i

.l.tì surroulding
the romanticized image
basket weaving, this paper discusses
il,t. MARVIN COHODAS (d' r9z5)' better known as Dat So La
the life and wãrk of Looisa Keyset
the
i"", *ell t¡"'Washoe basketry tradition she helped to c¡eate for
", ".
curio trade.

NotiveÁmericcn Bosketry ond the Curio Trode

of the late
Increased urbanizadon and industúalization
led to a widespread cultural
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
nowhere more dra-
..oriãt",ion in t¡e Western wo'ld This process was
LOUISA KEYSER maticthanintheAmericanWest,wherethehardyfrontierpioneerwas
in life-
.oîpäf ."pf*"a by ùre industrial urbanite These disruptions
t*1" *¿ materiaì culture involved equally dramatic attitudinal reorien-
AND THE COHNS ,"ia* and purpose had been simpler for the pioneer'
whose
selÊ
""."fnt
conquest ofhostile territory v/as ânimatecl by a sense ofheroism
ancl
tribes
-,oî"
.inü"oor.r"rr' ,p"rk"d partly by the resistance of Native America¡
MYTHMAKING AND of ,h"it l*d"' T*entieth-century morality became
t:rr
"pprop.ition the swelling
iiìrl
*or" "tïbigoolrr, as increasing social problems caused by
Ameri-
ii *b"rr popi"non led to greater subtlety of social control,Næive
.:r,i
BASKET MAKING IN THE about
.*r, ,io* p".m"a "nd either confned þ reservadons or loitering Their
*îi," .",Uå-"rr,., contdbuted to the ambivalent white selÊimage'
in whites' as weìÌ
d"oradatlon inspired both revulsion and patemalism
AMERICAN WEST iort.lgi. idealization of traditional Indian iife before contamination
". the notion,òf the Native
Uy t""J." civilization. ln the larger context'
ofthe continuing
Ame¡ican as a noble savage was but one manifestation
cultures that climaxed
romantic idealization of Nature and non-Western
in late nineteenth-centuy EurÕPe and Amedca'
trade'
ffti, ør the pure aná noble Indian past fueled the cudo
We have long accepted as obiective and accurate the con- ".ra"fgi. and private collections
aÌts which, at its ùelght in r88o-r93o, ûlìed museums
temporaneous accounts about turn-oÊthe-century Native American arts and artifacts' On the
*irf, ,"gg"tt"8"q"antities of Native American
and artists. Now as we reevaluate \¡/dters in the context of their times' men's arts' by encourag-
orr" rr*äl *tñtåpologi.ts tended to focus on
we find that their work is generally based on evolutionist schemes' alts
insNativementocreatenarrâtiveimagesofmlthsandrituals-'andby
and crafts ideals, and attemPts to confine Native Americans within both for museum collections
.o"rroni.rior,i.rg ."plicas oftraditional ritual arts
ennobling and degrading stereotyPes we also begin to see how rnuch women's arts' such as pot-
(s"" t*., tniJuoio-.)' ott ttte other hand'
these steÃotypes sì l structure our thinking, and how they have contrib- by private collec-
ì".y, *""-"g, ¡*dwo.k, tnd b"sketry' were preferred
uted even moìe to the formation of popular misconcePtions of Native Arts and Crafs
tors, many ofwhom ParticiPated in the contemPoraneous
Americans, their art, and their culture. r88o-r9zo)'
Movement (ca.
As scholars and huma¡ists we must challenge these erroneous popuiar
AdmirationforNativewomen,sartsformedpartofagenera]reiection
beließ, but first we need to examine their sources' As a contribution to ob¡ects in preference for the handmade
oi irrao.,ridry mass-produced
unraveling the origins ofpopular misconceptions about Native American
Louiso Keyser ond the Cohns I89
88
and therefore unique piece. Among several ethnic groups exploited for products were iudged. Most c¡iticized were debasements fostered by the
theù distinctive traditional craft arts, Native Americans represented the new commercialism, such as incorporation of letters or words into the
most powerful antithesis to indusûialized urbanism. Women involved in design, or use ofsimplifred or sloppy technique.
the A¡ts and Crafts Movement felt a special bond with Native American Among the many admirers and collectors of Native American bas-
women, with whom they shared an interest in creating pottery and tex- ketr¡ George Wharton James was the most Passionate and influential. He
tiles. Each group served to validate the othe¡'s claim to true artistry in formed a basketry fraternit¡ published a shortlived periodical called The
domestic craJis, with white women admiring the cohesive social con. Bosket (r9og-4), and promoted instruction of whites in recreating tech-
text in which Native women c¡eated their art, a¡d Native women taking niques and designs of Native basketry art. Like other collectors, James
adyantage of the econoÀc value accorded women,s crafi arts in Euro- appreciated baskets as much for what they were believed to embody as for
American society (Boris 1986:ro9, rzz). their appearance. Consequentl¡ his articles and his great text on Native
Native American basketry was accorded special importance in this American baskets (first privately published in Igor) are fi.rll of roma¡tic
idealization of Native culture and art. Under the evolutionary approach excesses, including admiration for the artists and colorfùl interPretations
that dominated anthropological thinÌing in lare Victorian times, baskets of the designs. James's approach was countered by that of Otis T Mason,
were thought to represent the 6rst stage of women's art, brought to a who was involved concurrently in synthesizing the same material, cul-
level ofsophistication before the invention ofpottery a¡d textile weav- minating in the text published by the Smithsonian Institution in t9o4.
ing. Baskets were considered to offer a view ofa time when humans lived Mason's approach is more careful and academic, appropdate to his Posi-
in closest harmony with nature. Irene Sargent, a leader in the futs and tion as cuntor of etlurology at the U.S. National Museum.
Crafis Movement in the United States, in an essay on Native American Despite this inherent conûast between the two texts, ofinterpretive ex-
basketry for the movement's premier publication, Tbe Crcftsmcn, cìearly cess versus academic description and taxonom¡ both Mason and James
demonstrates how baskers were viewed by pointing ro the grear biblical include a romanticized segment on the Washoe rÀ/eaver Louisa Keyser,
myth ofthe noble savage: "ln examining baskets from the hands ofthese also known as Dat So La Lee. Both authors had been sent this material
women of the red race of America, we gain a retrograde vista into the by Amy Cohn, Louisa's paûon and promoter. Like many collectors and
times 'when Adam delved and Eve span,' such as can be afforded by no dealers ofNative American art at that time, she considered herselfan ama-
other extant objects" (Sargent ryo43zr). teur ethnographer. However, Amy's spnbolic anaþes of Louisa's designs
Native American basketry also exemplifed a second tenet of the Arts are insupportable. The interpretation ofone design as representing differ-
and Crafis styìe: ornamentation must be true to the material and form of ent ìeyels ofchieftainship (Mason r9o4 332; James l9o9 247) is absurd for
: :

