Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge Vol. .7(1), January 2008, pp. 188-196

Coast Salish −Preserving traditional knowledge with new technology

Leslie Tepper Canadian Museum of Civilization, 100 Laurier St, PO Box 3100, Station B, Gatineau, Quebec J8H 4H2, Canada E:mail: [email protected] Received 31 July 2007; Revised 25 October 2007

Hand made are an important source of traditional knowledge. Infused with symbolic and ritual meaning they can serve as a conduit of cultural information. During times of rapid social change, transmission of both the technology and symbolic content of these textiles is difficult to maintain. Among the Coast Salish weavers of Canada’s Northwest Coast, efforts to preserve their weaving heritage have now incorporated multimedia technology for the teaching of traditional knowledge. The paper explores the recent partnership of the Canadian Museum of Civilization and Coast Salish weavers to develop a new working tool. Keywords: Weaving heritage, Traditional weaving, Coast Salish weavers, Canada IPC Int. Cl.8: D01

Collaborative projects by museums and Indigenous weavers interested in revitalizing traditional peoples are increasingly common in North America, production. Unlike earlier museum partnerships, Europe and Australia1. Since the early 1990s, several which focussed on producing crafts people in curators at the Canadian Museum of Civilization have particular native communities, this project was been researching historic clothing in partnership with developed primarily for Indigenous teachers. The the aboriginal community2-4. These projects make method chosen to provide the information was also collections accessible for study, research results are changed, from the previous format of printed material, shared and efforts to re-create historic textiles and to a multimedia teaching compact disk. The paper clothing styles in community settings are supported. describes the history and context of the museum’s Typically, Native Elders, who are experienced recent activity in support of TK. seamstresses, weavers or hide tanners, are invited to visit the collections at the Canadian Museum of The Coast Salish Civilization. Younger family or community members, Coast Salish First Nations are members of a large interested in learning traditional techniques and group of Salishan speaking people living on the West designs, may travel with them. If contract funds are Coast of Canada and the United States. Their available, the museum supports the re-creation of traditional territories in Canada include the South- traditional objects based on close analysis of artefacts eastern region of Vancouver Island, and, on the in the collection5,6. On several occasions the museum British Columbia mainland, the area North of Powell has even prepared small travelling exhibits to bring River to the southern outlet of the Fraser River near examples of traditional clothing design and Vancouver (Fig. 1). In the United States, their ornamentation to remote communities. Through these, traditional villages are located along the coasts of and similar projects, the Canadian Museum of Washington and Oregon. Salish oral history records Civilization, as the country’s national history and the occupation of this land from time immemorial. ethnology museum, offers its extensive collections of Their stories describe how the earth was transformed material culture, photographs and audio-visual and shaped into the present landscape; how animals records as a resource for aboriginal communities. were created, each with its unique characteristic; and Such partnerships and collaborative programs can how people and cultural knowledge came into help maintain Traditional Knowledge (TK) in existence7. Indigenous communities. Archaeological excavations have discovered In 2006, the Canadian Museum of Civilization cultural materials dating back thousands of years8-10. began a new collaborative project with Coast Salish Analyses of the stone tools and arrow points suggest a TEPPER: TRADITIONAL COAST SALISH WEAVING OF CANADA 189

and bark” in sites dating from 1250 BC8. Woven techniques consist of plaited and wrapped structures, checker and twilled weaving, plain twining and diagonal twinning as well as woven decorative bands. Spun and plied threads were needed for fish lines, hunting snares and traps. Weaving technology was also incorporated into the construction of fish traps, weirs and netting. Baskets were made to carry and store food and raw materials. Pre-contact material culture may have also included other woven fabrics for clothing, ornamentation and house hold use. Unfortunately, examples of textiles are infrequently found in archaeological excavations. Unlike stone, bone, and antler materials, plant fibres decay quickly, and, except for a few water-logged sites, such as Fig. 1—Coast Salish weavers at the Canadian Museum of Ozette11, woven specimens of baskets or fabrics are Civilization rare. seasonal cycle of fishing for spring and fall salmon Information on traditional , sewing and and the gathering of a variety of roots and berries weaving are found in diaries and reports written by during the summer. Sea mammals were hunted on the nineteenth century European explorers and fur traders coast, and deer, bear and other animals hunted in travelling in British Columbia. Descriptions of nearby mountains and forests. Winter was a time for ceremonies and celebrations. Today, many Coast blankets woven from and plant fibres, and Salish people continue to fish, hunt and gather drawings of important chiefs and their wives with traditional foods as a way of supplementing their capes trimmed with fur indicate a well established wage income and to enjoy and perpetuate an ancient textile technology. Explorers also noted the large way of life. Some families still participate in winter numbers of blankets exchanged as gifts and offered in trade during this early contact period. dances and other life-cycle celebrations associated with long-established religious beliefs. Many museum collections provide valuable sources of information on traditional textile Coast Salish weaving production among the Coast Salish. Examples of Weaving has been an integral element of Salish mats, baskets, and clothing acquired as early as 1778 culture (Fig. 2). Assemblages of archaeological by Captain Cook show complex pattern weaving in material include “twine and cordage of various sizes cedar bark and wool. Later acquisitions of textiles in and styles (single, two, three and four strand); large , and twinning show the adaptation gauge netting; basketry and other products of wood of new styles and materials that included cloth, commercial threads and dyes.

