AN OUTLINE OF SENECA CEREMONIES AT COLDSPRING LONGHOUSE

By William N. Fenton '31 (Yale University Publications in An- thropology, No. 9, 23 pp. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1936).

There is always a certain amount of satisfaction in reviewing the work of a former student, all the more so when the job is well done as is Mr. Fenton's study of Seneca Indian ceremonies. Following his graduation from Dartmouth William Fenton entered Yale University where he did graduate work in anthropology interspersed with archaeological field work in Nebraska and field studies among the Seneca Indians of New York state. At present he is in the government Indian service with headquarters at Akron. N. Y., on the Tonawanda Indian Reservation.

The paper under consideration is a detailed analysis of ancient Seneca religious ceremonies, largely agricultural in character, which have come down through the generations and are still carried on by the so-called "pagan" members of the tribe, i.e. the small group who have not embraced Christianity. Field anthropology in America today is largely a race against time in an effort to record what yet remains of the old Indian cultures before all vestiges are irretrievably lost. Mr. Fenton's detailed study of one particular aspect of a native religion does just this and does it well. He is further to be complimented on the inclusion of his paper in the newly initiated Yale University Publications in Anthropology, a series that will help fill a definite gap in anthropological publications.