the object, so that aesthetic and utilitadan components exist in perfect a tribe that lacked chieß or any other form ofpermanent ranking. Mason

balance. Of the basket úeaver, Sargent writes: "She retains in her baskets could easily have checked this interpretation with Eugene Mead, former
the full measure ofusefulness, while, atthe s¿me time, she inscribes upon superintendent of the Indian training school in Washoe territory and a
them her personal translation ofthe world lying about her,' (p. SSS) majol contributor to the National Museum's Washoe basketry collection
fu basketry came to occupy an important place in the curio ûade, artis- on which Mason based his anaþis. But he did not bother.
tic innovation among basket weavers in the Far West exploded, and white Mason's acceptance of Amy Cohn's fabrications may be explained by
patrons responded with enthusiastic collecting and written analyses. A the greater trust and communication that existed between amateur a¡d
binersrveet nostalgia dominates thìs early lite¡ature on basket weaving. professional ethnographers at the tuln ofthe century. Mason had no rea-
Consistentwith the romantic idealization ofthe Native past, baskets made son to distrust the woman who also sent him a'Washoe vocabulary for the
for sale were a pdori considered inferiot to earlier, traditional basket numbe¡s one to one hund¡ed, and an example offish netting with a de-
weaving for Natirre use. For most tribes, traditional basket weaving styles scription ofits manufacture.l However, we are not concerned here with
were poorly known, so the more refined products ofthe curio trade were Mason's gulìibilit¡ but with Amy Cohn's deception in formulating and
instead adopted as the standard oftradition againsr which all other curio promulgating misinformation on Louisa Keyser and Washoe basket weav-

9o I Morvìn Cohodos Louiso Keyser ond the Cohns I 9r

ing. This study will dissect some ofthese fabrications, as was attempted
in two previous publications (Cohodas 1982, 1986), and also endeavor to
understand Amy's motivation in adopting such falsifcation.
Before tackling this problem, it may be helpful to sketch the telation-
ship of Louisa Keyser and the Cohns to Washoe basket weaving for the
curio trade. The Washoe occupy a string of valleys aìong the westem
edge of the Great Basin, and into the Sierra Nevada mountains around
Lake Tahoe. They followed a huntingand-gathering economy ofseasonal
transhumance, depending primarily on piñon nuts, wild grass seeds, and
acorns, as well as fish, rabbits, and deer. With the discovery in 1858 ofthe
Comstock Lode at the juncture of Washoe and Paiute territories, western
Nevada's economy came to be dominated by siìver mining. As swarms
of miners and ranchers overran their territory and destroyed their sub-
sistence resources, the impoverished Washoe were forced to turn to the
white settlers for survivaì. This siruation began to improve in the r89os,
as whites came to depend on the Vy'ashoe as a cheap labor foròe: Washoe
women generally found employment as household lar¡¡dresses, whiìe
Washoe men performed the outdoor ranching chores.
Abram Cohn (fg. r7), the son of a Prussian immigrant, o¡ ned the Em-
porium Company men's clothing sto¡e in Carson City, in the heart of
Washoe territory. In r89r, Abe married Claússe Amy Lewis (née McNaugh-
ton), a widow with three young daughters. Amy not only helped Abe in
the store, but she also took up Indian culture as a hobb¡ and became
especially interested in baskets. In the late r89os, Abe and Amy decided to
enter the curio trade, buying Washoe baskets no longer needed by their
makers for resale in the Emporium. To ensu¡e a continuing suppl¡ the
Cohns encouraged weavers to create basketry speci6cally for saÌe, thus
stimulating the development ofa new Washoe fancy basketry style. Louisa
Keyser (fig. r8) was largely responsibÌe for adapting elements ofthe highly
admired Pomo and Maidu basketry styles from California to Washoe tradi- Figure r7. Ærcm Cohn holdiug two of louiso Keysøt degikup baskets;
tion, in order to create a more salable and aÍistic item. Louisa's most sig- I-K.96 (1923) cltd L.K. as (9o6).
niÍcant innovation u'as the degikup, a spheroid objet d'atr, fnely stitched (Courtesy Nevodo Stote Museum)
with complex designs in red and black on a light ground.
Initially hired to do the washing, Louisa displayed a talent at basket
weaving that was soon recognized by the Coh¡s, who encouraged her to shelter, and medical care. In return, Louisa was expected to u'eave in
spend more time on weaving and Ìess on laundry. Gradually they deveì- exposed locations where she could attract customers, and her products
oped a fi-ril patronage arrangement lasting over a quarter-century, ìmtil became the Cohns' property.
Louisa's death in 1925. Under the terms of this arrangement, the Cohns In promoting baskets woven by Louisa Keper (and other Washoe weav-
provided Louisa and her husband, Charlie Keyser, wirh food, clothing, ers), the Cohns obscu¡ed all factual information on Louisa's life V/ith a

9z I Morvin Cohodcs Louisc Keysø oad the Cobns l9g

 spected in Carson City as Nevada's leading'physician, aÌso fabricated infor-
mation for the catalogue ofhis Indian collection, and added to the legend
of "Dat so la lee" when she \ as on her death bed. This legend continues
to have a powerful hold over popular culture in \¡r'estern Nevada, and
itis repeated intact (Mack 1946; Cerveri 1962, 1968; Ewing 1983) despite
attempts to dispel the fictions (Gigli 1967; Cohodas I98z; Stern 1983).

