Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Princess Red Wing was born Mary Glasko in 1896. She was of Narragansett and Wampanoag descent and spent her life teaching about the history and culture of the Native peoples of southern New England.
She was known as a storyteller and speaker and traveled widely to schools, churches and civic groups.
The museum
In 1958 Princess Red Wing and anthropologist Eva Butler founded the Tomaquag Museum, then in the village of Arcadia in Exeter. It was one of the first museums in the region devoted to Native history and culture told by Native people.
She also edited the Narragansett Dawn, a newsletter focused on Narragansett language, customs and news, in the 1930s.
Lasting legacy
Princess Red Wing served as a delegate to the United Nations on Indigenous issues and was a keeper of Narragansett traditions, including the annual August Meeting powwow, one of the oldest recorded powwows in North America.
She died in 1987. The Tomaquag Museum continues her work with exhibits, school programs and Native artists, and it received a national medal from the Institute of Museum and Library Services in 2016.
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