THE GOOD HUNTER, A PROMINENT WARRIOR OF THE IROQUOIAN COMMUNITY ON THE SANDUSKY RIVER IN THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY. | PHOTO COURTESY OF HEINZ HISTORY CENTER

From artifacts that date back centuries to modern crafts carrying on traditions, there is a lot to experience at Fort Pitt Museum’s newest exhibit. 

“Homelands: Native Nations of Allegheny” opens Saturday, June 22, and will be on display through June 2025. In collaboration with Shawnee, Seneca, Delaware and Seneca-Cayuga tribes, the region’s Native American history is told through rare relics and present work. 

Three centuries ago, the valleys of Ohio and Allegheny were home to the Haudenosaunee, Seneca, Delaware and Shawnee tribes. Conflicts around the American Revolution War and Seven Years War forced them to leave. However, the connections among the tribes remain strong to this day. 

PHOTO COURTESY OF HEINZ HISTORY CENTER

“These relationships don’t just happen overnight. For the last 10 years, we’ve been working with Seneca, Delaware, Shawnee people in Oklahoma, and New York,” said Andrew Masich, president and CEO of the Heinz History Center, at a media briefing Thursday on the new exhibit. “Our curators have become quite experts in the written word and the history from primary sources, but often not getting the Native perspective. So this has been such a rich collaboration.” 

Dozens of objects from American Indian tribes are featured in the new exhibit alongside collections from the Heinz History Center — which oversees the Fort Pitt Museum — and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. The new exhibit highlights pieces including The Miller Point, a 14,000-year-old stone projectile point. 

In 1976, the stone was discovered at the Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village in Avella and is known as the oldest handmade object in Western Pennsylvania. Other notable pieces include a carved wood spoon from the Seneca Nation of Indians, a Seneca-Cayuga boy’s dance outfit and a pair of 1930s’ beaded moccasins from the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma. 

PHOTO COURTESY OF HEINZ HISTORY CENTER

“It’s a partnership between Native people and non-native institutions like museums and schools,” said DJ Huff, who lives on the Seneca reservation in Cattaraugus, New York. “If they’re going to have a Native narrative, they should reach out to those Native people and really get their story.”  

Huff, at the media event, said he enjoyed working alongside the Fort Pitt Museum and their dedication to reaching out to Native tribes. “This is why Native people here in Pennsylvania are so important,” he said. “This is where your people come from, it’s not just one story. It’s a whole cluster of stories coming together.” 

“As an educator, it’s been eye-opening to see how many people that have a misunderstanding that we’re still even here today,” said Shideezhi Emarthla, a citizen of the Seneca-Cayuga Nation who lives on the North Side. Originally from Oklahoma, Emarthla moved to Pittsburgh and joined the staff at the Fort Pitt Museum. She teaches Native American history and hopes visitors gain awareness from the exhibit.

“We’re still here and we didn’t go anywhere. We’re not dead. We’re not extinct,” Emarthla said. “That’s a good takeaway that we want people to know is we’re still here.” 

Fort Pitt Museum is located in Point State Park, Downtown, and is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. 

Jilian Musser’s reporting is supported by the Pittsburgh Media Partnership.