Maine Memory Network

Penobscot Band Basket, ca. 1860

Contributed by: Hudson Museum, Univ. of Maine Date: circa 1860 Media: Black ash

"wapi-kuhkukhahs” or Snowy Owl basket, Orono, 2022

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 2022 Location: Orono Media: Black ash, leather, glass bead, metal

May Baskets, a Dog, and a Party for Children

Two women thinking intruders were coming into their Biddeford Pool home, let the dog out to chase them away. Later, they discovered the truth about the noise at their door.

Gifts From Gluskabe: Maine Indian Artforms

According to legend, the Great Spirit created Gluskabe, who shaped the world of the Native People of Maine, and taught them how to use and respect the land and the resources around them. This exhibit celebrates the gifts of Gluskabe with Maine Indian art works from the early nineteenth to mid twentieth centuries.

Presque Isle: The Star City - Harvesting Potatoes - Page 5 of 13

"A full basket will weigh about 30 pounds. The basket pictured here is 16 inches (40 cm) in diameter and 8 inches (20 cm) deep."

Mount Desert Island: Shaped by Nature - Wabanaki Today

"X Eric Otter Bacon, Passamaquoddy, demonstrating basket making at the Abbe Museum, 2009. X"

Making the wapi-kuhkukhahs / Snowy Owl basket
by Gabriel Frey and Gal Frey

A story of a mother and son artistic collaboration.

The Tomah Basket
by James Boyce

Learning to make Maliseet Tomah baskets

Wabanaki Studies: Out of Ash

Grade Level: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 Content Area: Science & Engineering, Social Studies
This lesson plan will give middle and high school students a broad overview of the ash tree population in North America, the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) threatening it, and the importance of the ash tree to the Wabanaki people in Maine. Students will look at Wabanaki oral histories as well as the geological/glacial beginnings of the region we now know as Maine for a general understanding of how the ash tree came to be a significant part of Wabanaki cultural history and environmental history in Maine. Students will compare national measures to combat the EAB to the Wabanaki-led Ash Task Force’s approaches in Maine, will discuss the benefits and challenges of biological control of invasive species, the concept of climigration, the concepts of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Indigenous Knowledge (IK) and how research scientists arrive at best practices for aiding the environment.