Pretending to be a Native American in the “Pageant at Cooperstown.” From a set of postcards put out by Brown Brothers; it is likely that the photographs are from Cooperstown’s James Fenimore Cooper Sesquicentennial Celebration in August and September of 1940. These are from Auger Down Books but Abe Books has a set too.

Photographs 1 Minute
Actors dressed as leather- and fur-clad pioneers, and others in war bonnets and loincloths being Indians/Native Americans. Part of the “Pageant at Cooperstown” which was part of the Cooperstown’s James Fenimore Cooper Sesquicentennial Celebration in August and September of 1940. American. Brown Brothers, publishers. Image © 2026 Auger Down Books. Fair use license. https://www.augerdownbooks.com/pages/books/List2819/american-authors-upstate-new-york-brown-brothers/eight-real-photo-postcards-likely-from-the-james-fenimore-cooper-sesquicentennial-celebration
Scene with three actors, a riverboat and a birchbark canoe. Hard to tell. Part of the “Pageant at Cooperstown” which was part of the Cooperstown’s James Fenimore Cooper Sesquicentennial Celebration in August and September of 1940. American. Brown Brothers, publishers. Image © 2026 Auger Down Books. Fair use license. https://www.augerdownbooks.com/pages/books/List2819/american-authors-upstate-new-york-brown-brothers/eight-real-photo-postcards-likely-from-the-james-fenimore-cooper-sesquicentennial-celebration
Actors who might be portraying the parents of James Fenimore Cooper. Maybe not. Hard to tell. Part of the “Pageant at Cooperstown” which was part of the Cooperstown’s James Fenimore Cooper Sesquicentennial Celebration in August and September of 1940. American. Brown Brothers, publishers. Image © 2026 Auger Down Books. Fair use license. https://www.augerdownbooks.com/pages/books/List2819/american-authors-upstate-new-york-brown-brothers/eight-real-photo-postcards-likely-from-the-james-fenimore-cooper-sesquicentennial-celebration

James Fenimore Cooper wrote “The Last of the Mohicans” and other novels. Also, I’ve been to Cooperstown but a long time ago. After summer camp ended, my grandparents would take two grandchildren at a time (there were five of us altogether) and we would take week long trips going to various places in upstate New York. One year they took myself and my sister to Cooperstown.

Learn more about the pageant here https://jfcoopersociety.org/content/04-crit/articles/nyhistory/1941nyhistory-sesquicentennial.htm

Published by sarahbguestperry

On a voyage to see how much mileage I can get from the creative ability and eye for images that my family thought was useless. On line art curator, fiction writer and now blogger. Historian's daughter. Follow me . . .even I have no idea where I'm going next.

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