One of the earliest records of Salish weaving is seen in a painting by Paul Kane, an artist who travelled in the Pacific Northwest in 1847 as part of a longer voyage through Northern North America. The painting (completed some years later from his rough sketches) shows the interior of a Salish house with one woman sitting at a , and another spinning wool in the background. The figures are dressed in white blanket robes and the weaving on the loom shows a pattern at the upper edge. Though the final rendition has no doubt been altered for artistic purposes, the contents offer valuable information.

By the mid-nineteenth century, textiles imported by Fig. 2—Salish Chiefs in traditional regalia the British Hudson Bay Company had become popular 190 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL. 7, No. 1, JANUARY 2008

trade goods. Bolts of cloth and wool blankets began to replace hand woven materials. A few traditional blankets and garments continued to be worn at important political gatherings by elected or hereditary chiefs. Ritual regalia, including head dresses and sashes, were woven for special ceremonies. These garments helped to sustain the community’s cultural identity during a period of rapid social change. However, by the early 20th century, TK of weaving was disappearing.

Revival of TK In the early part of the1960s, two native women, Mary Peters and Adeline Lorenzetto, became interested in re-creating traditional style blankets. Building small frame based on published descriptions or on memories from early childhood, the two women Fig. 3—Chepximiya Siyam’ (Chief Janice George) and experimented with weave techniques and patterns. Skwetsimeltxw (Willard Joseph) standing in front of new weaving studio Oliver Wells, a farmer and amateur ethnologist living in the Chilliwack valley of British Columbia, also A current revival of weaving and teaching is now began to study the few remaining Salish blankets in the underway on the Squamish reserve in West Vancouver. possession of neighbouring Indian families. He Almost two decades after the Musqueam revival, Chief supported the women’s efforts by sharing research Janice George and Willard Joseph were unable to find information and providing wool from his sheep farm. a Canadian Salish weaving teacher near their home. Wells also brought public attention to this revitalization They therefore travelled to the United States to study of traditional Salish weaving by publishing an article in with the well known Salish weavers, Bruce Millar and a popular Canadian history magazine12. Gradually, Susan Pavel. Following their return to British other women on the nearby reserves started learning to Columbia, they offered workshops in some of the more weave, and the Salish Weavers Guild was established remote Salish communities and presented programs on in 1971 at Sardis, British Columbia. The Guild traditional weaving to non-native audiences and school survived for approximately 10 years with membership groups. They are presently supervising the creation of a number of wall hangings for the Squamish Lil’wat of some 40 spinners and weavers. Their work can be Cultural Centre now being built for the 2010 Olympics. seen in public and private collections including the The commission includes the training of weavers, Parliament of Canada, the Bonaventure Hotel in overseeing the construction of floor looms and helping Montreal, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the to design the wall hangings. In June 2007, they opened Royal British Columbia Museum and the Museum of a weaving studio dedicated to the teaching and Anthropology, University of British Columbia. production of new Salish weaving (Fig. 3). Gradually however, public interest in Salish weaving faded, and the Guild was disbanded. Salish fibre and textile production techniques Another initiative to recover traditional weaving Coast Salish textile techniques traditionally occurred in Musqueam, a Coast Salish community included plaiting, weaving, and sewing. Knitting was located in the city of Vancouver. In the 1980s, Wendy introduced to Salish women in the mid-nineteenth Grant, a member of the local community, obtained century by nuns and teachers in the schools operated 14 Government funding to teach new weavers the by Anglican and Catholic churches . Patterned traditional techniques. These women studied blankets sweaters, hats, gloves and slippers were made from in the collections of the Museum of Anthropology at thick rain-resistant in the natural colours of the University of British Columbia and developed their white, brown and black fleece. Knitting, unlike own new designs. The finished were weaving, became an important source of income for exhibited at the museum and a catalogue was many Salish families during the first half of the published13. Today a few Musqueam weavers continue twentieth century. Sweaters were frequently given as to teach, produce garments and regalia for community official gifts. Promoted as quintessentially Canadian, members and undertake commissions. these textiles became an iconic Canadian souvenir. TEPPER: TRADITIONAL COAST SALISH WEAVING OF CANADA 191

