FIFTH REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I908 



6l 



collection. After his appointment as Archeologist of the State 

 Museum his studies of Iroquois silver work were continued and 

 during the past two years more than a hundred specimens of the 

 silver worker's art have been added to the State Museum collections. 

 With the acquisition of the silversmiths' outfits previously men- 

 tioned, the question of the origin of the brooches was taken up along 

 different lines. Several clues were followed. One important sug- 

 gestion was given by some illustrations of circular brooches from 

 burial mounds in Great Britain. Another important clue was fur- 

 nished by a friend who had visited the museums in Scotland. 



In order to clear up the matter the following letter was written 

 to Dr Joseph Anderson, Curator of the National Museum of An- 

 tiquities of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, in Edinburgh : 



New York State Museum 



Albany, N. Y ., December 2, 1908 



Dr Joseph Anderson, Curator 



National Museum of Antiquities 



Edinburgh., Scotland 



My dear sir : The Indians of New York State for two hundred 

 years have made, with their native tools, articles of silver, known 

 as Indian brooches, which in some respects are similar, I am told, 

 to buckles and brooches which have been used in Scotland for cen- 

 turies. I am sending you, herewith, a pamphlet describing the In- 

 dian ornaments and should be greatly obliged if you would let 

 me know, by referring to the plates and numbers, which are similar 

 to Scotch forms. Any literature or photographs which you have 

 describing the articles in question would be most welcome to me. 



I am preparing a monograph on Iroquois Indian silver work for 

 our museum and any information you may give will be gratefully 

 acknowledged. 



Very sincerely 



\Signed] Arthur C. Parker 

 Archeologist, New York State Museum 



In reply to this inquiry, Dr Anderson wrote: 



Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 

 National Museum of Antiquities 



Queen Street, Edinburgh, Dec. 15th, 1908 

 Dear sir: In reply to your note as to the silver brooches made 

 by the Iroquois Indians, I think that nearly all of those figured in 

 the plates of the pamphlet you kindly sent me are imitations and 

 adaptations of the Scottish Luckenbooth brooches, so called because 

 they were chiefly sold in the Luckenbooths around about St Giles's 

 Church, Edinburgh. This applies to all those modeled on the 



