Project Description: This project describes the effects of Indian policy conceived and instituted at Fort Stanwix on Native American peoples. The time period emphasized is the colonial period up to the ethnographic present. The goal of the project is to provide an overview of the types of park resources and uses of these ethnographic resources that are traditionally associated with Native American tribes within the study area. The geographic focus of the study is the 16 acres of the Fort Stanwix National Monument, but it extends beyond that area as appropriate to provide meaningful analysis of the site and its interactions.
Questions addressed in this study include: What Native American tribes were involved in or excluded from negotiations? How did this differentially affect Native American tribes? How have these treaties served as a “foundation” for subsequent and contemporary Native American policy? What places and resources in the park are important to them and why?’
The final document presents a summary of the people who lived and used the area surrounding Fort Stanwix. The report also includes an anthropological discussion of the settlement patterns, socioeconomic adaptations and cultural patterns of the Native American tribes who were directly affected by the treaty making at Fort Stanwix. Also included are the contemporary Native American tribes that are traditionally associated with the park or park resources and the types and uses of park resources by or within these groups. The report summarizes the additional ethnographic research needs and provides recommendations for engaging park-associated groups in the planning and operation of the park.
The research team used a community history approach to complete this ethnographic study that documents the historic relationship and contemporary values and beliefs Native peoples have regarding Fort Stanwix National Monument (FOST). Particular attention is given to the repercussions of treaty making at FOST from the mid-18th century to the modern day.
The Ethnographic Overview and Assessment reviews existing information on park resources traditionally valued by stakeholders. It identifies park resources such as landscapes, objects, plants and animals, or sites and structures that are important to a people’s sense of purpose and provides an overview of major themes regarding culture and lifestyle and their implications for FOST resource managers. Information for the completion of the EOA come primarily from archives and publications and is supplemented by interviews with tribal and community members and other constituents.
Lead Principal Investigator: Prof. Elizabeth Brabec, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Matthew Hill,
Partner Institution: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Federal Agency: National Park Service
Federal Agency Technical Contact: Gail France
Project Type: Research
Project Discipline: Cultural Resources
Project Sub-Discipline(s): Cultural and Historic
Start Year: 2015
End Year: 2018
Initial Funding Amount: $75,000.00
Federal Grant Number: P15AC01320
Amendments
- Amendment Number: 01, Year: 2018, Amount: $0.00
- Amendment Number: 02, Year: 2018, Amount: $0.00
Location: Fort Stanwix National Monument
State(s): New York
New York Counties: Oneida
Student and Other Involvement:
- Masters Students: 1
- Staff: 2
Summary of Student Involvement: Research assistant on the project to collect historic documents.