Weaving fibres The resulting thread was thick and soft. “The Salish Salish oral history, historic diaries, and research on method differed from conventional spinning as a result museum artefacts have provided useful information of the exaggeration in the size of the . The on the range of materials traditionally woven as warp motive power had to be applied from below rather than and weft. Nettle and hemp were the two most above the whorl; and although the spindle did revolve common plants used for thread. Fireweed, cattail, bird more or less freely, it was unable to impart a high down and several types of animal hair were degree of twist since it could not apply tension by sometimes incorporated into the spun fibre to give the means of its own weight”15. The wooden whorls were weaving softness and warmth15. Mountain goat wool sometimes carved with images of supernatural beings was the most highly prized material, both for its rarity or geometric designs in a circular pattern. These and for its symbolic value. The mountain goats’ images may have been associated with symbols of remote habitat and its white colour were emblematic purification, and possibly transformation10. references to spiritual purity. One type of animal hair used for weaving was Sewn textiles derived from a species of dog, which has since The most common form of sewn textile was mats become extinct or perhaps so interbred with the other made from tule reeds, a common water plant growing dogs brought by European settlers that it is no longer in marshy areas in the region. The stem’s outer leaves identifiable. Early explorers speculated in their diaries were removed and the stalks were laid length-wise and and reports on the materials used for the blankets they sewn together with a spun thread of nettle. Long saw in the villages. As sheep were notably absent they wooden needles with a hole at one end carried the considered the large numbers of “woolly dogs” in the thread through the centre of each stalk, creating rows of native villages as the main source of ‘wool’. In 1792, widely spaced sewing. A mat creaser was pressed over Captain Vancouver wrote in his journal: “The dogs the stalks as the needle passed through to stop the reeds belonging to this tribe of Indians were numerous, and from splitting. These creasers were often beautifully much resembled those Pomerania, though in general carved tools with animal or bird effigies as part of the somewhat larger. There were all shorn as close to the decorative handle. Mat edges were finished with rows skin as sheep are in England; and so compact were of multi-strand plaiting. Thick mats were used as their fleeces, that large portions could be lifted up by sitting surfaces, as bedding and to insulate the walls of a corner without causing any separation”16. Harold plank houses. Thinner mats served as clean surfaces for Burnham has also noted that “Dog hair seems to have eating or working, and as room dividers separating been more often used as a substitute for, rather than in private areas for the extended family living together in addition to mountain goat wool, and was a valued a large single room dwelling. Among the Interior material in its own right, particularly among the more Salish, such mats were also used as tipi coverings, to southern Salish groups who found mountain goat provide shade at temporary camp sites and as rain wool difficult to obtain”15. cloaks and capes.

Spinning Woven Textiles Thread was spun using stone or wooden whorls Woven mats used twine and tabby (plain weave) with a long stick inserted into the central hole. Unlike techniques. The warp was usually composed of thin spindles in other weaving cultures, in which the reeds and rushes. The weft thread was spun and plied weight of the whorl drops downward, the Salish hemp or silver willow bark. Decorative elements were spinner was held at an upright angle. The roving was provided by dying the material, inserting coloured prepared by rolling the fibres in the palms or against warps or weaving the weft in a wave pattern. A variety the thigh and placed in a box. When a sufficient of treatments, the beginning and finishing of amount was made, the end of the roving was looped warps and the intricate application of decorative through a ring suspended from the roof or attached weaving techniques illustrate the cultural vitality of 18 high on the wall. Alternatively, the roving could be Salish design and weaving skills . draped over the upper bar of the loom. From this height Salish looms, used for weaving wool blankets, the roving was attached to the spindle for spinning. were large upright frames, occasionally carved with “The twirling might be termed a tossing motion which decorative figures, and traditionally secured into the is performed by the upturned palm of the right hand”17. floor of the large cedar plank houses. Contemporary 192 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL. 7, No. 1, JANUARY 2008

