TABLE OF CONTENTS
Descriptive Summary of the Collection
Scope and Content of the Collection
Series 1: Arthur Einhorn Subject Files, 1974-1980
Series 2: Moss Lake Occupation Subject Files, 1974-1980
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Inventory of the Arthur Einhorn Mohawk Research Collection, 1974-1980
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Lisa Janssen, 2004. ©2004. |
Descriptive Summary of the Collection |
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| Creator | Einhorn, Arthur |
| Title | Arthur Einhorn Mohawk Research Collection |
| Dates | 1974-1980 |
| Extent | 1.5 cubic feet (3 boxes, 1 oversize box) |
| Abstract | Consists of newspaper clippings, correspondence and newsletters of various organizations pertaining to the occupation of the Moss Lake territory in Northern New York State by the Mohawk Nation beginning in 1974. Also clippings and correspondence regarding a related political controversy, and correspondence and field notes by anthropologist and Native American expert Arthur Einhorn. |
| Language | Materials are in English. |
| Repository | Newberry Library, Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections |
| Collection Call Number | Ayer Modern MS Einhorn |
| Collection Stack Location | 3 60 12 |
Administrative Information
Cite As
Arthur Einhorn Mohawk Research Collection, Midwest Manuscript Collection, The Newberry Library, Chicago.
Provenance
Gift of Arthur Einhorn, 1983.
Processed by
Laura L. Carroll, April, 2001.
Access
The Arthur Einhorn Mohawk Research Collection is open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).
Ownership and Literary Rights
The Arthur Einhorn Mohawk Research Collection is the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.
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Biography of Arthur Einhorn
Anthropology professor and noted local history expert, interested and peripherally involved in the Mohawk Indian occupation at Moss Lake, 1974-1980.
In May of 1974, a group of Mohawk Indians seized an abandoned girl's camp at Moss Lake, NY. The community, which became known as Ganienkeh (Land of the Flint) was established as a utopian community; a place where the traditional Mohawk people could live and practice their own government and religion. Throughout the first months of occupation of the land, the Indians and the surrounding community coexisted peacefully. However, in October of 1974 an incident occurred that altered the way in which the Ganienkeh settlement was perceived by public. Two civilians, a nine year old girl and a twenty-two year old man, received shotgun wounds in separate altercations. The Mohawks maintained that they were responding to gunfire directed at the settlement. When the New York State Police attempted to assert jurisdiction regarding the shootings, the Indians cited a Treaty signed in 1794, which maintained that local authorities had no jurisdiction.
With the increased tension between the settlement and the surrounding community because of the shootings, several groups organized in opposition to the settlement. In addition, a local newspaper editor was commissioned to investigate the validity of the Mohawk's land claims. Michael Blair extensively used the research files of Arthur Einhorn to compile his report. At the time, Einhorn was the head of the Department of Anthropology at Jefferson Community College in Watertown, NY. Generally regarded as an expert on Native Americans, Einhorn kept a low profile and usually insisted on remaining anonymous. When Blair acknowledged his assistance in compiling the report on the Mohawk's land claims, the section was later deleted from the final confidential report.
The Moss Lake controversy continued through the mid-1970s, until in 1977 Mohawk representatives and the State of New York came to an agreement. The Ganienkeh settlement agreed to move to a new site, located near Altona, New York, where it remains. Einhorn continued to insist on anonymity. When Gail Landsman, an anthropologist, began her Ph.D. dissertation research on the Moss Lake controversy in 1979, correspondence between the two indicates Einhorn was adamant that she not use his name as a source. Einhorn's intense interest in the Mohawk Indian's cause is strikingly apparent by the extensive amount of research material contained in the collection.
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Scope and Content of the Collection
Correspondence and research files of Professor Arthur Einhorn, regarding the Moss Lake Territory Occupation, known as Ganienkeh, by members of the Mohawk Nation in 1974.
