Appalachian White Oak Basketmaking: Handing Down the Basket

In an era when baskets served as basic containers for gathering, transporting, and storing goods, many settlers in the Central and Southern Appalachian mountain region found white oak the best material for basketmaking. This book surveys the varied forms and techniques that evolved as basketmakers selected, prepared, and wove this wood.

The authors display special appreciation of white oak basketry as an important dimension of regional material culture. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, including interviews with traditional basketmakers in the Central Appalachian region, Rachel Law and Cynthia Taylor establish a framework for classifying, comparing, and identifying Appalachian basketry forms. In demonstrating how details of basket construction, technique, and style can be linked to specific makers, regions, and ethnic traditions, the authors have created a resource essential for cultural historians, collectors, and craftspeople.

The three major types of white oak baskets—rib, rod, and split—are carefully delineated in this study. Oak rodwork, which previously has received little attention, is extensively treated here as a specifically American adaptation of European willow basketmaking. For all three major types, this volume details construction techniques for numerous variants, using copious illustrations and clear explanatory text.