Episode 4: Erasure and Existence:
Histories of the Haudenosaunee
We cannot talk about the history of the Genesee River without talking about the history of the people who have lived along it. The Genesee Valley has been home to members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy — specifically the Seneca tribe — for centuries. However, popular narratives of Rochester history all too often mischaracterize Indigenous people as a disappearing race or simply ignore their entrenched connections to the region. In analyzing works by two key historians, George Harris and Arthur Parker, we illustrate the importance of looking at how context, values, and visions for the future shape the way people have written about the Haudenosaunee.
Despite efforts to remove Indigenous people from the story of modern America, the Seneca and the Haudenosaunee have always and will continue to be here. It is imperative that we recenter them in the history of Rochester and the Genesee.
Maryama Thiam
Producer
Carlton Huff
Sound Engineer
Alexa Rosenbloom
Lead Researcher
Works Cited:
"Aboriginal Cultures and Chronology of the Genesee Country", Arthur Caswell Parker Papers, A.P23, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester.
Beame, Edmond M. "Rochester's Flour-Milling Industry in Pre-Canal Days." The Business History Review 31, no. 2 (1957): 209–25. https://doi.org/10.2307/3111850.
"George H. Harris: The Memorial Address at the Meeting of the Rochester Historical Society," n.d., George Henry Harris Papers, A.H31, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester.
"History | Things to Do." Visit Rochester New York. Accessed February 13, 2024. https://www.visitrochester.com/things-to-do/history/.
"Lewis Henry Morgan's Influence on Ely Parker." PBS. Accessed April 15, 2024. https://www.pbs.org/warrior/content/timeline/opendoor/morgan.html.
"Manuscript copy of: 'Autobiography of George Henry Harris,'" n.d., George Henry Harris Papers, A.H31, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester.
"Manuscript Copy of: 'History of Creation, an Indian Myth,'" n.d., George Henry Harris Papers, A.H31, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester.
"Manuscript Copy of Lecture: 'Aboriginal History of Irondequoit,'" 1886, George Henry Harris Papers, A.H31, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester.
Miller, Daegan. This Radical Land: A Natural History of American Dissent. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2018.
"The Mission of Making New Americans from Old", Arthur Caswell Parker Papers, A.P23, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester.
O'Brien, Jean M. Firsting and Lasting: Writing Indians out of Existence in New England. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, 2010.
"The Pathfinder — George H. Harris on the Trail of the Red Men" in The Post Express, September 21, 1889, George Henry Harris Papers, A.H31, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester.
Rochester Morning Herald, December 8, 1879, George Henry Harris Papers, A.H31, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester.
"The Social Elements of the Indian Problem", Arthur Caswell Parker Papers, A.P23, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester.
"Solving the New York Indian Problem", Arthur Caswell Parker Papers, A.P23, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester.
Thomas, W. Stephen. "Arthur Caswell Parker: 1881 - 1955." Rochester History 17, no. 3 (1955). Accessed April 15, 2024. https://www.libraryweb.org/~rochhist/v17_1955/v17i3.pdf.