Seneca Splint Basketry

by M. Lismer

39 pages, including 15 photos, 11 illustrations, 2 maps. Originally published by the United States Office of Indian Affairs, 1941.

CONTENTS: 

History of the Iroquois 

 Decorations of Baskets 

 Seneca Basketry 

 Basket Medicine 

Form and Function 

Influence of White Trade 

 Materials 

Relation of Seneca Basketry to that of other Groups 

 Preparing the Splints 

Types of Weaves 

Diffusion of Splint Basketry 

Making the Baskets 

Bibliography 

Handles

The major study of Iroquois Basketry to date. 

124gr/4-1/2oz 

ISBN-0-919645-04-6 

      24-00106      $9.95

The Roll Call of the Iroquois Chiefs

by W.N. Fenton

73 pages, 14 photo plates, fold-out blue print of the Cane.

Originally published by the Smithsonian Institution, 1950. 
 

CONTENTS:

The Cane of Andrew Spragg

Specific Interrelation

General Symbolism

Evidence of Age

Function: A Reminder to the Eulogy Singer

Conclusion

Bibliography

The only study of the Condolence Cane and its Ceremonial Use. Much of importance to a knowledge of the system of traditional hereditary Chiefs.

148gr/ 5 oz

ISBN-0-919645-05-4 

24-00107                        $4.95

Myths of the Iroquois

by E.A. Smith

84 pages, 14 original drawings by Mohawk artist John Kahionhes Fadden commissioned for this reprint. Four new plates with commentary by the series editor. Originally published by the Smithsonian Institute, 1883.
 

CONTENTS:

Gods and Other

Mythologic Explanation of Phenomena

Supernatural Beings

Pygmies

Tales

Practice of Sorcery 

Religion

Many of the 56 stories are to be found in no other published collections. 

134 gr/4-1/2 oz 

ISBN-0-919645-06-2

Wampum Belts

by R.Fadden

72 pages, 53 photos, 1 drawing by John Kahionhes Fadden Mohawk. Originally published by the Six Nations Indian Museum, N.Y., 1972
 

CONTENTS:

Discussions of Wampum Belts and History of Wampum. 

Ceremonial Procedure and Content Detailed

Photos and Discussion of Specific Surviving Wampum Stings and Belts:

     Hiawatha Belt; Two-Row Wampum; Six Nations Peace Belt; Wing Fan of the Confederate Nations; Hospitality Belt; Invitation Strings; Condolence Strings: Delaware Land Belt: Great Britain and Six Nations Friendship Belt; Wolf Belt; George Washington Belt; Sir. Wm. Johnson Dish Belt; Huron Alliance Belt; Handsome Lake Confessional Wampum; and much more. 

The major work in print on Wampum from an Iroquois perspective.

116gr/4 oz

ISBN-0-919645-07-0

Iroquois Uses of Maize and Other food Plants

by A.C. Parker

120 pages., 32 photos, many illustrations. "Perfect-bound". Originally published by the New York State Museum, 1910.

CONTENTS:

Maize (Indian Corn) in History

Other Food Plants

Early Records of Corn Cultivation

Squashes and Other Vine Vegetables

Customs of Corn Cultivation

Ceremonial and Legendary Allusions of Corn

Leaf and Stalk Foods

Fungi and Lichens

Varieties of Corn Used

Fruit and Berry like foods

Corn Cultivation and Terminology

Utensils for the Preparation of Corn for Food 

Food Nuts

Soup and Bark

Foods

Cooking and Eating Customs

Food Roots

Foods Prepared from Corn

List of Authorities Quoted

Uses of the Corn Plant

Index

214gr/7-1/2oz

ISBN-0-919645-08-9

Masked Medicine Societies of the Iroquois

by W.N. Fenton

37 pages., plus 25 pages of original photos. Four new photos with commentary by the series editor. Originally published by the Smithsonian Institution, 1941.

CONTENTS:

Introduction: Longhouse Groups (Canada, US);

Ethnological Importance of Collections: Needs Purposes, Problems, Method of Study

Mask Types: Wooden False Faces; Native Classification; Classification of Specimen; Corn Husk Faces; Miniature Masks

Historical Perspective, Archeology,; Narratives of Early Travelers

The Society of Husk Faces, Origin Legend; The False Face Company,,  Origin Legend; The Classes of Medicine Masks; Three Societies Which Employ Masks; The False Face Sickness; The Mask and Rattle; Ritual Equipment; Tobacco Invocation and Blowing Ashes Rite

Also included: Appendix 5(part). Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology. 

