Will West Long

Will West Long

Artisans

Cherokee Indians

Manners and customs

Mask makers

Wood-carvers

This photograph from the Smithsonian National Anthropological Archives is of Will West Long (1870-1947). The photograph was taken by Franz M. Olbrechts, an ethnographer who worked among the Cherokee from 1926 until 1931. Long served as Olbrechts' ""main informant and interpreter"" in the interviews he conducted for the the U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology. Long was born in the remote western North Carolina community of Big Cove. Raised in the traditions of the Cherokee, Long attended Hampton Institute in Virginia when he was 25 years old. He lived off the Qualla Boundary until 1904, when he returned to Big Cove, where he remained for the rest of his life. For almost 30 years, Long served on Tribal Council, where he was instrumental in establishing the Cherokee Indian Fair, among other accomplishments. He recorded his knowledge regarding Cherokee medicine, carving, music and dance, and language with the hope of preserving tradition. Long was a consultant for ethnologists, James Mooney, Frank Speck, and Franz Olbrechts. An accomplished mask maker, Long died in 1947.

Olbrechts, Frans M., 1899-1958

Photograph Collection

Hunter Library Digital Collections, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723

1926/1927

National Anthropological Archives

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

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photographs

StillImage

11124

https://southernappalachiandigitalcollections.org/object/11124

2009-01-13

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Qualla Boundary

Appalachian Region, Southern

10" x 8"(dimension)

Cherokee Traditions