Pomo Indian Basketry

At the time of its publication in 1908, Pomo Indian Basketry was the most complete and detailed study of a single Native American basketry tradition. The work, prepared as Samuel Barrett’s doctoral dissertation, earned the author the first Ph.D. in anthropology at UC Berkeley. Among its contents are sections devoted to materials, techniques, forms, and designs. This edition is supplemented with two early articles, Basket Designs of the Pomo Indians by Barrett (1905) and California Basketry and the Pomo by his teacher Alfred Kroeber (1909). Sherrie Smith-Ferri’s introduction reviews Barrett’s early life and research and identifies the human sources of Barrett’s collections and information–a community of talented Pomoan basket weavers.

Sherrie Smith-Ferri (Dry Creek Pomo/Bodega Miwok) is a curator at the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah, California.