Harvard's Baskets

The Peabody Museum is looking for a few good basket restorers.

The two people responsible for the care of Harvard's 3000 North American Indian baskets--the most extensive collection in the world--are leaving the department. And because the job requires a degree now given by only three schools in North America, the search may be difficult one, said Steven P. Mellor of the Peabody conservation department.

Fortunately, nobody has baskets like the Peabody has baskets. Some of the items are more than 200 years old, and all are very valuable, Mellor said.

Many were donated by collectors and others have more romantic backgrounds, including some sent back by Lewis and Clark in the 19th century from the West Coast, he explained.

"Indian baskets are becoming quite fashionable works of art to own," said Mellor. "Sotheby's started auctioning them recently, and that's the stamp of chic. Now everybody's interested," he added.

The museum has not always taken such good care of the collection, Mellor said. Some of the baskets had been crushed to fit into small boxes, and others have holes in them where they were tacked to the wall.

The National Science Foundation recently gave Harvard a $210,000 grant to fund the restoration and cataloguing of the baskets.