Help Support Seneca Boarding School Exhibit
*Update- 10/14/2021. I am happy to report the successful opening of this exhibition on September 30. At the opening, hundreds of people visited the space. And since that time, many folks have continued to visit the Sully Huff Heritage Center to see the exhibit. I am thankful for everyone who donated and shared this GoFundMe campaign. It is with your support that this idea has become a reality.
I am leaving this GoFundMe up for a few months as work continues on the exhibit for its next phases. This includes the publishing of a book featuring the text and artwork of the exhibit. This will help get this information in front of more people. Additional efforts are to secure more interpretive 3-d artwork for the exhibit.
The next showing of the exhibit will be at the Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino from November 1 - November 20, 2021. After that, it will open on November 27, 2021 at the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum on the Allegany Territory in NY. It will be at the museum until mid- 2022, with its next space TBA.
Again, thank you for all your efforts, feel free to share this again with this updated information. The original text is below…
The Thomas Asylum for Orphan and Destitute Children (later re-named the Thomas Indian School), was a Native boarding school located on the Seneca Cattaraugus Territory. The Asylum was founded in 1855 and the school closed in 1957. Remnants of TIS survive in the remaining community members who attended the school, traumas passed onto the children and grandchildren of the survivors, and the buildings and locations on the Cattaraugus Territory that not only tell the story, but still live among us today. These serve as reminders of the cultural genocide that took place. Nearly all the children that attended this school were Haudenosaunee.
In light of all of this, two Senecas, Jocelyn Jones and Hayden Haynes collaborated on a series of photographs to help raise awareness. This series of photographs, all of which were taken on the Cattaraugus Territory, included the Wright Memorial Church, the home of founder of the asylum (Reverend Asher Wright), a refurbished building from the Thomas Indian School, and the United Missions Cemetery. These photographs provide a glimpse into of the story of events leading that lead up to the founding and ending of the school, and afterwards, the emotional responses of many Haudenosaunee people, and the continuation of healing.
These photos prompted such a response that an idea for making a traveling exhibition about the school was birthed. What makes this project interesting is that it is being created entirely by Haudenosaunee people. The exhibit team consists of: Dr. Lori Quigley, Dr. Alyssa Mt. Pleasant, Dr. Randy John, Dr. Rodney Haring, Patrick Redeye, Jocelyn Jones, Andrea “Emmy” White, and myself. For too long, most Native people’s stories and history have been (and still are), told by a voice other than our own. This is an opportunity to exercise “Narrative Sovereignty”.
This multimedia project will consist of audio, video, and text and photograph panels.The exhibition will also feature artistic responses from Haudenosaunee artists including but not limited to: Peter B. Jones, Samantha Jacobs, Randee Spruce and Tami Watt.
The exhibition is set to open on September 30, 2021 at the Sully Huff Heritage Center, which is located on the Seneca Cattaraugus Territory. The opening will be in conjunction with the awareness walk happening same day. It will then be installed at the Onöhsagwë:de' Cultural Center/ Seneca-Iroquois National Museum on the Seneca Allegany Territory. After the first install at the OCC/SINM, it will begin to travel to locations TBA.
The purpose of this project is to help educate children and adults on three major areas: The history/why’s of what drove these boarding school initiatives to be started, the Seneca/Haudenosaunee boarding school era, and lastly a special emphasis on continuation of healing.
Nya weh,
Hayden Haynes, Seneca-Deer Clan