,Amy Cohn os Pouon

One of the most puzzling aspects of the Emporium lit-

erature is the role of Amy Cohn. Mason (t9o4:46) specifically credits
his information on Louisa Keyser and Washoe basket weaving to Amy,
irii and the photographs sent to the Nationaì Museum around lgoo attdbute
the Indian collection to her. Since Àmy was concurrendy voÌunteering
i:r¡l
ethnographlc data to Mason, she must have enioyed recognition for her
active interest in Washoe culture and art. Yet as Washoe basketry became
commercially successfi-rl, and Louisa Keyser achieved widespread recog-
nition, Amy ceased to be acknowledged as patron or Promoter. EmPo-
rium pamphlets instead credit Abe Cohn with the discovery and man-
agement of Louisa Keyser and promotion of Washoe basketry sales, as
do the newspaper articÌes that appeared from time to time throughout
Louisa's career. While photographs ofAbe Cohn often illustrate articles
on Louisa Keper and Washoe basket weaving, Amy is never shown ln
contrast to this public image, the archival materials, such as letters, Photo-
Figure 18. louiso Keyser (Dot So Lc lee) cs she c¡¡eored in the Sundoy mogozine section graphs, ledgers, receipts, and pamphlets produced by the Emporium, all
of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, olong with 0n Isl€tq potter qnd Novajo w€ov€r, , demonstrate that the major responsibility for patronage of Louisa Keyser
November 16, r9r9. ,4"be ond,4my Cohn took louiso to St. Louis to demonstrcte bosket and promotion of Washoe basket weaving rests with Amy Cohl.'z
weqying qt the Exposition of Industrial Arts ond Crofu. Arn¡ Cohn died c month ofte¡ Baskets were never more than a sideline for Abe Cohn, whose major
rehming. commodity until r928 was men's clothing. Nor did basket weaying consti-
tute an avocation, as his spare time was divided between mining interests
and the accumulation of a¡imals for the Emporium Zoo. His contribu-
barrage of exaggerations and falsifications. These appear in pamphlets tion to the basketry department ofthe Emporium appears to have been
published by the Emporûrm Company, in the certifrcates issued with each in pricing, advertising, and long-distance sales. His most intense involve-
basket sold, and in a wealth ofnewspaper articles. After subjecting all of ment in promoting the basketry trade came near its ìncePtion: in March
these sou¡ces to detaiìed analysis, I am left to conclude that almost noth- 1899, on one of his semiannual t¡ips to San Francisco to buy clothing
ing the Cohns said was true. Advertising campaigns have long been used stock, Cohn took some cartons of baskets for display and sale in F.J.
to help sell a product-Abe Cohn himselfheld a "going-out-oÊbusiness" Slour's department store. To add local color, he took seven Washoe men
sale in r896-but these fictions far exceed commercial utility. with him, bút they were cited for loitering on the streeti The exploitation
The Cohns were nor alone in this falsification. S.L. Lee, highly re- of Washoe men seems typical ofAbe's approach. During the Christmas

94 I Morvin Cohodos touìso Keyser ond the Cohns I 95

season ofr898-99, he setup a display oflive birds with baskets in the win- tion (N€vado Appeol, Jr:ne zz, 1898) before tuming her talents to promoting
dows ofthe saloon next door. The display included a "live Indian sitting Washoe cu¡ios.
in front of his wigwam" (Nevodo,AppeoJ, December 25, 1898). Amy worked continually to promote Louisa's basket weaving by lec-
Amy pursued the display and promotion of Washoe baskets more vig- turing in Carson City and on tour throughout southwestern Nevada. Her
orously and with much more success than Abe. In r9oo, she took Louisa r9o9 lecture to the Leisure Hour Club ofcârson City was published as an
Keyser with a display of baskets to Tahoe City for the summer.a The ex- article by the Nevada Historical Society (Cohn r9o9). The Leisure Hour
hibit att¡acted so much attention that she was invited to bring it to the Club was typical ofthe late Victorial women's club movement in its devo-
California State Fair in Sacramento that August, and then to the Nevada tion to promoting culture, primariìy through literary study and recitation,
State Feir in Reno in Seþtember.s This wide exposure brought Louisa as well as contributing to the A¡ts and Crafis Movement by cultivating
Kelner's work sufñcient acclaim to be featured in a long article in a San a taste for beautiful, handmade ob)ects of househoÌd decoration (Boris
Francisco magazine (French rgoo). In r9o3, Amy rerurned to Tahoe City 1986:roo). Amy's lecture to the Nevada Federation of Women's Clubs
with Louisa to open a permanent cudo store, the Bicose, and she con- in Canon Cit¡ October 1913, led to a lecture tour of women's clubs in
tinued to manage it with Louisa at her side every summel until her death southern and westem Nevada in the spring of r9I47
in r9r9. Amy also explored the possibility ofa winter outlet for the bas- Amy's tâÌent at thrilling her audiences in these lecn¡res is unanimously
kets, taking a selection with her to Pasadena in December t9o6, but this acclaimed. She would dress in the fringed buclskin ofan "India¡ Prin-
venture was not continuedj Louisa ând the basket display accompanied cess" to recite m¡hs and legends in a stùring marme¡, and poetlcally
the Cohns to St. Louis in r9r9 to the Industrial futs Exposition. They were explain the symbolism she divined in the basketry desþs displayed to
accompanied by a young Washoe woman, Frances Brown, who appears the audience. Even at her Tahoe City curio shop, her energy and enthusÈ
to have been friends with both Louisa Keyser and Amy Cohn. asm were deemed noter¡/orthy (Keller rgro). By contrast, Abe was much
Untiì her death, Amy Cohn was also responsible for most ofthe pro- ìess impressive as a basketry authodty. In his letter to Grace Nicholson
motion and documentation on Washoe basket weaving. Comparison of in 19o6, C.E. Van Loan describes Abe's explanation ofthe basketry by
handwriting on signed letters reveals that it was Amy who wrote the cer- noting that "he can talk for a¡ hour and every time he goes over it he uses
tificates issued with each basket, including the lengthy inrerpretation of the same words ald the same gestures. I strongly suspect that he has the
symbolism on the reverse, and it was Amy who devised and kept the whole thing leamed by rote."8
i

