The Art and the Romance of Indian Basketry / Clark Field Collection, Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, 1964

ROASTING TRAYS
c. 1890
Yurok—California
Modoc—Oregon

Case No. 12:

These three trays are used for roasting shelled nuts such as hazel nuts and pinon nuts. The nuts are placed on the tray along with red-hot wood coals. A revolving motion is applied to the tray and the coals are rolled so deftly that they do not burn the tray. (See Plate 9d)

CORN HUSK (or “Sally”) BAGS
c. 1850
Umatilla—Oregon

Case No. 10:

This specimen was made of a hemp foundation and false embroidery of twisted corn husks. Vegetable dyes were used.

The name “Sally Bag” goes back to an older use of the term sally, meaning “to go forth,” “to sally forth,” i.e. to travel.

The bags were used as travel bags and were tied to the back of the cantle of the saddle. They were known to have been in use at the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1805. (See Plate 15a)

EFFIGY—TRINKETS
Alibamu of Texas, formerly of Alabama
Papago of Arizona

Case Nos. 2 and 13:

These baskets are unique works of art. Each shows considerable creativity. The Alibamu turkey basket made of pine cones and the Papago owl made of Yucca plant are used as trinket baskets. In more recent years, additional types have been made in the form of birds, frogs, turtles, alligators, armadillos, etc. These baskets have proven quite popular and have therefore become an asset to the economy of the craftsman. (See Plates 5c & 5d)

IMBRICATED WEAVE
Yakima—Toppenish, Washington

Case No. 11:

The Latin word Imbrex means tile; imbricated means overlapping like tiles or a decoration resembling tiles. This basket is an excellent example of the imbricated weave.

This basket was formerly used for cooking and is now used in berry picking. There are four different materials used in the construction: the foundation is coiled, split cedar roots; the white color is bleached mountain grass; the dark red is cherry tree bark; the brown is cedar bark. (See Plate 5a)

BIRCHBARK
Various Tribes

Case No. 8:

Many items are made from birch-bark by the Indians in areas where the birch tree grows in abundance. Like many other cultures, the Indian used objects for daily use which required the least effort to make. Birch-bark lends itself readily to easy construction.

Shown here are many forms of birch-bark construction: boxes, buckets, creels, trays, etc.

Plate 3d: Algonquin fishing creel

Plate 7c: Algonquin canoe box

Plate 7d: Chippewa storage box

Plate 8c: Chippewa wild rice gathering tray

SQUASH BLOSSOM
Pima—Arizona

Case No. 7:

The decorative motif of these baskets is actually thought of by the Pima weaver as a “progressive design,” rather than that of a squash blossom. The design is executed in sequences of three to twelve petals, one of a sequence to each basket. Only two complete sets (ten baskets to a set) are known to exist. They are no longer made.

These baskets were used for such things as winnowing grain and gathering fruit and vegetables. (See Plate 9b)

PORCUPINE QUILL DECORATION
c. 1903
Chippewa—Minnesota

Case No. 2:

One of the finest examples of the Indian woman’s native creative arts is found in porcupine quill decoration. The artist formerly prepared her own dyes from berries, roots, barks, etc. Today, aniline dyes are used almost exclusively. Steps used in the preparation of quills for bark decoration are as follows:

The artist usually divides the quills into four lengths and stores them in separate containers because they differ in length and thickness (one to four inches long and 1/16 to 3/32 inches thick). The quills are washed well in soap root before being dyed, and stored. When she is ready to use the quills she softens them in her mouth. The warmth and moisture are most effective and it is thought that the saliva contains some special property that makes them more pliable. She generally keeps a number of the quills of the same size and color in one cheek with the points protruding from her lips, pulling out a quill as it is needed. Small holes are punched in the bark with an awl and the quill is inserted in these holes. The ends are bent over on the back side of the bark to hold them in place. By using quills of the desired length to fit the decoration, it is not necessary to cut them. The quill swells and stiffens as it dries, making it even more secure.