weavers often use small table looms or floor looms hidden or sacred) should be shared with students? with cross pieces attached at the foot for stability. Should only traditional Salish designs, materials and Warping is usually a simple wrapping of thread techniques be taught in order to re-establish culturally around the upper and lower cross beams for a single appropriate weaving? length of fabric. Longer textiles use a reverse warping The expected outcomes of the workshop were technique that requires a third bar. This extra beam identified as: permits the downward shifting of the textile as the 1. Promotion, preservation, teaching and development weaving progresses. Blankets were woven using one of the art of Salish weaving in Northwest Coast or more of the three traditional techniques: tabby, territory. twill and twinning. Eighteenth and nineteenth century 2. Contextualization and dissemination of information blankets in North American and European museum on the collection of Salish materials in the collections have been categorised into white and Canadian Museum of Civilization 19 coloured styles . The coloured blankets have been 3. Promotion of partnerships between the Canadian further divided into early “Classic” and later Museum of Civilization and First Nation 19 “Colonial” styles . More analysis is needed on the Communities history of Salish blankets, and the influences that brought about changes in style and usage. The Workshop The three-day workshop included study of the Canadian Museum of Civilization and Coast Salish Salish weavings in the museum collection; viewing of Weaving a 1923 film of a Coast Salish weaver; and lengthy The Canadian Museum of Civilization became discussions on issues regarding the preservation and involved with Coast Salish Weaving in 2006 when transmission of TK. Two principal themes emerged Chief Janice George attended the Canadian Museum from the workshop dialogues. First, Coast Salish of Civilization’s Aboriginal Training Program for weaving was viewed as serving a vital function in the Museum Practices. A three day workshop on Coast promotion of cultural identity. However, the number Salish weaving at the museum was developed as part of experienced weavers may be too small to sustain of her training. In her project report, she wrote: this TK among the widely dispersed Coast Salish “Pacific Northwest Coast Nations prize our Culture, communities. Secondly, textile production was art, history, language, religion and stories more than perceived as economically unproductive. As noted any other resource. Like the land it defines them, and earlier, Coast Salish weaving has been revived in connects Pacific Northwest Coast Nations to their different communities at different times during the people. It is something the ancestors strived to hold past half century. Each programme flourished for a onto. Teaching and studying Salish Weaving will while, and then almost faded away. Although encourage Coastal Indigenous people to take traditional weaving knowledge was increasingly ownership of the strong historical tradition of available among a wider group of people, the weaving”20. Five weavers were invited to travel from opportunity to learn decreased as the initial group of different Coast Salish communities to attend the three weavers sought other economic and artistic day workshop. The participants possessed different opportunities. Some weavers remained in the “craft” levels of weaving skill. Some members of the field, but found a more lucrative market using workshop were more familiar with cedar bark different artistic media. Others lost interest, or looked weaving, while others had worked only in wool. All for improved sources of income in full or part-time participants were asked to bring examples of their employment once their children started school or left weaving and to be prepared to discuss a set of home. The participants also stated that weaving as an questions sent to them in advance of the workshop art form is unappreciated by the buying public. date. Textiles are rarely exhibited by galleries. The current A detailed agenda outlined the topics for discussion art market for wall hangings, architectural during the workshop. Participants were asked to commissions or museum contracts is almost non- consider criteria for teaching standards and course existent. Potential buyers appear to have little or no content. What criteria should be established for understanding of the history, symbolism and value of weaving quality for both teachers and weavers? How Coast Salish textiles, or of the long hours required to much of the TK (some of which maybe considered design and weave a wall hanging or garment. TEPPER: TRADITIONAL COAST SALISH WEAVING OF CANADA 193

