An unidentified fishing basket trap from the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum in Warner, NH, is likely an eel trap. Woven from wood splints, it stands nearly three feet high when stood on end. Museum staff is unsure of this basket’s exact date and place of origin, but Abenaki and other Native people in northeastern New England have long used trap baskets of this kind with their fishing weirs. Abenaki basket maker Bill Gould, who makes similar items, explains that a trap like this “is set up under water and weighed down with bait inside.”
Fishing weirs, sometimes constructed of stone, and sometimes of wooden stakes, work “to obstruct the passage of the fish in order to facilitate its capture, and impound the fish so that it cannot get away" (lutins). Weirs can capture fish traveling either upstream or downstream, usually during the spawning period, when they have the most fat. In a 1992 study of prehistoric fishing weirs in the northeast, allen lutins observes that “weirs and traps may be used independently, but their functions are often combined in a single structure when traps are used to collect the fish forced by the weir to a narrow outlet.”
The oldest fishing weirs could be vast. Fredrick Johnson describes an enormous prehistoric weir found in 1913 under Boylston Street in Boston. Dating back to the Late Archaic period, it covers about two acres and includes some 65,000 stakes interwoven with brush wattling, or a mixture of shrubs and branches (27). The Late Archaic period occurred in 1250 BC-3800 BC (Fagan 202). According to Johnson, the difference in construction between this ancient fish weir and modern ones was that the stakes were not evenly spread out or of the same size (Johnson 57).
Throughout New England, fishing has been an important means of subsistence for Native people, promoting a spiritual connection to specific places. Kerry Hardy finds that, for the Wabanaki Indians of Maine, waterfalls and ideal fishing spots historically determined the significance of villages: “The greater the obstacle, the better the harvest, and the more important the town” (62).
In New Hampshire’s Winnepesaukee region, three stone weirs were found in the 1930s. One was W shaped and the other two were V shaped, with points oriented downstream (Proctor 41-49). According to Brian Fagan, V-shaped weirs could be used with basket traps (79). The traps could be placed near the points of the weirs, which funneled fish into them. The weirs at Winnepesaukee, unfortunately, were eventually removed because they interfered with water navigation (Moorhead 51).
Historically, Native people have fought determinedly to protect their fishing grounds. In a 1748 petition, residents of the praying town of Natick defined their right to fish on Lake Cochituate, against the encroachment of English settlers. Historian Jean O’Brien has discussed this petition in some detail as evidence of Indian resistance; with respect to the value of fishing weirs, she notes that “The petitioners describe their fishing rights as an ‘old and valuable liberty’ rather than a gift in the form of a specific grant from the General Court” (O’Brien 126). Therefore, this petition conveys that the Indians had these rights long before the arrival of the English, although they were forced to formally request them back in writing. Similarly, the eel basket pictured here—made of trees, placed in rivers, and capturing food for people—acts as a text tying indigenous people to a particular place.
Fagan, Brian M. The First North Americans: An Archaeological Journey. Ancient Peoples and Places. New York, N.Y: Thames & Hudson, 2011.
Gould, Bill. E-mail interview. 10 Apr. 2012.
Hardy, Kerry. Notes on a Lost Flute: A Field Guide to the Wabanaki. 1st ed. Down East Books, 2009.
Johnson, Frederick. The Boylston Street Fishweir, a Study of the Archaeology,biology, and Geology of a Site on Boylston Street in the Back Bay District of Boston, Massachusetts. Papers of the Robert S. Peabody Foundation for Archaeology v. 2. Andover, Mass: Phillips academy, The Foundation, 1942.
Lutins, Allen. Prehistoric Fishweirs in Eastern North America. MS thesis. 1992. Binghamton : n.p.,1992. Web. 10 Apr. 2012.
Moorehead, Warren King, and Benjamin Lincoln Smith. The Merrimack Archaeological Survey: a Preliminary Paper. Peabody Museum, 1931.
O’Brien, Jean M. Dispossession by Degrees: Indian Land and Identity in Natick, Massachusetts, 1650-1790. Cambridge Studies in North American Indian History. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
O'Brien , Jean. "Our Old and Valluable Liberty ." Early Native Literacies in New England. Ed. Kristina Bross and Ed. Hilary E. Wyss . Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2008. 119-129. Print.
Proctor, Mary A. The Indians of the Winnipesaukee and Pemigewasset Valleys. Powwow River Books, 2007.
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waligek abaznoda gagalnemenal/ abaznodakad w’eljial.
A good basket holds its maker's hands.
