A Bit of MKIM History

The following is an article written by Andy Bullock, who was a trustee of the museum.  The article is taken from The Trustees' Corner, which appeared in the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum Education and Cultural Center Newsletter, Vol. 11, No. 2, Summer 2001.

"On a recent trip to Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum I was reminded of my first visit to Warner, NH.  The [museum's] founder, Bud Thompson and I drove up Route 89, passing many beautiful mountains, lakes and rivers.  Warner was, and is, such a quaint New England village.

"Bud was so excited to show me his "find" that we actually drove right past the local diner in town!  I can assure you, every trip to the museum since then has required a stop for lunch!  Like an anxious child on Christmas morning, Bud drove up the hilly road from town.  "Almost there, almost there!" he said.

MKIM Under Construction, circa 1991

"We pulled into the driveway between the house and the "barn". Keys?  Who needed keys - this was a barn after all, complete with wheelbarrows, sawdust, and pigeons living in the rafters.  Daylight was shining through the roof and the walls, as well as the windows!  Within minutes I was excited as Bud.  The pictures of where the the theater, gift shop and displays would ultimately be located had already been envisioned.  The brambles out back were the future home of "Medicine Woods".  At that time Anna's Garden was an overgrown hayfield.

"My, how far this museum has come!  Think of what Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum means to you.  Everyone who has ever visited this museum has contributed to the spirit of this wonderful place.

"With these historic visions still in mind, I would like to welcome you back for a visit.  The snow has melted and the trees and flowers are in full bloom.  Inside the museum there are also many changes.  Several new staff members greet guests with a warm welcome.  The gift shop is stocked with an exciting selection of crafts, books and treasures.  Look at the progress of Anna's Garden.

"Be sure to notice the recent additions to the museum collection as well.  In keeping with the emphasis on Woodland cultures, two fully outfitted mannequins are now on display.  The male mannequin is dressed in an Ojibwa outfit circa 1890.  The fine detail in the floral beaded leggings and breechclout are breathtaking.  The female mannequin is dressed in a traditional Iroquois outfit.  Rows of beadwork on the leggings and skirt are reminiscent of fine European lace.  The blouse is decorated with beads, ribbon and trade silver.  The Glengarry Bonnet on her head is a superb example of 1890's Iroquois beadwork artistry.

"Catch the spirit all over again.  Take a trip to Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum soon."

Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum is a Yankee Magazine "Editors' Choice"!

We were very pleased to learn that Yankee Magazine has named Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum a “Best of New England – Editors’ Choice” winner in the May/June Travel Guide to New England, which appeared on newsstands April 26.  Nearly 2 million readers nationwide read Yankee, and we are thrilled to know that MKIM is being promoted in this way.

Help us celebrate by entering Yankee’s Editors’ Choice Photo Contest.  Take a digital photo of your friends and family posing with the Editors’ Choice placard here in our lobby.  Submit the photo to Yankee Magazine’s Editors’ Choice Photo Contest by August 31 for a chance to win a 5-day getaway!

For more information, and to enter, visit www.yankeemagazine.com/contests

Opening Day and Celebrate the Earth!

Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum opened its doors to the public for the 2011 Season Sunday, May 1.  On the same day we had our Celebrate the Earth Festival and our newest exhibit, Along the Basket Trail opened in the Northeast Woodlands Gallery.

Sunday, May 1st was a perfect day for the opening.  The sky was blue, the sun shone, and a cool breeze kept most of the black flies, the New Hampshire State Bird, away from our faces.

A variety of activities and events were presented during the Celebrate the Earth Festival.  Joan O’Connor of Henniker, owner of Joan’s Famous Composting Worms delivered an interesting and entertaining talk about red wrigglers and how they can be used to turn kitchen food waste into rich compost all year round.  Joan also had a tent on the museum grounds where she had worms on display and for sale.

