INDIANS OF THE WOODLANDS 17 
SOUTHWEST WING 
INDIANS OF THE WOODLANDS 
The halls to the west contain collections from the North American 
Indians of Indians and together with the hall in the south central 
the Woodlands wing present the nine great culture areas of North America. 
(See map on the right of the entrance.) 
The hall you now enter represents three of these culture areas. 
Filling the greater part of the hall are 
the tribes of the Eastern Woodlands who 
occupied the middle portion of the North 
American continent east of the Missis- 
sippi. In two wall cases on the left are 
exhibits of the Mackenzie region of the 
North and of the related tribes in Alaska 
west of that region. Midway of the hall 
on the right side are represented the 
peoples of the Southeast. 
Near the entrance of the hall will be Decorated birchbark vessel of the 
2 F Penobscot Indians. 
found the remains of our local Indians. 
On the left are some specimens of pottery vessels and many 
small objects of stone and bone recovered from the Island of Man- 
hattan and the neighboring territory of Staten Island, Long Island, 
and Westchester... Nearby on the same side of the hall are collections 
obtained from living Indians of the coast region north and south of 
New York. These are the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy of Maine, 
the Micmac and Malecite of the lower provinces of Canada, and a few 
but rare objects from the Delaware who once occupied the vicinity of 
New York City and the State of New Jersey. 
On the opposite side, the north, are the Iroquois whose league 
comprised the Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and later 
the Tuscarora. They dominated New York and much adjoining terri- 
tory. The exhibits represent particularly the agriculture of the Kast, 
which was carried on with rude tools by the women. 
In a case in the aisle are exhibited wampum belts which were highly 
esteemed in this region. They served as credentials for messengers 
and as records of treaties and other important events. Later, wampum 
beads came to have a definite value as currency, especially in trade 
between the white men and the Indians. 
In the farther end of the hall, on the left, are the collections from 
the Ojibway, Hiawatha’s people, who lived mainly north of the Great 
Lakes. They had but little agriculture, living chiefly by hunting 