The workshop discussion focussed on three correlated most clearly with the museum’s current potential projects. The first was to organize an annual activities to preserve and share knowledge. The meeting of Coast Salish weavers. Such meetings can workshop’s first suggestion of an annual conference promote the exchange of ideas, provide opportunities requires extensive networking and organization within to teach new techniques, and give support and the community. These activities are best encouragement for weavers in the more isolated accomplished by the weavers who live and teach in communities. Annual gatherings could possibly lead Coast Salish society. The third project, the production to the organization of a Coast Salish Weaving Guild of books or videos to increase buyer’s appreciation, and perhaps eventually to a future Northwest Coast could potentially be a museum project. Publications Native Weavers Guild. The second project to receive on TK with contemporary examples are often the workshop’s approval was the development of produced by museums. However, the specific support material for weaving classes. Coast Salish audience profile outlined in the workshop discussion communities in Canada are spread along the lower would have to be broadened for a successful museum British Columbia coast, Vancouver Island and the project. It was therefore decided that the Canadian Fraser Valley. Access to these reserves may require Museum of Civilization’s further contribution should one or more ferry rides, as well as long distance travel emphasize the development of historic and by car. Weaving teachers who offer courses in these contemporary resources for weaving teachers. locations can usually spend only a few days with the The most complex discussions during the students. In the interim, students are left without workshop involved the sharing of TK. Questions of sources of reference or refresher material on how to intellectual property, copyrights and ownership of warp the loom or the techniques of various weaves. designs and images have been and are now under There is a need for some form of resource manual to review in committees ranging from international remain after the workshop. The final area of concern bodies such as the United Nations Biodiversity was the development of awareness of and respect for Committee and World Intellectual Property Coast Salish weaving in the art market. The process Organization, to discussions at the local level of of weaving includes designing the textile, preparing Indigenous Band Councils. Traditional knowledge and spinning the wool, colouring the threads (often among the First Nations living on Canada’s with the use of natural dyes), warping the loom and Northwest Coast, belongs to certain families or to finally mastering the skills of weaving a fine quality particular members of those families. Designs, crest textile. The weaving must also be appropriately figures or traditional stories can only be used by non- finished, sometimes incorporating a mechanism for family members after permission is obtained from the display. This time consuming process is rarely appropriate chief, elders or family members. The reflected in the purchase price. Once the textile is weavers, though coming from different communities acquired by a gallery, the asking price is usually and families, wished to respect traditional practices doubled to cover the store’s overhead and to make a and thereby limit access to TK in appropriate ways. profit for the gallery owner. Such mark-ups when However, they felt that the weaving techniques, added to a fair payment for the weaver’s work including twill, twine and plain weaves, are styles of frequently remove weaving from the average buyer’s thread interlacing used in many culture around the price range. The workshop participants suggested that world. Patterns used on Salish blankets and garments a solution could be found by increasing the buying have been reproduced in several publications. The audiences’ understanding and appreciation of a fine workshop participants decided that it would be Coast Salish weaving. Art style videos could be appropriate to include teaching material currently in shown in galleries or museums. Glossy coffee table the public domain. These resources would be enriched style books could display the history, TK and years of by personal observations and commentary offered by training that went into historic and contemporary weavers and elders who would encourage beginning examples of fine weaving. These and other projects weavers to continue to explore Coast Salish weaving could raise the profile of this traditional art form and traditions make buyers more will to pay appropriate prices. Another problem that concerns many contemporary Of the three projects the second one, i.e. First Nation artists on the Northwest Coast is fair preparation of material to support the transmission of market share. A large number of how-to manuals have cultural knowledge within the aboriginal community, been published on Northwest Coast art. These books 194 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL. 7, No. 1, JANUARY 2008

