1996-1997 Interns

Kawenniiosta (Yosta) Boots

1996-1997 Harvey W. Branigar, Jr. Native Intern

Kawenniiosta Boots (Yosta) is a traditional Onondaga Iroquois from the Onondaga Reservation, just south of Syracuse, NY. She holds an Associates degree in Commercial Illustration from Cazenovia College and a Bachelors Degree in Art History and Anthropology from the State University of New York at Potsdam.

Yosta has recently completed internships at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, working on the ALCOA Hall of Native Americans, and the Iroquois Indian Museum in Howes Cave, NY. While in residence, she engaged in day-to-day collections management work, museum studies, and increasing her knowledge about southwestern Native American arts and cultures.

She hopes to learn more about Native American arts and cultures from throughout the United States, continue her education in a museum studies graduate program, and use this knowledge to start a tribally operated Iroquois Museum representing the five tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy.