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North American Indian Concert Band archive
mssIndianconcert
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Table of contents
Title: North American Indian Concert Band archive
Dates: 1882-1938
Collection Number: mssIndianconcert
Extent:
Approximately 202 items in 2 boxes
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Manuscripts Department
The Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2203
Fax: (626) 449-5720
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection consists of business cards, correspondence, documents, financial records, photographs, printed matter, and
photographs related to the North American Indian Concert Band, Onondago Tribe from Syracuse, New York.
Language of Material: The records are in English and German.
Collection is open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information,
please go to following
web site .
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and
obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
North American Indian Concert Band archive, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Purchased from Cowan's Auction American History Sale, Lot 271, November 20, 2015.
Carl (Karl) Wahler was a German-American who emigrated from Augsburg, Germany to the United States in 1882. When he was 50,
he returned to Germany to tour with the Onondaga people. David Russell Hill was a Native American man who was reportedly Chief
of the Onondaga Indians. The Onondaga people are part of the Iroquois, "People of the Longhouse." During the 1910s, they lived
on a reservation near Syracuse, New York, where the people reside today.
Around the same time Buffalo Bill closed his Wild West Show, David R. Hill and Karl Wahler tried to capitalize on the remaining
Europeans and Americans who were still fascinated by the American West and American Indians. The men planned a grand tour
through Europe with the American Indian Concert Band, "the only concert band in the world of its kind [with] unlimited repertoire,
picturesque costumes, [and] a host of novelties and effects." The show sensationalized the American Indians, but on the other
hand, offered work and the opportunity to travel.
This collection of items relates to the North American Indian Concert Band and performances from the 1910s as well as attempts
to reassemble the band in 1926. The bulk of the letters are from David Russell Hill (director) and Carl Wahler (manager).
As a Native American businessman, Hill demanded fair wages for himself and his men. In the middle of negotiating their European
tour, Hill wrote to Wahler: "I know the people in Germany think that I am charging an unreasonable high price but Mr. Wahler
you realize fully what this means to me, toyou [sic], and to this country..." (May 7, 1910). There are also several letters
from Wahler's sons Arthur and Eddie. In one letter, Arthur asks for money to assemble a "coon band" because "it cost running
around after these coon" [undated]. The majority of the men in the band came from American Indian Schools. They were trained
to play classical and marching band music, not traditional Native American songs. There is a hand-written list of band members
that shows many of the men were from Southwestern tribes and a few from the Onondaga. The postcards (mostly duplicates) illustrate
the band's elaborate costumes while holding Western instruments. The program from the Red Star Line shows that the band played
American and European concert pieces. As a novelty, the band occasionally played stereotypical songs that did not necessarily
properly represent the heritage and diversity of the Native American members' tribe.
There are two volumes in Box 2. The first volume is a diary of sorts with names of Native American band members, notes pertaining
to venues, and financial records from the tour in 1910. There is an index for the second volume and it lists names of band,
accounts, postal card account, contracts, transportation, and Hill's pay.
Cataloger's note: Some of the material in German.
Carl Wahler's wicker traveling trunk came with the collection but was discarded per the Curator. The trunk was photographed
and can be seen on the
Huntington Digital Library
Hill, David Russell
Wahler, Carl
Indian musicians
Indians of North America--New York (State)
Musical groups
Onondaga Indians
Performances
Germany
Syracuse (N.Y.)
Business cards
Business records
Financial records
Letters (correspondence)
Photographs
Postcards
Printed ephemera