In most boxes, so decorated, a plain undecorated piece of bark is fitted on the inside (or back side) to hide the raw ends of the quills. Three to four thousand quills are required to cover a box the size of the one shown in Plate 1a. Vegetable dyes were used on the quills of this box and have not faded in more than fifty years. (See Plate 1a)

MINIATURES

Case No. 2:

Indian women make these to show their skill in weaving. In similar fashion, the Anglo has engraved the Lord’s Prayer on the head of a straight pin in order to illustrate his skill.

The principal, and interesting difference is: the Anglo uses a magnifying glass and the Indian women do not.

MOOSE HAIR EMBROIDERY
c. 1875
Huron—Province of Quebec, Canada

Case No. 3:

This basket and the basket from Maine are rare examples of the old Indian art of moose hair embroidery. A cluster of very fine hair grows from the withers of the wild moose and this hair, dyed in suitable colors, is used for the embroidery.

The art of this type embroidery probably dates back to about 1714, at which time the natives used this method of decoration for their own buckskin clothing. It is believed that these people were taught the art at convents after the steel needle was introduced into this country from Europe in the eighteenth century. However, there is no proof of this theory.

It is interesting to note other unique examples of decorative art by these people; i.e., the drilling of seed pearls the size of the head of a straight pin and in turn, sewing these pearls on cloth or fiber. With crude tools, they created rare and beautiful works of decorative art which would be difficult for us to duplicate with today’s precision tooling.

After adopting Anglo-style clothing these Indians practiced moose hair embroidery art on trinkets such as these until it became almost extinct by 1890. Specimens such as these are rare even in museums. (See Plate 8d)

Passamaquoddy—Malecite
Maine

This is a birch bark box covered with red cloth and decorated with moose hair embroidery. (See Plate 8d)

WHALEBONE (Baleen)
Eskimo—Point Barrow, Alaska

Case No. 3:

The Baleen used in the weaving of this basket is found in the upper jaw of the Bowhead, or Alaskan Right Whale. This horny substance is pulled into various sized strips. While it is still fresh it is flexible and can be woven as easily as fiber. The same weaving technique used in making coiled baskets from grass roots is also used in the construction of this basket.

An Alaskan trader is credited with having taught the Eskimos to use Baleen as a weaving medium. The art was almost extinct until a few years ago when the U. S. Indian Arts and Crafts Board gave needed encouragement to the craftsmen.

The Bowhead, or Right Whale, is not plentiful at Point Barrow; only two or three such whales are caught during a good year. Some years none are caught.

Two factors are predominate in making this type of basketry scarce: 1) lack of Baleen, 2) the fifty hours necessary for a skillful craftsman to construct the specimen.

The decorative ivory figure on the lid of the basket is made of walrus tusk. (See Plate 1b)

ALEUT ISLAND BASKETRY
c. 1860 and c. 1939-1944
Attu—Attu Island, Alaska

Case No. 6:

The baskets shown in display case no. 6, are the finest weave known to have been made in North America.

Woven in about thirty days, the average size basket may have up to 10,000 stitches to the square inch. The finest machine made cotton sheeting has 3600 stitches to the square inch.

The dark toned baskets were made about 1860 and the lighter toned ones were made between 1939 and 1944.

These specimens are made by the Aleut Indian women of a beach grass (Wild Rye) which grows on Attu Island. The stems and blades are about the size of wheat straw, and the Aleut women split them with their finger nails.

In 1741, Russian explorers discovered and settled the Aleutian Islands. They later found that the native women were wrapping their dead with finely woven, narrow strips of grass fiber and placing the bodies in caves.

Russians then encouraged the Aleuts to weave baskets of this same product. In the normal course of events, the Russians influenced the use of silk and cotton thread decorations on the baskets.

In 1948, Edward L. Keithan, curator of The State Museum of Alaska, made a field trip to the Aleutian Islands and found only three women still practicing this fine art of basketry. Today, there is no continuance of this art. (See Plates 1c & 1d)

GAMBLING DEVICES

Case No. 2:

Illustrated here are several types of gambling devices used by North American Indians:

Pomos of California, used a mat on which they threw their counters. (See Plate 4b)

Seneca-Cayuga of New York, used a wooden bowl and six flat, polished peach seeds for their famous “Peach Seed Game.” This bowl was brought to Oklahoma about 1840. (See Plate 4c)

Cheyennes of Oklahoma, used a basket bowl with wooden counters.