(Jesse Bruchac, "Abaznodaal")
Baskets are very important in Abenaki culture, and Abenaki linguist Jesse Bruchac's poem describes them as having life within them. Abenaki oral tradition ties the people intimately to baskets by way of the natural materials used to make them. According to ethnohistorian Gordon Day, Western Abenakis believe that “man was created by Tabaldak… he created a couple from living wood who pleased him and who became the ancestors of the Indian race” (218).
In the Abenaki language, words are categorized as either “animate” or “inanimate.” The word for basket, abaznoda, is inanimate. And yet "inanimate" does not mean "less important." Day explains that “many things are alive that whites commonly regard as inanimate, and every living thing has its own peculiar power, more or less specific in kind and limited in quantity” (218). Elie Joubert, an author and teacher of the Abenaki language, elaborates on this point: an animate noun is “the Abenaki way of expressing connectedness with reverence to living things, celestial bodies, and the creation of all things great and grand on this land. The determination was made long ago, by our ancestors according to their view of the world at that time. We as speakers of the language do not question why one bush is animate and another is inanimate.”
The basket pictured here captures these relationships between the people, their history, and their land and resources. Unlike many of the fancy baskets seen in museums, it is a strictly utilitarian item--an unusual find, since baskets of this type were often thrown away. The Hopkinton Historical Society obtained this basket from a local farmer named Ebenezer Morrill (1806-1892), who reported that he got it from a Native woman who camped by the river in Contoocook.
In its original description, the Historical Society noted that this basket is sturdy, able to carry heavy items, and that it shows evidence of having been made in relative haste: its splints are not smoothed as they are in more decorative baskets; and its vertical warps are cut off, rather than folded in at the rims.
For all the humble nature of its design, this basket is nevertheless a powerful testament to Native people's continuous presence in the Hopkinton area throughout the 1800s, and in New Hampshire more generally, despite the persistent myth that they "vanished" from this state.
Like basketmakers, advocates and teachers of the language like Jesse Bruchac and Elie Joubert are working to ensure that Abenaki culture and will survive through many more generations. These teachers are adapting to new economies and technologies: Bruchac uses media like YouTube to document his children learning the language. Just as this utilitarian basket has survived two hundred years, carrying histories of its culture, the Abenaki language has also survived, carrying the stories and knowledge of the people who have lived along the river in Contoocook and in other areas of New England since time immemorial.
Bruchac, Jesse Bowman., Joseph Alfred Elie. Joubert, and Jeanne
A. Brink.L8dwaw8gan Wji Abaznodakaw8gan: The Language of Basket Making. Greenfield Center, NY: Bowman, 2010. Print.
Day, Gordon M. Title In Search of New England's Native Past: Selected Essays by Gordon M. Day. Univ of Massachusetts Pr, 1999. Print.
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We do not think of baskets in a practical way anymore; they are mostly decorative art. If we need a durable container for large dry goods, we are likely to use a plastic bin. Starting in the 1930s, galvanized bushel baskets and pails, made by machine in vast numbers, were the universal carry-alls, ("Newton Washburn"). Before that, the universal container was the wooden basket. A sturdy, durable container, it was, pound for pound, much stronger than galvanized steel, and in some ways more durable. In fact, baskets retard spoilage by providing controlled ventilation and are still heavily used for harvesting and storing apples and other produce (Congdon).
In upper Vermont, the Sweetser family made many, if not most, of the baskets sold commercially (Linzee 25). The family originated in the early 1800′s by the marriage of a German immigrant basket-maker to a basket-maker from Odanak, Canada ("Newton Washburn"). By the 1920′s, there were over a hundred family members making baskets in a small area between Stowe and Lamoille, Vermont (Eaton 51). They sold their products all over upper Vermont and their brown-ash baskets were unusually sturdy, with a hybrid vigor from the marriage of Abenaki and European designs.
Born into the Sweetser extended family in 1915, Newt Washburn grew up making baskets; it was his family’s winter occupation. They made “bushel baskets… egg baskets, apron baskets, laundry, feather, berry, bike, and pack baskets … baskets for every need, even baby cradles and fishing creels” (Linzee 25). It was a communal activity, with families often getting together for basketmaking parties. But their Abenaki heritage was a family secret: “It was frowned on. If anyone knew, I wouldn’t be able to play with the other kids and the neighbors wouldn’t let me in their houses to play” (Colquhoun).
