44 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Frequently the work of answering inquiries on the part of citizens 

 and state officials requires considerable research, and a large share 

 of our office work is consumed in assisting inquirers to obtain needful 

 data. The public receives a direct benefit of this phase of our 

 activity. 



Archeological field work. During the year our archeological 

 investigations have been confined largely to a study of the 

 Algonkian occupation of the Hudson valley, particularly the portion 

 between Albany and Catskill. During the autumn of 1920 we 

 made a field reconnaissance of parts of Staten island, Rockland 

 county near Nyack and part of Greene county, particularly that 

 portion lying below Catskill. 



With the assistance of members of the staff of the Museum of 

 the American Indian we secured from ah ancient site south of 

 Tottenville a series of shell objects from which it is possible to 

 demonstrate the process employed by the precontract Indians in 

 the manufacture of wampum and other shell beads. 



From the refuse beds of the village site (early Algonkian), we 

 secured the shells of the Busy con carica and canaliculata in all 

 stages, from the complete valve to the worked columellae with 

 incisions made for the bead segments. The process employed was 

 to break away the shell of the Busycon (Pyrula) until the columella 

 alone remained. This was then dressed down into a uniform 

 diameter and smoothed. Bead lengths were then measured out 

 and incisions made for the individual beads. These were cut off 

 one by one, drilled and finally polished. 



Wampum was an important article with the early Indians and 

 its value did not depreciate with the coming of the whites. As 

 soon as the European traders saw how useful wampum was as a 

 medium of exchange they began the manufacture of wampum by 

 machinery. 



Through the kindness of Mrs B. Joseph Carpenter jr of White 

 Plains we learned of an old wampum mill situated near Nyack, 

 Rockland county. We visited this and obtained a considerable 

 number of specimens showing the process of making wampum by 

 machinery. The mill was erected and run by the Campbell family 

 and made wampum early in the last century for the Hudson Bay 

 Company and for the Astor fur traders. The mill was in operation 

 as late as 1875 when it made pipestem wampum for the western 

 Indian traders. 



Specimens secured included a dozen or more Mexican conch 

 shells (the material out of which the wampum was made), sawn 