Pawnees of Nebraska, used a basket tray. This is the only type of basketry known to have been made by them. This basket was made before they were removed to Oklahoma. (See Plate 4d)

Klamaths of Oregon, used a different gambling device in that it was more of a guessing game. The mat covered the hands of the operator. The two bones are held, one in each hand, and rotated. The bet was made on the turn of the selected bone. These counters were usually made from the foreleg of a deer or elk.

The Mongolian culture is well known to have a strong interest in gambling games. Some anthropologists tell us that the North American Indians came to this country many years ago across the Bering Sea from Asia and that they are descendants of the Mongolians in that area.

MANIOC PRESS
Carib—Guatemala and Venezuela

Case No. 13:

Indians of Mexico, Central America, northern South America and the Caribbean Islands used this press to remove poison (Hydrocyanic Acid) from the Manioc root. This root is similar to the root used in the preparation of tapioca. The Indians process the root to make a flour which is used in a native bread. This type of press was in use by these people as early as 892 A.D. and in some areas is still being used today.

To remove the poison from Manioc the root is pounded, then stuffed into the basket, causing it to expand in girth and to shorten in length. (The particular type of diagonal twill weave used in this basket press permits a girth expansion to twice its former size and a reduction in length of about one-half its original size.) The press is then submerged in water and soaked until thoroughly saturated. When it is removed from the water the press is hung by the loop end, usually on a branch. The foot or a weight is put on the closed end of the press and this creates a squeezing action which removes the poison from the root inside. At this point the press changes shape and becomes long and narrow again. This process is repeated several times to assure the removal of the poison. (See Plate 11a)

BABY CRADLES

Case No. 5:

The art of making basket cradles is almost lost today. However, the wooden cradle is still made and used extensively by many tribes; this is especially so in the Pueblo tribes.

The following illustrates the use of baby cradles by some basket making tribes: Hoopas, of California, used a sit-down type cradle—the baby is seated in, and tied to, the cradle; Hopis, of Arizona and Frazier River, of Washington, used the cradle for putting the baby to sleep holding the cradle in their arms; tribes such as Mono-Paiute and Pomo, of California, and Ute of Colorado, used the cradle by placing it on the mother’s back.

There are more than six hundred Indian dialects. The Ute word for cradle is Ahcacon. When asked, what the Indian word for “cradle,” or “baby board” is, it is impossible to answer. Because of the many dialects it is easily understandable that there are numerous words for this object, just as the word would be different in Spanish, Swedish, German or Russian. (See Plates 3a, 3b & 3c)

BLOW GUN AND QUIVER
Cherokee—North Carolina.

Case No. 1:

Made of wild cane and six feet long, this type blow gun was used for shooting poison darts. Some guns are as long as twenty feet. A blow gun is extraordinary in that it has for example, the power to shoot a dart a quarter of an inch into a pine door. This power is probably due to the choke bore design of the gun.

The darts are fifteen to eighteen inches long and are made of locust wood. They are sharpened and hardened over a flame at one end and, at the opposite end are wrapped at an angle with the silk from a thistle plant. As the air is blown into the gun the thistle silk fluffs and creates a shoulder to blow against. The dart is retarded in its movement by the taper of the bore. It is not known what implement was employed to produce this tapered bore.

Many years ago this type blow gun, with poison darts, was used in warfare by the Cherokee, Choctaw, Catawaba, and Houma tribes. Displayed with the blow gun and darts is the basket quiver which held the darts. These specimens were brought to Oklahoma before 1860, by the grandfather of Jim Backwater. (See Plate 21)

The Clark Field Collection of Indian Baskets is composed of one thousand and ninety six specimens, as of date (1964), from throughout North America and represents almost every basket making tribe of that area. Due to the wide scope of tribal representation and the beauty of these outstanding specimens, this collection is rated by the U. S. Indian Arts and Crafts Board as the most outstanding Indian basket collection in North America.

