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ProQuest Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 UMI' Paradigms of Collecting from Ethnography to Documenting the Individual Artists: Grace Nicholson and the Art History of Native Northwestern California Basketry During the Arts and Crafts Period, 1880-1930 by Catie Anne Cadge B.A., State University of New York, Binghamton, 1985 M.A., University of Washington, 1992 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of History in Art We accept this dissertation as conforming to the required standard Dr. Victoria Wyatt, S u p ^ik ir (Department of History in Art) Dr. Kathlyn I/Écomb, Departmental Member (Department of History in Art) I^rCItotophenThemas, Departmental Member (Department of History in Art) ___________________________ Dr. Brian W. Dippie, Outside Membep^epartment of History) Dr. Sherrie Smith-FerrirExtemaT Examiner © Catie Anne Cadge, 2000 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This dissertation may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopying or other means, without the permission of the author. Supervisor; Dr. Victoria Wyatt ABSTRACT During the Arts and Crafts period, from about 1880 to 1930, popular perceptions of Native Americans and their basketry emphasized pristine cultures prior to the effects of contact with Europeans. Pasadena basketry collector and dealer Grace Nicholson used an ethnographic approach, along with mass-marketing, when selling Native Northwestern California baskets in order to cater to Arts and Crafts period collectors’ expectations of traditional Indian baskets. In addition, Nicholson expanded her collecting methods to include documenting individual weavers in the field, though she rarely used this documentation as a sales strategy. Before Nicholson began traveling and collecting baskets directly from Native American weavers in Northwestern California, basketry from this region was almost always collected or sold as the work of an anonymous weaver. This approach — what I refer to as the ethnographic paradigm in the dissertation - - featured the traditional, pre-contact context of the basketry, but not the documentation of individual innovation. Grace Nicholson started a new paradigm or model for collecting Native Northwestern California basketry through her select documentation of individual artists. Nicholson's documentation of Elizabeth Hickox, master weaver of Northwestern California baskets during the Arts and Crafts period, has been thoroughly addressed in Art Historical scholarship. 1 argue that Nicholson also recorded information about other Northwestern California weavers from Hickox's generation, such as Yurok weaver Nellie Cooper. In this dissertation, 1 demonstrate that the Nicholson archival collection, along with other important archival sources, can be used by researchers to help identify lesser- known Northwestern California weavers from the turn of the 20th century today. ■■ Dr. Victoria Wyatt, Supùvisof (Department of Histoiy in Art) Dr. Kathlyn Mscomb, Departmental Member (Department o f History in Art))r. Dr.Kathlyn)r. Kathlyn Mscomb, Mscomb,^scom Departmental b, Departmental Member (Department o f History in Art))r. istopher Thomas, Departmental Member (Department of History in Art) Dr. Bnan W. Dlppie, iber (Department of History) ^DrTSnerrie SmitffEerri, External Examiner Ill Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................................ii Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................... iii List of Illustrations ........................................................................................................................ iv List o f Tables ................................................................................................................................. vi Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................vii Chapter 1 ..........................................................................................................................................1 Introduction to the Dissertation Chapter 2 ........................................................................................................................................10 Methods Explored in the Research Process and Writing of the Dissertation Chapter 3 ................................................... 32 The Native Peoples of Northwestern California, the Basketry and the Historiography Chapter 4 ......................................................................................................................................100 Introduction to The Arts and Crafts Movement in California and the Support of the Ethnographic Paradigm C h ap ters: .................................................................................................................................... 153 Collecting and Selling Baskets in Northwestern California, 1880-1930: The Ethnographic Paradigm to the Mass-Market Approach Chapter 6 : .................................................................................................................................... 206 Changing Strategies to Include the Individual Artist Paradigm: Grace Nicholson as Traveler, Collector and Dealer in the Arts and Crafts Period Chapter 7 : ....................................................................................................................................267 Conclusions Bibliography ................................................................................................................................273 Illustrations Illustration 1 : Mrs. Dolly Sanderson, Karuk weaver ......................................................... 33 Illustration 2 ; T rinidad ........................................................................................................... 33 Map 1 : Counties of Northern California .................................................................... 36 Map 2: Native American Tribes of Northwestern California ................................. 37 Illustration 3 : View of the Klamath River today .................................................................. 39 Illustration 4: Johnnie Jack and family in a typical Northwestern California canoe.... 39 Illustration 5: Example of pre-contact basketry type: Acorn flour hopper ......................44 Illustration 6: Example of pre-contact basketry type: Openwork burden basket ........... 44 Illustration 7 : Example of pre-contact basketry type: Acorn flour si fter ......................... 44 Illustration 8: Example of basketry covered bottles .............................................................51 Illustration 9: Example of lettering motif and anthropomorphic m otif ............................51 Illustration 10: Fruit pedestal (footed) basket ........................................................................52 Illustration 11 : Globular basket illustrating new motifs ...................................................... 52 Illustration 12: Trinket basket, Elizabeth Hickox ..................................................................72 Illustration 13: “The Happy Hunting Grounds” from The Craftsman October, 1903 ..121 Illustration 14: Cover of The Craftsman, October 1908 ................................................... 133 Illustration 15: Santa Fe Railway ad. House Beautiful, December 1915 ........................ 135 Illustration 16: Illustrations from The Craftsman, December 1904 ................................ 143 Illustration 17: Example of a Carrying Basket .....................................................................166 Illustration 18: Yurok weavers Nellie Griffin and Rosie McDonald ..............................166 Illustration 19: Photograph of Alexander Brizard, c. 1870 .............................................. 169 Illustration 20: A. Brizard Company Store basketry display ...........................................169 Illustration 21 : Brizard Co. Packtrains at Blue Lake .........................................................172