Iroquois Beadwork

About the Tuscarora

• The Tuscarora are members of the Iroquois Confederacy. The Confederacy also includes the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga and Seneca Nations.

• The Iroquois call themselves the Haudenosaunee, "people of the longhouse."

• The Iroquois are recognized as a sovereign nation within the United States, as acknowledged by the Canandaigua Treaty of 1794.

• Today's Iroquois Confederacy includes some 19 communities located primarily in New York State and the northeastern regions of Canada. The Tuscarora Nation is approximately eight miles from the Castellani Art Museum.

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About Iroquois Beadwork

Beadwork items are given as gifts to commemorate important life passages including births, weddings, graduations and anniversaries.

Beaded clothing worn at longhouse rituals, political meetings and community social events acts as a powerful expression of Iroquois cultural identity.

Beads and beadwork played an important role in Iroquois life for many generations before Europeans arrived in the Americas. During the mid-19th century - as Iroquois survival was threatened by land appropriations, the loss of traditional trade opportunities and other economic hardship - the Iroquois developed new types of beadwork items made to appeal to tourists visiting Niagara Falls.

Beaded objects the Victorians called "whimsies" - pincushions, picture frames, table coverings, wall-hangings and clothing accessories - gained tremendous popularity as a souvenir item. Beadwork production soared and became a vital source of income for Iroquois families.

Beadwork in Today's Tuscarora Community

Like their ancestors, the Iroquois continue to make beadwork for sale and for their own use.

In Iroqouis communities today beaded clothing, and beaded items first made for the Victorian tourist trade, serve as important markers of Iroquois history and culture.

For more information, see the Castellani Art Museum's exhibit Across Borders: Beadwork in Iroquois Life at http://www.niagara.edu/cam/bead/bead.htm

This information is taken from research completed for Across Borders: Beadwork in Iroquois Life, a 4,000 square foot travelling exhibition organized and circulated by the McCord Museum of Canadian History, Montreal, Quebec and the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University in collaboration with the Kanien'kehaka Raotitiohkwa Cultural Center, Kahnawake, Tuscarora Nation community beadworkers within New York State, and the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.

The project's curatorial team includes: Kanatakta, Kanien'kehaka Raotitiohkwa Cultural Center; Kate Koperski, Castellani Art Museum; Moira McCaffrey, McCord Museum of Canadian History; Trudy Nicks, Royal Ontario Museum; Sandra Olsen, Castellani Art Museum; Ruth Phillips, Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia and Jolene Rickard, State University of New York at Buffalo.

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Photography: Margaret Brayley, Smoke Dance, © Denise Wood Photography: Frame, Four Seasons Box, © Biff Henrich; Collar, © Patty Wallace