Frank M. Covert/R.E. Olds Basket
Collection
Heart-shaped gift basket
Tulare Tribe, Moquelumnan Family
California, 1898-1908
Photo by Pearl Yee Wong
Coiled bowl with quail feathers
Pomo Tribe, Kulanapan Family
California, 1898-1908
Photo by Pearl Yee Wong
Basket, Klikitat Tribe
Shahaptran Family
Washington or Oregon, 1898-1908
Photo by Pearl Yee Wong
Coiled plaque, Pima Tribe
Piman Family, Arizona, 1898-1908
Photo by Pearl Yee Wong
Coiled shallow bowl-shaped basket
San Carlos Apache Tribe
Athapascan Family, Arizona, 1898-1908
Photo by Pearl Yee Wong
The largest and most significant of the MSU Museum's
American Indian basket collections contains109 examples representing almost
all the U.S. cultural areas and includes representatives of many patterns,
designs, and techniques used by American Indian weavers. Portions of the
collection are pictured in Otis Tufton Mason's seminal publication American
Indian Basketry (1904). These specimens, many of which have original residues
from use, are among the most important in the field.
The collection shows a great variety of regional and tribal variation,
as well as, in some cases, family patterns passed from generation to generation.
The baskets in this collection vary greatly in shape, size, and material.
Shallow bowl- and tray-shaped containers for gathering, storing, and serving
food are most heavily represented. Specialized forms are also included,
such as a baby carrier and sun shade from the Athabascan Family of the
Hupa tribe; a Pomo woman's drinking cup; and a woven spruce root hat made
by a member of the Skittagetan Family of the Haida Tribe in British Columbia.
In addition, an array of basketmaking materials in their raw form, as
well as some baskets in progress, accompany the completed pieces.
Ransom Eli Olds (founder in 1897 of the Olds Motor Vehicle Company, Lansing,
Michigan) and his wife Metta Woodward Olds donated the collection, acquired
by them in 1899, to the MSU Museum in 1940. According to records accompanying
the gift, this outstanding collection was most likely assembled by a female
friend of Metta Olds by the name of Covert and the collection was originally
known as the Frank M. Covert Collection.
Collector:
Mrs. Frank M. Covert.
Donor:
Ransom Eli Olds and Metta Woodward Olds.
Related Collections:
Michigan Heritage Basket Collection
"Sisters of the Great Lakes"/Nokomis Collection
Exhibitions:
"Gatherings: Great Lakes Native Basket and Box Makers," Nokomis Learning
Center, Okemos, Michigan, February - August 1999.
"Sisters of the Great Lakes: Art
of American Indian Women," Nokomis Learning Center, Okemos, Michigan,
September, 1995 - December, 1996; Hall of Ideas, Midland Center for the
Arts, Midland, Michigan, January, 1997 - March, 1997; The Field Museum,
Chicago, Illinois, December 20, 1997 - July 5, 1998; Forest County Potawatomi
Cultural Center & Museum, Crandon, Wisconsin, September - December, 2000.
Selected examples have also been
featured in numerous exhibitions at Michigan State University Museum.
Publications:
Otis Tufton Mason, American Indian Basketry (1904); reissued Dover
Publications, 1989.
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