A Canadian Family

Genealogy, Family History & Vintage Postcards

Chief Poking Fire Indian Museum, Caughnawaga Indian Reserve

This is an historic, b/w image of the well-known local landmark “Chief Poking Fire Indian Museum”.

One of my clearest memories from the mid 1950s was crossing over the Mercier Bridge from Ville Lasalle to reach the “Indian Museum” in Caughnawaga. As a 7 year old, I was most fascinated by the little beaded handicrafts. I believe they were pincusions and the beading was set against a velvet (I think!) background in rich colours like purple and fuscia.

Chief Poking Fire

It’s located in the Mohawk community which is now known as Kahnawake.

“Cultural identities are commodities too. As Trudy Nicks points out, it is not so easy to dismiss the performance of Chief Poking Fire and his tomahawk chopping sons as bereft of cultural meanings. “Poking Fire’s village provided tourists with a restricted view of the lives of citizens of Kahnawake,but not one without local cultural and historical relevance. If the choice of representations accommodated twentieth-century tourist’s expectations, it was also an authentic expression based on a long history of negotiating cultural encounters with Europeans.” The struggle between Kahnawake residents over the images displayed at Indians Days illustrates the varied and complex ways Kahnawake residents understood themselves as twentieth century Indians. Over the years, they had learned to manipulate ‘Indian’ imagery ”

Teepees and Tomahawks

Related Posts:

Index: Chief Poking Fire Museum & Indian Village, Kahnawake, Quebec

The Iroquois of Kahnawake

 

September 30, 2009 - Posted by Evelyn Yvonne Theriault | . | , , , ,

16 Comments »

  1. What an interesting postcard! Such a shame it’s not in color to show the fine bead work and colorful feathers on the headdresses.

    Comment by Joanna (JamaGenie) | October 1, 2009 | Reply

  2. I love all the postcards of “Indian Trading Posts.” There are many colorful ones from the U.S.

    Comment by postcardy | October 1, 2009 | Reply

    • I didn’t even know this was a type of postcard. Trust you to know this!
      Evelyn

      Comment by evelynyvonnetheriault | October 1, 2009 | Reply

  3. Thank you for the story and the great card!!!

    Comment by peggy gatto | October 1, 2009 | Reply

  4. Hmm, interesting comments that you quoted. Hadn’t thought about it like that.

    Comment by Viridian | October 1, 2009 | Reply

  5. Thanks for sharing, nice story.

    My Bangkok Through My Eyes!
    You got a Posty: I want to give 15 postcards :)

    Comment by BeachILike | October 1, 2009 | Reply

  6. I love how blogging brings people together!

    With my move, I haven’t had time to “settle in” and really work on genealogy as much as I would like… But I’m getting there. :)

    Comment by Wendy Hawksley | October 1, 2009 | Reply

  7. Thank you for a great post! Native Americans have such a rich history. What we know of it depends almost soley on what the white people of the Americas chose to write about.

    Comment by Muse Swings | October 1, 2009 | Reply

  8. Oh wow…..that is a great postcard! I love it!
    Thank you for sharing it and for the interesting background as well.

    Have a beautiful weekend

    Comment by Robin | October 2, 2009 | Reply

  9. Thanks for sharing this, Evelyn. I love this card and your description…especially about crossing the bridge to visit the museum.

    Comment by Christine | October 2, 2009 | Reply

  10. I believe they wore in colourful and bright accessories, like what I had seen in screen.

    Comment by Lay Hoon | October 2, 2009 | Reply

    • Yes, the clothing was very colourful. I have several colour postcards and recent photographs that you can find by clicking on the Kahnawake link in the right sidebar.
      Evelyn

      Comment by evelynyvonnetheriault | October 2, 2009 | Reply

  11. Wonderful postcard–and such an interesting perspective. Thank you for sharing and happy PFF!

    Comment by Beth | October 3, 2009 | Reply

  12. Interesting commentary on the way we think of traditional Indian culture.

    Comment by Stephanie | October 3, 2009 | Reply

  13. Hey this is my family. how did you get this. its awesome. we still have a whole bunch of them.

    Comment by Myles McComber | May 3, 2010 | Reply

  14. I am a vintage postcard collector and since I live in Chateauguay and have helped various individuals with their Kahnawake lineage, I have collected a few images of Kahnawake.
    Thank you for your comments,
    Evelyn

    Comment by evelynyvonnetheriault | May 3, 2010 | Reply


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