Native Americans in the Northeast have woven baskets and bags from plant materials for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years. Fragments of wood splint baskets have been recovered in New York and Pennsylvania on archaeological sites dating as far back as the 1500s and 1600s.

Surviving splint baskets from the late-1700s through the mid-1800s were utilitarian containers used by both Native Americans and European colonists. Large baskets were used for storing clothes, hats and household goods. Interiors were rough and were often lined with newspaper to protect stored items. Smaller baskets were used as sewing baskets, fruit baskets and picnic baskets. They were often decorated by swabbing, stamping or painting natural pigments on the outside of individual splints.

Native Americans in the Northeast travelled door-to-door to sell these baskets to their non-Native neighbors. Non-Natives also travelled to Native encampments to purchase them. In nearby Hopkinton, New Hampshire residents purchased baskets from Native women who were living on the banks of the Contoocook River. - Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum

<em>Yarn Basket</em> (c. 1760) by Penacook Abenaki Indians

Yarn Basket, c. 1760, Ash Splint, Abenaki, Housed at the Hopkinton Historical Society

<em>Wall Basket</em> (late 1700s to mid 1800s)

Wall Basket, late 1700s to mid 1800s, Ash Splint, Abenaki, Housed at the Hopkinton Historical Society

<em>Berry Basket With Handwritten Note</em> (1840)

Berry Basket with Note - Berry Basket, 1840, Ash Splint & Hong Kong Cord, Abenaki, Housed at the Hopkinton Historical Society

Berry Basket with Floral Design (c. 1840)

Berry Basket, c. 1840, Ash Splint, Possibly Mohegan, Housed at Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum

<em>Utilitarian Basket</em> (mid-late 1800s) by unknown Abenaki woman

Farm Basket, mid-late 1800s, Wood Splint, Abenaki, Housed at the Hopkinton Historical Society