Well illustrated booklet of the various forms of weaving among the Indians of the Pacific northwest.

Don Smith - or Lelooska, as he was usually called - was a prominent Native American artist and storyteller in the Pacific Northwest. Born in 1933 of �mixed blood� Cherokee heritage, he was adopted as an adult by the prestigious Kwakiutl Sewid clan and had relationships with elders from a wide range of tribal backgrounds. Initially producing curio items for sale to tourists and regalia for Oregon Indians, Lelooska emerged in the late 1950s as one of a handful of artists who proved crucial to the renaissance of Northwest Coast Indian art. He also developed into a supreme performer and educator, staging shows of dances, songs, and storytelling. During the peak years, from the 1970s to the early 1990s, the family shows with Lelooska as the centerpiece attracted as many as 30,000 people annually. In this book, historian and family friend Chris Friday shares and annotates interviews that he conducted with Lelooska, between 1993 and ending shortly before the artist's death, in 1996. This is the story of a man who reached, quite literally, a million or more people in his lifetime and whose life was at once exceptional and emblematic.

This book celebrates Dorothy Burnham’s many contributions to ongoing research on the Museum’s ethnographic collections from the Northern Athabaskan, Arctic, Plateau and Eastern Woodlands regions of North America. Eleven papers highlight the important role that comprehensive study of museum collections can play in material culture studies, as well as the value of detailed information for those seeking to revive traditional skills.

This bibliography includes more than 1,100 entries from books, journals, newspaper articles, and dissertations concerning North American Indian basketry. More general cultural works with some information on basketry are also included, and the materials date from early ethnographic work in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to 1987. . . . The introduction offers a good overview of research in Native American basketry, and although the annotations vary greatly in thoroughness and length, they are generally useful. This unique, well-produced bibliography is recommended for collections supporting programs in anthropology, crafts, or Native American Studies. Choice Interest in Native American basketry dates from the late 1800s, when an enthusiastic public, together with curators, academic collectors, and archaeologists, first began to appreciate the value and uniqueness of these beautiful hand-crafted artifacts. This bibliography is the first comprehensive guide to publications on the subject. Organized by major cultural areas of North America, it offers annotated listings of books, journal articles, dissertations, theses, monographs, and selected newspaper articles published over the last 100 years. In his introductory essay, Porter discusses the history of Native American basket making and the findings and views of some of the anthropologists, archaeologists, and popular writers whose works contribute to our knowledge of the subject. The bibliography is divided into eleven sections, each dealing with a specific geographical/cultural area. Entries are cross-referenced, and a comprehensive index gives convenient access to authors, titles, and subjects.

Easy to use and easy to read, Understanding Northwest Coast Art is an essential source for understanding and visually identifying the underlying themes and subjects of Northwest Coast Native art. The first section of this book features an alphabetical list of words relating to Northwest Coast art, with definitions, descriptions and explanations and synopses of the major myths associated with them. As an aid to identification and understanding, many of the crests, beings and symbols are illustrated in the 60 black-and-white reproductions of contemporary works of art. The second section offers descriptions of the art styles and types of decorated objects created by the various Northwest Coast cultural groups.

Identifies and summarizes thousands of books, article, exhibition catalogues, government publications, and theses published in many countries and in several languages from the early nineteenth century to 1981.