The Museum of Indian Culture is a
501(c)(3) non-profit organization
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...
and educational center in
Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Founded in 1980, the center is dedicated to presenting, preserving, and perpetuating the history of the
Lenape and other
Northeastern Woodland Indian cultures.
The Museum of Indian Culture is located in the
Lehigh Parkway at 2825 Fish Hatchery Road in Allentown.
History
The Museum of Indian Culture was originally founded as the Lenni Lenape Historical Society's Museum of Indian Culture in 1980, the oldest exclusively
Native American museum in Pennsylvania, with a focus on educating Pennsylvanians on the state's indigenous people.
In 2005 the museum was renamed.
The museum has diversified by including exhibits from tribes across the western hemisphere.
The museum was founded by Dorothy Schiavone and her daughter, Carla Messinger. The building in which the museum is located is a historic
Pennsylvania German stone
farm house and two-story stone
spring house
A spring house, or springhouse, is a small building, usually of a single room, constructed over a spring. While the original purpose of a springhouse was to keep the spring water clean by excluding fallen leaves, animals, etc., the enclosing stru ...
built by the Bieber family around 1750.
After a change in administration in 2003, the museum sought to improve community relations between local federal government and federally recognized Native American tribes. In 2007, under the management of Oklahoma
Delawares
The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...
, the museum altered its former mission, and announced an interest in pursuing what it saw as fraudulence by groups claiming to be indigenous Pennsylvanians.
Today, the museum serves as a tool to help with Native American research and as way to educate people on Native American tribes. The museum hosts festivals, offers tours and community outreach programs for schools to educate and bring a presence of Native American Culture to the
Lehigh Valley
The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the no ...
.
Exhibits
The Museum of Indian Culture houses a diverse collection of Native American items, including stone tools,
ceramics
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
, carvings, photographs, weapons,
beadwork
Beadwork is the art or craft of attaching beads to one another by stringing them onto a thread or thin wire with a sewing or beading needle or sewing them to cloth. Beads are produced in a diverse range of materials, shapes, and sizes, and vary b ...
, and
basketry.
Artifacts originate from across North America and include a Californian
Hupa basket collection, a Mexican
Aztec
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...
ceremonial clothing display, and a stone tool assortment from a
Delaware Indian
The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory inclu ...
tribe in Pennsylvania.
One focus of the collection is the set of artefacts discovered by amateur archeologists Frank Sterling, Paul Delgrego, and W. W. Venney, who stumbled across the Broomall Rock Shelters after finding a skeleton in one of them. More than 3,000 years ago, Lenape Indians had sought protection from the cold and rain in these shelters.
An exhibit at the museum features artifacts from the shelters.
See also
*
List of historic places in Allentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown, Pennsylvania, the third largest city in Pennsylvania and largest city in the Lehigh Valley region of the state, was established in 1762.
Allentown is one of the nation's oldest major cities with deep roots in its history. The city wa ...
*
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans, also known as American Indians, First Americans, Indigenous Americans, and other terms, are the Indigenous peoples of the mainland United States ( Indigenous peoples of Hawaii, Alaska and territories of the United State ...
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Indian Culture
Museums established in 1980
Museums in Allentown, Pennsylvania
Native American museums in Pennsylvania