Carrie's Anthropology 196m Blog

Well, this week has been crazy! I spent most of last week getting ready for SWAA and my presentation, and then we spent Thursday night-Sunday up in Reno. I had a blast, and I hope I get to go again! Paul (my fiance) had a good time too, he even seemed to enjoy the few presentation that he was able to see! =)

Anyways, I was finally able to spend some time working on my objects last night. I spent about 2.5 hours filling out what I could on the inventory worksheet. I also started my research. It looks like finding information for the Pomo baby cradle will be relatively simple, but I ran into trouble with the padded Pomo headdress and the household basket from Eel River.

I know from Mr. Shanks that the basket was made for the art market, so maybe I'll have some luck finding a match in an art catalog. I discovered that the Athapaskan groups lived along Eel River and include the Wailaki, Lassik, Nongatl, Sinkyone (thanks wikipedia). Page 112 of the Shanks book says that the Wailaki were known for their twined baskets so I thought I would start my research there and see what I can find. I fear I may be going on a wild goose chase though.

As for the padded Pomo headdress, I haven't found anything yet. I am hoping that maybe if I can find a book on Pomo rituals and dances that I will be able to find something. The SSC card says it could be used in a Sqaw (Squaw?) dance. It was certainly new or nearly new when Cotton bought it in 1924, since it uses so many non-native materials (cotton, steel wire, plastic buttons).

Since we aren't holding class today, I've decided to visit the Yolo county library here in Davis so I don't have to travel all the way to campus this morning. I have leads on three books/catalogs that I will go pick up this morning. I anticipate that taking 3o minutes, but I will verify that later.

I also spent about 30 minutes reading blogs and writing this blog post.

Total hours: 3, with potential 30 minutes more.

I've been thinking about the poster idea that Dr. C mentioned on her blog, and I really like the idea of thumbnails of each object. It could really give a good sense of the variety and beauty of the collection.

Out of my objects, I would like the household basket to be featured. I'm thinking something similar to this picture--a somewhat close up image that highlights the fine weaving.

The pieces from the Cotton Collection that I will be working with are:

42 74-32-6
21 BAS0156 74-32-2-25
3 BAS0015 74-32-2-16

hmm...I wonder what they actually are! =)