show hobbyists how-to draw the traditional art forms, value of this material culture for contemporary Salish carve the different types of masks, or provide detailed communities requires public recognition, particularly analysis of various weaving techniques. The result has from community elders and leaders. The Weaving been an influx of Northwest Coast-like art objects by Teachers’ Resource CD approaches this need in non-native producers into the tourist and art market. several ways. Quotes from Elders and other weavers The resulting competition for potential buyers has not promote respect for the craft and for the teachers. A only reduced the income of aboriginal artists, but list of past and present Salish weavers is provided. raises issues about authenticity, copyright and These elements honour the people who have helped intellectual property for the native community. The preserve this aspect of Salish culture and break down workshop participants feared that an additional Salish the sense of isolation. Weaving is typically a solitary weaving resource might lead to further encroachment craft-looms are set up in homes for one person to on the rights of aboriginal artists. The Resource work on at a time. It is helpful to see the work of Project therefore carries a statement welcoming all other weavers and to know their names and home weavers to learn the Salish style, but asking that they community. not compete in the marketplace. Finally, the Resource CD offers suggestions to help to promote and strengthen respect for weaving in Weaving Teachers Resource Project Coast Salish communities. Public ceremonies with a A combination of available technologies, costs, formal presentation of the finished work may help expediency and existing expertise has determined the establish a shared appreciation for weaving and final choice of an appropriate medium for the weavers. Traditional forms of celebration in Weaving Teachers Resource Project. A print format Northwest Coast culture include inviting a large was considered, but the weaving techniques of twill, number of people to a gathering where there are twine and the warping of the Salish loom in speeches, singing, dancing and feasting. These particular, are often complicated for beginning occasions may include naming of the blanket, dancing weavers to learn. Videos showing these technical it in front of the audience, and thanking and elements were thought to be especially useful. It was honouring of the elders, weavers and other supporters. decided that an interactive CD with a PowerPoint Garments can also be woven for graduating classes or program that could link video and word processing for elders, chiefs and political leaders. Community documents was the best medium. The organization of Salish language classes can help rebuild a weaving the information was based on the sequence of logical vocabulary that may be in danger of disappearing. steps a weaver follows to create a textile- designing, These and other ideas raise awareness of TK and help thread choice, warping and weaving. re-establish the historic role of weavers in the The resource material provides information for contemporary community. Such efforts reinforce the both the beginning and experienced weaver. A weaver’s continued commitment to their craft and to complete catalogue of the Canadian Museum of the maintenance of TK. Civilization collection of Coast Salish blankets, spindle whorls, looms and other historic material is Role of museums in preserving TK available. Bibliographies and a list of historic While the essential work of maintaining TK photographs in the archives of the Royal British depends on the Indigenous community and its interest Columbia Museum and of the Canadian Museum of in preserving its historic material culture, museums Civilization have been added. Finally, an important can also find a role to play. As a resource of images resource for weavers interested in researching and material culture, the museum can supply historic traditional design is the list of Salish weavings in and contemporary examples of material culture for Canadian, North American and European museums. study. Curatorial and scientific staff may be able to These resources and techniques are some of the provide different perspectives, new information, or more tangible components of maintaining a TK base. useful contacts that open alternative approaches to Of equal importance is the need to confirm the techniques, access to other collections, or broader importance of an historic skill in contemporary Native historical context. Museums may also have financial society. Coast Salish society once imbued goat hair resources to support community projects. These textiles with sacred significance and social partnerships may in turn add contemporary iconography. Re-establishing the multilayer symbolic information to the institutions’ archives. Museums TEPPER: TRADITIONAL COAST SALISH WEAVING OF CANADA 195

