Collections – Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center
Source: https://www.senecamuseum.org/collections
Archived: 2026-04-23 17:30
Collections – Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center
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Collections
Collections
2026-04-20T14:04:34-04:00
Artwork
We have a variety of mixed media within our artwork category including acrylics, giclee’ prints, watercolors, charcoal drawings, colored pencil drawings, pencil drawings, collages and glass etchings.
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Antler Carvings
Antlers used for carving include moose, elk, deer and caribou. Some carver’s use a woodburning tool to add more character to their carvings.
Carvings can tell a story or incorporate bird and animal carvings. Each work is the result of the artist’s vision. While many carvings take up the entire antler, some become pendants, rings, earrings, even bone combs.
Basketry
We have an extensive collection of over 250 baskets. Our ancestors have been basketmakers for generations – passing knowledge and techniques on to their children and grandchildren.
Baskets are made for utilitarian purposes, such as for utilities and storage for items like berries, yarn, and cake. In early days there were even car baskets which stored lunches or personal items in between the two front car seats.
Each Nation has its own style of baskets. The Hodínöhšö:ni:h used black ash wood splints, sometimes using wood handles, dyed splints, curly cues, colored cords, Chinese hemp, porcupine quills, potato stamps and sweetgrass.
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Beadwork
Our beadwork collection is one of the largest on the East coast of the United States, ranging from beadwork of the 1700’s to contemporary pieces by today’s best beaders.
This includes raised beadwork which was a very popular style that beadworkers would take to Niagara Falls to sell or barter with tourists.
Much of our collection comes from donations, purchases, Ögwa:wëh found in antique stores, or was handed down through families.
Cornhusk
Corn is an important part of our culture and the husk has many valuable uses.
Items that cornhusk can be used for include: cornhusk dolls, slippers, moccasins, salt water bottles, wreathes, ceremonial, flowers, mats, small baskets and storage.
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Moccasins
One of the most common item of clothing associated with North America’s Native peoples are the moccasins. Moccasins are made in a variety of styles and additions that fit into the culture of the person wearing them. As a result,
moccasin styles are so distinctive that one can identify the wearer’s community by them.
Though used by many first Nations peoples, the word
moccasin
came to identify the leather footwear due to the earliest encounters between Europeans and the Algonquin inhabitants. The word moccasin is an Algonquian word from the Powhatan language
makasin
, which can traced to the Proto-Algonquian word
maxkeseni
, meaning shoe.
For the Onöndowa’ga:’, gayo:wa’ö:weh (gaw-yoh-wawh!-onh-wayh) is the name for the footwear. Today the word moccasin, known through a number of spellings, signifies all types of hard and soft soled leather shoe styles.
Please enjoy this short time-lapsed video of Seneca citizen Nicole Passerotti, a Program Associate at UCLA, repairing a pair of moccasins from the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum.
Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos.
Pottery
In pre-Columbian time pots were made from clay and water and burned to prepare the pots for cooking and storage. Traditional pottery was given designs such as linear lines, dots and diagonal lines.
Contemporary pottery may have flowers or sometimes clan animal shapes around the belly of a pot or raised effigies such as birds, animals or a human form around the collars and castellations (raised points). Some collars were made round or round with square shaped corners or a flared lip along the rim.
Today, Hodínöhšö:ni:h artists incorporate the traditional style of pottery with a modern flair to them.
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Skip to content
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Collections
Collections
2026-04-20T14:04:34-04:00
Artwork
We have a variety of mixed media within our artwork category including acrylics, giclee’ prints, watercolors, charcoal drawings, colored pencil drawings, pencil drawings, collages and glass etchings.
Loading the next set of gallery items...
Load More
Loading the next set of gallery items...
Load More
Antler Carvings
Antlers used for carving include moose, elk, deer and caribou. Some carver’s use a woodburning tool to add more character to their carvings.
Carvings can tell a story or incorporate bird and animal carvings. Each work is the result of the artist’s vision. While many carvings take up the entire antler, some become pendants, rings, earrings, even bone combs.
Basketry
We have an extensive collection of over 250 baskets. Our ancestors have been basketmakers for generations – passing knowledge and techniques on to their children and grandchildren.
Baskets are made for utilitarian purposes, such as for utilities and storage for items like berries, yarn, and cake. In early days there were even car baskets which stored lunches or personal items in between the two front car seats.
Each Nation has its own style of baskets. The Hodínöhšö:ni:h used black ash wood splints, sometimes using wood handles, dyed splints, curly cues, colored cords, Chinese hemp, porcupine quills, potato stamps and sweetgrass.
Loading the next set of gallery items...
Load More
Loading the next set of gallery items...
Load More
Beadwork
Our beadwork collection is one of the largest on the East coast of the United States, ranging from beadwork of the 1700’s to contemporary pieces by today’s best beaders.
This includes raised beadwork which was a very popular style that beadworkers would take to Niagara Falls to sell or barter with tourists.
Much of our collection comes from donations, purchases, Ögwa:wëh found in antique stores, or was handed down through families.
Cornhusk
Corn is an important part of our culture and the husk has many valuable uses.
Items that cornhusk can be used for include: cornhusk dolls, slippers, moccasins, salt water bottles, wreathes, ceremonial, flowers, mats, small baskets and storage.
Loading the next set of gallery items...
Load More
Moccasins
One of the most common item of clothing associated with North America’s Native peoples are the moccasins. Moccasins are made in a variety of styles and additions that fit into the culture of the person wearing them. As a result,
moccasin styles are so distinctive that one can identify the wearer’s community by them.
Though used by many first Nations peoples, the word
moccasin
came to identify the leather footwear due to the earliest encounters between Europeans and the Algonquin inhabitants. The word moccasin is an Algonquian word from the Powhatan language
makasin
, which can traced to the Proto-Algonquian word
maxkeseni
, meaning shoe.
For the Onöndowa’ga:’, gayo:wa’ö:weh (gaw-yoh-wawh!-onh-wayh) is the name for the footwear. Today the word moccasin, known through a number of spellings, signifies all types of hard and soft soled leather shoe styles.
Please enjoy this short time-lapsed video of Seneca citizen Nicole Passerotti, a Program Associate at UCLA, repairing a pair of moccasins from the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum.
Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos.
Pottery
In pre-Columbian time pots were made from clay and water and burned to prepare the pots for cooking and storage. Traditional pottery was given designs such as linear lines, dots and diagonal lines.
Contemporary pottery may have flowers or sometimes clan animal shapes around the belly of a pot or raised effigies such as birds, animals or a human form around the collars and castellations (raised points). Some collars were made round or round with square shaped corners or a flared lip along the rim.
Today, Hodínöhšö:ni:h artists incorporate the traditional style of pottery with a modern flair to them.
Loading the next set of gallery items...
Load More
Page load link
Go to Top