Wabanaki root clubs


Penobscot root club, Poland Springs, ca. 1900

Penobscot root club, Poland Springs, ca. 1900
Item 6650   info
Maine Historical Society

Root clubs are made from the root bundles of immature gray birch trees, and were carried during special events. Carvers continued to make root clubs for Wabanaki communities, and also used their expertise to create a new genre during the late 1800s to early 1900s.

The Victorian tourist market allowed carvers to perpetuate traditional skills, while they explored new motifs and expressions based on a modern reality, influenced by global experiences.

Carvings sometimes morphed to fit market expectations of what “Indian” art looked like, occasionally showing a Native person in iconic Plains-style regalia. This club has moose, birds, a war-bonneted Indian head, and "Poland Spring, Me." carved on it.

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