unique ìedger of Louisa Keyser's baskets (see below). Amy is also cred- Abe and Amy Cohn also diflered in the way they handled the Empo- I

i
ited with commissioning most ofthe photographs of Louisa Keyser and rium fabrications. For example, in one of her pamphlets (ca. r9o5), Amy
the Emporium basket collection. The fi¡st ofthese, taken before March mentions that Louisa appeals to be going blind and may never complete .:
1899, is the famous portrait photograph of Louisa Keyser with her ea¡li- another major basket (Emporium, n.d.B). Abe Cohn was well known for
est baskets, entitled "Queen ofthe Basketmakers," which was published telling stories to anyone who visited the Empodum, and he appears to
by both Mason (r9o4: pl. r8r) and James (r9o9: fig. s6). Amy is also c¡ed- have embroidered heaviiy on this one. Van Loan reported ofhis conver-
ited with the next known photograph oflouisa, taken in r9oo, probably setion with Abe that Louisa had been to many oculists who despaired of
at Lake Tahoe. It shows her in a tent hung with blanlets, weaving the saving her sight, and that her sister-inlaw, Scees Bryant, had already gone
basket now known as L.K.24 or "Migration," which was included in the blind (Van Loan 19o6). We do not know the extent ofeye problems either
appendixJames added to revise his text (James r9o9: fig. 34o). weever mây have had at that time, but we do know that neither went
Analysis ofAmy's literarystyle, as revealed in leners, on the certificates, blind, a¡d that both created severaì basketry masterpieces subsequendy.
and in the r9o9 article, demonstrates that she wrote all the important Em- Amy's association with the Washoe and their basketry was both earlier
porium pamphlets on which the legend oflouisa Keyser is based. Letters and deeper than Abe's. Local residents have suggested, and her obiruary
written by Abe show rhar his education was insufÊcient for this task. Amy conûrms, that shè was noted for making a hobby ofstudying Washoe cul-
was not only better educated, but she had also dabbled in r¡üriting ûc- ture (Nevodor{ppecl, December r9, r9r9). The ethnographic informetion she

