Arthur Caswell Parker (April 5, 1881 – January 1, 1955) was an American archaeologist,

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

, folklorist,

museologist Museology or museum studies is the study of museums. It explores the history of museums and their role in society, as well as the activities they engage in, including Curator, curating, Conservation-restoration of cultural heritage, preservation, ...

and noted authority on Native American

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...

. Of

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

and Scots-

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

descent, he was director of the

Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences The Rochester Museum & Science Center (RMSC) is a museum in Rochester, New York, dedicated to community education in science, technology and local history. The museum also operates the Strasenburgh Planetarium, located next to the museum, and the ...

from 1924 to 1945, when he developed its holdings and research into numerous disciplines for the

Genesee Genesee, derived from the Seneca word for "pleasant valley", may refer to: Geographic features Canada *Genesee, Alberta, an unincorporated community United States *Genesee, California *Genesee, Colorado *Genesee County, Michigan *Genesee Co ...

Region. He was an honorary trustee of the

New York State Historical Association The Fenimore Art Museum (formerly known as New York State Historical Association) is a museum located in Cooperstown, New York on the west side of Otsego Lake. Collection strengths include the Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American India ...

. In 1935 he was elected first president of the

Society for American Archaeology The Society for American Archaeology (SAA) is a professional association for the archaeology of the Americas. It was founded in 1934 and its headquarters are in based in Washington, D.C. , it has 7,500 members. Its current president is Deborah L. ...

Background

Arthur C. Parker was born in 1881 on the Cattaraugus Reservation of the

Seneca Nation of New York The Seneca Nation of Indians is a federally recognized Seneca tribe based in western New York. They are one of three federally recognized Seneca entities in the United States, the others being the Tonawanda Band of Seneca (also in western New ...

western New York Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all sources agree WNY i ...

. He was the son of Frederick Ely Parker, who was one-half

, and his wife Geneva Hortenese Griswold, of Scots-

-American descent, who taught school on the reservation. As the Seneca are a matrilineal nation, the young Parker did not have membership status at birth, as his mother was not part of the tribe, but he was descended from prominent Seneca, including the prophet Handsome Lake, through his father. In 1903 Arthur was adopted into the tribe as an honorary member, when he was given the Seneca name ''Gawaso Wanneh'' (meaning "Big Snowsnake"). His grandfather Nicholson Henry Parker was an influential Seneca leader. As a youth, Arthur lived with Nicholson on his farm and was strongly influenced by him. His grandfather's younger brother (Arthur's grand-uncle) Ely S. Parker was a Seneca life chief. As a young man he had collaborated with

Lewis Henry Morgan Lewis Henry Morgan (November 21, 1818 – December 17, 1881) was a pioneering American anthropologist and social theorist who worked as a railroad lawyer. He is best known for his work on kinship and social structure, his theories of social evol ...

on his study of the Iroquois. He served as a

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

and secretary to

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. After the war, Ely Parker was appointed the first Indian Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Arthur Parker was influenced by both the Seneca culture and the Christian

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

culture of his mother's family, and his social status of bridging peoples. He explored his Seneca lineage as a way of connecting himself to a powerful, symbolic past and integrating into twentieth-century American life. Although his own family was Christian, he also witnessed followers of the Seneca

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

Handsome Lake Handsome Lake ( Cayuga language: Sganyadái:yo, Seneca language: Sganyodaiyo) (Θkanyatararí•yau• in Tuscarora) (1735 – 10 August 1815) was a Seneca religious leader of the Iroquois people. He was a half-brother to Cornplanter, a Seneca ...

, who had tried to resurrect traditional Seneca religion. His daughter, Bertha Parker, was also an archaeologist and an ethnologist. Although she lacked a formal education in these subjects, she trained under M.R. Harrington, excavating with him at Mesa House in the late 1920s and early 1930s. She worked as an Archaeological Assistant at the

Southwest Museum The Southwest Museum of the American Indian is a museum, library, and archive located in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, above the north-western bank of the Arroyo Seco (Los Angeles County) canyon and stream. The muse ...

from 1931–1941 and published a series of articles on

Yurok Tribe The Yurok (Karuk language: Yurúkvaarar / Yuru Kyara - "downriver Indian; i.e. Yurok Indian") are an Indigenous people from along the Klamath River and Pacific coast, whose homelands are located in present-day California stretching from Trinida ...

of California.

