Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

Western Carolina University (20) View all

Basket: rivercane, lidded

  • wcu_craft_revival-4856.JPG
  • This undated basket by Lottie Queen Stamper is listed separately from its lid in the Qualla Arts and Crafts Artifact Collection inventory - the lid identifier is QACM_1992_048. Stamper is one of Cherokee's best-known basket weavers. Lidded baskets such as these were used to store foodstuffs and household goods. The double weave makes for a tight basket; some double weave baskets are even waterproof. The basket and cover are rectangular, one fitting inside the other. The top and base are different patterns. On the bottom half of the basket, walnut hulls were used to dye the rivercane and to achieve the dark brown color; bloodroot was used to give the lid its orange color. The design in the basket is a version of the traditional Cherokee Peace Pipe design, with the "pipes" running in horizontal bands around the basket. This is possibly the last basket Lottie Stamper ever made. Born in the Soco community to Levi and Mary Queen, Lottie first learned how to make white oak and pine needle baskets from her mother. She married into a family that taught her how to make baskets from rivercane. In 1935, at the age of 28, she started making cane baskets and, in 1937, she began teaching basketmaking at the Cherokee School. Over her teaching career, Stamper taught hundreds of girls to weave baskets.