Native American collection donated to museum

Posted 8/21/12

GRAHAMSVILLE, NY — The Time and the Valleys Museum recently received an important collection of local Native American artifacts found in the areas of Ellenville, Kerhonkson, Warwarsing, …

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Native American collection donated to museum

Posted

GRAHAMSVILLE, NY — The Time and the Valleys Museum recently received an important collection of local Native American artifacts found in the areas of Ellenville, Kerhonkson, Warwarsing, Grahamsville, Napanoch, Walden and Mongaup.

The collection was donated by long-time collector Robert L. Evans, who grew up in Walden, NY. He said, “I have been collecting these items since I was young. I am now almost 77 years old, and want them to be seen and appreciated by visitors, and used as an educational tool to teach them about the local Native Americans and how they lived.”

The most recent Native Americans living in the lower Catskills and Hudson Valley were the Delaware or Lenni-Lenape, (meaning “common” or “ordinary” people). This large native group once inhabited New Jersey, lower New York, and parts of Pennsylvania, Delaware and Connecticut. The local Lenni-Lenape were comprised of small localized bands with names we still know today, such as the Esopus, Warwarsinks (Warwarsing), Mamekotings (Mamakating) and Wappangers.

Museum archivists are currently cleaning and assessing the collection, which contains many stone tools necessary for the survival of the Native Americans prior to European contact, including projectile points and spears for hunting game, hammer stones and ax heads for building, scrapers for preparing hides for tanning and grinding stones and pestles for grinding corn into flour.

To see photos of some of the artifacts contained in this new collection and learn more about the local Lenape Native Americans, visit www.timeandthevalleymuseum.org.

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