Education

Parker started his formal education on the reservation, but in 1892, his family moved to

White Plains, New York (Always Faithful) , image_seal = WhitePlainsSeal.png , seal_link = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = U.S. state, State , su ...

. He entered public school at around age 11 and graduated from

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in 1897. Before going on to

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

, he spent considerable time at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where he was special assistant archaeologist 1901–1902. He was befriended by Frederic W. Putnam, its temporary curator of

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

and a professor of anthropology at Harvard. Putnam encouraged the young Parker to study anthropology. However, Parker followed the wishes of his grandfather, and attended Dickinson Seminary in

Williamsport, Pennsylvania Williamsport is a city in, and the county seat of, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. It recorded a population of 27,754 at the 2020 Census. It is the principal city of the Williamsport Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a popul ...

from 1900 to 1903 to study for the

ministry Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...

. He left before graduating and became a reporter for the ''

New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New York ...

'' for a few months. He worked as an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

to archaeologist Mark Harrington (1882–1971), digging at sites in New York State and learning techniques. He volunteered at the Museum of Natural History in New York in his spare time.

Career

He was field archaeologist at the Peabody Museum in 1903; beginning 1906, he was archaeologist of the

New York State Museum The New York State Museum is a research-backed institution in Albany, New York, United States. It is located on Madison Avenue, attached to the south side of the Empire State Plaza, facing onto the plaza and towards the New York State Capitol ...

. In 1904, Parker was given a two-year position as ethnologist at the New York State Library, part of the New York State Education Department, and collected cultural data on the New York

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

. Then in 1906, he took a position as the first archaeologist at the

. In 1911, together with the Native American

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

Charles A. Eastman and others, he founded the

Society of American Indians The Society of American Indians (1911–1923) was the first national American Indian rights organization run by and for American Indians. The Society pioneered twentieth century Pan-Indianism, the movement promoting unity among American Indians ...

to help educate the public about Native Americans. During the

1911 New York State Capitol fire On the morning of March 29, 1911, a fire destroyed substantial portions of the New York State Capitol, including vast holdings of the New York State Library and the New York State Museum. It destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of documents ...

Parker entered the building while it was ablaze, and made his way up to the 4th floor in an effort to save priceless historical artifacts. He brought a tomahawk, which had been passed down through the generations in his family, and began smashing display cases, saving as many items as he could. Of the approximately five hundred Iroquois artifacts in the museum he was able to rescue about fifty of them before the spreading fire made any further salvage efforts impossible. From 1915 to 1920, he was the editor of the society's ''American Indian Magazine''. In 1916, he was awarded the

Cornplanter Medal The Cornplanter Medal was named for the Iroquois chief Cornplanter and is an award for scholastic and other contributions to the betterment of knowledge of the Iroquois people. It was initiated by University of Chicago anthropologist Frederick S ...

. In 1925 Parker became director of the

, where he developed the museum holdings and its research in the emerging fields of anthropology, natural history,

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

and

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

of the Genesee Region. During the 1930s and the Great Depression, he also directed the

WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing * Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance An ...

-funded Indian Arts Project, which was sponsored by the

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

administration. In 1935, Parker was elected the first President of the

. In 1944, Parker helped found the

National Congress of American Indians The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is an American Indian and Alaska Native rights organization. It was founded in 1944 to represent the tribes and resist federal government pressure for termination of tribal rights and assimilati ...

