First Adirondackers Author Discussion

John Brown Farm will host a book talk with the authors of The First Adirondackers: 12,000 Years of Indigenous Peoples in the Adirondack Uplands on Sunday, April 12, 2026, from 3-4:30pm. Authors Curt Stager and David Kanietakeron Fadden will discuss their work followed by a question-and-answer session and reception.

The First Adirondackers challenges the belief that the Adirondack uplands were uninhabited before the arrival of European settlers. Through local indigenous traditions, natural science, and archaeological finds, Stager and Fadden reveal and honor the long human presence in the Adirondacks, helping to redefine what it means to be an Adirondacker and contributing to a more complete understanding of America.

Curt Stager is a scientist and educator at Paul Smiths College. He explores climate change, human interactions with the natural world, and environmental history, and has authored several books in those fields, including Deep Future: The Next 100,000 Years of Life on Earth.

David Kanietakeron Fadden is a Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) artist who grew up in the Adirondack Mountains, in Onchiota, NY. He leads the Six Nations Iroquois Cultural Center in Onchiota, conceived and created by his grandparents, Ray Tehanetorens and Christine Skawennati Fadden. He is an educator and master storyteller whose illustrations have appeared in several books.