Product Description

Explore the stunning diversity of North American Indian and Eskimo baskets, from little-known native basketry to the more common forms. This colorful book combines manufacturing techniques, raw materials, forms, and decorations with information on native lifestyles. More than 175 regional and tribal styles are documented in an easy-to-use and beautifully illustrated format, with a newly updated value guide. Readers will be able to identify their own Indian baskets using this guide's standardized terminology, identification keys, glossary, maps, and bibliographies. Hundreds of baskets were photographed for this volume, many from the famous and unparalleled collection of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University where the authors began their basketry research in the 1970s.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #126819 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
Bill and Sarah Turnbaugh are a husband and wife team keenly involved with Native American studies. Sarah is curator of the Museum of Primitive Culture in Peace Dale, Rhode Island, and Bill is a professor of anthropology at the University of Rhode Island. Their research is an important contribution to Native American studies.

Customer Reviews

The book I longed to find on this topic.
I first learned of this book from a basket trader in Tucson who was explaining why I could never find any Pima baskets that matched a photograph in a booklet I had. He suspected the photographer used a brown filter to enhance the appearance. He pulled out a copy of "Indian Baskets" to show me the difference and told me if I was serious about baskets I needed to get this book. In it, I found along with beautiful photographs large enough to see in detail of many tribes' baskets: an encyclopedia of information including a list of tribes that still made baskets with descriptions of the designs each uses, detailed drawings and descriptions of the many different stitches used in baskets, a chart that can be used to find which tribes make baskets with your favorite stitches, and even a list of prices for baskets sold a few years ago. It was the book I longed to find on this topic. The one obvious omission was a list of sites where tribes sell baskets today, but fortunately that information is readily available from other sources.

If I could give it a higher rating, I would
Completely indispensable text for the weaver, curator, researcher, student, collector or just plain curious. Not a theoretical text; rather, the intent is to enable the reader to identify any basketry work produced by Native North Americans from the Arctic to the Southeast.

This book has scores of photos, including a preliminary section where baskets from each geographical region are reproduced in good color photos. Good but simple overview of the history of Native basketry, *great* overview of techniques with schematic drawings. Also has a thorough bibliography. A must-have reference book for any Native American or art-focused library.

Native American Baskets
This book is done very well. Many large color photographys,detailed illustrations of weave types. Would have liked to have seen more color photographys though. Overall a good guality book on baskets.