Legacy and honors

*Honorary trustee of the New York Historical Association *1914–1915, President of the Society of American Indians *1935, first president of the Society of American Archeology *1940 Union College awarded him an honorary doctorate *Since 1998, the Society for American Archaeology has annually awarded the Arthur C. Parker Scholarship, which provides funds to Native Americans for training in archaeological methods."Arthur C. Parker Award"
, Society for American Archeology Website, accessed December 4, 2008

Retirement

After retiring from directing the Rochester museum in 1946, Parker became very active in Indian affairs. He moved to '' Nunda-wah-oh'', near present-day

Naples, New York Naples is a town in Ontario County, New York, United States. The population was 2,417 at the 2020 census. The Town of Naples contains a village, also called Naples. The town is located in the southwestern corner of Ontario County. The annual N ...

, where he felt his ancestors had lived. There he overlooked

Canandaigua Lake Canandaigua Lake is the fourth largest of the Finger Lakes in the U.S. state of New York. The City of Canandaigua is located at the northern end of the lake and the village of Naples is several miles south of the southern end. It is the w ...

. He died there on New Year's Day, 1955, aged 73.

Publications

Excavations in an Erie Indian village and burial site at Ripley, Chautauqua Co., NY
''New York State Museum Bulletin'' 117:459–554. 1907
Secret Medicine Societies of the Seneca
''American Anthropologist'', n.s., 11:161–185. April–June, 1909
Iroquois Uses of Maize and Other Food Plants
''New York State Museum Bulletin'' 144:5–119. 1910
Additional Notes on Iroquois Silversmithing
''American Anthropologist'', n.s., 13:283–293. April–June, 1911
The Code of Handsome Lake, the Seneca Prophet
''New York State Museum Bulletin'' 163: 5–148. November, 1912
The Constitution of the Five Nations
''New York State Museum Bulletin'' 184:7-188. April 1, 1916
The Socials Elements of the Indian Problem
''The American Journal of Sociology'', 22:252–267. September, 1916
The Origin of the Iroquois as Suggested by Their Archeology
''American Anthropologist'', n.s., 18:479–507. October–December, 1916
Life of General Ely S. Parker: Last Grand Sachem of the Iroquois and General Grant's Military Secretary
Buffalo Historical Society, (

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

), ''Publications'', 23:14-346. 1919
The Mound Builder Culture in New York
''New York State Museum Bulletin'' 219/220:283-292, March–April, 1919. Fifteenth report of the director.
The New York Indian Complex and How to Solve It
N.Y. State Archaeological Assoc. Lewis H. Morgan Chapter. ''Researches and Transactions'', Vol. 2, No. 1. 1920. 20p.
''The Archaeological History of New York''
Albany he University of the State of New York1922. 2 vol. Originally published in ''New York State Bulletin''s 235,236, 237, 238. July–October, 1920.
Seneca Myths and Folk Tales
Buffalo Historical Society ''Publications'', 27, 1923. 465p.
The Great Algonkin Flint Mines at Coxsackie
N. Y. State Archeological Assoc. Lewis H. Morgan Chapter. ''Researches and Transactions'', 4:105–125. 1925 *''An Analytical History of the Seneca Indians'', N. Y. State Archeological Assoc. Lewis H. Morgan Chapter. ''Researches and Transactions'', 6:162p. 1926 *
The Indian How Book
', New York, George H. Doran Company, 1931 *
Skunny Wundy and Other Indian Tales
', New York, George H. Doran Company, 1926

''New York History'', 35:445–456. 1954 *''The History of the Seneca Indians'', Port Washington, NY: I. J. Friedman, 1967 *''Parker on the Iroquois'', Edited by William N. Fenton, Syracuse University Press, 1986

References

External links

*
Arthur C. Parker, ''Seneca Myths and Folk Tales''
1923 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Arthur C. 1881 births 1955 deaths 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers 20th-century Native Americans Historians from Pennsylvania Historians from New York (state) Members of the Society of American Indians Native American anthropologists Native American writers Scientists from Rochester, New York People from Naples, New York People from White Plains, New York People from Williamsport, Pennsylvania Seneca people American Folklorists of Color American male non-fiction writers