Hello everyone,

I wanted to plug a recently released book on
California basketry by Ralph Shanks. I've attached a
color PDF brochure on the book and a press release is
embedded in this message below. It looks great!

I'd urge you to pass along the information to anyone
you think may be interested. It looks like it'd be a
great book for museum gift shops. -Ed


Indian Baskets of Central California

What was the first great art in California? Hint:
there are treasured examples at the Smithsonian
Institution, the British Museum and the Peter the
Great Museum in Russia. If you guess baskets, you are
right.

The new full color book, �Indian Baskets of Central
California,� is by anthropologist and historian
Ralph Shanks, vice president of the Miwok
Archeological Preserve of Marin (MAPOM). The book
illustrates an incredibly remarkable, beautiful and
fascinating art form. Drawing from the collections of
over fifty museums in the U.S. and Europe, Shanks and
his wife, Lisa, have selected tiny Pomo miniature
baskets so small they can sit on the head of a pin.
You will see huge Maidu feast baskets so large that
when filled with acorn mush several strong men were
needed to lift them. There are jewel-like Ohlone and
Coast Miwok bowls covered with fantastic designs using
gem-like beads of olivella, abalone and clam shells.
Vibrant feather baskets decorated with hundreds or
even thousands of tiny feathers are shown along with
an array of lovely culinary baskets from many central
California cultures. Some types of baskets are almost
unknown, including rarely a seen fish plunge trap, an
ash skimmer and a mud ball sling basket. Over 95% of
the baskets described are illustrated for the first
time.

Readers can learn to identify baskets, appreciate
their fascinating uses, recognize weaving techniques
and appreciate this great living art. You can also
learn native plant uses in basketry with extensive
tips on how to identify the plants used in baskets
from throughout the state. Art, anthropology,
archeology, linguistics, history and botany all are
interwoven with basketry studies in a highly readable,
clear way.

�Indian Baskets of Central California� covers
Native American basketry from the San Francisco Bay
and Monterey Bay areas north to Mendocino and east to
the crest of the Sierras. Basketry of the Coast Miwok,
Pomo, Ohlone (Costanoan), Maidu, Sierra Miwok, Yuki,
Wappo, Patwin, Lake Miwok, Plains Miwok, Esselen,
Huchnom and Nomlaki are all presented in detail. Until
now, for most of these fascinating cultures little has
appeared in print on their great basketry.

The California baskets selected for inclusion come
from collections around the nation and from Europe.
Early sea captains, explorers and scientists were
fascinated by the beauty of California Indian baskets
and often brought them back to Europe or the East
Coast. The book has basketry from the British Museum,
Musee de l�Homme of Paris, Peter the Great Museum in
Russia and several fine German museums. Rare and
beautiful baskets also included from the Smithsonian,
Southwest Museum, Phoebe Hearst Museum, the C. Hart
Merriam collection at UC Davis, Grace Hudson Museum,
the Field Museum, Harvard University and many other
museums, private collections and galleries across
America. There are also photos of beloved weavers
Julia Parker, Laura Fish Somersal and others. The
early artist Grace Carpenter Hudson�s beautiful
paintings honor other great weavers.

This new book is the result of thirty years of
research at over fifty museums and private collections
across the United States and Europe. During this time
Ralph also worked with many California Indian cultural
leaders, weavers and elders. The book took five years
to write.

The book is a treasure of nearly 200 full color
photographs and drawings which illustrate great Native
California baskets. This is a large format, 177 page
book unsurpassed in its high quality printing and rich
detail. The book is priced at $45. It is distributed
by the University of Washington Press, the Miwok
Archeological Preserve of Marin and Coyote Press, all
which have web sites. You can type in the book�s
title on the internet and see its cover and sample
illustrations posted by Coyote Press.

This is volume one of three volumes planned in the
�Indian Baskets of California and Oregon Series�
edited by Lisa Woo Shanks.

Edward A. Jolie, MA, RPA - PhD Student
Department of Anthropology, MSC01 1040
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
Cell Phone: (505)850-0551

Perishable Technology Research and Consulting
http://www.perishabletechnology.org

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