In celebration of Indigenous People’s month, we are going to
look at the Native American objects in the Farm House Museum. There is an
assortment of Native American baskets and pottery in the permanent collection
on exhibit at the Farm House Museum. All of the objects can be found within the
library except for one. There are a number of reasons University Museums has
these Native American objects in the Farm House. One reason is because of an
old picture taken of the Farm House library in 1907, during the Charles Curtiss
years, that was featured in an agricultural home magazine. This is the oldest known
picture of the inside of the Farm House. On the right side of the picture, on
top of a bookcase shelf you will notice a Native American basket. The library
today is curated to reflect the 1907 picture and because of the presence of the
Native American basket in the picture, University Museums decided to include a
permanent collection of Native American basket to the Farm House museum. The
second reason for adding so many Native baskets and pottery is that the Farm
House library is designed in a Victorian period style. In Victorian times,
people would often decorate their homes with various objects from around the
world to create a “cultured look.” The Farm House reflects this by exhibiting a
selection of the Native American objects in the permanent collection on
display. Farm House museum is also able to teach about the past and inclusion
of Native American baskets and pottery helps illustrate the history of peoples
who were native to the Americas.
A majority of the baskets and pottery discussed in this blog
post were transferred in the late 1970s to the Farm House Museum from the ISU
Applied Arts Department teaching collections. The Applied Art Dept. faculty
collected these objects, likely in the 1930s through 1950s as tourists to the
regions they originate from. The faculty would then use the objects to teach
ISU students about culture, art, and design. When the department was dissolved,
this teaching collection along with many other object like Japanese woodblock
prints, ceramics, and home goods was transferred to the University Museums’
permanent collection.
Firstly, let’s explore what basketry and pottery meant to
Native Americans. Basketry makes up two thirds of the Native American objects
present in the Farm House. Basket weaving is one of the oldest known Native
American crafts. The art of basket weaving is estimated to be 8,000 years old
based on archeological records from the American Southwest. It continues to be
a lively and productive art among Native Americans today. Baskets are meant to
be both utilitarian and works of art based on the regions they come from. They
were used for many different purposes such as carrying materials, cooking food,
storage bins and wall decorations. They also served as a sense of pride for the
maker as many of the baskets were often woven by women. Elder women were
generally the most experienced and were called upon to teach their younger
relatives the basket making traditions. The designs and shapes of baskets have
changed over time, especially when Europeans arrived in the New World. Often
different tribes would develop a number of distinctive weaving techniques for
making baskets, which would transfer between neighboring tribes as well. Some
of these techniques include different materials, shapes and characteristic
patterns.
Southwestern Native American baskets are often made from
tightly coiled sumac or willow wood. Northwest Coast Native Americans will
typically weave with swamp grass, spruce root and cedar bark. Southeast Native
Americans, which includes the Cherokee, traditionally use bundled pine needles
or river cane wicker. Northeast Native American often use pounded ash splints
and braided sweet grass. Finally Northern Native Americans like the Ojibwe will
often make birch bark baskets. The Inuit of northern Canada will even make
whale baleen baskets, though this is a more recent tradition. Much of the
reason for the changes in native baskets was the displacement of native peoples
from their traditional lands and lifestyles. This displacement caused
basket-weaving styles to change somewhat as they absorbed new customs from
their neighbors and adapted new materials. However, many Native American tribes
in the western United States still maintain their own artistic styles, while
eastern Native Americans lost much of their tribe’s unique style components.
Native American pottery makes up about one third of the
Native American objects in the Farm House. Pottery making began within Native
American tribes about 4,000 years ago when they began adopting a more
agricultural-based lifestyle. Using local clays, they began to burn coil pots
in open pits making a smooth slab. Each tribe’s pottery was shaped for their
own various customs and needs such as gathering water, cooking, storing grains
and preserving seeds. Woman became the chief pottery makers. Early pots were a
very simple design with little decoration or embellishment but later on more
decorative designs began to appear. Pottery even became important in ceremonies
such as rituals and burials. Wedding vases with two spouts became very popular
for wedding ceremonies. Before Europeans arrived pottery was used all around
North America. With the arrival of Europeans, many native tribes were pushed
out of the east and some central plains tribes abandoned pottery-making
altogether for a more nomadic lifestyle. Today, the Native Americans most
associated with pottery are the Southwestern cultures, specifically Pueblo and
Navajo. The reason for this is that Southwestern Native American cultures have
changed little over time. They are also some of the oldest tribes with a
continuous record of habitation in one area. This has caused the many elements
of their culture to remain intact in areas including pottery making. Many of their
designs are simple white and black ceramics decorated with geometric patterns.
