Maliseet Basket Makers

Maliseet Basket Makers
(watercolor on paper)
John Stanton
Circa early-19th century
© New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, New Brunswick
Object no. 6713

Maliseet basket makers used splints of the brown ash tree, known as the “basket tree,” to construct many of their baskets. When Europeans arrived, basketry helped Maliseet, Mi’kmaq, and Peskotomuhkati people maintain cultural continuity, while also providing them with trade goods that European settlers needed. Many Aboriginal families, such as this one, spent the winter months weaving baskets, which they sold to non-Aboriginal settlers in the spring and summer.