96 | Morvìn Cohodcs Louiso Keysø oad the Cohns I 97

 volunteered to Mason at the National Museum reveals the breadth of her the local editors. The articles are rea\ about Abe, and are illustrated
interests. Amy also became ûiendly with several Washoe women, includ- with photographs of him. Nevertheless, Amy deserves the maior credit
ing Frances Brown, who accompanied the Cohns to St. Louis, a¡rd Alice for promoting Washoe basket weaving, through her patronage of Louisa
Tom Washoe, who demonstrared her affection by naming her daughter Keyser, her documentation on certiîcates, ledgers, and photographs, her
Amy (Lana Hicks interview with Amy James, l98a). When Louisa v¡as public lectures, and her promotional pamphlets.
hired to do the washing in the Cohn home (Van Loan 19o6), Amy must The paradox is Amy's responsibility for her own lack ofrecognition.
iiiì
have been the one who supervised her work, because Abe was tending Whereas she had taken credit for the basketry collection, photographs,
the store. Given Amy's prior interest in Washoe culru¡e, it is likely that she and ethnographic information in her early (I899-I9oo) correspondence
liiill
was also the one who Érst became aware of Louisa's remarkable talent for with Mason and James, she later gave all the credit to Abe in her pam-
basket weaving, not Abe as the Emporium propaganda asserts. phlets and lectures. Why did this vital and creative woman erase herself
Amy's ledger oflouisa Keyser's baskets gives further indication oftheir from the pictue just vvhen Washoe baskets were becoming a commer-
dose relationship. Entries show that Louisa often presented finished cial success and Louisa Keyser was gaining a national rePutation? Possible
products to Amy as a kind of gift, whereas Abe was rarely the recipi- explanations will be explored in a later section.
ent ofsuch attentions. Amy also kept a special coìlection of miniature
baskets, which was not for sale. Since virtualÌy every smaìÌ piece that
The Ledger of Louiso Kelser's Bûskets
Louisa wove went immediately into the ,,A¡ny Cohn Miniature Collec-
tion," Louisâ must have had this destination in mind from the start. By The ledger, begun by Amy Cohn and continued afier her
il
contrast, although Abe considered Louisa,s larger masterpieces his prop- death by both Abe and Margaret, is the mosf accurate aIìd indispensable
ert¡ he worked hard to sell them. He onìy hit on the idea of building a form of documentation sureiving on Louisa Keyser and he¡ art. Each bas-
museum to dìsplay these worls when it became clea¡ that they could not ket is given e consecutive number, with the dates recorded on which the
be sold for anything near his perception oftheir value.e piece was begun and compìeted. Each has an interpretation ofdesign and
Promotion and documentation of Louisa Keyser and Washoe basket e title. Most aìso have some circumstance ofthe basket's acquisition by
weaving declined noticeably in quality after Amy's death, in r9r9, and the Cohns and, ifsold, a record ofthe purchaser. To this information is I
i
Abe's marriage to Margalet Jones a year later. Lengthy pamphlets were added a column of statistics, including dimensions and weight, materials
no longer produced; the records in the ledger became sÌoppy and and weaving technique, stitch cor¡nt, and the mrmber of days in manu-
,in-
consistent; and some pieces from the Amy Cohn Miniature Collection facture. This alnoullt of information is striking for the era, when little
were sold. According to some residents of Lal<e Tahoe and Carson City attention was paid to documentation of individual Native artists. How-
in those years, Louisa and Charlie may have been poorþ cared for after ever, despite its apparent obiectivity, this ledger cannot be used without
Amy's death. understanding its limitations and falsifrcations.
What roles did Abe and Amy Cohn octuc.ll¡ pÌay as patrons of Louisa The ledger gives the impression that it was begun as soon as Louisa
Kelner and promoters of the Washoe curio trade? Amy,s Emporium pub- started lveaving baskets for the Cohns. The first basket is recorded as
lications claim that Abe was Louisa Keyser,s sole patron, that he discov- having been started November r, 1895. However, the comPilation r¡r'as
ered her alent, and decided to befriend, support, protect, and promote not begun urrtil at least twenty years later: references to sales as late as
her. Abe's actual role may have been twofoìd. First, he took care ofmany r9r4 are included as part ofthe origrnal entry on baskets woven long be-
business aspects ofthe curio trade, such as pricing and advertising. Sec- fore that date. Amy appears to have begun the ledger in early r9r8, less
ond, he attracted attention to the Emporium basketry department and than two years before her death. Changes in the details of information,
Louisa Keyser through his gregarious personality, drawing in visitors and neatness, and spacing indicate that entries for baskets through r9r7 were
regaling them with humorous stories. The major newspaper articles on copied from certifrcates, Ìvhile later entdes were recorded as each piece
Washoe basket weaving derive from the special relationship Abe had with was obtained.

98 I Mo¡vin Cohodos touiso Keyser ond úe Cohns I 99

l
The compilation of ìedger entries from certificates does not in itself Louisa Keyser, vr'hich may have been sold fiom Sloan's store in 1899, was
cast doubt on their veracity. But additional eyidence demonstrates that never photographed and remained forSotten, so that it does not aPPear
much ofthe information is eitherincorrect or purposely falsiûed. For ex_ at all in the ledger.lo
ample, the dates on which major baskers were said to be completed
ofien Both the absence ofcertificates before rgoo and the resulting incorrect
contradict othe¡, more contemporaneous forms ofinformation. Van Loan order of the fi¡st twenty-one baskets in the ledger are understandable. But
illustrâtes an Emporium photograph of the degikup numbered L.K.43 in Amy needlessly falsiûed the beginning and ending dates for weaving each
a
Los Angeles newspaper article (Van Loan 19o6) pubìished September
16, piece. The spans indicated are sirnply roulded or averaged numbers: most
19o6, only eleven days afier the basket was supposed to have
been com_ are recorded as thirty days, while the others add up to ei*rer thirty-frve
pleted, according ro the ledger entry. In fact, Van Loan probably or forty days, equally approximate. Morc imPortant, Amy treated these
obtained
the photogrçh when he visited the Emporium and Bicose in Áugust, hypotheticd sparts oftime for weaving, and the ûctitious order in which
be_
fo¡e the recorded completion date. Local Ca¡son City newspape-rs often they were recorded, as if both types ofinfo¡mation were accurate' On the
note when Cohn put a newly fnished Louisa Keyser degikup ån display basis ofthese estimated intervaÌs, she fabricated specific calendar dates for
in the Emporium window, and these dates seldom accård with ledger the start and Énish ofeach basket. By this method, she carried the patron-
entries. We must assume that the dates Amy recorded were estimates.
ln age oflouisa Keyser back to November r, 1895, which we now recognize
the case of L.K.43, the basket Van Loan iìlust¡ates, the recorded weaving as another fabrication. The actual date carmot be reconstructed, but the
dates are from September 6, r9o5, to September
S, 19o6, or precisely onã certificate/pamphlet issued by the EmPoúum in rgoo suggests that Louisa
caìendar year, evidently an approximation. began weaving her fi¡st baskets for the Cohns in 1896 or 1897 (Emporium,
Because Amy did not introduce the Emporium certificates until n.d.A).
r9oo,
the ledger entries on Louisa Keyser,s earìier works are incomplete. Of Such unreliability seems odd to us, for we think ofa ledger as the best
the füst twenty-one entries, measurements are included only foithe
four means to keep records straight and avoid distortions produced by faulty
baskets (L.K.r, z, g,20) rhat remained in Carson Cit¡ Since Amy had
no memory But in the context of collecting Native American art at the turn
hope of reconstructing rhe order in which these early pieces úad been of the centur¡ these exaggerations and falsifications may not have been
woven, she began the ledger with three baskets that had been woven exceptional. The journai ofhis basket coìlection kept by Dr. Lee may have
ar
diflerent times, purchased by the Cohns,s Êiend Dr. S.L. Lee, and were an even higher proportion ofinaccuracies and fabrications.ll
among those remaining in Carson City. Baskets numbered L.K.4 through
16 are more haphazardly ordered. Amy then recorded without
numbãr, Emporium Propogonda: lgoo-I925
and apparently as an afierthought, four rwine-covered whisky flasks
that
she cl¡med in Emporium pamphlets had been among Louisa,s 6rst
prod_ The details of Louisa's life and career appear in pam-
ucts. The entries for degikup L.K.r8, r9, and zo appear to be in the correct phlets issued by the Emporium to advertise the collection, and in news-
order. Because they were the 6¡st of Louisa's individual and spectãcu_ paper articles based on them. The 6¡st pamPhlet (a combined pamphlet,
lar style, were iÌìustrated by Mason (r9o4: pl.r8o) and
James (rio9: figs. certificate, catalogue, and vocabulary) was issued early in l9oo, and con-
u9, go4), and were the most recently completed before the certificates tained a descriptive text entitled "The Queen ofBasketry: Louisa Keyser"
were introduced, they were best remembered. But the enuy following (Emporium, n.d.A). This description is more straightforward and less ex-
these more accurate records is completely out ofplace. Amy records as aggerated than later ones, and it is the only one that refers to Louisa by her
L.K.2r the goblet-shaped basket that appears u/ith other early works in English name. Most of the fabricated context for Louisa and her baskets
the "Queen ofthe Basket Makers" porrrait. James (r9r5:37) suggests that is ptesented in û¡/o later pamphlets. One, issued probably in r9o5 (Empo-
this basket was among the first pieces oflouisa Keyser's work pirchased rium, n.d.B), has a text entitled "How the L.K. Baskets fue Made," while
fiom the Emporium, and it must have slipped Amyt mind uniil she *as the next, issued in rgrr-12, is called "Indian Art" (Emporium, n.d.C). The
reminded ofit by the photograph. Unfortunatel¡ another early basket by r9o9 pubÌication ofthe Leisure Hour Club lecture (Cohn r9o9) contains

