Indigenous Student Union Display

Items in the case are shared with the Quinnipiac community by Aiyana Baker from the Indigenous Student Union. They hold very special family and tribe memories for her.

View of the display case from the top. From left to right it contains a blue blanket with geometric patters, a bead bracelet and necklace, a dreamcatcher, books, photographs, and a news clipping. the items are described in more detail below.

Blanket, Jewelry, Dreamcatcher

A blue blanket, with geometric patterns in white, and shades of brown and blue. The blanket is folded to about 9 inches by 18 inches. A necklace and bracelet, both of alternating round turquoise and long ivory-colored beads, displayed in concentric circles about 3 inches and 5 inches in diameter

Chief Harold Tantaquidgeon

Close-up of the photo of Chief Harold Tantaquidgeon as an elder, to show his face with fewer reflections. He is wearing a dark sweater, a light shirt, and a dark red bandana tied at the neck with the ends tucked in.

Gladys and Chief Harold Tantaquidgeon

Three 8 inch by 10 inch photographs and a news clipping. Top: Photo of a painting of Gladys Tantaquidgeon as an elder, standing in front of a portrait of a male elder. She is depicted as an elder, and is wearing a red cap and jacket, and a black shirt with a silver and turquoise pin at the neck. The elder in the background portrait is wearing a feathered cap, a dark blue shirt, and a red vest. Center right: A photograph of Harold Tantaquidgeon standing behind a table with a model of a wigwam (dome-shaped, bark-covered one-story house) and two people in traditional brown work clothes bending over a leather skin spread out on the ground. There are branches with leaves in the lower right of the photo. Behind Chief Tantaquidgeon ai the same photo of a male elder as in the picture of Gladys Tantaquidgeon as an adult, and a window ledge with smaller framed pictures and photographs. Bottom left: A photograph of Gladys Tantaquidgeon as a child. She is sitting outdoors in a chair, wearing a ruffled white dress, and holding what appears to be a book or a picture. Her hair is tied back in ponytails that frame her face. Bottom Right: A news clipping from Grit, from 1978, described separately below.

Main Points of the Newspaper Article:

Lo Bella, N. (1978, Oct. 8). Last of the Mohegans Indian chief relives past at museum. Grit, pp. 30.

In 1978, about a dozen families, or about 35 people lived on Mohegan tribal lands near Uncasville, CT.
The Tantaquidgeon Indian Museum was built in 1931. Chief Harold Tantaquidgeon greeted visitor personally at the time the article was written.
Aque is “hello” in the Mohegan language.
The Tantaquidgeon symbol is lines crossed like an X with four dots between its arms. The lines represent the four winds or four main compass point, and the dots are for the four ancestors: Chief Uncas, Tantaquidgeon (a warrior and captain under Uncas), Chief Sassacus, and the Rev. Samson Occom (one of the founders of Dartmouth College).
The honor of Chief was bestowed on Harold Tantaquidgeon after his service as a tail gunner on a B-25 bomber in World War II. The aircraft was shot down over New Guinea, and his actions saved the lives of the other crewmembers.
The biographical details in this article were taken from the book, Mohegan Chief: the Story of Harold Tantaquidgeon, by Virginia Frances Voight.
The last paragraphs of the article are not readable in the display.

The article includes a photograph of Chief Taqntaquidgeon. He is wearing a light jacket with the Tantaquidgeon symbol, a dark shirt, and a western-style hat. He is standing at the door of a building next to a mailbox with the Tantaquidgeon symbol. There is a winter squash displayed on top of the mailbox.

Additional Sources:

Chidlow, & Nora, L. (2021). The long blue line: Harold Tantaquidgeon, chief boatswain’s mate and chief of the Mohegans. United States Coast Guard. MyCG. Retrieved 28 Nov 2022, from https://www.mycg.uscg.mil/News/Article/2839809/the-long-blue-line-harold-tantaquidgeon-chief-boatswains-mate-and-chief-of-the/

Gladys Tantaquidgeon. (2022). Mohegan Tribe. Retrieved 28 Nov 2022, from https://www.mohegan.nsn.us/about/our-tribal-history/in-memoriam/gladys-tantaquidgeon

Tantaquidgeon Museum. (2022). Mohegan Tribe. Retrieved 28 Nov 2022, from https://www.mohegan.nsn.us/explore/museum

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