Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

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Elsie Watty basket display

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  • This historic photograph was made by an unknown photographer in 1968 at an unknown Native American competition in Oklahoma. Elsie Watty's white oak baskets are seen at right. Elsie Welch Watty (1935-2016) was a master Cherokee basket weaver who specialized in making white oak baskets and was known for creating her own designs. She was born in 1935 and lived and worked on the Galamore Branch in the Big Cove community near Cherokee. Although her mother and grandmother each wove baskets, neither of them taught her the craft. Instead, she learned by observation and began to make baskets when she was ten years old. In 1977 her work was exhibited at the Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual artisan cooperative. While she was an active basket weaver, she is said to have made 100 baskets a year.