Threads of culture: Wabanaki textiles

Bruce Bourque, chief archaeologist and curator of ethnography at the Maine State Museum in Augusta, is “learning another branch of anthropology,” he said in a talk he gave May 18 at Bangor Public Library. His learning process will culminate in a book to accompany an exhibit, “Uncommon Threads: Wabanaki Textiles, Clothing and Costume,” set to open at the museum in 2007.

In his talk, Bourque said he had been thinking about the project since the 1980s as museums began to develop exhibits of the costume of indigenous people. Since then he has searched for Wabanaki textiles and for “historic evidence of the social and political contexts in which they were worn.” His book will examine the ways in which Wabanaki costume changed over several centuries in response to the influences of French and English colonists.

Wabanaki textiles, he said, are virtually unknown to the public. Indeed, many of the historic textiles created by Maine’s four American Indian groups – the Penobscot, the Micmac, the Maliseet and the Passamaquoddy – he found in private collections scattered throughout the world, including a coat found in Australia. Other items were discovered in museum basements located outside the United States.

“Most of the artifacts we bought on the open market,” Bourque said, “and they were coming from Europe. These textiles are appreciated for their beauty,” he said, “but have no historical context.” He will remedy that situation with the book he is writing.

Maine American Indians, Bourque said, “lived in a woven world.” They wove tree saplings into fish weirs. They wove the webs of snowshoes from animal sinews. They wove trees and grasses into the shelters they lived in. Even birch bark sewn together and fashioned into canoes qualifies as a kind of textile, Bourque said.

“Bringing attention to Wabanaki textiles is a good idea,” said Penobscot Nation Historic Preservation officer Bonnie Newsom of the plans for the exhibit. “It will [foster] a new appreciation for the skills of native people and their ability to use the resources they have around them to create art.”

Costume, Bourque said, will be the largest theme in the “Uncommon Threads” exhibit and will include written descriptions, paintings, artifacts and documents relating to Wabanaki textiles and costume. Among the artifacts expected to be shown the exhibit are traditional peaked caps, quilled moccasins, items decorated with ribbon applique, beadwork, wampum and twined textile items such as Molliocket’s purse, made circa 1785.

A major, long-term benefit of the exhibit, Bourque said, will be the continued existence of these rare and fragile textile artifacts.

One of the biggest challenges of organizing such an exhibit, Bourque said, is the amount of conserving the textiles must undergo before they can be shown. Glass beads break, metal beads rust, threads fray to such a degree garments can’t support their own weight and quills crumble unless complex measures are taken to prevent such disintegration. It’s an expensive effort, and Bourque said exhibit organizers are seeking financial support to meet those expenses.

The exhibit will open at the Maine State Museum next year, and it will be in place for one year before traveling to museums in Massachusetts, Indiana and Canada. It also will be shown at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor.

Bourque is the author of “Twelve Thousand Years: American Indians in Maine.”

To learn about the Maine State Museum and its exhibits and programs, call 287-2301, or visit www.maine.gov/museum.

The Penobscot Nation Museum on Indian Island has clothing and beadwork and clothing in its collection, as well as birch bark canoes, root clubs and stone artifacts. A reference library also is available at the museum. Museum hours are 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Thursday, and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. Admission is by donation. For information, call 827-4153, e-mail firekpr@hotmail.com, or visit www.penobscotnation.org.

Call Ardeana Hamlin at 990-8153, or e-mail ahamlin@bangordailynews.net.