Steph Shultes: Steward of the Storytellers
Some careers start with a big dream. Others start with a bored young girl at a summer job and one very persuasive anthropologist mentor. For Stephanie Shultes, SEEC’s 2024 ENLIGHTEN Award winner and director/anthropologist of the Iroquois Museum in Howes Cave, the path to becoming one of the region’s most dedicated cultural stewards wasn’t clearly marked. But it was entirely rooted in place.
“I started as curator here around 1991,” Steph recalls. “Then in 2015, I took over as director — I said I’d do it for a year,” she adds with a laugh. “Ten years later, I’m still here.”
The Iroquois Museum, shaped like a traditional longhouse, offers more than exhibits—it invites visitors into a living story that connects past and present. Located on the ancestral lands of the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka (Mohawk), the museum honors all six Haudenosaunee nations—Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora—through art, history, and land-based education. At the heart of it all are Stephanie Shultes and Chris Johanssen Hanks, two non-native women committed to preserving and sharing the rich culture of the Haudenosaunee people.
“I’ve always felt drawn to Native culture,” Steph says. “Even in second grade, my teacher noticed.”
Family stories hinted at Native ancestry, later confirmed—just barely—by a DNA test. Through curating powerful exhibits—like Separated but Unbroken on the boarding school experience and Baseball’s League of Nations, which honors Native athletes who transformed America’s pastime—Steph helps tell stories of resilience and identity. In addition to curating exhibits, Steph has added her own contribution—clay pot fragments unearthed during an archaeological dig in Schoharie County, now featured in the museum's displays.
Born and raised in Middleburgh, Stephanie’s connection to Schoharie Valley runs deep. After graduating from Middleburgh Central and earning a sociology degree from SUNY Cobleskill, she wondered what came next. That answer came from a neighbor: a summer job at the Old Stone Fort. Stationed at the ticket booth and less than thrilled about it, Steph found herself downstairs from a small, spirited museum with significant stories to tell: the starter home of the Iroquois Museum.
Young museum founder, Chris, who’d spent childhood summers in Schoharie County and eventually moved to the area full-time, spent years interviewing Haudenosaunee artists across the Northeast as part of her PhD research. She had a vision: to create a museum that didn’t just show culture but create a space for stories to live and evolve.
Sensing Stephanie’s curiosity – mmm... boredom – Chris began inviting her into conversations, then small tasks to kill the time. Steph volunteered to paint exhibit cases, helped with events, and then became a member to join archaeological digs (finding the clay pot now on display). Steph quickly realized her heart wasn’t in sociology—it was in anthropology, curation, and Indigenous art. With encouragement from newfound bestie and mentor, Steph returned to UAlbany for a master’s degree in anthropology, joined the museum full-time in 1991 as curator, and planted her roots.
The Iroquois Museum offers something rare: a fully immersive space where culture is not preserved behind glass, but shared, and sewn in fertile soil.
Although it is home to ancient finds, what sets the Iroquois Museum apart is its focus on living culture. Rather than presenting Indigenous history as something of the past, the museum actively celebrates Haudenosaunee voices – visitors can experience everything from raised beadwork, antler carving, basket-making, cornhusk doll demos to youth programs and educational workshops, Indigenous-led storytelling, live dance performances, and artist talks. Beyond its galleries, indoor turtle pond and covered outdoor amphitheater, the museum opens onto a 45-acre Nature Park through woodland and gardens marked with native species descriptions.
The museum’s biggest weekend arrives each Labor Day, when artists, dancers, and families gather for the Annual Iroquois Arts Festival—a two-day celebration of Haudenosaunee creativity. The Sky Dancers from Six Nations Reserve in Ontario have been coming since year one doing traditional social dances. And Stephanie and Chris still source many of the museum’s pieces by personally connecting with artists at the festival. “Some of the artists we used to buy from are no longer with us,” Stephanie says. “But their children and grandchildren are now carrying that torch.” When Steph and Chris set off on their annual buying trips, ‘the girls are coming’ is the excited whisper vining through the Six Nations.
Still, despite decades of storytelling and tradition, many locals have never stepped inside.
“That’s what we’re working on,” Stephanie says. “Making sure people realize this is a living, breathing part of Schoharie County. You can come here and see a dance, talk to an artist, volunteer alongside natives or learn something you never heard in school.”
Steph’s down-to-earth friendly nature makes the Iroquois Museum a welcoming space for all. Loved by volunteers and respected by the community, she’s helped build a bridge between local residents and Native Americans. The Iroquois Museum is a living legacy and thanks to Steph’s 30+ years of stewardship, the longhouse stands.
“If you don’t love it,” Steph Shultes, director/anthropologist at the Iroquois Museum recalls while petting Little Boy the museums live-in orange kitty and fundraising extraordinaire, “what’s the point.”
RESOURCE BIN
Human
Steph Shultes, Director/Anthropologist at Iroquois Museum & SEEC Enlighten Awardee
Christina Johannsen Hanks, Founder & Board President at Iroquois Museum
Colette Lemmon, Curator of Exhibitions, iroquoismuseumlemmon@gmail.com
Heather Livengood, Assistant to the Director, heather@iroquoismuseum.org
Mike Tarbell, Cultural Interpreter, tarbelam@cobleskill.edu
Little Boy, Chief Feline Officer (CFO), @iroquoismuseumkitty ~ He has raised 14k!
Physical
Iroquois Museum: P.O. Box 7, 324 Caverns Road, Howes Cave, NY 12092. May 1 - Oct 31: Tues-Sat. 10 to 5; Sun. 12 to 5
Upcoming Events or Volunteer!
Financial
Nicholas J. Juried Family Foundation, Fenimore Asset Management, Golub Corporation, Sterling Insurance, Stewarts Shops, Walmart
New York State Council on the Arts & Mid Atlantic Arts
SEEC Resiliency Fund, Covid Relief
Become a Member, Sponsor a Tile or Donate!
Intellectual/Industry
Sociology Degree, Social Sciences, SUNY Cobleskill
Masters Degree, Anthropology, SUNY Albany
Research Library: Iroquois Museum Archives and Special Collections
Learning Longhouse – Haudenosaunee means the “People of the Longhouse." They are also known as the Iroquois. The Iroquois Confederacy is a United Nations made up of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora Nations. Haudenosaunee traditional territory extended from the Schoharie Creek through the Mohawk Valley to the Genesee River. There is some debate regarding when the Iroquois Confederacy was established. Historians and archeologists agree that it was in existence by 1630. The oral tradition of the Haudenosaunee state that the Confederacy was founded more than 1,000 years ago “on the last day that the green corn was ready”. The Haudenosaunee are matrilineal. Each person belongs to the same clan as his or her mother. The nine principle clans include the Bear, Wolf, Turtle, Beaver, Heron, Snipe, Hawk, Deer, and Eel.
The Iroquois Museum’s iconic bear logo was inspired by a traditional Iroquois story about how the Bear Clan came to be the keepers of the medicine. The Museum’s vision was to serve as a place of “good medicine” and promote understanding between native and non-native peoples. Today, we continue to be that place. The design is based on this wooden bear carving by artist Eva Fadden, Mohawk, Wolf Clan from Akwesasne.
Digital
Website, Facebook, Youtube
Phone: (518) 296-8949
info@iroquoismuseum.org
Themed Virtual Tours
Educational Programs
Educational Video Links
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