Basketry: Bibliography -- Native American Art

Native Basketry Bibliography
Traditional Pima path of life basket, willow rods, bleached yucca, devil's claw

This famous southwestern pattern -- originated by Pima-Papago (Tohono O'odham) people -- is called a "maze" basket. This name suggests ways of getting lost. But this is a lifepath basket. If you start tracing the path of the human figure at the north entrance, you will find there is one single path. That lifepath takes the person to the center-circle at each of the 4 directions: Youth (northwest), young adult (northeast), wise adult (southwest), elder age (southeast), and finally death (the south nub that closes off the path's continuation). All parts of the path are covered, it is one continuous line, representing a life lived following the Creator's instructions. All (non-Indian) writings about this pattern call it "maze." It's the opposite: a lifepath which (if followed) you cannot get lost.

This is a tribal symbol of community for the modern Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian community. Now follow a reading path traced in this bibliography. Find out more about traditional basketry and the artists who continue the traditions.

Atkinson's Country House. Lennon, MI, is a source of many basketry supplies for the hobbyist who can't dig and process traditional plants. Free catalog. 800/832-2071

Allen, Elsie; Pomo Basketmaking: A Supreme Art for the Weaver, Naturegraph Publishers, Happy Camp, CA: 1972

American Indian Art Magazine: Special Issue on Basketry, Autumn, 1979

Angulo, Jaime de; "The Reminiscences of a Pomo Chief: The Autobiography of William Ralganal Benson," 1935. American Philosophical Society Library, Boas Collection, Philadelphia, Penn.; manuscript no. H5.3

Angulo Jaime de, and William Ralganal Benson; "Stone and Kelsy 'Massacre' on the Shores of Clear Lake in 1849: the Indian Viewpoint;" California Historical Society Quarterly, 11, No 3, (September, 1932).

Bataille, Gretchen M (ed); Native American Women: A Biographical Dictionary, Garland, New York, 1993

Before the Wilderness: Enviromental Management by Native Californians, comp. and ed. T. C. Blackburn, and K. Anderson, 195-211. Ballena Press Anthropological Papers, no. 40. Menlo Park, Calif. 1993

Billy, Susan, "So the Spirit Can Move Freely," All Roads Are Good,, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994

Blue Cloud, Peter; Alcatraz Is Not an Island, Wingbow Press, Berkely: 1972

Brown, Vinson and Douglas Andrews; The Pomo Indians of California and Their Neighbors ed. A. B. Elsasser. Healdsburg, Calif.: Naturegraph Publishers, 1969

Coe, Ralph T.; Lost and Found Traditions: Native American Art, 1965-1985, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1986

Cohodas, Marvin, "Dat So La Lee's Basketry Design," American Indian Art, , vol 1, No. 1, Autumn (1976).

Cohodas, Marvin, "The Breitholle Collection of Washo Basketry," American Indian Art, Vol 10, No 4, Autumn (1984).

Cohodas, Marvin; "Dat So La Lee and the Degikup," Halcyon (1982): 119-140

Collected Documents on the Causes and Events in the Bloody Island Massacre of 1850, ed.R. F. Heizer. Berkeley: University of California Archaeological Research Facility, 1973

Collings, Jerold; "The Yokuts Gambling Tray" American Indian Art, 1, No 1, (1975).

Dick, L.E. et al., Strands of Time: Yokuts, Mono and Miwok BasketmakersFresno, Calif.: Fresno Metropolitan Museum, 1988.

Hirschfelder, Arlene; "Dat-so-la-lee," Artists and Craftspeople (American Indian Lives series), FactsOnFile, New York: 1994

Kroeber, Alfred; Handbook of the Indians of California, Smithsonian Press, 1925, Dover Books reprint, 1972

Lamb, Frank; Indian Baskets of North America, Riverside Museum Press, Riverside, CA, 1972

Lobb, Alan; Indian Baskets of the Northwest Coast, Graphic Arts Center Publishing Co. Portland, OR: 1978

McKee, Barbara and Edwin, Havasupai Baskets and Their Makers, 1930-40, Northland Press, Flagstaff, 1975

Ortiz, Bev; It Will Live Forever: Yosemite Indian Memories, Heyday Books, Berkeley, CA: 1991

Ortiz, Bev; Ortiz, Bev. "Baskets of Dreams;" News from Native California, vol. 2, no. 4 (1988): 28-29.

