Explorations in Sights and Sounds
Orginal Publication Date
1989
Journal Title
Explorations in Sights and Sounds
Volume
9
Issue
ess/vol9/iss1
First Page
31
Last Page
32
Abstract
This scientific and artistic tome on Iroquois Indian masks, literally a "coffee table book," has been a long time in production. It is the culmination of over sixty years of interest and study by William N. Fenton, deservedly acknowledged as the dean of Iroquois studies. The author's interest in the subject began during his childhood when he spent summers at his family's farm in up-state New York. His grandfather, W.T. Fenton, had obtained two masks from Amos Snow, an Iroquois friend and neighbor, during the mid-nineteenth century. His father, J. W. Fenton, acquired more than a dozen additional masks as part of his vocation as an artist. So it is not surprising that the young William Fenton turned to anthropology in college and returned to the descendants of Amos Snow to pursue his consuming interests in Iroquois culture and history. Fenton's first article on Iroquois masks and the Society of Faces was published in 1937. During subsequent decades, he studied over 1,500 masks in museums and private collections throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe.
Rights
Copyright, ©EES, The National Association for Ethnic Studies, 1989