Between the Basswoods: The Story of Buffalo Creek Public Reception
November 18 @ 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
The Seneca-Iroquois National Museum presents Between the Basswoods: The Story of Buffalo Creek, on view beginning November 16, 2026. This new permanent exhibit explores the Buffalo Creek territory, impactful Hodínöhšö:nih treaties, and what legacies remain now, two centuries later.
The concept for this exhibit took root after the famous Seneca leader and orator, Red Jacket’s peace medal was repatriated to the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum from The Buffalo History Museum in 2021. In 1792, President George Washington presented the medal to Red Jacket as a symbol of peace, friendship, and enduring relationships among the United States and the Six Nations. Wanting to explore how those symbols stood the test of time, Between the Basswoods: The Story of Buffalo Creek was co-curated by Kari Karsten (Seneca, Heron Clan), Seneca-Iroquois National Museum curator, and Melissa Parker-Leonard (Tonawanda-Seneca Descendant), Historian, 7th Gen Cultural Resources.
Dó:šo:wë́:h, meaning “between the basswoods,” is the area surrounding Buffalo Creek and what is now known as Buffalo, New York. This exhibit examines Seneca efforts to defend their homelands amid pressures from the United States government and land companies. Explore the Seneca struggle to protect their homeland through the Clinton-Sullivan Campaign of 1779, the Treaties of Canandaigua and Big Tree, and the Buffalo Creek treaties: a history of resistance, dispossession, and enduring connections to Buffalo Creek.
Opening during the bicentennial year of the 1826 Buffalo Creek Treaty, Between the Basswoods: The Story of Buffalo Creek, opens a timely discussion of the enduring importance of Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination.
Google Calendar 
iCalendar 