Ortiz, Bev; entry on "Laura Somersal (Pomo)," in Native American Women: A Biographical Dictionary, ed. Gretchen Bataille, Garland: NY: 1991

Parrish, Otis and Paula Hammet, "Parrish: A Pomo Shaman," Native Self-Sufficiency, 6, 1981: 8-9

Porter, Frank W. (ed); The Art of Native American Basketry, Greenwood Press, New York: 1990

Potts, Marie; The Northern Maidu, Naturegraph, Happy Camp, CA: 1977. Potts was a Maidu elder, who weavs a personal account of the history and daily lives of Maidu people into her life story.

Ramo, Joshua; "A Tisket, A Tasket . . . Trends: Indian Baskets are Hot Collectibles," Newsweek, December 13, 1993; 79

Robinson, Bert; The Basket Weavers of Arizona, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1954

Russ, Julie; "Lucy Parker Telles" in Native American Women, ed. Gretchen M. Bataille, Garland, New York: 1993

Sarris, Greg; Mabel McKay: Weaving the Dream, University of California Press: Berkeley, 1994

Sawiki, Lori; "Datsolalee" in Notable Native Americans, ed. Sharon Malinowski, Gale Research, 1995

Schlick, Mary Columbia River Basketry: Gift of the Ancestors, Gift of the Earth,University of Washington Press, Seattle: 1994

Schneider, Richard C.; Crafts of the North American Indians: A Craftsman's Manual, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York: 1972. Schneider was professor of Art (ceramics) at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, a college many Wisconsin Indians attend. He developed this book for a course where culture was learned (or relearned) both via creation of artifacts and historical-cultural studies. He shows how to make old-style tools (such as a crooked knife), how to gather and prepare materials. Clear diagrams and materials lists. Great How2 book for adult beginners. Beading, tanning and leather, ceramics, birch bark as well as splint and sewn-woven coil baskets.

Siegel, Beatrice (illus. William Sauts Bock, Lenni-Lanape) ; The Basket Maker and the Spinner, Walker, 1987. YA fictionalized, using a Wampanoag girl as a focus for Eastern basketry-and-life and a fictionalized colonist woman for the contrasting spinner-woman. Illustrations are disappointing.

Tanner, Clara L ; Indian Baskets of the Southwest, University of Arizona Press, Tuscon: 1983

Underhill, Ruth; Papago Woman: Biography of Maria Chona, Holt, Rinehart, Winston, New York: 1979

Wade, Edwin.; "Louisa Keyser [Dat So La Lee]" in The Arts of the North American Indian: Native Traditions in Evolution, Hudson Hill Press: New York, 1986

Whiteford, Andrew H.; "Basketry" entry in Native America in the 20th Century: An Encyclopedia, Garland: New York, 1994-96

Winther, Barbara. "Pomo Banded Baskets and Their Dau Marks."American Indian Art Magazine, vol. 10, no. 4 (1985): 50-57

Yamane, Linda (Rumsien Ohlone), photos by Dugan Aguilar; Weaving: A California Tradtion, Native American Basketmaker, A Western Mono Girl, Lerner: Minneapolis, 1997. (Middle School Social Studies: "We're Still Here" Indian series.) Very highly recommended.

Yamane, Linda (Rumsien Ohlone),drawings by Yamane; When the World Ended and Other Rumisen Oholone Stories, Oyate, Berkeley, CA,1995.

ON LINE -- Book Sources

Kashaya/Pomo bibliography on-line.

Miwok bibliography on-line

Yosemite bookstore with relevant Native basketry and culture books on-line

Videos on California Native basketmakers for rent or sale

Continue -- Links: other Native basket sites

Navigation Buttons

TOP of
Page BASKETS
Menu ART
MENU MAIN
MENU

CREDITS: Pima Maze basket from Musum of the American Indian/Heye Foundation, New York, photographed in Images of American Indian Art, Jozefa Stuart and Robert Ashton, Walker, 1977. Colorized by me from other examples.

