Basket

Object/Artifact

-

Vermont Historical Society

basket

Name/Title

Basket

Entry/Object ID

2010.71

Description

Round basket with a square base and bale handle. The basket is woven with flat pieces of wood (splits) and has stripes in green and red. The rim around the top is nailed, as is the handle.

Context

Made by Frank Sweetser of Morrisville, VT in exchange for a pair of mittens made by Imelda Lepine.

Acquisition

Accession

2010.71

Source or Donor

Lepine, Gertrude

Acquisition Method

Gift

Credit Line

In memory of Frank Sweetser

Made/Created

Manufacturer

Sweetser, Frank R. (1888-1950)

Date made

1930 - 1950

Place

Village

Morrisville

Town

Morristown

County

Lamoille County

State/Province

Vermont

Country

United States of America

Continent

North America

Ethnography

Culture/Tribe

Abenaki
Native American

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Basket

Nomenclature Class

Containers

Nomenclature Category

Category 07: Distribution & Transportation Objects

Dimensions

Dimension Description

Overall

Height

14-1/2 in

Diameter

13-1/4 in

Material

Wood

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

Lepine, Imelda R. (1899-1994)

Person or Organization

Sweetser, Frank R. (1888-1950)

Interpretative Labels

Label

Gertrude Lepine of Morrisville recalled that her mother, Imelda lepine, traded a pair of mittens she knitted with Frank Sweetser for this basket. The Sweetser family of Waterbury was a prolific basket-making family. At least three generations of the family wove baskets during the winter and then sold them in and around Morristown, Stowe, and Waterbury. Oral and written history from the Sweetsers document that Gilman Sweetser was "part Indian" and he married Lydia Hall a Abenakis Indian. John Sweetser said that it was his grandfather Gilman, "that showed the whole of us how to make baskets." In addition to this basket VHS owns examples made by John Sweetser and by father and daughter, Samuel Sweetser and Belle Sweetser Perry, John's uncle and cousin.