George S. Snyderman Papers, American Philosophical Society

Table of contents

Abstract

Trained as an anthropologist under Frank Speck at the University of Pennsylvania, the ethnohistorian George Snyderman (1908- ) spent his career studying Seneca Indian religion, history, and culture. Snyderman edited the previously unpublished diaries of Halliday Jackson and John Phillips, Quaker missionaries to the Senecas in the late 18th and early 19th century.

The Snyderman Papers includes a small volume of correspondence, along with manuscripts of works by Snyderman and colleagues, and copies of primary source materials pertaining to Seneca history. Of particular interest is his correspondence with anthropologists William N. Fenton, Merle Deardorff, and Frank Speck and with his Seneca consultant Clara Redeye and her daughter, Helen Harris, and photographs of the Allegany Senecas taken by Fenton and Speck.

Background note
Scope & content
Administrative information
Additional information
- Related material
- Bibliography
Added entries
Contact information
Collection overview
- Series I. Correspondence, 1940-1990
- Series II. Subject files, 1758-1994
- Series III. Works by Snyderman, 1939-ca.1985
- Series IV. Works by others, 1758-1984
- Series V. Photographs, 1790-1993
Collection inventory
- Series I. Correspondence, 1940-1990
- Series II. Subject files, 1758-1994
- Series III. Works by Snyderman, 1939-ca.1985
- Series IV. Works by others, 1758-1984
- Series V. Photographs, 1790-1993

Background note

"Cold Spring Quintette of Dancers"
Cephas Watt, Avery Jimerson, John Jimerson, Wilton Cloud, and Henry Redeye
photo by Frank Speck, ca.1940

George S. Snyderman was born in Philadelphia on August 23, 1908. After attending Temple University for his B.S. in Education (1931), he studied anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania under Frank G. Speck, receiving his M.A. in 1933 and his Ph.D. in 1948. His research centered on Seneca folklore, medicine, and social organization.

Snyderman worked at the Pennsylvania State Employment Service in Philadelphia from 1938 to 1961, occasionally conducting research about Native Americans west of the Ohio River for court cases involving Native American land claims being litigated by lawyer Felix S. Cohen. In 1961, Snyderman became Associate Director of the Jewish Employment and Vocational Service. He began lecturing at Temple University in 1963.

Snyderman is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Anthropological Association. He participated in the White House Conference on Children and Youth. He currently resides in Orchard Park, New York.

Scope and content

The George S. Snyderman Papers (1758-1995) contain correspondence, subject files, works by Snyderman and others, and photographs. The collection consists primarily of Snyderman's research notes and manuscripts about Seneca religion, medicine, and social organization. The most recent items in the collection are letters dated 1995.

The papers (7 boxes; 3.5 linear feet) are divided into five series:


Series I.	Correspondence, 1940-1990	(2 boxes; 1 linear foot)
Series II.	Subject files, 1758-1994	(0.5 boxes; 0.25 linear foot)
Series III.	Works by Snyderman, 1939-ca.1985	(1.5 boxes; 0.75 linear foot)
Series IV.	Works by others, 1758-1984	(1 box; 0. 5 linear foot)
Series V.	Photographs, 1790-1993	(1 box; 0.5 linear foot)
Series I-III.	Oversized material	(1 box; 0.25 linear foot)

Oversized materials follow the same series arrangement as noted above. Cross-referencing to oversized material appears on the folders in the standard sized boxes. All photographs have been removed from Series I-IV and placed in Series V. Cross-references appear in the original series. Reprints have been moved to the printed materials collection of the APS Library. If a reprint was found as an enclosure, a photocopy of the title page was filed in its place. To retrieve reprints, consult the card catalog for printed materials. Audio-cassette recordings, three of Seneca music and one of Clara Redeye, have also been removed from the collection; to retrieve those items, consult the card catalog for manuscript materials.

Administrative information

Restrictions

None.

Provenance

The Snyderman Papers have been donated by George S. Snyderman from 1987 to 1995. It is expected that further additions will be made to this collection.

Preferred citation

Cite as: George S. Snyderman Papers, American Philosophical Society.

Processing information

Catalogued by Miriam B. Spectre, Timothy T. Wilson, Carla B. Zimmerman, 1995.

Additional information

Related material

The Snyderman Papers are one of several collections at the APS that pertain to the ethnography and history of Seneca Indians, including the Papers of William N. Fenton, Elisabeth Tooker, Frank Speck, Anthony F. C. Wallace, and Paul A. W. Wallace.

Quaker missions to the Seneca Indians during the late 18th and early 19th centuries are documented in the Anthony F. C. Wallace Papers and in a ten reel microfilm set of the records of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Indian Committee (Film 824). The originals of the latter are housed in the Quaker Collection at Haverford College. Additional materials, including the originals of the journals found in the Snyderman Papers, are located at Haverford and at the Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College.

References

Snyderman, George S., "Concepts of land ownership among the Iroquois and their neighbors" Bulletin of the Bureau of American Ethnology 149 (1951), 13-34. Call no.: 970.1 Pam. no.149

Snyderman, George S., "The manuscript collections of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends pertaining to the American Indian" Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 102 (1958), 613-620. Call no.: 506.73 Am4p

Snyderman, George S., "The function of wampum in Iroquois religion" Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 105 (1961), 571-608. Call no.: 506.73 Am4p

Snyderman, George S., "Witches, witchcraft, and Allegany Seneca medicine," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 127 (1983), 263-277. Call no.: 506.73 Am4p