The most authoritative concise examination of Iroquois Masking to date.

106gr/4oz

ISBN-0-919645-09-7

Legends of the Longhouse

by J.J. Cornplanter

200 pages, numerous illustrations by author. 'Perfect-bound'. Originally published in 1938.

The author, a descendent of the renowned 18th Century Iroquois League-War Chief Gayentwahga, was a noted Seneca ritualist, craftsman, and artist from the Tonawanda Reservation. The book comprises a collection of letters written over a seven month period by Cornplanter to a white woman who became so fascinated by this flow of Iroquois legend, Creation Myth and other folklore that she convinced her friend to allow publication and to illustrate it-he was no stranger to the drawing board, having illustrated a number of Iroquois studies for the N.Y. State Museum early in the Century. The resulting publication has been such a favourite of readers - Iroquois and others - since it first appeared in 1938, that it has gone through many hardback printings. This is the first paperback edition. Here then, is a book by an Iroquois about Iroquois folkways, which over many years, has earned a place on the shelf of those who have sought to learn from a man  knowledgeable in his own culture. 

296gr/10-1/2oz

ISBN-0-919645-13-5

The Iroquois Book of Rites and Hale on the Iroquois

by H.E.Hale

367 pages., including 22 pages of photos, map and eight figures. 'Perfect-bound'. 

Here, collected for the first time, are the Iroquois writings of this esteemed 19th Century pioneer ethnographer and linguist. His magnum opus, The Iroquois Book of Rites(222 pages), has been unavailable to the general reader for many years. Hale's translation and editing of two native manuscripts from Ohsweken on the ancient rites of the Condolence Council (mourning a departed Chief and installing a successor) was a landmark in the then newly tilled field of Iroquois ritualists, a garden still yielding a harvest. The balance of the volume, offered chronologically for the years 1881-1896, comprises in Iroquoian linguists; an obituary for friend Chief George Johnson - father of writer and performer E. Pauline Johnson; one of the few observer accounts of the White Dog Society; a witnessing of the actual Condoling Ceremony (after the publication of the Book of Rites). Here, in one offering, are the frequently-cited works of Hale which have been so difficult for students of Iroquois culture to consult. An introductory biography of Hale by W. N. Fenton presents the man behind the scholarship which follows. 

CONTENTS:

Biography of Horatio E. Hale

Hiawatha (A Law Giver of the Stone Age)

Indian Migrations as Evidenced by Language

The Iroquois Book of Rites T

The Iroquois Institutions and Language

Chief George H.M. Johnson

The Iroquois Sacrifice of the White Dog

Indian Etymologies

The Fall of Hochelaga

An Iroquois Condoling Council:

    A Study of Aboriginal American 

    Society and Government

Iroquois Philogy

Illustrated with many never before published photos;

photo commentary by the series editor."
 

516gr/18oz
 

ISBN-0-919645-17-8
 

"...something to offer historians, anthropologists, and linguist...Iroqrafts is to be commended for reprinting this selection of Hale's work.

Michael J. Mullin, Augustana College in: AMERICAN INDIAN CULTURE AND RESEARCH JOURNAL

Midwinter Rites of the Cayuga Long House

by F.G. Speck

192 pages, viii, 16 pages of plates; 10 figures.' Perfect-bound'. Originally published by the University of Pennsylvania Press, 1949.

CONTENTS:

Religious Framework of Cayuga Culture:

     -The Sour Springs Longhouse

     -Functioning of Cayuga Moieties and Sex   Divisions

     -Controlling Spirit Forces

     -Annual Ceremonial Cycle

     -Ceremonial Officials, Food, etc.

Family Condolence Rite

Final thoughts and Comments

The Midwinter Ceremony:

     -Timing and Preparation

     -The Medicine Societies

     -Restricted Medicine Societies and Their Rites

     -Unrestricted Societies: Curing Rites and Dances

     -The Four Sacred Ceremonial Rites

     -Worship Rites Addressed to Food Spirits

     -Social Dances

One of the indispensable foundation works in Iroquois studies.

312gr/11oz

ISBN-0-919645-15-1