Includes correspondence, field notes, and scattered writings of Arthur Einhorn; newspaper clippings and magazine articles that trace the occupation of the Moss Lake territory and subsequent developments spanning from 1974-1980; and subject files containing newsletters, press releases and clippings regarding various organizations that both supported and opposed the actions of the Mohawk Nation and the Ganienkeh settlement. Also contains materials that are indirectly related to events involving the Moss Lake controversy: clippings tracing the development of a political campaign probe involving a local newspaper editor, a county Democratic assemblyman, and a state Republican party chairman, etc.; miscellaneous publications of AIM and a seasonal newsletter of New York Senator James Donovan; and a copy of a German transcript of an AIM support group in Hamburg (1975). There are also several cassette tapes and two reel-to-reel cassettes.
Narrative descriptions of the subject matter, types of material, and arrangement of each series are available through the Organization section of the finding aid.
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Organization
Papers are organized in the following series:
- Series 1: Arthur Einhorn Subject Files, 1974-1980. Box(es) 1
- Series 2: Moss Lake Occupation Subject Files, 1974-1980. Box(es) 1-2
- Series 3: Blair Report Controversy Subject Files, 1975-1976. Box(es) 2
- Series 4: Audio Tapes, 1974-1975. Box(es) 3
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Selected Search Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Newberry Library's public catalog. Researchers desiring additional materials on a particular topic should search the catalog using these headings.
Names
- Blair, Michael
- Concerned Persons of the Central Adirondacks
- Einhorn, Arthur
- Ganienkeh (N.Y.)
- Moss Lake (N.Y.)
Subjects
- Indians of North America - New York (State)-History - 20th Century - Sources
- Mohawk Indians - Government relations
- Mohawk Indians - Land tenure
- New York - Politics and Government - 1951-
- Sound recordings - 1974-1975
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Container List
Series 1: Arthur Einhorn Subject Files, 1974-1980 |
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| Primarily correspondence, and miscellaneous writings regarding Einhorn's connection with the Moss Lake controversy. Contains a copy of the confidential report prepared by Michael Blair, in which he acknowledges Einhorn as his major source of information. Also contains field notes taken while visiting the Ganienkeh settlement in December of 1974, as well as a subpoena from the New York State Board of Elections (1975) requesting his cooperation in an investigation regarding the K. Daniel Haley campaign controversy. Also contains collected newsletters of State Senator James Donovan, all of which mention the Moss Lake occupation in a negative light. | |||||||||||
| Organized by type of material; incoming correspondence arranged alphabetically, outgoing arranged chronologically. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Confidential Report, photocopy, prepared by Michael Blair, Jan. 1975 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Confidential Report, Deletions, n.d. | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Correspondence, Incoming, A-Z | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Correspondence, Outgoing, 1979-1980 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | "Legislative Report," Newsletters of Senator Donovan, 1975-1980 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Memoranda, small notebook containing miscellaneous notes and addresses, n.d. | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Miscellaneous Notes and Fieldwork Notes, 1974-1976 | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Subpoena, Issued by the New York State Board of Elections, April 1975 | |||||||||
Series 2: Moss Lake Occupation Subject Files, 1974-1980 |
