Situated on the western edge of the Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and White-Inyo mountain ranges, Owens Valley has been home for thousands of years to the Owens Valley Paiute and their southern neighbors, the Panamint Shoshone. The willow baskets both groups created are noteworthy for their complex construction and durability, and their materials and designs reflected available resources as well as the seminomadic existence that characterized life in the Great Basin for generations. Since the mid-nineteenth-century arrival of non-Indians into the Valley, the baskets have changed. Weaving a Legacy places those changes in the context of the region's dramatic social history. In addition, the volume closely examines basketry techniques and technology, historic weavers and their lineages, contemporary weavers, and basket collectors. The text is extensively illustrated with black-and-white photographs of people, landscapes, and baskets. Among the legacies of these baskets are the stories they evoke, many of which the authors recount in this beautiful work.

Nineteenth-century handwoven coverlets are exceptional windows on the early years of American culture. They are increasingly prized by collectors for their superb craftsmanship and beauty of design as well as their historical significance. Produced by professional weavers, many of whom had fled the industrial revolution in Europe, coverlets were used as the uppermost coverings of beds. In addition to their intricate and colorful designs, many have personal inscriptions woven into their corner blocks or borders. The peak of production for handwoven coverlets was the relatively short period between 1820 and the end of the Civil War, when the weaving industry was rapidly becoming fully mechanized. The Don and Jean Stuck Coverlet Collection at the Columbus Museum of Art is the largest public collection of coverlets in the United States. The works of 185 known weavers are documented here, as are those of many anonymous weavers. With works from the nine most prominent coverlet-producing states and Canada, the collection includes examples of most weave structures and has a broad representation of colors, centerfield and border designs, and corner blocks.

This collection is a celebration of Paula Gunn Allen's life (1939-2008) as an indigenous scholar, writer, and woman. It features the creative writing, art, and memoir of Native American and other writers, scholars, and activists including Patricia Clark Smith, Maurice Kenny, Barbara Mann, Janice Gould, LeAnne Howe, Elaine Jacobs, Annette van Dyke, Margara Averbach, Kristina Bitsue, Deborah Miranda, Carolyn Dunn, Jennifer Browdy, Joseph Bruchac III, Sandra Cox, and La Vonne Brown Ruoff. It follows the 2010 West End Press edition of Paula Gunn Allen's final works, America the Beautiful: Last Poems, edited by Patricia Clark Smith.

Weaving in the Batak region of North Sumatra is an ancient art practised by women, and exhibits some of the oldest design and technical features in the Indonesian archipelago. Since colonial annexation at the turn of the twentieth century, innovative Batak weavers from the Lake Toba region in northern Sumatra have successfully adapted their art to new economic and social circumstances but at great cost. In recent decades, weaving has fallen into decline and the tradition is threatened, while at the same time Batak textiles are highly prized in museum collections around the world. Legacy in cloth offers the first definitive study of the woven heritage of the Toba, Simalungun, and Karo Batak. The most complete analysis of Batak textiles ever published, it provides a record of more than 100 different design types, including archival and contemporary photographs showing how the textiles are woven and how they are used in Batak culture."

This lavishly illustrated guide to one of the premier collections of woven coverlets in the United States is an essential reference for collectors, historians, specialists in material culture, and all those who are interested in American textiles. Information about the lives and professional careers of more than seven hundred weavers is included. In-depth discussions explore fifty coverlets that are depicted in detail.

"Based on interviews and conversations in collaboration with the artist."

Navajo blankets, rugs, and tapestries are the best-known, most-admired, and most-collected textiles in North America. There are scores of books about Navajo weaving, but no other book like this one. For the first time, master Navajo weavers themselves share the deep, inside story of how these textiles are created, and how their creation resonates in Navajo culture. Want to weave a high-quality, Navajo-style rug? This book has detailed how-to instructions, meticulously illustrated by a Navajo artist, from warping the loom to important finishing touches. Want to understand the deeper meaning? You'll learn why the fixed parts of the loom are male, and the working parts are female. You'll learn how weaving relates to the earth, the sky, and the sacred directions. You'll learn how the Navajo people were given their weaving tradition (and it wasn't borrowed from the Pueblos!), and how important a weaver's attitude and spirit are to creating successful rugs. You'll learn what it means to live in hózhó, the Beauty Way. Family stories from seven generations of weavers lend charm and special insights. Characteristic Native American humor is not in short supply. Their contribution to cultural understanding and the preservation of their craft is priceless.