may also have a role as a gatekeeper to local, national Willard Joseph of the Squamish First Nation and to A or international audiences. The traditional formats of Heyman for their assistance with the project. exhibits, catalogues and the more recently established References access to websites are vehicles to showcase cultural 1 Peers Laura & Brown Alison K, Museums and Source practices. The exhibit, small catalogue and a website Communities: A Routledge Reader, London: Routledge, on Musqueam weavers, at the University of British 2003. Columbia’s Museum of Anthropology is one such 2 Hall Judy, Jill Oakes & Sally Quimmiu’naaq Webster, example. In recent years, there has been an increased Sanatujut: Pridein Women’s Work, Copper and Caribou Inuit Clothing Traditions, Hull: Canadian Museum of interest in Northwest Coast textiles. Several shows Civilization, 1994. highlighting basketry and weaving have been installed 3 Tepper Leslie, Earth Line and Morning Star”: NLaka’pamux as special exhibits. Textiles are also increasingly Clothing Traditions. Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization, included in Northwest Coast art exhibits21. However, 1994. exhibits featuring the work of individual Salish 4 Thompson Judy, From the Land: Two Hundred Years of Dene Clothing’ Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization, weavers continue to be quite rare. Museums and other 1994. educational institutions should continue to promote 5 Fraser Karen Wright, My People Did this: The Re-Making of the appreciation of Coast Salish textiles as valued Gwich’in Garment”, In: Fascinating Challenges: Studying works of art. Material Culture with Dorothy Burnham, Mercury Series Canadian Ethnology Service edited by Judy Thompson, Judy Conclusion Hall & Leslie Tepper, Paper 136, Hull: Canadian Museum of In the past 50 years, TK of Salish hand weaving Civilization, 2001 107-111. has been sustained as a result of the intense efforts of 6 Hewitt Pearl, The Making of a Traditional Nlaka’pamux Silver-Willow Cape, In: Fascinating Challenges: Studying a relatively small group of people. Now, at the Material Culture with Dorothy Burnham, Mercury Series beginning of the twenty-first century, efforts to Canadian Ethnology Service, edited by Judy Thompson, incorporate weaving as a vital aspect of cultural Judy Hall and Leslie Tepper, Paper 136, Hull: Canadian identity and pride are growing. Traditional garments Museum of Civilization, 2001 177-186. are being woven for private and public ceremonies, 7 Marshall Daniel P, Those Who Fell from the Sky: A History of the Cowichan Peoples, Duncan: Cultural and Education including winter dances, puberty and naming Centre, Cowichan Tribes, 1999. ceremonies. The traditional and contemporary 8 Mitchell Donald, Prehistory of the Coasts of Southern British iconography of weaving is becoming better integrated Columbia and Northern Washington, In: Northwest Coast, into the community’s social and cultural life. Handbook of North American Indians, edited by Wayne Suttles Washington: Smithsonian Institution, Vol VII, 1990, Contemporary technology, such as the Weaving 340-358. Teacher Resource CD helps preserve and promote 9 Burley David V & Owen B Beattie, Coast Salish Origins: traditional hand weaving. This new resource for Ethnicity and Time Depth in Northwest Coast Prehistory, In: students gives them step by step instructions for Ethnicity and Culture: Proceedings of the 18th Annual warping and weaving Salish textiles. A recipe for a Conference of the Archaeological Association of the University of Calgary, edited by Reginald Auger, (University natural dye bath, a diagram on graph paper showing a of Calgary Archaeological Association, Calgary), 1987 200- blanket design to try, and information on how to build 207. a table top loom all provide basic information to get a 10 Suttles Wayne, Coast Salish Essays, Vancouver: Seattle: new weaver underway. Words of encouragement to Talonbooks, University of Washington Press, 1987. both the teacher and the student draw people into a 11 Samuels Stephan R, Ozette Archaeological Project Research Reports, edited by Pullman, Seattle: Dept. of Anthropology, broader community of understanding and support. Washington State University; National Park Service, Pacific Information on and images of historic textiles, Northwest Regional Office, 1991-1994. photographs, museum collections and contemporary 12 Wells Oliver N, Return of the Salish Loom, The Beaver: work can provide inspiration for new projects or the Magazine of the North, Spring, Outfit 296, 1966, 40-45. re-creation of ancestral work. Most importantly, this 13 Johnson Elizabeth Lominska and Kathryn Bernick, Hands of Our Ancestors, The Revival of Salish Weaving at Musqueam, collaborative project has helped to build new Museum Note No.16, Vancouver: U.B.C. Museum of relationships, between the Canadian Museum of Anthropology, 1986. Civilization and the Salish community as well as 14 Meikle Margaret, Cowichan Indian Knitting. Museum Note among the weavers themselves. No 21, Vancouver: UBC Museum of Anthropology, 1987. 15 Burnham Harold B, The Salish Weaving Complex and Other Acknowledgement Papers, (Unpublished manuscript). The author is indebted to Chief Janice George and 196 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL. 7, No. 1, JANUARY 2008

16 Howay FW, The Dog’s Hair Blankets of the Coast Salish, 19 Gustafson Paula, Salish Weaving, Vancouver: Douglas and Washington Hist Qtly, 9 (2) (1918) 83-92. McIntyre, 1980. 17 Kissel Mary Lois, A New Type of Spinning in North 20 George Janice, Chief (Chepximiya Siyam), Proposal for America, Am Anthropol, 18 (1916) 264-270. Salish Weaving Teachers Gathering, (Unpublished 18 Tepper Leslie, The Observant Eye: Analyzing Nlaka’pamux document), 2006. Woven Mats, In: Fascinating Challenges: Studying Material 21 Blanchard Rebecca & Nancy Davenport, Contemporary Culture with Dorothy Burnham, edited by Judy Thompson, Coast Salish Art. (Stonington Gallery in Association with Judy Hall & Leslie Tepper, Mercury Series Canadian University of Washington Press, Seattle and London), 2005. Ethnology Service, Paper 136, Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2001 187-234.