Seneca-Iroquois National Museum’s Cornplanter Exhibit Will Open August 3rd
OCC to Display Original Monument in New Exhibit Gayë’twahgeh: Cornplanter
The Onöhsagwë: de’ Cultural Center will examine the life of Seneca war chief Cornplanter and provide insight into life on the Cornplanter Grant in a new exhibit scheduled to open August 3, 2024. The major highlight of the exhibition will be the display of the public original Cornplanter monument.
The exhibit will draw on the legacy of Cornplanter by exploring Cornplanter’s significance in Onöndowa’ga:’ (Seneca) and American history through documents, photographs, and artifacts including Cornplanter’s pipe tomahawk which the New York State Museum returned to the Seneca Nation in 2020. The centerpiece of the exhibition is the permanent installation of the original Cornplanter monument. The monument, erected at Cornplanter’s Grant located in Pennsylvania’s Warren County in 1866, is believed to be the first memorial to stand in tribute to a Native American in the United States. An interactive display of Cornplanter’s children and grandchildren will offer descendants the opportunity to contribute valuable genealogical information about succeeding generations.
Although Cornplanter has been scrutinized and criticized for his accommodation of the new United States and its adverse influence on the Seneca, Seneca lands, and Seneca lifeways; he has also been celebrated for his significant role in leading his people through an immensely difficult transition that ultimately assured Seneca survival.
An added highlight at the August 3rd exhibit opening will be the attendance of the Cornplanter Descendants Association which will hold its annual picnic on the Cultural Center grounds. The picnic originated in 1934 with the reunion of the Lee family and was held on the Grant for many years. Because of the construction of the Kinzua Dam, the last picnic held on the Grant was in 1964. In recent times the CDA has designated the first Saturday of August as the date for the annual event.
“It makes total sense that the Onöhsagwë: de’ Cultural Center (OCC) have this exhibition, and to raise the Cornplanter monument. The Seneca Nation of Indians built the OCC in 2018 with this monument placement in mind. 6 years later, we are excited to bring that vision to life. The OCC is extremely happy to bring this amazing exhibit to the Seneca people, and to the Cornplanter descendants.” said OCC Director Hayden Haynes.
The exhibition is curated by SINM curator Randee Spruce and is made possible through the support of the Seneca Nation of Indians Executives and Council.
Acquisition announcement:
In preparation for the upcoming Cornplanter exhibition, the Onöhsagwë: de’ Cultural Center commissioned a piece by Ken Williams Jr. for the permanent collection. The beaded pictorial piece is titled, “Remembering Ancestors” and was created in 2024.
“Creating this piece “Remembering Ancestors” is a tribute in many ways. This pictorial beaded tobacco/pipe bag portrays Cornplanter’s image through beads. I am a descendant of Cornplanter through my father’s mother, the late Hazel Pierce. My late father Kenneth Williams Sr (Cattaraugus Seneca) was very involved in family genealogy, and both my parents taught me it is important to know who we are and who we descend from. My father was proud to be from the Cornplanter line, and we attended the annual summer Cornplater picnic many years over. I feel my piece honors these lines, relationships, and memories of the past while showcasing traditions for our future generations. This piece also was created with mindfulness that we must remember our ancestors of the past as well as our family of present and future generations, with that in turn, one day we will be the ancestors that hopefully our younger generations will remember. While creating this work, I had in mind that it would be for our Seneca people to enjoy for generations to come, as well as the many visitors who will also see it. I am proud to know these roots of my family’s descendance and was honored to be asked to create a special piece for the cultural center. This tobacco bag also blends my Plains-Arapaho heritage in keeping with my style of honoring both heritages through artistic forms, here of a pipe bag shape and decorative aspects. It makes me happy knowing it will live on in our beautiful Seneca territorial land for many people to see.”
-Kenneth Williams Jr (Seneca/Northern Arapaho)
Materials Used: Czech glass beads of various sizes, vintage and new. Brain tanned deer hide, Bells, Wool cloth, Austrian (Swarovski) Crystal, Quahog-Wampum shell.
You can see this piece in-person as part of the new exhibit on Cornplanter which opens at the Onöhsagwë: de’ Cultural center on August 3, 2024.
The event is free and open to the public.
Photo credits: Seneca Media & Communications Center
