Basket
Name/Title
BasketEntry/Object ID
L2024.3.106Description
Open-work, ash splint basket. Square base and round rim.Use
Herb collection and dryingContext
Wiseman comments: This is a questionable find that I am adding to the mix because of the associated oral history. They are one of the more common types of baskets found in new England despite their terrible fragility. I had learned long ago, when I began antiques collecting, that these were “cheese baskets,” often made in prodigious numbers by the Shakers. Ever since, I ignored them completely even though the rims looked identical to Native New England baskets. In 1999, Billie Largy, a Nulhegan elder told me that these were herb drying baskets, and five years (I think) later at the “Antiques Collaborative” group in Quechee, I found another that was sold as an Abenaki Herb basket from Vermont. I personally could not tell it from a cheese basket, but it was not expensive, so I bought it to reinforce Billie’s historical narrative. I later got in touch with the dealer, who I learned, seemed quite familiar with the Abenaki Basketmakers in the area and said that this was made by the “Bernard” family of Basketmakers in Windham County. I know that the Bernards are indigenous in NW Vermont and in Quebec, so the story seemed plausible. I got in touch with Billie and she told me that the basket was used to dry raspberry leaves and other herbs (didn’t write them down) to make tea. So this is an interesting little basket that was made and used along a totally different trajectory than the mainstream cheese versions.Acquisition
Source (if not Accessioned)
Abenaki Cultural ConservancyMade/Created
Date made
circa 1900 - circa 1930Place
State/Province
VermontCountry
United States of AmericaContinent
North AmericaEthnography
Culture/Tribe
Abenaki
Native American