Showing 386 results

Authority record
Moroni Taylor George
Person · d. 2009 November 03

Moroni Taylor "Mac" George was a Navy veteran of World War II, and is believed to be the first Catawba to ever serve as a police officer. In the 1950s and early 1960s, he was also a star of the small-town wrestling circuit, where he competed as "Chief Yellowbird." He married his wife, Evelyn McAbbe George, in 1945, while on a 3-day pass from the Navy, and after the war they moved to York, Sc, where Mac worked at cotton mills and service stations, wrestling on the side, until he joined the City of York Police in 1964, where he served for 23 years.

Corporate body · 1990 - 2020

During the late 1980s, Early Fred Sanders and Dr. Wenonah George Haire formed the Catawba Cultural Task Force to begin collecting, preserving, and perpetuating the history and culture of the Catawba people. In 1990, this project was organized into the Catawba Cultural Preservation Project (CCPP), housed in the former Catawba Indian School building, which was donated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and subsequently moved from it's original location behind the LDS Church on Reservation Road, to its current location at 1536 Tom Steven Road. When the Catawba Indian Nation (CIN) regained Federal recognition in 1993, the Executive Committee of the CIN formalized the CCPP as the entity officially responsible for the collection, preservation, promotion, and education of and about the history, culture, arts, and language of the Catawba to both tribal members and the general public. The CCPP operated as an independent, non-profit organization until 2020, when it became a division of the tribal government.

Georgia Harris
Person · 1905 July 29 - 1997 January 30

Georgia Harris was born on 29 July 1905 in Lancaster County, South Carolina, not far from the Catawba Indian Reservation. Her father, James Harris was a county-paid ferryman on the Catawba River, and his ferry provided the only way to cross the river from York to Lancaster County. Georgia attended the Catawba School on the Reservation, and began learning pottery at the age of nine from her mother, Margaret Harris, and her grandmother, Martha Jane Harris. Pottery trade grew in importance to the family when James Harris died in 1912, and Georgia, her mother, grandmother, sister, and herself all worked clay and sold pottery. At age 21, Georgia married fellow tribal member, William Douglas Harris and reared 2 sons. Georgia continued to make pottery to sell while raising her family, and as the tribe's economic conditions improved, Georgia was able to make pottery simply out of joy. In 1952, a vessel by Georgia won first prize at the York County Fair. Beginning in 1975 Georgia began teaching pottery to other Catawba citizens, and, in 1977, Georgia joined fellow Catawba artists, including Frances Wade and Doris Blue to form a pottery association to promote the Catawba's traditional potter's craft among modern Catawba. In 1979, Georgia exhibited and demonstrated at the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery. In 1997, Georgia was named a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment of the Arts. Unfortunately, she passed away on 30 January 1997, before the fellowship could be awarded.

Mildred Blue
Person · DOB unknown - 1997 October 16

Master Potter Mildred Blue was the first member of the Catawba Nation to graduate from high school, and served as a membership roll coordinator for the Catawba Nation. She was a warm, gracious woman, well loved and respected by those who knew her, and an expert pottery teacher.

Catherine Sanders Canty
Person · 1917 February 11 - 1999 February 12

Master Potter Catherine Sanders Canty was born on February 11, 1917 to Idle and Arzada Sanders, and lived most of her life on the reservation. Catherine was a hard worker, an artist, and a collector of many things. She married Billy Canty in 1931, and they started a family two years later. She worked at the J. P. Stevens Cotton Mill for 36 years, and only dedicated herself to up pottery in in her retirement. Recognized as a Master Potter of the Catawba Nation, she delighted in sharing her knowledge of Catawba pottery with school children, and also enjoyed volunteering at the Catawba Cultural Preservation Project. She was known for her specialty effigy, the frog.