Webmistress --Paula Giese. Explanatory text and graphics copyright 1995.

Last Updated: Sunday, November 03, 1996 - 9:30:09 AM

This famous southwestern pattern -- originated by Pima-Papago (Tohono O'odham) people -- is called a "maze" basket. This name suggests ways of getting lost. But this is a lifepath basket. If you start tracing the path of the human figure at the north entrance, you will find there is one single path. That lifepath takes the person to the center-circle at each of the 4 directions: Youth (northwest), young adult (northeast), wise adult (southwest), elder age (southeast), and finally death (the south nub that closes off the path's continuation). All parts of the path are covered, it is one continuous line, representing a life lived following the Creator's instructions. All (non-Indian) writings about this pattern call it "maze." It's the opposite: a lifepath which (if followed) you cannot get lost. This is a tribal symbol of community for the modern Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian community. Now follow a reading path traced in this bibliography. Find out more about traditional basketry and the artists who continue the traditions.
	Atkinson's Country House. Lennon, MI, is a source of many basketry supplies for the hobbyist who can't dig and process traditional plants. Free catalog. 800/832-2071
	Allen, Elsie; Pomo Basketmaking: A Supreme Art for the Weaver, Naturegraph Publishers, Happy Camp, CA: 1972
	American Indian Art Magazine: Special Issue on Basketry, Autumn, 1979
	Angulo, Jaime de; "The Reminiscences of a Pomo Chief: The Autobiography of William Ralganal Benson," 1935. American Philosophical Society Library, Boas Collection, Philadelphia, Penn.; manuscript no. H5.3
	Angulo Jaime de, and William Ralganal Benson; "Stone and Kelsy 'Massacre' on the Shores of Clear Lake in 1849: the Indian Viewpoint;" California Historical Society Quarterly, 11, No 3, (September, 1932).
	Bataille, Gretchen M (ed); Native American Women: A Biographical Dictionary, Garland, New York, 1993
	Before the Wilderness: Enviromental Management by Native Californians, comp. and ed. T. C. Blackburn, and K. Anderson, 195-211. Ballena Press Anthropological Papers, no. 40. Menlo Park, Calif. 1993
	Billy, Susan, "So the Spirit Can Move Freely," All Roads Are Good,, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994
	Blue Cloud, Peter; Alcatraz Is Not an Island, Wingbow Press, Berkely: 1972
	Brown, Vinson and Douglas Andrews; The Pomo Indians of California and Their Neighbors ed. A. B. Elsasser. Healdsburg, Calif.: Naturegraph Publishers, 1969
	Coe, Ralph T.; Lost and Found Traditions: Native American Art, 1965-1985, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1986
	Cohodas, Marvin, "Dat So La Lee's Basketry Design," American Indian Art, , vol 1, No. 1, Autumn (1976).
	Cohodas, Marvin, "The Breitholle Collection of Washo Basketry," American Indian Art, Vol 10, No 4, Autumn (1984).
	Cohodas, Marvin; "Dat So La Lee and the Degikup," Halcyon (1982): 119-140
	Collected Documents on the Causes and Events in the Bloody Island Massacre of 1850, ed.R. F. Heizer. Berkeley: University of California Archaeological Research Facility, 1973
	Collings, Jerold; "The Yokuts Gambling Tray" American Indian Art, 1, No 1, (1975).
	Dick, L.E. et al., Strands of Time: Yokuts, Mono and Miwok BasketmakersFresno, Calif.: Fresno Metropolitan Museum, 1988.
	Hirschfelder, Arlene; "Dat-so-la-lee," Artists and Craftspeople (American Indian Lives series), FactsOnFile, New York: 1994
	Kroeber, Alfred; Handbook of the Indians of California, Smithsonian Press, 1925, Dover Books reprint, 1972
	Lamb, Frank; Indian Baskets of North America, Riverside Museum Press, Riverside, CA, 1972
