Identifying intrusive, non-indigenous basketry in museum collections

Abstract

ABSTRACT After becoming aware of a 1903 unprovenanced museum collection kit designed for beginners to make ‘American Indian’ baskets with non-indigenous materials, the authors examined baskets possibly made from such kits. Seventy-seven baskets at six museums were examined. Research goals include 1) understanding the social and economic framework through which these imitative baskets were created, 2) exploring their creators and collecting histories, including how they found their way into museums, and 3) supplying physical characteristics through which indigenous and non-indigenous museum stewards may identify them. We found that while very few of these baskets are currently misattributed in museums with medium to large sized collections of American Indian baskets, they have been misattributed within some of these same institutions in the past. Further, smaller collections of Indigenous baskets, including within museums assembled as part of tribal nations, boarding schools, and California missions, may incorporate these baskets as unattributed or misattributed.