This Ticket and 10c Will Admit You!

Frank Kenjockety and Louis Belmont Newell  Native American Entertainers collection, Box 2, Folder 3. 
National Museum of the American Indian, Archive Center.

At the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, Wild West shows were a major form of entertainment. Native American performers in these shows were frequently hired by non-Natives—most famously, for example, by William Cody of Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show. Frank Kenjockety of the Cayuga Nation, however, created and managed his own shows over the course of forty years. Among the NMAI Archive Center’s collections is a hidden gem: Frank Kenjockety and Louis Belmont Newell Native American Entertainers collection. Although relatively small, the collection contains tickets, flyers, photographs, and broadsides related to Kenjockety’s and Newell’s work as entertainers. Their materials provide an interesting look at what it meant to be a “Show Indian”—engaging in mock battles with cowboys and demonstrating traditional “Indian songs and dances”—at the turn of the century. This post highlights Kenjockety’s collection materials.

Frank Kenjockety and Louis Belmont Newell Native
American Entertainers collection, Box 2, Folder 8.
National Museum of the American Indian, Archive Center.

Frank Kenjockety (Cayuga) was born in 1871 on Cattaraugus territory, Seneca Nation, and the materials in his collection suggest he formed his first vaudeville troupe “Kenjockety’s Hippodrome and Wild West Show” in the early 1900s. The success of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show from the 1880s to 1913 spawned many imitators and much desire from spectators for similar acts. To entice the public, Kenjockety’s broadsides advertised “fancy rope spinning” and “sharp shooting.”

Kenjockety’s troupe traveled the Wild West show circuit by train playing at state fairs, carnivals and circuses and continued to try out different names for their acts including “F.L. Kenjockety’s Society Circus and Frontier Days in Cheyenne” and “Kenjockety’s Frontier Wild West and Indian Village Show.” Both Kenjockety’s wife Leona and daughter Mabel travelled and performed with the troupe. Mabel performed on horseback as early as nine years old and later became a trick rider. 

Portrait of Mabel Kenjockety (~ age 9) on horseback. 1909. Frank Kenjockety and Louis Belmont Newell Native American Entertainers collection, Folder 7 [P33952]. National Museum of the American Indian, Archive Center.

Frank Kenjockety and Louis Belmont Newell
Native American Entertainers collection, Box 2, Folder 2.
National Museum of the American Indian, Archive Center.

Although Kenjockety was Cayuga and employed Native American entertainers in his early Wild West shows it wasn't until the 1920s that Kenjockety adopted the name “Chief Strong Fox.” It was at this time that he also switched up the focus of his troupe from Wild West acts to historical entertainment featuring “Real American Indians in Costume-Direct from U.S. Government Reservation.” 


From the 1920s through the 1930s, Chief Strong Fox and his troupe toured mainly on the east coast visiting many schools in addition to fairs. He became well known for his lectures on Native American History. Although none of his lectures are a part of this collection, Chief Strong Fox collected letters of praise from school officials, which are preserved in a scrapbook. These letters often spoke highly of the educational value of his talks. Chief Strong Fox frequently worked with other troupes like the group pictured below, “Stanley W. Johnson and his Seneca Harmonica Band.”

Prin. Stanley W. Johnson and his Seneca harmonica band (young boys in white shirts) and the six members of Chief Strong Fox's troupe. Fox is standing on far right behind Johnson (kneeling on ground). Fox's wife Leona is center left, while his daughter Mabel is center right. August 1939. Frank Kenjockety and Louis Belmont Newell Native American Entertainers collection, Folder 1 [P33924]. National Museum of the American Indian, Archive Center.

By 1941, the popularity of the group waned and so the troupe disbanded. Kenjockety passed away only three years later. Though of modest size, NMAI’s collection could potentially add a Native perspective to the vast literature on non-Native-owned Wild West shows.

Rachel Menyuk
Archives Technician, NMAI Archive Center