Secrecy about their heritage was not unusual. Arthur Sweetser, a basketmaker working in the late 1940’s, explained that one day when his grandfather brought his grandmother “into a store with him [to trade baskets for goods] … he introduced her as ‘my squaw.’ [His] Grandmother was so mad she didn’t make any baskets for a couple of years” (Eaton 51).
By the mid-30′s, the market for baskets greatly diminished, displaced by all manner of modern containers. By the end of World War II, with the need to find other work, the Sweetser community was largely dispersed (Colquhoun). After serving in the war, Washburn moved to Bethlehem, NH, where he worked repairing auto bodies, shaping steel instead of wood ("Newton Washburn"). He was forced to retire by two heart attacks in the early 1970′s ("Newton Washburn").
I came home from my last heart attack. That’s the day I started. I don’t know how many years I’d lived here then, but I went down back on my own land, leaning against a tree, watching the river. Something told me to look at the tree. I stepped back and looked. It was a brown ash tree growing on the river bank… That night I had a basket made. And I haven’t stopped since. (Linzee 26)
While recuperating, Washburn found himself drawn back to his family’s heritage and craft (26). It was the beginning of the Abenaki renaissance in New England, which caused a growing interest in baskets (Berolzheimer). Working out of a small workshop at his house in Bethlehem, NH, “Silent Bear” made baskets for more than twenty-five years (26). He was the last basket-maker still working who was part of the earlier, utilitarian cottage industry where he learned his craft (26). His baskets are beautiful examples of a highly refined, utilitarian design that leaps from craft to art. He continued to innovate within his tradition, as with his signature combination of an “Abenaki star” basket bottom with a concave “demijohn” bottom, which greatly strengthens the basket (26).
As his ability to practice his craft diminished with age, Washburn’s scope of concern widened to the sustainability of his people and his craft. The Sweetsers had always kept their craft within the family but as the last holder of the tradition, Washburn realized that it would be lost if he did not teach others ("Newton Washburn"). To continue the tradition, Washburn taught at pow-wows and at schools. He mentored more than eighty apprentices, many or most of them Abenaki, including Sherry and Bill Gould ("Western Abenaki Baskets"). His apprentices have gone on to teach others through apprenticeships, events, and writings.
Newt Washburn died in 2011. Like the basket spokes we see radiating from that exuberant signature, those he taught are the framework of a lasting, universal container of his legacy – a basket made of people of the ash, carrying the craft of his ancestors onto the uncertain waters of the future.
Berolzheimer, Alan. The Flow of History Winter, 2011. Web.
Congdon, Kristin G. and Kara Kelley Hallmark. American Folk Art: A Regional Reference. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2012. Print.
Colquhoun, Lorna. “Littleton Honors Native Americans; Governor, Town Celebrates Cultural Day, Invites Tribal Leaders”. New Hampshire Sunday News 26 September 1993: 1B. Print.
DeSorbo, Mark A. “State’s Top Arts Promoters Honored”. New Hampshire Union Leader 20 September 1995: A1. Print.
Eaton, Allen H. Handicrafts of New England. New York: Bonanza Books, 1949. Print.
Linzee, Jill and Michael P. Chaney. Deeply Rooted: New Hampshire Traditions in Wood. Durham: University of New Hampshire, 1997. Print.
“Newton Washburn“. National Endowment for the Arts. Web.
”Western Abenaki Baskets – Home.“ Western Abenaki Baskets. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2012.
Photographs by Alicia Gagne.
Zobel holds multiple academic degrees, including a B.S.F.S. in History and Diplomacy from Georgetown University, and M.A. in History from the University of Connecticut—the school from which both her mother and great-aunt received degrees. Initially, Zobel was preparing to attend Harvard University as a history major. However, in meeting with the department chair, she was told that a Native American focus in History was not allowed, as it was considered "ethnohistory," and that she could major in anthropology. She chose UConn instead. In 2012, she also earned an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Fairfield University; and in 2013, she began a Ph.D. in Adult Learning and Teaching of Native American Studies at Lesley University.
In the Mohegan tribal nation, Zobel is both Medicine Woman and Tribal Historian. She also serves as executive director of the tribe’s cultural and community programs department. In her capacity as tribal storyteller, Zobel has traveled all throughout New England. Her goal has always been to provide a greater understanding of Native American history. In a recent interview, Zobel stated, “We are the keepers of the original ancient stories of New England.”
Zobel has long written history for her tribe, but she was motivated to get serious about her writing in 1991, when she was panned by critics at a Connecticut Humanities Council Conference. In 1992, her manuscript, The Lasting of the Mohegans, won the first annual Non-Fiction Award from the prestigious Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas.
