Browse Items (27 total)

Various Baskets, Plastic, Lumber, and Gourd, AbenakiA History of Adaptation Change through time. In nature, these three words define the process required of all living things for survival. For the Abenaki, they represent the survival of a culture.…

Basket with Cowwiss, Ash Splint and Sweetgrass, Abenaki What Is In A Basket? At first glance this basket might seem like a beautiful decoration or a cherished household item. While the basket is both of these things, there is a history and story…

Pack Basket, Ash Splint, Abenaki The pack basket with a leather harness shown in the picture below is particularly striking and showcases Bill Gould's skill in basketmaking. Used for carrying supplies while out in the woods, the pack basket is 20…

Sweetgrass Fancy Work Basket, Ash Splint and Sweetgrass, Abenaki Before the colonists arrived in America, the Abenaki tribe of New England lived an environmentally efficient and culturally sustainable lifestyle (Porter). Unfortunately, with the…

Pictured: Pack Basket, Ash Splint, Abenaki Introduction The components of an Abenaki basket are not as simple as they appear to be. The amount of physical labor hiding behind even small baskets is immense, perhaps overwhelming for those not familiar…

Basket, Ash Splint, Abenaki The Universal Container We do not think of baskets in a practical way anymore; they are mostly decorative art. If we need a durable container for large dry goods, we are likely to use a plastic bin. Starting in the 1930s,…

Fancy Basket, c. 1900, Ash Splint, Abenaki, Housed at the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum This is a small, purely decorative, fancy basket. The main structure of the basket is tightly woven with light colored ash splints. The even sized and very smooth…

Fancy Basket, c. 1900, Sweetgrass & Ash Splint, Abenaki, Housed at Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum This fancy basket with a flip lid has dark colored handles on the side and a blueish green latch on the front. The edge of the basket is decorated in…

Wall Basket, late 1700s to mid 1800s, Ash Splint, Abenaki, Housed at the Hopkinton Historical Society Probably used to store fruits and vegetables, this basket was made to hang on a hook on the wall (Hopkinton Historical Society). Wide-open spaces at…

Berry Basket, 1840, Ash Splint & Hong Kong Cord, Abenaki, Housed at the Hopkinton Historical Society Made from ash splint and detailed with Hong Kong Cord, this berry basket stands out because of the handwritten note on its ash splints that names…