Thomas Abler Papers

Mss.Ms.Coll.277

Date: 1848-1973 1848-1900 1961-1968 | Size: 3 lin. feet

Collection Information

Provenance

Gift of Thomas Abler, Phillips Fund grantee. Partially funded by Phillips Fund. 1971 and other deposit dates to be confirmed.

Processing information

Previously catalogued in the Phillips Fund Collection (Mss.497.3.Am4). Recatalogued and arranged into series by Brian Carpenter in 2023.

Indexing Terms


Subject(s)

  • Haudenosaunee
  • Kinzua Dam (Pa.)
  • New York (State)--History
  • Seneca
  • Seneca Nation of Indians

Collection overview

  
  
 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
Series III: Photographs
1965-06 73 photograph(s) 37 black and white prints; 36 negatives ; 1 notebook Box 2

Locations are between Allegany Indian Reservation near Salamanca, NY, and Kinzua Dam (Warren, PA) to the southwest. Includes images of the construction of the Kinzua Dam. Rolls A, B and C are present in both print and negative form. Rolls D and E are described but not present. Image B-3 is missing from the prints. Also contains portrait, likely of Abler.

  
  


Detailed Inventory

 Series I: Correspondence
  
 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
Correspondence #1
1964-11-1965-06ca. 35 p.Box 1

Concerning applications for grants to the American Philosophical Society and New York State Museum and Science Service. Correspondence is largely with William N. Fenton.

 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
Correspondence #2
1965-06-1966-06ca. 80 p.Box 1
 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
Correspondence #3
1966-1967ca. 80 p.Box 1

Includes manuscript draft "Seneca Factionalism: The First Twenty Years".

 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
Correspondence #4
1968-1973ca. 30 p.Box 1
 Series II: Research Materials
  
 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
Calendar for 1966
1966 Box 1

Partially filled wall calendar.

 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
Constitutions of the Seneca Nation
  18 page(s) Box 1

Copies of constitutions between and 1848 and 1964, including a full copy of the 1964 constitution.

 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
"Factional dispute and party conflict in the political system of the Seneca Nation (1845-1895): An Ethnohistorical Analysis"
1969 274 page(s) ; 2 folder(s) Box 1

PhD dissertation submitted to the Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto (274 p.). Images include photomechanical prints of Senecas in New York State, their councils, community buildings, and a flow chart of the Seneca political system. Fieldwork conducted at the Allegany Reservation, New York.

Provenance: Accession 1971 944.b ms

Other Descriptive Information: Freeman and Smith guide entry #4709.


Subject(s): Seneca Indians -- History; Seneca Indians -- Politics and government

 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
Fieldwork expenses #1
1965 1 notebook Box 1
 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
Fieldwork expenses #2: Phillips Fund expenditure
1965 1 notebook Box 1
 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
Fieldwork expenses #3: "1966 Field Season"
1966-1967 1 notebook Box 1
 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
Iroquoia Meeting, July 9, 1965
1965-06-1965-07 21 page(s) Box 1
 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
The Kinzua Planning Newsletter: Vol. 1
1961-1962 Box 2

Nos. 2, 5, 9, 10, 11.

 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
The Kinzua Planning Newsletter: Vol. 2
1962-1963 Box 2

Nos. 1-3, 5-9, 11-13.

 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
The Kinzua Planning Newsletter: Vol. 3
1963-1965 Box 2

Nos. 1-8.

 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
List of presidents of the Seneca Nation of Indians, 1848-1896
2004 17 page(s) Box 2

Includes sources, corrections, and correspondence with Jack Ericson (Reed Library, State University of New York College at Fredonia).

 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
Maps of Jimersontown and Steamburg-Quaker Br. relocation areas
  4 page(s) Box 2

Handdrawn maps with key to residences.

 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
Newspaper clippings on the Seneca Nation of Indians election, 1968
1968 6 page(s) Box 2

Seneca People's Party elected all candidates. Clippings are from the Salamanca Republican-Press.

 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
"Research Report: Seneca Nation Ethnohistory"
1966 5 page(s) Box 2

Other Descriptive Information: Report (5 p.) on research into the Seneca Nation's history since the revolution in 1848, mostly conducted with the Council Records of the Seneca Nation, Allegany Reservation, New York.


Subject(s): Seneca; Seneca Indians -- History; Seneca Indians -- Politics and government

 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
"Research Report Summer 1965", Political history of the Seneca Nation
1965-1966 5 page(s) Box 2

Other Descriptive Information: Report (5 p.). Research was conducted in Salamanca, New York, on the political history of the Seneca, involving attending councils, committee meetings and informal gatherings.


Subject(s): Seneca; Seneca Indians -- History; Seneca Indians -- Politics and government

 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
"Seneca Nation Election Tickets, Election Results"
ca. 1968ca. 40 p.Box 2

Notes on elections of 1854-1894, with list of sources.

