author
Arthur C. (Arthur Caswell) Parker
1881–1955
A pioneering Seneca archaeologist, historian, and folklorist, this early 20th-century scholar helped bring Iroquois history and Native American culture to a wider public. He also shaped modern museum work through decades of research, writing, and leadership in New York.
1 Audiobook
Seneca myths and folk tales
by Arthur C. (Arthur Caswell) Parker
About the author
Born on April 5, 1881, on the Cattaraugus Reservation of the Seneca Nation in New York, Arthur Caswell Parker became one of the most important Native American scholars of his era. He was known not only as an archaeologist and historian, but also as a folklorist and museum leader whose work focused especially on Seneca and Iroquois history and tradition.
Early in his career, Parker worked with the New York State Library and the New York State Museum, where he documented Native traditions and carried out archaeological research. From 1924 to 1945, he served as director of the Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences, helping expand it into a major center for research and public education.
Parker wrote extensively and devoted much of his life to preserving and interpreting Indigenous history at a time when that work was too often neglected or distorted. He died on January 1, 1955, leaving behind a body of scholarship that still matters to historians, museum professionals, and readers interested in Native American life and culture.