roo I Mo¡vin CohodoJ Louisc Ke¡,ser ond the Cohns I Ior

 similar information and r¡/as an equal source for nerÀ/spaper articles. The likely in view ofher eventual year-round residence with the Cohns. Many
points contained in these publications are amplified and further exagger_ commented on her inactivity, partly the result and partly the cause of
ated in the three articles that McNaughton based entirely on information her extreme weight. For example, in describing Louisa at her weaving,
suppÌied by the Emporium (r9o3, r9rz, r9r5). Keller noted: "She had a cane with which she hooked material. Whar she
In general, the Emporium propaganda was designed to make Louisa couldn't reach with the cane she asked us to ha¡d her" (Keller rgro:75).
Keyser's art appear exceptional and yet tnditional, and to make Louisa Although Louisa is supposed to have been fllmed in the process ofcollect-
seem as colorful as possible. Its elements were contrived to present an ing materials in the movie Abe had made ofher in 1922, ir v¡as probably
image consistent with the whites,view of the Washoe as Indians. A dis_ the only time in her later life that she attempted such an expedition.
cussion of this propaganda follows in three sections, and examines the The Cohns also exaggerated the prices paid for Louisa's baskets in order
exaggerations of Louisa's lìfe and career, the falsifications surrounding to reinfo¡ce the concept of her unique superiority. Claims that in rggg
the de6ikup, and the negative aspecrs ofher appearance and personality. her baskets sold for $5o apiece (Emporium, n.d.B), or that in 19o6 they
refused $z,5oo for "Beacon Lights" (L.K.4r) (Van Loan 19o6), are patently
louiso's Life cnd Co¡ee¡ false. In fact, the Cohns were th¡illed to sell this piece for $r,4oo in r9r4.
Emporium propaganda generally treated Louisa as an anachromsm, a In this sale, G. A. Sreiner bought over sixry additional baskets from the
symbol ofthe superioriry of Native life before white contact. This ap_ Emporiurn, bringing the total bill to $r,95o.12 Howeve¡ the Cohns slyly
proach required exaggeration ofthe quality oflouisa's art, and obfusca_ suggested to the newspapers that rhe single basket had been sold for
tion of her originality. Thus whereas Louisa introduced fine stitching as nearly $z,ooo (Cøson Ciry News, April l, r9r4). Characteristicall¡ this exag_
part of the transformation of Washoe basketry to a curio art form, and geration was quite urnecessary. The true price paid for the basket was just
this innovation was imitated and even exceeded by other weavers (Co- as extraordinary for that time, and reporting it would not have changed
hodas 1979), the Emporium claimed rhat Louisa's technÍque vùas unique, the public's enthusiasm.
that she was the "last of the great weavers," and consequently that true A more puzzling example of misleading statedents occurs only in the
quality in Washoe art would die r¡r'irh her. pamphÌet of ca. l9o5 (Emporium, n.d.B). Alier lauding,,Beacon Lights',
To exaggerate her capabilit¡ Amy claimed that Louisa could split a (L.K.4r) as the finest example ofbasketry art, Amy notes that Louisa might
single wiìlow branch into fi¡r'eìve to twent¡four threads. In fact, there was never complete another masterpiece because of failing eyesight. Unlike
no shortage of wilÌow to inspire such virtuosity, and in my experience other propaganda statements, this one was not repeated in later Empo-
the three-strand split still practiced by the Washoe is by far the most eff_ rium publications, and may thus have had some truth to it. As mentioned
cient. ln order to firrther exaggerate her uniqueness, and suggest that as above, Van Loan, who interyiewed Abe Cohn in the summer of 19o6,
a traditional native artist Louisa was resistant to change and iechnology, repeated the asserrion with additional embroidery (Van Loan 19o6:5).
the litemture claims that Louisa accomplished this multistrand splitting However, Van Loan's private letter to Grace Nicholson gives quite a diÊ
by using her teeth and fingernails, with only a broken knfe blade or bit ferent impression. He attributes the impending cessation of weaving ro
ofglass for cutting. The reader wouÌd have to be very gu1lible to believe "regular dnrrkenness." 13 Were the Cohns attehpting to coverup the pos_
that Louisa would not accept a ne\4, knife ifit made her task easier. sibility of Louisa's career ending in alcoholism by suggesring rhe morè
To reinforce her appeal as a traditional weaver, Emporium literature acceptable fate of blindness? Unfortunately, Van Loan,s letter is also not
repeatedly describes Louisa trudging over hills and mountains to col_ entùely reliable. The negative comments on Abe Cohn as well as Louisa
l
lect her weaving materials. When this description first appeared (Em_ Keyser may derive in part from the antiparhy Grace Nicholson held for
porium, n.d.B), it may have been accurate. However, it was consistently them: she resented the Cohns' elevadon ofprices on Washoe baskets and
repeated to enhance Louisa's status as a symbol of traditional Washoe lheir monopoly ofLouisa's works.
culrure even when itno longer held true. Several Washoe interviewed be_ Amy's ledger provides a third source of information on this cdsis in
Iieve that Louisa had other weavers bring her the materials, which seems Louisa's career.la "Beacon Lights,', the masterpiece Louisa had completed

