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As of the 2000 census, there were 2,475,956 Native Americans in the United States. Of that number, 437,079 American Indians, 182 Eskimos and 97 Aleuts were residing on 314 reservations and trust lands. This exhibit simulates a portion of a small reservation house typical of the homes inhabited by Northeastern Native Peoples in the early 1900s. Native American communities have continued to survive to the present day, despite the massive influx of European-American neighbors that began in the 1600s. These communities often remained on a small portion of their original homelands, however, by the 16th century, many Native people living in the northeast were confined to spaces called reservations overseen by the Euro-American society. Many items in this exhibit, such as a family storage trunk and clothing made from “trade cloth,” were donated by Adelphena “Del” Logan (Onondaga) from her home on the Cattaraugus Seneca Reservation. Also on display are 19th- and early 20th-century belongings from members of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation as well as post-contact artifacts from many other northeastern peoples. We hope that this exhibit will instill in visitors a more complete understanding of the continuing struggle for survival of indigenous communities living on reservations in the Eastern Woodland region. |