Mohawk Valley History

Writing Series

Read articles written by historians from throughout the Mohawk Valley region. Contact us if you have a story idea or local historian that you would like to see published in our writing series.

The Wampum Chronicles: The Code of Handsome Lake

The Code of Handsome Lake

This week’s The Wampum Chronicles, Darren Bonaparte continues with “In the Shadow of Serpents: The Code of Handsome Lake”

This day in Mohawk Valley history: December 31

Dutch explorer Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert left Fort Orange (Albany), and passed around the little falls, possibly south of Fall Hill, while visiting Iroquois villages on his way to Oneida Lake. Most likely, he was the first white person to have visited this area.
Harris & Ewing, photographer. USS Pennsylvania. [Between 1911 and 1917] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2016853699/Harris & Ewing, photographer. USS Pennsylvania. [Between 1911 and 1917] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2016853699/

This day in Mohawk Valley history: December 28

This day in Mohawk Valley History, December 28, 1917, Sailor Boys Hardly Know How to Thank the Ilion-Mohawk Relief.
[Santa with toys in a sleigh, drawn by reindeer…] [between 1880 and 1890]. Part of Marion S Carson Collection. Prints & Photographs Division[Santa with toys in a sleigh, drawn by reindeer…] [between 1880 and 1890]. Part of Marion S Carson Collection. Prints & Photographs Division

Time for a Visit from St. Nicholas

‘Tis December 24, the day before Christmas, and all through the land, families send excited children to bed with a reading of Clement Moore’s classic poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas.”
[Gen. Washington resigning his commission to Congress, Annapolis, Md., Dec. 23, 1783]. Photograph of a painting by John Trumbull, [between 1900 and 1912]. Detroit Publishing Company. Prints & Photographs Division

Washington Resigns His Commission

George Washington resigned his commission as commander in chief of the Continental Army on December 23, 1783.

The First Electric Christmas Lights

Thomas Edison, the inventor of the first successful practical light bulb, created the very first strand of electric lights.

This day in history: December 19 in Herkimer, NY

On December 19, 1888, it was announced another knitting mill would be in the Herkimer Manufacturing Company brick building.

This day in Mohawk Valley History: December 18, 1924

The Oneonta Daily Star from December 18, 1924 headline reads “The Spoken Newspaper.”

This day in Mohawk Valley History

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The Mohawk Valley is located along the Mohawk River in the ancestral lands of the Kanienʼkehá:ka’ (Mohawk) and Oneida. We offer our deepest respect to Hodinöhsö:ni’ ancestors.

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