Otis Mason and More Blogging

While obeying "shelter in place" orders for COVID-19, I thought I'd get a lot of blog entries written. That didn't happen, but I did make a list of basket subjects to write about. I am eking some out.

My problem is not getting an idea, but writing up my story and then hunting for references to legitimize what I've said. Working with baskets for decades leads to what seems like intrinsic knowledge, but if I'm going to put something on my blog, it should be supported, and not be there just because I said so.

For me, conducting internet research is time consuming, as there are so many rabbit holes that need to be explored, and tangents occur; thus, I haven't written many blog entries lately.  For instance, eking. I thought it might be eeking, Spellchecker said no. Merriam-Webster says eking, and it is archaic. Eeking relates to leg hairs in the Urban Dictionary. I didn't need to know that for this blog, but that's why my blogging is educational for me yet labor intensive.  When I consult my physical basketry library instead of the internet, I am met with a similar fate - I pull a few books and get lost in them, and generate more ideas for blog posts....


Someone asked me about good books to have if you are interested in basketry.

This is Mason, an early and excellent resource for any basketry scholar.

"Aboriginal American Basketry: Studies in a Textile Art Without Machinery" by Otis Tufton Mason. Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution for the Year Ending June 30, 1902. Report of the U.S. National Museum. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1904. Mason was a Curator, Division of Ethnology.

 My copy is a "Rio Grande Classic" printed in 1970 by The Rio Grande Press.  I found it in a used bookstore in 1987, and it continues to be well-used and well-appreciated.


Thank you for your patience as I eke out my blog posts, and take care as we weather the COVID-19 storm.