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Frank M. Covert/R.E. Olds Basket Collection

The largest and most significant of the MSU Museum's American Indian basket collections contains 109 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.

Donors and Fieldworkers

Ransom Eli Olds and Metta Woodward Olds Mrs. Frank M. Covert

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 - 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.

Coiled bowl with quail feathers, Pomo Kulanapan, California, 1898-1908

Heart-shaped gift basket, Tulare Tribe, Moquelumnan Family, California, 1898-1908

Coiled plaque, Pima Tribe, Piman Family, Arizona, 1898-1908

Coiled shallow bowl-shaped basket, San Carlos Apache Tribe, Athapascan Family, Arizona, 1898-1908