The Children's Museum | Collections & Resources

Basket

Back basket, Mashpee
Photo courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology

Earl "Chiefie" Mills, Jr. chose the basket because "basketry is a functional part of everyday life. If you are going to get up in the morning and do something, you are probably going to need a basket. Whether it is fishing, working in the fields, harvesting - you need a basket for just about everything. Today, we have other containers that we use. I have a cabinet full of shopping bags. If I had one good basket, I wouldn't need them."

This style of basket is worn on a person's back, with the carrying strap across the chest and over the shoulders. It would be used primarily for harvesting corn and other vegetables.

Mrs. Horatio Amos
Photo courtesy of NMAI

Helen Attaquin
weaving an ash splint basket, 1976
Photo courtesy of The Boston Globe

Ash splint basket by
Phoebe Pocknett, Mashpee
Photo courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology

Finger-woven bag

Partially completed finger-woven bag by Helen Haynes, Aquinnah, 1977



Cedar bark picnic basket by Blanche White, Mashpee, 1976	Finger-woven basket by Tobias Vanderhoop, Aquinnah, 1999	Finger-woven bag by Linda Coombs, Aquinnah, 1977

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