roz I Mo¡vin Cohodos

louiso Keyser ond rhe Cohns I ro3
 in rgo5 that was illustrated in the Emporium pamphlet issued shortly fornia to create a new Washoe form: the de6ikup (Cohodas r 982:rgz-36). By
thereafte¡ was almost twice as large as Louisa's previous works, and thus steadily increasing the fineness of her weaving technique, and by explor-
took twice as long to lveave: fourteen months. From time to time, Louisa ing the degikup fo¡m as a medium for the highest expression of Washoe
put this mom¡mental work aside to u'eave small baskets that could be basketry art, Louisa earned the Cohns'life-iong patronage. By rgoo other
completed rapidì¡ This pattem ofcreating minor works while large bas- weavers were making degikup, and by r9r5 it had become the preferred
kets were stilì in progress continued for the remaining twenty years of shape for coiled basket weaving. Louisa's innovations offine stitching and
her career. Abe later noted to Henrietta Burton: "She would make just two-color patterns were likewise adopted by other weavers to form the
one large basket a year and she needed much coaxing and encourage- foundation of Washoe curio style. Furthermore, these Washoe weavers
ment. She spent the rest of her time in idleness or vr'eaving miniature not only utilized designs Louisa had borrowed from Californian wares,
baskets" (Burton r93z:7). We may note also that Louisa's artisric approach but they also borrowed or invented new designs on their own. Louisa
was uldergoing profound change at this time. In r9o5, afier weaving varia- Keyser thus deserves credit for originating the popular curio style of
tions of the same pattern on all ofher baskets for six years, she began Washoe fancy basket weaving, both because she introduced the finely
introducing on the minor pieces the design arrangements that would later stitched, two-color degikup and because she inaugurated individuairty and
i
(afier r9r5) dominate he¡ weaving until the end of her career. We might innoYation for others to follow.
expect some aspects ofdisorientation to correspond with these changes Empodum propaganda about Louisa's degiku¡ was designed to obscure
ofdirection. its recent, nonutilitarian origin and proclaim it a traditionaì form. Each
I
What then r¡¡as the real source of the Cohns' anxiety? Was it merely new fabrication seems to have required another to support it, firìûIing
that Louisa put offfinishing her major baskets to take up the minor ones? the warning in Sir Walter Scott's poem Mcrmion: "Oh, what a tangled web
: Did Louisa take up the weaving ofminor baskets to resist some pressure we weave, / 'ffhen Érst we pEctise to deceive!" It is possible to recon-
to continue the standard pattern on major works? Did she find that weav- struct a general sequence for these fabrications that accords \¡vith the
ing larger works strained her eyes more than weaving simpler works? Or dates on which they füst appeared in Emporium publicarions or articles
.

did she resort to liquor when uncertain about the direction ofher weav- by McNaughton based on information from Amy Cohn. For brevity and
ing, or when eyestraln mâde it impossible even to create minor baskets? clarit¡ these are presented below in the form ofa hlpothetical dialogue
We may never know the real reason. However, this discussion illustrates between a customer (the questions) and the Cohns (the answers).
a problem consistently encountered in reconstructing Louisa's life and
ca¡eer: the sources rarely cor¡oborate each other. Each point of view erJEsrIoN: Why haven't we seen any degikup before 1897?
seems to arise from a separate reality, producing small bits of information ANswxR: When the Paiute defeated the Washoe around 186o, they
too disconnected to complete the puzde. forbade the Washoe to weave any fine or ceremonial
baskets (McNaughton ryog:46).
The Degikup: History Function, 0n¿ M€o¡ing eunsrroN: Ifthe Paiute prohibited weaving such baskets, why does
ln conEast to the refined baskets ofthe twentieth-century curio trade, Louisa Keyser make them?
Washoe weaving at the end of the nineteenth century had been domi- ¡Nsw¡n: Abe Cohn has promised to protect her from Paiute
nated by a coarse, utilitarian approach. In the late r89os, adaptation'of reprisals (Emporium, n.d.B [ca. r9o5l).
coiled basket v¡eaying to the curio trade required Washoe weavers to eursrloN: Why didnt other vreavers immediateþ take up degikup
achieve greater sophistication in both technique and design. Some weav- when Cohn ofered his protection?
ers attempted to improve the aesthetic quality of their basket weaving ANswER: Only Louisa had inherited the right to weave degikup
while remaining within rhe paramerers of traditional Washoe shapes and (Emporium, n.d.B).
designs (Cohodas 1983:r7-zo). In contrast, Louisa Keyser adapted stylistic QUESTToN: 'What made her special? Why don't other weavers have
traits ofnonutilitarian basket weaving from the Pomo and Maidu ofCali- the right?

