Dr. Gloria Mattera with Snowshoes

First director of the Geneseo Migrant Center holds two pairs of traditional snowshoes, probably made by the community of the Algonquins of Barriere Lake at Rapid Lake, Quebec. Since the late 1940s they had traveled seasonally to Western New York, where their skills were valued on fur farms--particularly the Bennett Farm in East Bloomfield (which by the 1980s had passed to son-in-law Alan Saxby). Crafting showshoes was a complex process, and as such the ones shown--a display? a gift?--had important ceremonial meanings.

Unknown

Photograph

8 x 10 in.