Design is fine. History is mine.

Shaker Design. Cat’s head Basket. c. 1886. Mount Lebanon, NY. Made for the Community. Benjamin Rose Collection. Photo SFO Museum.

The initials “A.C.W.” are carved on the handle of this basket in cursive lettering and dated 1886.

Basketry

Shaker basket makers perfected traditional forms and techniques already being produced in the northeastern United States. Early basket handles were carved by hand and shaped with drawknives and files. Later, mechanical saws and routers were used to refine and standardize shapes. Labor-intensive basket making entailed pounding a log to separate the fibers so that the long strips needed for weaving could be peeled away. The Shakers made baskets from ash, a wood that can be easily split and bent. Basket makers made wooden molds to guarantee perfectly formed baskets, uniform in size, volume, and shape. Baskets were made for sale and for use among Shaker communities. Although every Shaker community crafted baskets, the Mount Lebanon community is best known for producing large quantities of basketry. There, the Shakers made approximately 70,000 baskets during a sixty-year period. Originally, both males and females participated in the manufacture and sale of basketry. When the male Shaker population began to decline in the late 1800s, women became solely responsible for basketry production.