Resources

Bibliography

Griselda and June Bedford, Jonathan King, Ruth Whitehead, Geoffrey Turner. Mohawk, Micmac, Maliseet… and other Indian Souvenir Art from Victorian Canada. London: Canada House Cultural Center, 1985.
Gives detailed description of beadwork technique and discusses controversy over the origin of floral designs in Native American beadwork.

Eckstorm, Fannie Hardy. The Handicrafts of the Modern Indians of Maine. Bar Harbor, Maine: Robert Abbe Museum, 1980.
This reprint of the original 1932 account offers a short description of Penobscot and Passamaquoddy beadwork, providing important context for interpreting their beadwork.

Ford, Tom Raven. Indian Double Curve Secrets: Eastern Woodlands Guide for Stencils. Brunswick, Maine: Audenreed Press, 1997.
A guide to drawing and creating stencils with double curve designs.

Lester, Joan A. We’re Still Here: Art of Indian New England / The Children’s Museum Collection.Boston: The Children’s Museum, 1987.
Offers description of New England Indian dress and beadwork including a valuable discussion of European and Western Indian influences.

Monroe, Dan L., ed. Gifts of the Spirit: Works by Nineteenth-Century and Contemporary Native American Artists. Salem, Massachusetts: Peabody Essex Museum, 1996.
Contains an historical and personal account by Richard Hill, Sr. on the significance of Iroquois beadwork.

Pelletier, Gaby, ed. Micmac and Maliseet Decorative Traditions: A Catalogue Featuring a Selection of Maliseet and Micmac Decorative Arts from the Collections of the New Brunswick Museum. Saint John: The New Brunswick Museum, 1977.
Minimal description, many excellent photographs of beaded objects including some of beaded clothing being worn.

Phillips, Ruth B. and Dale Idiens. ” ‘A Casket of Savage Curiosities’: Eighteenth-century Objects from North-eastern North America in the Farquharson Collection.” Journal of the History of Collections, Volume 6, Number 1. London: Oxford Press, 1944.
Traces a collection gathered in the eighteenth century. Includes photographs and descriptions of beadwork, quill work, and moose-hair embroidery.

Speck, Frank. Penobscot Man. Orono, Maine: University of Maine Press, 1977.
Originally published by the University of Pennsylvania in 1940, this important text offers thorough descriptions of Penobscot material culture including interpretation of various designs used in Penobscot beadwork.

Speck, Frank. “Symbolism in Penobscot Art.” Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, Volume XXIX, Part II. New York: The American Museum of Natural History, 1927.
Discusses, among many other topics, the medical significance of Penobscot plant designs.

Whitehead, Ruth Holmes. “A Brief Glimpse of Micmac Life: Objects from the McCord Collection.Wrapped in the Colours of the Earth: Cultural Heritage of the First Nations. Montreal: McCord Museum of Canadian History, 1992.
Offers a history of Micmac costume and crafts with interesting accounts of how adaptions were made to suit European concepts of the Native American.

Whitehead, Ruth Holmes. Elitekey: Micmac Material Culture from 1600 AD to the Present. Halifax: The Novia Scotia Museum, 1980. Contains description of Micmac dress with mention of beadwork.

Acknowledgements

Bruce Bourgue, Chief Archeologist and Curator of Ethnology, Maine State Museum • Theresa Hoffman, Executive Director, Miane Indian Basketmakers Alliance • Jennifer Sapiel Neptune, exhibit consultant • Maureen E. Smith, Director Native American Studies Program, University of Maine •Gail Sockabasin, Associate Director, Wabanaki Center, University of Maine • Karen Wihbey, volunteer • Ruth Whitehead, Assistant Curator of Ethnology, Nova Scotia Museum

Lenders to the exhibit:

Abbe Musuem, Bar Harbor, Maine; Kim Cartwright; Maine Historical Society, Portland, Maine; Maine State Museum, Augusta, Maine; Jennifer Sapiel Neptune; New York State Historical Association, Fenimore House Museum, Thaw Collection, Cooperstown, New York; Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts; and Nancy and Roger Prince

Exhibit Curators:

Gretchen Faulkner and Nancy Prince
Virtual Exhibit Contact: gretchen.faulkner@maine.edu

Virtual Exhibit Credits:

Photographs by Stephen Bicknell, Research Assistant, Department of Anthropology, University of Maine

Online Exhibit “Brilliantly Beaded” was designed by Mike Huberman

Online Exhibit “Brilliantly Beaded”  was created by Matthew Flagg