A Closer Look: Seneca Iroquois National Museum
From the Photo series: A Closer Look: Explore Western New York’s architectural treasures series
Take a closer look at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum in Salamanca.
Seneca Iroquois National Museum
The Seneca-Iroquois National Museum at the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center in Salamanca celebrates the vibrant history of the Haudenosaunee people.
Memorabilia across time
Photographs from across decades celebrating the lives of Seneca Nation people are on display in a hallway before entering the Seneca Iroquois National Museum.
Haudenosaunee room
A look into the Haudenosaunee room at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum at the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center in Salamanca, Aug. 1, 2025.
Caroline Parker Mt. Pleasant Moccasins
Caroline Parker Mt. Pleasant Moccasins, circa 1851, courtesy of the Rochester Museum & Science Center, are on display at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum at the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center in Salamanca.
Carved benches
Intricate carvings adorn several benches at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum at the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center in Salamanca.
Haudenosaunee map of Western New York
A Haudenosaunee map of the Western New York area on display at the museum. The Haudenosaunee is comprised of the Six Nations: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora.
Ladle circa 1800
A wooden ladle, charred from use over a cooking fire, circa 1800, in a display of cooking implements.
Turtle’s back hallway
The floor of a hallway leading into the Seneca Iroquois National Museum is painted with the image of a large turtle’s back, representing part of the Seneca Nation’s creation story.
“Her medicine”
A 2023 mixed media piece with acrylic paint and intricate beadwork by Candace Snook, titled Aonónhkwa’, or “Her medicine,” hangs in the first hallway at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum at the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center in Salamanca.
Corn husk dolls
Corn husk dolls surround a cookfire replica in a display at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum at the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center in Salamanca, Aug. 1, 2025. Haudenosaunee makers of corn husk dolls leave the dolls’ faces blank, citing that only the Creator can bestow a face.
Celebrating women leaders
Haudenosaunee women leaders are recognized and celebrated at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum.
Samuel “Oak” Fatty’s family chairs
The backrest of a bent-wood family chair, circa 1900, from Samuel “Oak” Fatty of the Seneca Snipe Clan.
Art quilt
An art quilt by Faye Lone of the Tonawanda Seneca Hawk Clan, created in the shape of a pregnant woman, is displayed at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum at the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center in Salamanca.
Beaded Converse
Intricately beaded Converse high-top sneakers, circa 2012, from artist Alyza Bowen of the Bear Clan.
Tiny settlement model
A model based on archaeological excavations at the Losey 3 site along the Cowanesque River in Tioga County, Pa., at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum at the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center in Salamanca. The model depicts a settlement between 1150 AD and 1250 AD, with a keyhole building structure that may have been a winter house or another structure associated with the time period.
Four winds in beadwork
A beadwork piece titled Deyäwë:nye:h, or Winds, by Jacky Snyder of the Seneca Turtle Clan, depicts the four winds as interpreted by the Seneca Nation: a fawn, bear, cougar, and moose, at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum at the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center in Salamanca. Snyder wrote that she used the muted colors seen in the piece because we don’t see the wind, so “one has to really look to see what’s depicted in it.”
1830s log cabin
A log cabin that was once in use on the Seneca Nation Cattaraugus territory in the 1830s is centrally displayed at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum in Salamanca. The structure with interlocking corners is European-influenced, but the roof is Haudenosaunee-influenced, utilizing layers of bark.
Horsechair chinking between logs
A closer look at a log cabin once in use on the Seneca Nation Cattaraugus territory in the 1830s shows horsehair used in the chinking between logs at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum at the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center in Salamanca.
Florence (Redeye) Lay’s sewing basket
A closer look at a Seneca Deer Clan 1930 sewing basket made of black ash splints and once belonging to Florence (Redeye) Lay, displayed at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum at the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center in Salamanca.
Bird carvings
Bird carvings hang from the ceiling at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum at the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center in Salamanca.
1975 pencil drawing
A pencil drawing by Kyle Dowdy Sr. of the Seneca Turtle Clan, circa 1975, at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum at the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center in Salamanca.
Lacrosse history
Celebrated lacrosse memorabilia and photographs of prominent teams are displayed at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum at the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center in Salamanca.
Cornplanter Monument
The Cornplanter Monument, which pays tribute to an 18th-century Seneca chief, dominates a room at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum.
Remembering ancestors
A beaded work titled “Remembering Ancestors,” by Ken Williams Jr., portrays Cornplanter, an 18th-century Seneca chief. Williams is a descendant of Cornplanter.
Seneca Nation mothers’ petition signatures
A plaque at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum at the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center in Salamanca displays a line of signatures from Seneca Nation mothers on a petition to oppose the building of the Kinzua Dam.
Eastern Hellbender salamander
An Eastern Hellbender salamander eyes the camera from inside a tank at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum at the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center in Salamanca. Hellbender salamanders, once thought to be extinct from the Allegany Territory, were negatively impacted by the construction of the Kinzua Dam but rediscovered on the territory in 2009. Conservation efforts from the Seneca Nation Fish and Wildlife Department have increased their numbers.
Māori Kōhatu healing stone
Tracy Love of the United Kingdom places her hands on a Māori Kōhatu healing stone at the Seneca Iroquois National Museum at the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center in Salamanca, Aug. 1, 2025. Attendees of the museum are invited to touch the stone as they leave the space to feel its healing energy. The stone was created during the 2026 World Indigenous Suicide Prevention Conference and blessed by Ngāti Pikiao (of the New Zealand Māori people) elders. It is on loan at the museum until 2026, when it will be returned to New Zealand and travel to the next World Indigenous Suicide Prevention Conference.
Vibrant art prints
Digital art prints from Tami Watt of the Seneca Deer Clan bid visitors adieu in the last hallway of the Seneca Iroquois National Museum.
Longhouse replica
A longhouse replica and palisade of timber outside the Seneca Iroquois National Museum at the Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center in Salamanca. According to the museum, Iroquoian-speaking people lived in longhouses from approximately 1000 C.E. to the mid-18th century.
Inside the longhouse
Baskets, clay jars and handcrafted toys are displayed on a deer pelt inside a longhouse replica.
Light through the walls
Light glows through the wood and bark walls of a longhouse replica.
Palisade
A palisade — a defensive wall built with wooden posts that provided protection from enemies and wild animals — stands along a longhouse replica at the museum.
This series has taken Buffalo News photographers inside, outside, above and, on occasion, underneath local landmarks and to places most people…