso who lived in Lake George Village for a time and figures prominently in Native American life there in the 19th century, sent the following press release about an upcoming candidate forum in Albany tomorrow, October 24th.

This is a significant event in the history of the Abenaki Nation. It was only within this decade that the substantial membership of the Odanak Abenaki First Nation living in the Albany metro area have been able to vote for their chief and council members. This is the first election in which off-reserve Abenaki are able to run for office as well as vote.

Here is the press release:

The Capitol District will host one of three forums for Abenaki voters to hear directly from candidates for Chief and Council of the Odanak Abenaki First Nation. The forum will be held from 12-4 PM, Saturday, October 24 at the German-American Club, 32 Cherry Street, Albany, NY 12205. This is an exciting time in the history of the Abenaki people – all Abenaki enrolled at Odanak are invited and encouraged to attend with their families.

Two additional forums will be held during the election season at Sudbury, Ontario, and on-reserve at Odanak. Elections will be held Saturday, November 28, 2009, although voters may also cast their ballots by mail.

The Abenaki are the aboriginal people associated with homelands in much of northern New England and adjacent parts of New York, Massachusetts and Quebec, as well as with the Odanak (Saint Francis) and Wolinak (Becancour) reserves in central Quebec (and historically with the Penobscot Nation in Maine, too). Abenaki derives from Wabanaki (“people from where the sun rises,” “people of the east,” or “people of the dawn”), and this latter term is often used in a general sense to refer collectively to the Mi’kmaq, Malecite, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Abenaki peoples.

While many Abenaki have been thought of as “Saint Francis Indians,” living at Odanak, in truth many Abenaki families have maintained part-time or full-time residence within their homelands south of the border continuously since the American Revolution. In fact, the first election held by the Odanak First Nation under the Indian Act, the legislation regulating aboriginal affairs in Canada, occurred January 18, 1876, after many Abenaki (and their Indian Agent) complained that the three chiefs serving the community at the time – Louis Watso, Solomon Benedict and Jean Hannis – were away from the reserve so often that two additional chiefs were required to ensure adequate representation. (The aged chief Louis Watso was actually living at Lake George, where a good deal of his family resided.) Samuel Watso and Lazare Wawanolett were chosen from a field of six candidates, and elections for office have been held at regular intervals ever since.

Abenaki history on the upper Hudson dates to at least the late 17th century when many ancestors of the modern Abenaki people lived at Schaghticoke, near the mouth of the Hoosic River. Continuing Abenaki presence in New York State is attested to by such notable 19th century Adirondack Abenaki as Sabael Benedict, Mitchell Sabattis, and the late 19th/early 20th century Indian Encampments at Saratoga Springs, Lake George and Lake Luzerne were primarily occupied by Abenaki. Despite a lack of recognition by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, these Abenaki families have persisted within and beyond their homelands: today, the Albany metro region is a major Abenaki population center. Other significant concentrations of Abenaki people are located in Waterbury, CT- Newport, VT- and Sudbury, Ontario.

This will be the second time that a formal forum for candidates for Chief and Council has been held in Albany. Approximately 60 people attended a similar event two years ago, and an even higher turn-out is expected this weekend. Off-reserve Abenaki were not allowed to vote in Odanak’s election until after the Supreme Court of Canada’s 1999 Corbiere ruling struck down the voter residency requirement of Canada’s Indian Act.

The importance of the off-reserve vote has been increasing with each passing election. This election, however, may bring about even greater change as it will be the first time since the Indian Act was enacted that off-reserve Abenaki will be eligible to accept a nomination for office (per the 2007 Federal Court of Appeals’ Esquega decision). The potential impact of this development places an even greater spotlight on the role of off-reserve voters in the civic affairs of the Abenaki Nation.

It is also a point of pride for many Abenaki who think of both Odanak and the Albany area as home. Susan Marshall, a lifelong resident of Albany and Rensselaer, is looking forward to attending the candidate’s forum and voting for her first time. “I just wish my mom (Mary Jane Nagazoa) was here to see this, knowing how proud she would be.”

Presentation On The Poesten Kill Thursday

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John Warren (yours truly) has written the first history of the Poestenkill ­which flows through the center of Rensselaer County and enters the Hudson River at Troy, will offer a book talk and signing this Thursday (October 22nd, 6:30 to­ 8 pm) at the Rensselaer County Historical Society in Troy (57 Second Street, Troy). The event is free and open to the public. Copies of The Poesten Kill will be available for purchase at the event. The Poestenkill has been home to American Indians who hunted, gathered, fished and farmed along its shores, frontier Dutch farmers and traders, colonial tradesmen, merchants, millers, and lumbermen, and nineteenth century iron, steel, textile, and paper workers.

Shirley Dunn To Speak On Mohicans And Dutch

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Shirley W. Dunn, who has published two books about the Mohicans (The Mohicans and Their Land 1609-1730 and The Mohican World, 1680-1750) and has one in press, will speak on October 22nd at the Smithsonian Institution’s Heye Museum in Manhattan (a branch of the Museum of the American Indian) beginning at 6:00 pm. Her topic will be the Mohicans and the Dutch, and the she will deal with contributions of the Mohican Indians to Dutch settlement and to the Colony of Rensselaerswijck. The talk is free and open to the public.