Two guided tours of the Medicine Woods Trail were offered to enthusiastic attendees, and the cover was put on the tipi that stands in our field.  Liz Charlebois demonstrated the art of ash splint basket making while Denise Pouliot taught guests how to weave small fish, using ash splints.  Once the fish were completed, they were put on a string and hung from a fishing pole.  John Crawford and Steve Pitman, our accomplished chefs, had buffalo burgers for sale, while Nicole Stratton ran the Kids’ Crafts Table.

The May Second Sunday Speaker actually spoke on the first Sunday this month because the topic was a perfect tie-in to our new exhibit, Along the Basket Trail. In her presentation, Abenaki Women: Basket Making and Cultural Survival, Sherry Gould talked about the role women have played in keeping Abenaki Culture alive through basket making.  Sherry’s presentation provided an understanding of how traditional values, philosophies, history, and other aspects of the culture of a people are kept alive both by the basket makers of the past and the contemporary basket makers who continue to work with ash to produce baskets that tell the story of Abenaki people in New Hampshire.

To see pictures of the Celebrate the Earth Festival, visit our album on Facebook.

New Hampshire House Budget Cuts Will Seriously Affect Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum

This post was excerpted from an article on Boston.com.  Read the entire story at
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2011/04/16/nh_arts_funding_would_be_lost_in_house_budget/

For the last several years grants from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts have helped provide for classes at Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum, such as drum-making, pottery and beadwork. It has also kept admission prices stable for three years.  But the monthly classes may no longer be offered and the price of admission -- currently $8.50 for an adult -- would likely go up if the budget passed by the New Hampshire House takes effect.

The House has abolished New Hampshire's Department of Cultural Resources in its budget.  This action strips funding for the Arts Council, essentially cutting that program.

This is serious news for Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum.  The museum has received grants from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts for its operations and exhibits for several years; it received $7,100 during the last fiscal year. Losing that source of money will force the museum to make changes in the kinds of classes and activities it has offered in the past.  The fact that the council's fund is matched by dollars from the National Endowment for the Arts means the effect of cuts to the State Council for the Arts will be felt more keenly.

New Hampshire would not qualify for any federal arts money if state arts funding is cut; that money would go to other states. The absence of funds would leave New Hampshire -- one of the first states to support public funding of the arts -- the only state without an arts council, Cultural Resources Director Van McLeod said.

"Without program grant support from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, Mount Kearsarge Indian Museum will not be able to program the Native American arts demonstrations and performances and classes that we currently offer," said Shawn Olson, executive director of the museum in Warner. "The private sector is not doing a lot."

Olson said she recently sent in an application for a grant that would help make the museum's doors accessible to the handicapped. She said it's hard to find a grant program to fund such small-scale projects.

Looking through her guestbook, Olson noted entries from last summer from visitors as far away as Australia and the Netherlands. They see the museum's sign on Interstate 89 and stop by.

"Personally, I cannot believe that the state legislators don't see that just cutting the arts and tourism budgets, much less eliminating them, is going to severely hurt the entire state of New Hampshire and residents from loss of jobs, drop in tourism with further loss of jobs, and the decrease in our quality of life," she said.

The History of Indigenous Containers Among Wabanaki People

In conjuction with Baskets Out Of The Attic, Gaby Pelletier will present a program about the history of baskets and other containers among Wabanaki people.  The program will take place Saturday, March 26 at 7:00 at Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum, 18 Highlawn Rd., Warner, NH.


Gaby Pelletier is a scholar of northeastern Native American baskets and traditions.  For directions or more information, visit http://www.indianmuseum.org/ or call 603-456-2600.

Gaby Pelletier

Baskets Out Of The Attic: a Discovery and Documentation Event

Please come to Warner Saturday, March 26 for Baskets Out of the Attic, which will be held in the Warner Town Hall at 5 East Main St. from 9:00 - 3:00.

Do you have old baskets tucked away in your attic or closets?  Whether you know their history or are curious to find out more about them, please come to this day-long event.  Experts will be on hand to tell you more about your baskets.  They will also complete a documentation form for you, including a photo.