Plate No. 1

Plate No. 2

Plate No. 3

PLATE No. 4

Plate No. 5

Plate No. 6

Plate No. 7

Plate No. 8

Plate No. 9

Plate No. 10

Plate No. 11

Plate No. 12

Plate No. 13

Plate No. 14

Plate No. 15

Plate No. 16

Plate No. 17

Plate No. 18

Plate No. 19

Plate No. 20

Plate No. 21

ROOT RUNNER BASKETRY

Reprint from Philbrook Brochure, 1952
by Clark Field

INTRODUCTION

The purpose that a foreword serves to the reading public is ostensibly to express its writer’s endorsement of the material presented and of the mode of treatment. In this instance the purpose is heartily avowed. The monograph in hand forms a contribution to the series of studies being pursued widely among scholars whose aim is to piece together portions of the picture of culture of the Indians of the Southeast. Our knowledge of the culture properties of native tribes in any area where their development has been going on for centuries in their original seats comes necessarily by gradual steps. These may seem disconnected in the minds of laymen who are in haste to see the whole story completed. Perhaps only the pioneer investigator knows how long and intimately a people must be studied by dwelling in their midst before their ways of life become clear enough to be understood and discussed. Collections of data, historical, descriptive and functional, have to be made and preserved in the form of notes and actual specimens. When these ends are accomplished, the picture of tribal life takes definite shape, and another gap in the history of a people is closed. These are the requirements for carrying on in a somewhat new undertaking in the line of history, namely ethno-history.

Studies of a people’s physical structure, their psychology, language, religion and government contribute their share. On the material side their crafts developed to supply economic needs and the art involved in the crafts themselves must be illustrated with accumulations of specimens. These requirements the author of the following study has had well in mind for a considerable space of time, and he has treated them with conservative judgment and a regard for their implications with botany and ecology. Such remarks applied to the paper constitute the ethnologist’s endorsement.

It is a splendid thing for man of the present to take time to stabilize his mind to contemplating the achievements of tribes inhabiting our continent as a prologue to the affairs of the present. Where is the brash critic to persist in the claim that the natives of America have no original elements of “civilization” either from the early or late past, or in the present? The Cherokee have provided an answer. Contemporary literature has amassed the evidence nor alone in the series of volumes from the University of Oklahoma Press, but in prose and poetry known throughout the nation. It offers a compendious chapter in the epic of America. Each additional study adds a paragraph of importance to the whole.

The study to follow contributes a detail of existing knowledge of the art-crafts of the Cherokee. As such it will prove to be another source reference to the Cherokee way of life in art and its expression in concrete form. The utilities have been and still are to Indians a means of finding outlet for their aesthetic urges. Art and crafts are merged in the output. Other fields lie open for further attempts to perform its functions in national life by issuing successive publications dealing with its cultural material, thus laying foundations for that basic teaching we fondly call Americanism.

FRANK G. SPECK Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1952

ROOT RUNNER BASKETRY

The association of root-runner basket forms in America would show a number of instances of use of a “Rod” as a one rod foundation for coiled baskets occurring originally in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and on the plains.[1] This technologically simple form of basket building material has implications bearing upon the age and area theory that challenges attention on a wider scale. Apart from the coiling process, a single rod construction appears in the Southeast in wicker work. What conclusions a broader study of single rod basketry (to which class the root runner series belongs) in any of its constructional forms, whether in coiling or wicker work, would lead to is quite beyond the purpose of this article.

It is the intent of the writer to record a simple phase of basketry technique in the southern middle Atlantic slope and the northern part of the south and southeast area, as it applies to the Cherokee of the North Carolina highlands and of Oklahoma. In these areal habitats the two subdivisions of the tribe make use of three diverse plant types, the use of which in basketry construction in some districts does not overlap or coincide. In Carolina an earlier root-runner style has either passed out of memory or never existed among the Cherokee Indians, but came in later through acculturative changes. As far as has been ascertained, all fine root runner fibers used in the making of Indian baskets belong to two family groups, the botanical names of which are Caprifoliceae and Crataegus.

To the first family group belong:

Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera Japonica)

A vine introduced into America from Asia around 1906.[2]

Buckbrush (Symphoricarpos Orbiculatus)

Also called Indian Currant and Coral Berry.

To the second family belong:

Wild Hawthorne (Crataegus Crus Galli)

The Yuki Indians of California made a basket out of the stems of a native honeysuckle (Lonicera Interrupta). It, however does not have fine root runners.[3]