These patterns are painted with pigments made from residue of boiled plants or
finely ground metallic rocks. Much of the pottery in the Farm House shares
these designs. It should be noted that while most Native American pottery is
from the Southwest there are a few tribes along the West Coast that still make
some pottery. But they mostly focus on basketry.
There are a number of different Native tribes associated
with baskets and pottery in the Farm House. All of them either came from the
Southwest, Pacific Coast or Alaska. None come from the Eastern United States likely
due to the fact that when these object were being collected few Native tribes remained
there. All the baskets were probably made in the 20th century as
many of them were transferred to the Farm House or donated by different people.
The baskets and pottery were probably made by a few specific artisans and were
likely made specifically for tourists or the tourist trade. While most of these
may not have been made for the purpose of the tribe, it is still important to
understand where they came from and who influenced there design. There are 18
different Native American baskets and 8 different Native American pots.
Four of the baskets belong to Native Alaskan tribes.
Indigenous Alaskan tribes have varied cultures that have adapted to the harsh
arctic-like environments. Their language often identifies their own historic
groups. Indigenous Alaskans are known for their totem poles and potlatch
ceremonies, which would often celebrate the first hunt and funerals. They were
avid hunter-gatherers of the land but also were very well known for whale
hunting and fishing. With the colonization by Russia and America, the
population of Native Alaskans began to decline as more settlers established
homes, towns and cities, disrupted Native hunting grounds. Unlike most other
Native American tribes, Native Alaskans didn’t have treaties that protected
their substance rights except for whale harvesting. Groups of Natives often
define their group village to village, instead of as one whole nation like in
the continental United States. There are large Native tribes like the Aleuts
who live off the coast on the Aleutian Islands or the Inuit (Eskimos) who live
in the Arctic Circle. (For more about Inuit printmaking and carvings, be sure
to visit the Brunnier Art Museums exhibition “Creative by Nature” Jan. 17-July
30, 2017.)
All four baskets are twined with light brownish grass. While not
being able to trace which specific tribe the baskets came from, the Alaskan
baskets do have some distinctive symbols on them. One is a picture of a killer whale,
which makes sense with their relationship to whaling, and whale meat as food.
One basket that is notable has a picture of what we know today as a swastika.
The swastika symbol has been used by many different Native tribes before being
appropriated by the Nazi party. In some Native cultures it was a symbol of
peace like in the Navajo culture. (For more on this symbol, see the blog post “Native
Alaskan Basket and the Swastika” from March 30th, 2016) The other
two baskets have arrow designs and black squares. All the baskets do look very
similar due to their color and twining.
Other baskets at the Farm House include three Papago baskets.
The Papago Native Americans are also known as Tohono O’odham and they live in Southwest
Arizona extending into northern Mexico. Their title means, “desert people” and
they were known for their impressive basketry. They lived in small cone-shaped
dwellings and often grew corn, beans and squash. When the Mexican-American
border was set between the U.S. and Mexico, the Papago were split from their
native land in what would be Mexico and couldn’t migrate across the border. The
three Papago baskets all use lightly tanned yucca grass that is coiled. All
three look very similar with black squares with some shaped into a cross symbol.
One figurative basket creates the image of a woman on top with the basket as
her dress.
Of the other Native American baskets from the southwest, two
are Navajo and one is Hopi. The Navajo nation is one of the largest
reservations in the United States and is located primarily in Northeast Arizona.
The Navajo are known for having a very complex language that was used in World
War II for sending secret messages. They are also known for their artistry when
it comes to complex basket weaving and pottery. Of the two Navajo baskets, one
has a swastika symbol on it while the other is a wider basket with a star
design coming out the middle. To the Navajo, the swastika design is a symbol
for the whirling log, a sacred legend-based design. Both use thick narrow straw
with a tan design. The Hopi basket uses twigs in a circular pattern with a bold
colored dye in the middle. The Hopi reservation is actually surrounded by the
Navajo reservation in Arizona so they share similar artwork. The Hopi are
specifically known for their Kachina dolls making.
The other baskets come from Native American tribes of the
Northwest Coast. Three of them come from the Pomo tribe, which is located in
northern California. There are several different Pomo tribes with many varying
styles, but they all use willow and redwood trees for clothing and artwork.
Their baskets were known for intricate patterns of triangles and other geometric
shapes. One of the Pomo baskets is small and has a zigzag lightning design
going across it, while the other two use willow and redbud with a triangle
design, characteristic of Pomo art. One of these baskets is located on the
second floor in the President’s desk. This is the only Native object located
outside the library. The remaining Native basket belongs to the Klamath tribe,
which is located in southern Oregon and Northern California. This region is
filled with rivers and streams thus the Klamath are known for their fishing as
well as use of the abundant timber resources. The Klamath basket uses light
brown banding with a plaited (braid-like) design. There is one other basket,
which is light brown with a duck and boat symbol on its side. The only mention
of what kind of basket this is in the object record is its description as Siwash.
