Inventing Fashion: Iroquois Beadwork - 03/17/2012

Adirondack Museum Cabin Fever Sunday

In the mid-19th century, New York State officials began to collect Iroquois material culture, intending to preserve remnants of what they saw as a vanishing race. At the same time, Iroquois women were discovering that their beadwork was appealing to the fashionable Victorian women flocking to Niagara Falls and Saratoga Springs on the Grand Tour of America. In this multimedia presentation, Empire State College Lecturer Deborah Holler traces the historic development of Iroquois beadwork and costume, which came to define the public image of "Indian-ness" around the world. Images are drawn from the collections of the Lewis Henry Morgan and Rochester museums, as well as private collections. These images also illuminate the contributions of the Iroquois to the textile arts, as well as the complex cultural exchange that defined the fashions of 19th century New York State. This Speakers in the Humanities event, which is free and open to the public, is made possible through the support of the New York Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Part of our Cabin Fever Sunday Programming; this lecture takes place in the museum's auditorium at 1:30 p.m.