 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
The Seneca Nation Newsletter
1967-1968 Box 2

Vol. V Nos. 6-8, 10; Vol. VI Nos. 1-2.

 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
The Seneca Nation of Indians Report
1966 Box 2

Vol II No. 3.

 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
Small field notebooks #1
  4 notebook Box 2

Includes contact details and brief notes on interviews, places, etc.

 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
Small field notebooks #2
  2 notebook Box 2

Includes contact details and brief notes on interviews, places, etc.

 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
Various publications on the Kinzua Dam
1962-1969 Box 2
 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
Various publications on the Seneca Nation of Indians
  Box 2
 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
Series III: Photographs
1965-06 73 photograph(s) 37 black and white prints; 36 negatives ; 1 notebook Box 2

Locations are between Allegany Indian Reservation near Salamanca, NY, and Kinzua Dam (Warren, PA) to the southwest. Includes images of the construction of the Kinzua Dam. Rolls A, B and C are present in both print and negative form. Rolls D and E are described but not present. Image B-3 is missing from the prints. Also contains portrait, likely of Abler.

 Index
  5 page(s)
 Negatives of rolls A-C
  
 A1. "View of Salamanca from Allegany State Park"
  
 A2. "Allegheny Valley from Allegany State Park"
  
 A3. "Seneca Nation Housing Construction just outside of Salamanca"
  
 A4. "Seneca Nation Housing Construction just outside of Salamanca"
  
 A5. "Seneca Nation Housing Construction just outside of Salamanca, Home Face Route 17"
  
 A6. "Seneca Nation Housing Construction just outside of Salamanca, Home Face Route 17"
  
 A7. "Seneca Nation Housing Construction just outside of Salamanca, Home Face Route 17"
  
 A8. "Seneca Nation Housing Construction just outside of Salamanca, Home Face Route 17 (mail box, L. Jennerson?)"
  
 A9. "Construction on community building, tract near Salamanca"
  
 A10. "Construction on community building, tract near Salamanca"
  
 A11. "Construction on community building, tract near Salamanca"
  
 A12. "Houses (public housing?) looking west(?) from community building"
  
 B1. "Red house (junction NY 17 & NY 382) abandoned houses (or is it abandoned?)"
  
 B2. "Red house (junction NY 17 & NY 382)"
  
 B4. "Old longhouse (on NY 280, now (6/16/64) closed for construction)"
  
 B5. "Old longhouse (on NY 280, now (6/16/64) closed for construction)"
  
 B6. "Old longhouse (on NY 280, now (6/16/64) closed for construction)"
  
 B7. "Bridge construction for new highway across Allegheny River"
  
 B8. "Burning of land for Kinzua res."
  
 B9. "Burning of land for Kinzua res."
  
 B10. "New longhouse (Steamburg)"
  
 B11. "Steamburg house"
  
 B12. "New longhouse (Steamburg)"
  
 C1. "Kinzua Dam Construction"
  
 C2. "Kinzua Dam Construction"
  
 C3. "Kinzua Dam Construction"
  
 C4. "Kinzua Dam Construction"
  
 C5. "Kinzua Dam Construction"
  
 C6. "Kinzua Dam Construction"
  
 C7. "Kinzua Dam Construction"
  
 C8. "Kinzua Dam Construction"
  
 C9. "Kinzua Dam Construction"
  
 C10. "Kinzua Dam Construction"
  
 C11. "Kinzua Dam Construction"
  
 C12. "Kinzua Dam Construction"
  
 Portrait
  

Two identical prints of a portrait. Likely Thomas Abler.

 Series IV: Transcription files
  
 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
Index cards
  Box 3-4

Contents include: Indexes to Seneca council minutes, election results, etc.; Signatories to the 1848 Seneca Nation constitution; Field notes, 1965-1966 and some 1970, including interviews with George Heron, Cornelius Abrams, and Leroy Bennett; Transcripts of letters and other pages from microfilm (see Microfilm, also deposited here); Transcripts of minutes, 1850s-1900; Newspaper clippings, especially Salamanca Republican Press and Salamanca Inquirer, 1965-1969;

 Series V: Microfilm
  
 Abler, Thomas S. (Thomas Struthers), 1941-2019.
Microfilm
  27 microfilm_reel(s) Box 5-7

National Archives of the United States reels 234.583-234.597 (15 reels); selection of the Ely Samuel Parker Papers at the American Philosophical Society,Mss.497.3.P223(1 reel); Buffalo Historical Society (1 reel); Harvard University Library reels 66-2838 45, 58 and 59, also titled ABC: 18.6.3 v2-v3 (3 reels); reels 3-7, 9 and 12 of most likely the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends Indian Committee Records at the American Philosophical Society (Mss.Film.824).