Copy of James N. Edy photograph of Chiefs of the Six Nations explaining their wampum belts
odd: label: Local Call Number(s)
content: NAA Photo Lot 86-58
name: label: Creator
content: Edy, James N.
label: Collector
content: Fenton, William N. (William Nelson), 1908-2005
label: Collector
content: Hale, Horatio, 1817-1896
index: label: Addl. KW Subj
content: Iroquois
topic: label: Topic
content: Indians of North America -- Northeast
label: Topic
content: Wampum
creator: label: Creator
content: Edy, James N.
culture: label: Culture
content: Onondaga
label: Culture
content: Seneca
label: Culture
content: Mohawk
bioghist: label: Biographical/Historical note
content: Horatio Emmons Hale (1817-1896) was an American-Canadian philologist, ethnologist, author, and businessman who studied Native American languages. He published the Iroquois Book of Rites in 1883, which documented the history and rituals of the Iroquois Confederacy based on interpretations of the group's wampum belts. In September 1871, he requested that six Iroquois chiefs, with whom he had worked on the wampum belts, come to the Brantford, Ontario, studio of James N. Edy, where this photograph was made.

Hale later sent the photograph to his colleagues with variations on the following inscription: "The wampum belts were explained to me on the reserve, at the residence of Chief G. H. M. Johnson; and at my request the chiefs afterwards came with me to Brantford, where the original photograph . . . was taken.--H. Hale, Clinton, Ont." The photograph from which this copy print was made originally belonged to J. N. B. Hewitt.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Copy print
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1871
custodhist: label: Custodial History note
content: Photograph probably donated by William N. Fenton, circa 1985. May have previously hung in the Onondaga Council House in Ohsweken, Canada.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.PhotoLot.86-58
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Copy prints
label: Type
content: Photographs
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies note
content: Digital surrogate is available online.
bibliography: label: Bibliography
content: Photograph published by William N. Fenton as frontispiece of Hale, Horatio, The Iroquois Book of Rites, 2d ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1963.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
originalsloc: label: Existence and Location of Originals note
content: Original cabinet photo by James N. Edy, Brantford, Ontario, is owned by Musee du Seminaire, Quebec (Album 6-G, page 109). This photograph has the notations by Hale on the reverse. A xerox copy of the cabinet card provided by W. C. Sturtevant.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: The collection consists of a copy of a studio portrait of Onondaga, Mohawk, and Seneca Chiefs with wampum belts, made on September 14, 1871, for Horatio Hale. Includes Joseph Snow (Hahriron), Onondaga Chief; George H. M. Johnson (Deyonhehgon), Mohawk chief, government interpreter and son of John Smoke Johnson; John Buck (Skanawatih), Onondaga chief and hereditary keeper of the wampum; John Smoke Johnson (Sakayenkwaraton), Mohawk chief and speaker of the council; Isaac Hill (Kawenenseronton), Onondaga chief and fire keeper; John Seneca Johnson (Kanonkeredawih), Seneca chief.
relatedmaterial: label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: Additional James N. Edy photographs can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 4751 and the BAE historical negatives.
label: Location of Other Archival Materials
content: Vocabularies and correspondence by Horatio Hale can be found in the National Anthropological Archives in MS 7235, MS 7236, MS 4558, MS 772-c, MS 4797, MS 4800, MS 7439, MS 7440, MS 7441, MS 3436, MS 1072, the Bureau of American Ethnology Letters Received, and the J.C. Pilling Papers.