The Seneca Log House

The Seneca Log House. . , This Seneca Log House was constructed ca. 1790 in Genesee County, New York on the present-day Tonawanda Indian Reservation. It was acquired by Fenimore Art Museum for preservation in 1996. This house was reconstructed and furnished to depict the lives of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation in the mid-19th century, providing insight into the culture that produced the fine art objects like those in the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art., The shift from longhouse, where families shared a living space, to smaller log houses began in Central New York in the 1750s when the tools to construct log houses became readily available to Indigenous people. Domesticated animals such as guinea hens and pigs became staples of homesteads, which Haudenosaunee women cared for as they continued their traditional gardening practices., The Tonawanda Seneca Nation preserved their traditional way of life while also engaging with the 19th century American economy. Men worked on farms and in the mines surrounding Tonawanda. Women spent the winter months fashioning objects such as ash-splint baskets and beaded bags to sell the following summer in nearby Niagara Falls. By the mid-19th century, the Falls had become a destination for 60,000 tourists a year, many of whom wanted to purchase authentic Native art objects as souvenirs., [Right photo caption reads] , Charlotte Poodry Sundown with daughter Agnes Sundown (Jones), Tonawanda, 1904, seen here with their baskets. They were related to Elizabeth Poodry Sundown, an owner of this log house., [Left map caption reads] , Map of New York State 1840 Indian Reservations, , pub 1932 Carnegie Institution of America, The mid-19th century was a time of strategic successes for the Tonawanda Seneca Nation. From the close of the American Revolution, the Nation fought against treaties that sought to remove them from their lands. Through partnerships with legal advocates and financial sponsors, the Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians received federal recognition in 1857., [Reservations on map, by date] , ONEIDA, 1788 , ONONDAGA, 1788 , ST. REGIS, 1796 , BUFFALO CREEK, 1797 , CATTARAUGUS, 1797 , OIL SPRING, 1797 , TONAWANDA, 1797