Press

A specially designed cachet, pictorial cancellation and newly issued Seneca Carving postage stamp depicting a 19th-century carved wooden ladle from the collections of the New York State Museum will be available at a special cancellation/unveiling ceremony hosted by the Albany Post OfficeT and the State Museum on Sunday, August 22nd from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Museum.

Albany Postmaster Michael Esposito will join Museum Director Clifford Siegfried and Seneca artist G. Peter Jemison for the unveiling of the stamp, which will become available for nationwide sale that day. The official First-Day-of-Issue stamp dedication ceremony will be August 21st in Santa Fe, N.M. for the Seneca Ladle stamp and 9 others featured on the 37-cent Art of the American Indian souvenir sheet. That series, a specially designed postmark (pictorial cancellation), as well as a special cachet envelope printed for the occasion, will be available in the Museum lobby on August 22nd. The Seneca ladle and the Seneca Carving stamp enlargement will also be on display in the lobby August 22nd through September 30th.

Esposito will present framed artwork depicting the Seneca Carving stamp to Dr. Siegfried and to Jemison, who is also the director of the Ganondagan State Historic Site, which commemorates Seneca history and culture.

The State Museum's ladle was made around 1840 at the Seneca Tonawanda reservation. The top of the handle serves as a platform on which a man sits eating from a bowl while his dog watches patiently. The handle also incorporates a lyre and a covered urn, two design elements borrowed from American and Victorian decorative arts.

Among the Iroquois, carving was traditionally men's work, and they were adept at transforming wooden utensils into works of art - a skill particularly evident in the diverse human and animal effigies that adorn the handles of ladles. Wooden ladles exemplify the sculptural arts and crafts of the Seneca

Iroquois of western New York. Larger ladles were used for serving food while smaller ones, like the ladle appearing on the stamp, were used as eating spoons. The idea of family is key to the Iroquois culture and the practice of communal living and the sharing of resources are respected values. Traditionally, family members and guests shared the same pot of food, dipping their spoons in and eating from it.

"This spoon's whimsical decoration is among the finest examples of Seneca-Iroquois sculpture-in-miniature in the State Museum's collections -- not sculpture for its own sake, but three-dimensional art intended to enhance the look and function of an object of everyday use," said George Hamell, State Museum historian. "As with all Seneca-Iroquois art, there is a story lying just beneath the surface, known to its creator, but not always accessible to the viewer."

"We are proud to offer a postage stamp celebrating local Native American artwork," said Esposito. "We congratulate the New York State Museum on their extensive and diverse displays of American history and culture."

The Art of the American Indian commemorative stamps depict the beauty, richness and diversity of talent by artists from several Native American tribes. The pane of 10 jumbo, self-adhesive Art of the American Indian stamps features photographs of 10 American Indian artifacts dating from around the 11th century A.D. to circa 1969. Descriptive text on the back of the stamps includes an overview and specific information about each of the ten objects. To see the Art of the American Indian stamps and other images from the 2004 Commemorative Stamp Program, visit the Postal Store at www.usps.com/shop and click on "Release Schedule" in the Collector's Corner.

The New York State Museum is a program of the New York State Department of Education, the University of the State of New York and the Office of Cultural Education. Started in 1836, the Museum has the longest continuously operating state natural history research and collection survey in the United States. Located at the Empire State Plaza on Madison Avenue in Albany, the Museum is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Admission is free and the Museum is fully accessible. Further information about programs and events can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.

The New York State Museum is located on Madison Avenue in Albany. It is open 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week throughout the year except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Further information about programs and events can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.