Indian Handcrafts - C. Keith Wilbur
Indian Handcrafts by C. Keith Wilbur is a great primer for people who actually want to MAKE items in the manner that native Americans. There are countless illustrations in here showing you exactly what the item looks like - in many cases drawn direction from historical artifacts located in museums (which are named). So if you really want to go see the arrowhead, or the rubbing stick, you can literally take a trip out to the named museum and see the actual artifact for yourself.It's important to note that while this book simply claims to have "Indian Handcrafts", they are ALL from the northeast US area - primarily Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. This isn't a bad thing at all, but they should more clearly identify that on the front of the book. There are a ton of crafts NOT mentioned in here, because they weren't practiced by the tribes in this area. Also, for example when they talk about gardening like a native, and list out the foods that you should grow, the list is: corn, beans, pumpkins, squash, jerusalem artichokes, ground cherries, gourds and tobacco. This is a great list for Massachusetts, and certainly *similar* to what they grew in Florida or Arizona, but it is again important to know that this is a regional summary.
The book is good about both providing a "super 100% authentic" way of doing things - but also giving you shortcuts if you wish. As the author notes, native Americans were very quick to adapt new technologies when they encountered them. When they met up with people who had easy access to metal, they took those metals and melted them down rather than going through the labor intensive trouble of making their own metals from scratch. When they met up with people who had pretty glass beads, they didn't spend weeks and weeks hand grinding stones down into bead shapes. So in the same manner, sure, you are provided with instructions for hand making dyes from plants and flowers. But if you want, you can also use commercial dyes. This is not really "cheating" - it is efficient, and the natives were efficient where they had access to those supplies.
The book is also cautious in its environmental impact. Yes, the natives would strip birch bark off of trees to use it for various crafts. However, in modern times we do not have huge forests of birch - and stripping off birch bark would kill the trees. We can't afford to kill off trees just for "fun crafts". The author gives you ways to get your hands on the ingredients in a more environmentally friendly manner.
Keith was apparently 67 when he published this book in 1990, and you can see his lifetime of research clearly here. He talks about the different ways he practiced making stone tools, tried carving out canoes, and much more. This is a man who actually learned how to do these crafts and is now sharing his knowledge. I really appreciate that! The drawings are very detailed. I still wish, though, that they used a "regular font" for reading, instead of the calligraphy-style handwriting which is sometimes hard to read - and I wish they included some photos. Drawings are great, but sometimes it is so much more helpful to see actual images of things.
Still, these are minor complaints about a treasure trove of knowledge. Whatever your reason for wanting to learn more about how native Americans lived, I highly recommend this book as a part of your library.
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