	Lobb, Alan; Indian Baskets of the Northwest Coast, Graphic Arts Center Publishing Co. Portland, OR: 1978
	McKee, Barbara and Edwin, Havasupai Baskets and Their Makers, 1930-40, Northland Press, Flagstaff, 1975
	Ortiz, Bev; It Will Live Forever: Yosemite Indian Memories, Heyday Books, Berkeley, CA: 1991
	Ortiz, Bev; Ortiz, Bev. "Baskets of Dreams;" News from Native California, vol. 2, no. 4 (1988): 28-29.
	Ortiz, Bev; entry on "Laura Somersal (Pomo)," in Native American Women: A Biographical Dictionary, ed. Gretchen Bataille, Garland: NY: 1991
	Parrish, Otis and Paula Hammet, "Parrish: A Pomo Shaman," Native Self-Sufficiency, 6, 1981: 8-9
	Porter, Frank W. (ed); The Art of Native American Basketry, Greenwood Press, New York: 1990
	Potts, Marie; The Northern Maidu, Naturegraph, Happy Camp, CA: 1977. Potts was a Maidu elder, who weavs a personal account of the history and daily lives of Maidu people into her life story.
	Ramo, Joshua; "A Tisket, A Tasket . . . Trends: Indian Baskets are Hot Collectibles," Newsweek, December 13, 1993; 79
	Robinson, Bert; The Basket Weavers of Arizona, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1954
	Russ, Julie; "Lucy Parker Telles" in Native American Women, ed. Gretchen M. Bataille, Garland, New York: 1993
	Sarris, Greg; Mabel McKay: Weaving the Dream, University of California Press: Berkeley, 1994
	Sawiki, Lori; "Datsolalee" in Notable Native Americans, ed. Sharon Malinowski, Gale Research, 1995
	Schlick, Mary Columbia River Basketry: Gift of the Ancestors, Gift of the Earth,University of Washington Press, Seattle: 1994
	Schneider, Richard C.; Crafts of the North American Indians: A Craftsman's Manual, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York: 1972. Schneider was professor of Art (ceramics) at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, a college many Wisconsin Indians attend. He developed this book for a course where culture was learned (or relearned) both via creation of artifacts and historical-cultural studies. He shows how to make old-style tools (such as a crooked knife), how to gather and prepare materials. Clear diagrams and materials lists. Great How2 book for adult beginners. Beading, tanning and leather, ceramics, birch bark as well as splint and sewn-woven coil baskets.
	Siegel, Beatrice (illus. William Sauts Bock, Lenni-Lanape) ; The Basket Maker and the Spinner, Walker, 1987. YA fictionalized, using a Wampanoag girl as a focus for Eastern basketry-and-life and a fictionalized colonist woman for the contrasting spinner-woman. Illustrations are disappointing.
	Tanner, Clara L ; Indian Baskets of the Southwest, University of Arizona Press, Tuscon: 1983
	Underhill, Ruth; Papago Woman: Biography of Maria Chona, Holt, Rinehart, Winston, New York: 1979
	Wade, Edwin.; "Louisa Keyser [Dat So La Lee]" in The Arts of the North American Indian: Native Traditions in Evolution, Hudson Hill Press: New York, 1986
	Whiteford, Andrew H.; "Basketry" entry in Native America in the 20th Century: An Encyclopedia, Garland: New York, 1994-96
	Winther, Barbara. "Pomo Banded Baskets and Their Dau Marks."American Indian Art Magazine, vol. 10, no. 4 (1985): 50-57
	Yamane, Linda (Rumsien Ohlone), photos by Dugan Aguilar; Weaving: A California Tradtion, Native American Basketmaker, A Western Mono Girl, Lerner: Minneapolis, 1997. (Middle School Social Studies: "We're Still Here" Indian series.) Very highly recommended.
	Yamane, Linda (Rumsien Ohlone),drawings by Yamane; When the World Ended and Other Rumisen Oholone Stories, Oyate, Berkeley, CA,1995.
ON LINE -- Book Sources
	Kashaya/Pomo bibliography on-line.
	Miwok bibliography on-line
	Yosemite bookstore with relevant Native basketry and culture books on-line
	Videos on California Native basketmakers for rent or sale

Continue -- Links: other Native basket sites