If you plan to attend, you are encouraged to bring your entire basket collection to the event.  Our experts will select three of your most interesting baskets to evaluate at a cost of $5.00 per basket.  Monetary appraisals will not be given.

Providing their expertise for Baskets Out of the Attic will be Gaby Pelletier, scholar on northeastern Native American baskets and traditions and Chris Bullock of The Wandering Bull, LLC.  Chris is an authority on contemporary American Indian crafts.

Baskets Out of the Attic is sponsored by Hopkinton Historical Society, Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum, Warner Historical Society, and Wijokadoak, Inc. in preparation for the 2011 Summer Exhibit, Along the Basket Trail, which will be held jointly at the three museums.  The exhibits open May 1 and will include a series of speakers and demonstrations throughout the summer at each location.

For more information about Baskets Out of the Attic or Along The Basket Trail, please go to TheBasketTrail.com .

Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum Special Exhibit: The Art and Function of the Crooked Knife

Preparations are well under way for the museum's 2011 exhibit, Along the Basket Trail.  Until the exhibit opens in May, we'll take a look at the highly successful 2010 exhibit, The Art and Function of the Crooked Knife, and feature a few of the knives in our collection.

The crooked knife is named for its angled blade and is used by drawing it toward the body. First used in New England by the Indigenous Native Peoples, the original stone or bone blade was replaced with metal when it became available. Early colonists adopted the knives, finding them more practical for many purposes then their own straight edge knives.  Objects made with the knives include canoe parts, basket handles, bowls, bows and the beautifully carved wooden handles of the knives themselves.

Diamonds and Triangles

This knife was made around 1878.  It is made of wood, steel, fiber and lead. The handle ends in a cylinder and has been chip-carved with diamonds and triangles.  There is also a date, which could represent the date it was carved, or the date of a significant event for the carver.  The knife shows many signs of use, such as fine lines and cracks and a fine patina from years of use.  The profile of the blade is evidence of repeated grinding and sharpening.

Gift of Bud and Nancy Thompson

Bone, Spruce Root and Iron

Made by the Athabaskan Indians of Alaska in the 1930s, this knife is made of bone, spruce root and iron.  The blade is formed from two curved pieces of iron, riveted together.  The knife has a curved bone handle.  The blade is held on by spruce root lashing.

Gift of Hope Johnson Miller Leone

Tree of Life

This crooked knife was made of wood, steel and leather some time between 1880 and 1940.  The entire face of this knife’s handle is chip carved with a central “tree of life” design that is found on other Native-made items from Northeastern North America, such as baskets and beadwork.

Gift of Bud and Nancy Thompson

Playing Card Suits

Carved playing card suits and blue paint were a common motif on crooked knives.  The blade on this knife may have originally been a file.  It has been re-sharpened many times.

Gift of Bud and Nancy Thompson

J. A. R.

The handle of this knife is carved from a wood burl.  The carver shaped the end of the handle into a heart and embellished its face with another heart, plants and semi-circles, and the back with the initials J.A.R.  This blade has many curved planes and is designed to be drawn easily in one direction only.  The knife was made of maple, steel and cotton circa 1880 – 1940.

Gift of Bud and Nancy Thompson

A Hand

This distinctive knife was made around 1950 by French-Canadian wood carver and fiddler Omer Marcoux for Bud Thompson.  The Maliseet Indian hand shows fine detail, including fingernails, palm lines and wrist detail.  The blade was originally a file.

Gift of Bud and Nancy Thompson           

A Horse

This crooked knife was also made around 1950 by French-Canadian wood carver and fiddler Omer Marcoux for Bud Thompson.  Marcoux was famous for his carvings of animals, and many fine details are in evidence here.  The blade appears to have been ready-made and has hardly been sharpened.

Anonymous Loan

Photos by Steven Daigle.