Zobel’s non-fiction publications provide in-depth information and an unparalleled understanding of Mohegan culture, granting readers a glimpse at traditional practices. In Medicine Trail: The Life and Lessons of Gladys Tantaquidgeon, for instance, she writes that “certain feathers, such as those of the eagle, were reserved for ceremonies and high honors. Owl feathers were forbidden except in rare instances, for the owl’s cry is an omen of death” (41).
Additionally, Zobel writes speculative fiction, sometimes incorporating cherished cultural figures like Granny Squannit into her novels as a way of keeping them alive. In the summer of 2013 she is expected to release her newest novel, Great Bear Blues, set in New Hampshire.
Zobel won a top national award for “The Accomac Business Model.” The contest, called “Native Insight: Thoughts on Recession, Recovery & Opportunity,” was sponsored by the Alaska Federation of Natives, in partnership with the National Congress of American Indians and the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement.
In this story, Zobel illustrates the challenges of maintaining Native traditions in a rapidly changing, capitalist economy, suggesting that tribal people's cohesive nature might lend itself to cleaning up the current individualistic corporate structure. “The Accomac Business Model” provides the answers to Native longevity: there have always been Native fishermen and hunters, and yet while those same professions still exist today, there are also Native lawyers, doctors, and businesspeople. In both her fiction and her non-fiction, Zobel promotes Native Americans' continuing survival by refusing to let them slip from public memory. Native people have remarkably kept pace with an ever-changing society, while holding firm to the traditions of their ancestors. Zobel calls for the coalescence of progression and tradition in leading Native people to a bold new future.
Some of Zobel's earlier publications appear under her maiden name, Melissa Jayne Fawcett. Her Mohegan name was originally “Morning Star”, though Gladys Tantaquidgeon renamed her “Osowano,” meaning “the flower on the corn plant,” corn being a sacred food in Mohegan culture. Zobel has three children whose names embody their tribal heritage. Rachel Beth was named after Rachel Hoscott Fielding, the great-grandmother of Gladys Tantaquidgeon. Madeline Fielding gets her middle name from Mohegan culture keeper Fidelia Fielding. David Uncas was born in 1991, just after Zobel had a vision of her late uncle, Harold Tantaquidgeon, passing the baby to her along the Beautiful White Path. David’s middle name came thus comes from Harold’s hero, the Sachem Uncas.
*This article began as a longer profile for Wikipedia. Thanks to Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel for her assistance and feedback on both that article and this one.
Fawcett, Melissa Jayne. The Lasting of the Mohegans: Part I, the Story of the Wolf People. The Mohegan Tribe, 1995. Print.
Fawcett, Melissa Jayne. Medicine Trail: The Life and Lessons of Gladys Tantaquidgeon. University of Arizona Press, 2000. Print.
Fawcett, Melissa Jayne, and Joseph Bruchac. Makiawisug: The Gift of the Little People. Little People Pubns, 1997. Print.
Zobel, Melissa Tantaquidgeon. Fire Hollow. Raven’s Wing Books, 2010. Print.
Zobel, Melissa Tantaquidgeon. Oracles: A Novel. UNM Press, 2004. Print.
Spencer, Tricia et al. The Road to Elsewhere: Anthology of Award-Winning Short Stories. Scribes Valley Publishing Company, 2009. Print.
Zobel, Melissa Tantaquidgeon. "The Accomac business model." Alaska Dispatch. 4 November 2009. Alaska Dispatch. 16 April 2013. Accomac Business Model
Jacobson, Erica. "Tantaquidgeon relative named Mohegan tribal medicine woman." Norwich Bulletin.com. 21 May 2008. Norwich Bulletin. 4 April 2013. Norwich Bulletin
Official Mohegan Tribe website.
Arizona Board of Regents. "Great Tribal Leaders of Our Time: Jayne Fawcett." Indigenous Governance Database. 2013. University of Arizona. 5 April 2013. Jayne Fawcett
Zobel, Melissa Tantaquidgeon. "Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel." Academia.edu. 2013. Academia. 11 April 2013. Curriculum Vitae
Sayet, Rachel. "From the Mohegan Tribal Museum to Harvard to NMAI: An Intern's Journey (So Far) ." The National Museum of the American Indian. 20 May 2011. NMAI. 4 April 2013. The National Museum of the American Indian
Toensing, Gale Courey. "Mohegan Medicine Woman Wins $10,000 Essay Contest." Indian Country. 27 November 2009. Indian Country Today Media Network, LLC. 4 April 2013. $10,000 Essay]]>