Belonging(s): “A close relationship among a group and personal or public effects

“Asco wequassinummis, neetompooag” (Hello my friends)!

Hello! And welcome to another installment of the Belongings Blog’s From the Archives series where Collections and Archive Manager Anthony Belz shares some of the most interesting items found in the Tomaquag Museum Archive. In this installment, we will be looking back 66 years ago to the day on August 30, 1959, the day the Tomaquag Museum first opened its doors in a small, one story stone building in Tomaquag Valley in Ashaway, Rhode Island.

Although the museum itself was established by the Tomaquag Valley Association (Incorporated) sometime in 1958, the museum itself took nearly a year to manifest in a building for the public. The first step was to elect a Board of Directors-which included Nathan G. Kaye, owner of Tomaquag Diamond Hill Estates, Eva Lutz Butler, a Colonial Historian and Archaeologist and two others. Eva L. Butler was then hired as the first Director and Curator, who then in turn immediately hired Red Wing to be her Assistant and Program Director. It was not too long after that Red Wing then hired her 2nd cousin, Everett “Tall Oak” Weeden as an informal artist in residence as well as for maintenance/groundskeeper and animal caretaker. (For more on Tall Oak’s role as animal caretaker please read the From the Archives Cooper’s Hawk blog post from February 29, 2024)

Found in Red Wing’s unpublished memoir, titled The Memoirs of Princess Red Wing: A New England Native American Woman’s Journey Through the 20th Century (1999) in the chapter “The Tomaquag Indian Museum” on page 109, we have a quote from Nathan G. Kaye, who accidentally found the the rock shelters after getting lost in the Tomaquag Valley. Here is his recollection many years after the fact, perhaps from the mid-1980s, most likely specifically for the memoir.

“In 1956, after I bought 400 acres in the Tomaquag Valley, I made an historic discovery. One day, while searching for the boundaries of my land, I became lost. Eventually, I stumbled upon what became known as "The Tomaquag Indian Rock Shelters. This was a concentration of 26 shelters suited for habitation. Artifacts including arrowheads, stone knives, spear points, charred bones, cooking bowls, and other evidence was found in at least six of these "caves" and the surrounding area which included a stream that ran through the Tomaquag Valley. It was obvious this had been an active hunting and trading area for Native Americans of long ago. Excavation began that year with Dr. Higgins (he misremembered-it was J. Louis Giddings) of Brown University's Anthropology Department, Eva Butler, an anthropologist, and an archeological student, Bill Simmons. Months later, because of the excavation and artifacts found in the valley in general, I invited the university and area anthropologists to help me form the Tomaquag Valley Indian Museum. A Board of Directors, which included myself, Mrs. Butler, and two others, was chosen. In 1958, Mrs. Butler urged Princess Red Wing to join us.” Nathan G. Kaye

Correspondence from Nathan G. Kaye to Eva L. Butler. June 18, 1958. Tomaquag Museum Archives.

Continuing on page 109 unto 110 from her Memoir, Red Wing further describes those early days:

“The Tomaquag Indian Museum had its birth in a large stone building overlooking the beautiful Tomaquag Valley. This structure had been used as a garage and was converted to house the museum. The board of directors appointed Eva Butler to be its director. She wasn't Indian but had received a national award for research in Indian and colonial history. Graduating from the University of New Mexico with a degree in anthropology, she later taught at the University of Connecticut in Storrs and Connecticut State Teacher's College in Willimantic. She lived in Old Mystic, Connecticut in a large, old-fashioned house with her husband, Sylvestre, who was Superintendent of Schools for the Town of Groton. They had one son, Sewell. Since Mrs. Butler needed help in running the museum and because I was speaking here and there and all around, someone suggested, "Get Princess Red Wing, she seems to know what she's talking about." Mrs. Butler was already interested in me because she knew about my lectures and had read the ‘Narragansett Dawn,’ the magazine I had edited for two years in the 1930's. And so it was that, in 1958, I went to live in the back of the museum in a four room apartment. I was the museum's program director and an assistant to Mrs. Butler.”

Further recollections from Red Wing:

“As the museum grew, so did the amount of work that had to be done. We needed a man to help us out. I wrote to my cousin, Everett Weeden or, as he was called, Tall Oak, who was living in Providence after just completing his tour of duty with the United States Army. He was a talented young Narragansett Indian. Besides his artwork, which he furthered at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, he was an apt student of Indian history, culture, and lore. He also sang in several Indian tongues and could dance many of the ceremonial dances of several tribes. He was 21, unemployed, and had a baby daughter, named Toni, who lived with her mother in Providence to support. The museum couldn't offer much pay, but the rent was free, and he thought it would be a great opportunity. So in April of 1959, Tall Oak came to live at the museum. His most ambitious project was five dioramas which showed the life of southern New England Indians during the four seasons. Together we put on programs at the museum and hundreds of schools, churches, scout meetings, and other organizations. I talked, and he sang and danced. I always paid him to go along.”

Mary “Red Wing” Congdon and Everett “Tall Oak” Weeden standing in front of the first Tomaquag Museum location, Ashaway, Rhode Island. ca. 1959. Tomaquag Museum Archives.

Unknown Woman, Mary “Red Wing” Congdon, Everett “Tall Oak” Weeden and a Good Boy. Tomaquag Museum. Ashaway, Rhode Island. ca. Winter 1959. Tomaquag Museum Archives.

Everett “Tall Oak” Weeden. Tomaquag Museum. Tomaquag Valley. Ashaway, Rhode Island. ca. 1959. Tomaquag Museum Archives.

Museum Opens Sunday. Captioned Photograph. The Westerly Sun. August 28, 1959. Front Page. Tomaquag Museum Archives.

Original Tomaquag Museum Floor Plan. Mimeograph. Tomaquag Museum Archives.

Tomaquag Valley Indian Memorial Association, Inc. Membership Flyer. ca. 1957-1958. Tomaquag Museum Archives.

Tomaquag Valley Indian Museum in Hopkinton to Open Saturday. The Westerly Sun. August 28, 1959. Page 8. Tomaquag Museum Archives.

Tomaquag Valley Directors Set Ambitious Program At Museum. Westerly Sun, Friday, August 28, 1959. Page 8. Tomaquag Museum Archives.

Red Wing:

“Little by little, all of us developed nature trails. On one short walk there was a "cave" into which four or five people could fit together. Behind the museum we built a council circle and a wigwam made of bark. In a field below was a wired yard where we displayed wild turkeys, Mickey the fox, two raccoons, a skunk, a crow, two rabbits, and a cooper's hawk named "Muskie" who roamed around the museum grounds. There was also a picnic area containing tables and fireplaces for groups.”

Front panel of hand drawn brochure. Tomaquag Museum. Tomaquag Valley, Ashaway, Rhode Island. ca. 1959. Tomaquag Museum Archives.

Back panel of brochure. Tomaquag Museum. Tomaquag Valley, Ashaway, Rhode Island. ca. 1959. Tomaquag Museum Archives.

Red Wing:

“First project was the wigwam. We went to Long Pond land of Mrs. Butler’s & got white cedar bark and completed it. We had dioramas, artifacts, council circle picnic area, Worship Hill, pound, birds & animals. 2 Mourning Doves came every morning as we ate breakfast in 4 room apt. at one end of the stone building; Here Tall Oak & Red Wing lived until the museum was moved up the road a few miles to the old Kenyon Farm of 100 acres.”