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| Primarily newspaper clippings that document the initial occupation of the Moss Lake territory by the Mohawk Indians and the subsequent developments. Also contains duplicates of correspondence of parties other than Arthur Einhorn. Also includes various sorts of literature from the Ganienkeh settlement itself, as well as of the numerous organizations that were involved in the controversy, such as AIM, and the Syracuse Peace Council. The bulk of this material consists of newsletters and press releases from the most vocal group in opposition to the occupation, the Concerned Persons of the Central Adirondacks (COPCA), 1974-1976. Also contains such miscellaneous items as notes by a student of Einhorn's at a gathering in which the Ganienkeh Indians presented their mission to a group at Jefferson Community College. | |||||||||||
| Organized with general materials preceding records of opposing and supporting groups. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 1 | 9-10 | Correspondence, re Moss Lake Occupation, August 1974-October 1975 | |||||||||
| 1 | 11 | Ganienkeh Settlement, various letters and press statements, Manifesto, n.d. | |||||||||
| 1 | 12 | "Indian Rights - The Reality of Symbolism" in New York State Bar Journal, Oct. 1978 | |||||||||
| 1 | 13 | Mohawk Indians speech, photocopied notes, Nov. 8, 1974 | |||||||||
| 1 | 14-25 | News Clippings, 1974-1978 | |||||||||
| 1 | 25a-b | Newspapers - Akwenanse Notes (See Oversize Box), Early Winter 1973-Early Winter 1974 | |||||||||
| 2 | 26 | Opposing Groups-Adirondack Park Agency, clippings, July-Oct. 1975 | |||||||||
| 2 | 27 | Opposing Groups-American Opinion article, photocopy, Sept. 1975 | |||||||||
| 2 | 28 | Opposing Groups-Church Opposition, clipping, n.d. | |||||||||
| 2 | 29 | Opposing Groups-COPCA-clippings, 1975 | |||||||||
| 2 | 30 | Opposing Groups-COPCA-correspondence, 1975 | |||||||||
| 2 | 31 | Opposing Groups-COPCA-Court Brief, photocopy, re legal action brought against Commissioner of Environmental Conservation, 1975 | |||||||||
| 2 | 32 | Opposing Groups-COPCA-literature, statement of facts, n.d. | |||||||||
| 2 | 33 | Opposing Groups-COPCA-Newsletters, 1975-1976 | |||||||||
| 2 | 34 | Opposing Groups-COPCA-Press Releases, . n.d. | |||||||||
| 2 | 35 | Supporting Groups-AIM, general clippings, 1974-1975 | |||||||||
| 2 | 36 | Supporting Groups-AIM, photocopy of Hamburg meeting minutes, July 1975 | |||||||||
| 2 | 37 | Supporting Groups-ARPA, newsletter, Nov. 1974 | |||||||||
| 2 | 38 | Supporting Groups-Council of Churches, clippings, 1975-1976 | |||||||||
| 2 | 39 | Supporting Groups-Friends of Indians, CT division, clippings and newsletters, 1975 | |||||||||
| 2 | 40 | Supporting Groups-North County Children's Clinic, n.d. | |||||||||
| 2 | 41 | Supporting Groups-RAIN, newsletter and clippings, May, 1976, n.d. | |||||||||
| 2 | 42 | Supporting Groups-Syracuse Peace Council, Newsletter and Flier, 1975 | |||||||||
Series 3: Blair Report Controversy Subject Files, 1975-1976 |
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| Primarily newspaper clippings regarding an investigation commissioned by then State Republican Party Chairman Richard Rosenbaum. The legitimacy of the payment of newspaper editor Michael Blair for his research regarding the Mohawk Indian's land claims was questioned. Blair was commissioned by St. Lawrence County Democratic Assemblyman K. Daniel Haley, and was paid with campaign funds. In the report, Blair concluded that Mohawk Indians occupying Moss Lake territory at the time had no legal claims to the land. A copy of the confidential report is filed in the Arthur Einhorn subject files. | |||||||||||
| Arranged chronologically. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 2 | 43-46 | News Clippings, Feb. 1975-Nov.16, 1976 | |||||||||
Series 4: Audio Tapes, 1974-1975 |
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| Contains audiocassette and reel-to-reel tapes. Identified and alphabetized according to the labels printed on the individual tapes. | |||||||||||
| Arranged alphabetically. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 3 | 47 | AIM - Hamburg Meeting, Translation (4 tapes), July 1975 | |||||||||
| 3 | 48 | Blair-Montour Debate (2 tapes), May 31, 1975 | |||||||||
| 3 | 49 | Brando, Means, et al., Dec. 10, 1974 | |||||||||
| 3 | 50 | Canton - Potsdam Radio Program (reel-to-reel tape), Oct. 1975 | |||||||||
| 3 | 51 | Frisch to Einhorn, Jan. 29, 1975 | |||||||||
| 3 | 52 | Moss Lake Defense (reel-to-reel tape), Nov. 8, 1974 | |||||||||
| 3 | 53 | Moss Lake Interview, Nov. 6, 1975 | |||||||||
| 3 | 54 | Support Groups, Oct. 10, 1975 | |||||||||