This is a general term that refers to Northwest Coast Native Americans but
doesn’t refer to a specific tribe, thus it can be assumed that with the boat
symbol this was probably from the Northwest Coast.
There are eight different Native American pottery objects
that all come from the Southwest, specifically Arizona and New Mexico. There
are three different tribes that are represented from New Mexico, all from the
Pueblo nation. The Pueblo people have a long history of being influenced by the
Spanish, then the Mexicans and then the Americans. Pueblo culture is largely
influenced by their religion and relationship with the natural world. This
involves performing large ceremonies for the season and to improve their
relationship with nature. Pueblo tribes often extensively traded with each
other. Their art is very distinctive in its design though. The three Pueblo
tribes from New Mexico include the San Domingo from central New Mexico, the
Acoma in west central New Mexico, and the San Juan from north central New
Mexico. The San Juan is represented by three pots, the Acoma by two and the San
Domingo with a singular pot.
While the Pueblo people are all very similar,
these three tribes do have some differences. The San Domingo are considered one
of the most conservative of the Pueblo groups as well as responsible for producing
the most pottery and jewelry. The Acoma are known for being the oldest
continuously habited community in North America. The San Juan are known for
having a number of different secret societies within their tribe. The San
Domingo pot has a flower symbol with a white background. The two Acoma pots
both have a white background with designs of orange and black going around the
side. The three San Juan pots are each a little different just as they have
differences in style within their tribe. Two of the pots are small and have
dark red coloring, a characteristic of San Juan designs. The other pot is a large
black earthenware pot, which is also another specific characteristic of San
Juan pottery. These pots reveal the diversity amongst tribes that are physically
located close to each other.
The two other Native American pots both come from tribes in
Arizona. The first is from the Hopi of Northwest Arizona. The pot is a squat
earthenware pot with light beige and dark banding along the side. The pot also
has dark geometric patterns near the bottom. This pot is very different from
the Maricopa pot, which is a small red clay pot with a circular drawing on the
side characteristic of Maricopa art. The Maricopa live along the Colorado River
in Southwest Arizona and are known for their red clay pottery as well as for being
very close with the Pima tribes of that area.
Ultimately there is a lot to learn from the artwork in the
Farm House such as the tribes that they came from and why they are there. You
are encouraged to stop by the Farm House Museum during the semester or summer
to explore the collection of unique objects discussed in this blog.
Note: There are three
Native American baskets that aren’t mentioned, because I’m unsure of their
origin. The first is a round basket with two handles and a small opening at the
top. Along the sides are 6 cross symbols with diamonds surrounding them. The
basket shares many similarities with the Alaskan baskets including its use of
twining and its tan design. Due to this I can only assume that it is either
Alaskan or from the Pacific coastal region. The second basket is bowl-shaped
with a dark brown design. Along the side are asymmetrical triangular designs in
tan. The bowl is made from grass and quill. The design of the asymmetrical
triangles is very similar to Pomo designs. The color is lighter than the other
Pomo tribe baskets in the collection, but it is similar. Due to this I’m
assuming that this baskets is either Pomo or at the very least from the
Northwest Coast. The last basket is a straw basket with large weaves. The
coiled basket is rectangular with dark brown and butterscotch colors. It has
arrow symbols pointing different ways all around it and a chain link type edge
around the top. This basket has some similarities to Northwest Coast baskets including
its color and dark brown dye used for its arrows. This is why I’m assuming that
this basket is maybe from the Northwest Coast but it is uncertain. Overall
though, these Native American objects reveal a lot about their influence and
origin and can teach us even more about indigenous people in the United
States.
Today many people consider “hair art” to be rather creepy,
but during Victorian times it was very popular. Hair grooming was highly
emphasized, as the idea was to transform the chaotic and wild growth of hair
into a well-trimmed and decorative design. This insistence on a fashionable
design led to many women using false hair to create more designs for their hair.
Fake hair became so popular that shiploads of the commodity were imported to
England and hair became one of the most popular topics in fashion magazines of
the time. The University Museums’ permanent collection contains over 150
fashion prints from French magazines that illustrate not only the importance of
clothing and hats but also the importance of hair styling befitting of high
fashion of the Victorian Era. Besides fake hair, Victorians loved to
collect and keep all the hair they acquired. Many women would collect their own
hair that they cut or brushed out into special jars. Often once the container
became full, they would send it away to a hair designer to be made into some
useful attachment or jewelry. 
The idea of hair jewelry became so popular that woman began
to take their own hair and make 