ro4 I Mcrvin Cohodos louiso Keyso oad the Cohns I ro5

Ì

ANswxR: She was the daughter ofthe leading Washoe, a chief, and longings, and the desertion ofthe house in which that person died. Such
she inherited the position of medicine-woman from her destruction prevented the potentially harmÍ:l ghost from returning to the
mother (McNaughton r9r5: r4). Iiving by way of the path offamiliar property (Freed and Freed 1963:45).
Washoe men used only a few objects made of basketry, such as the fish
QuEsrIoN: How could Louisa remember the process ofweaving
degikup during all those years ofPaiute prohibition? trap, while women made most basket types for their own use. Thus in
ANswxR: She continued to weave them, but to protect he¡, a relative a traditional Washoe bu¡ial we would find most baskets thrown into the

destroyed them all (McNaughton r9r5:r4). grave of a woman, and almost none in the grave of a man, precisely the
reverse of Amy's fabrication.
Viewed diachronically, these fabrications show increasing emphasis on Emporium propaganda recalled the actual Washoe burial tradition only
fabricating details oflouisa's life before contact with whites and before once, and long afier the Washoe themselves had ceased conforming to
working for the Cohns, making her life and art appear more tradiriona.l. it. Louisa's last degiku¡, requiring only a few more rows for completion,
These invocations of tradition and history can be easily disputed. ln was buried with her. Abe Cohn reported to the papers that Louisa had
explaining the absence of the de6ikup by means of Paiute prohibition, requested this sacrifice in order to conform to tribal law. However, on
the Emporium was adapting a popular story to a new purpose (Coho- two earlier occasions (r9o8 and r9r8) Louisa had ignored this tradition by
das r98z:r z4-25). Although the Paiute had neither defeated the Washoe finishing baskets other weavers had left incomplete at their deaths. She
nor imposed a prohibition, Powers had used the same theory in r87S ti) actually finished two baskets begun by Scees Bryant, her brother's wife,
explain why the Washoe had not adopted the horse, unìike their Great a woman whose close kinship represented great potential for harm to
Basin neighbors the Paiute and Shoshone (Fowler and Fowler r97o:rz4). Louisa if she had returned as a ghost.
Claims of special status for Louisa Keyser through her father are also There must be another reason for the burial oflouisa's basket with her.
false. The Washoe had not adopted the Plains tndian form ofranking, so Many expianations could be suggested, but we have so little reliable infor-
they did not recognize chieß or other permanent authority. Those who mation on her personality or beließ that it is impossible to make an inteL
emerged as spokesmen for the Washoe in relations with white authority ligent judgment. On the other hand, attributing the decision to Abe Cohn
were caìled "captains," and Louisa's father was not one of them.ls would be consistent with the Emporium approach ofelevating Louisa as
The purpose ofthese fabrications is to take the credit for developing the a symbol of traditionaì Washoe culture. For exampìe, in opposition to
degikup away from an individual in order to arûibute it to the tribe. Whereas Louisa's stated preference for her English n¿me, the Cohns distinguished
individual innovation suggested rapid change ard present rimes, rribal her from all other Washoe weavers by using the Washoe name, Dat So La
origin placed the degikup in a changeless, traditional past. This shift was Lee. For the same reason, Amy pushed back Louisa's birth date to r8g4
necessary to the curio trade, because buyers craved an aura oftradition (McNaughton r9r5:r4), falsely pÌacing her in the period before ttre first
to satisfy their nostalgia for a calmer and nobler past. contaminating white contact, and Amy also exaggerated the beginning of
To compete with the mortuary function of the Pomo and Maidu spher- their patronage arrangement to r8fu (Emporium, n.d.B).
oid baskets that had been Louisa's inspirarion, Amy Cohn claimed a Further fabrications were necessary to make the designs on Louisa's
sirnilar function for the degikup. She described a flctitious burial tradition degikup appear traditional. As Merriam,l6 Barrett (r9r 7:zz), and others have

in which a large storàge basket was placed on the chest of a deceased noted, the designs that characterized Washoe coiled basket \¡¡eaving in
male, his prestige demonstrated by the fineness of the degikup buried or the twentieth century were ofrecent introduction, primarily from Cali-
bumed with the body; a woman was onÌy supposed to have a burden fornia styles. To counter this, Empoliurn pamphlets consistendy asserted
basket inverted on her grave to show that her life's work was done (Cohn that Louisa's designs represented kind offamily crest she had inherited.
a

r9o9:76; McNaughton r9o3:58r). AnthropologicaÌ sources reveal instead As a corollar¡ it wai claimed that no weaver from another family was
that Washoe tradition specified only the burial ofthe dead person's be- allowed to copy her designs. The reader of this propaganda would have

106 I Morvin Cohodqs louìso Keyser ond the Cohm I ro7

to have been very distant or very unobservant, since a quick look at the vadations of a single motif \ryith much more complicated analyses. For
basketry display in the Emporlum or Bicose wouid show that virrually example, she sketched fou¡ variations ofthe "flame" or "sunlight" moti{
every weayer imitated Louisa's desþs! on L.K.go,1e caìled "The Signal Code," and she expìained these variations
The Emporium pamphlets also consistently mention that weavers (ñg.'g)
never repeat the same design on another basket. This is 6¡st mentioned ln addition to these sketches and explanations of motiß, Amy some-
in the rgoo pamphlet, when Louisa had not yet produced the same com- times provided an invented background in the form ofan ethnographic
bination ofshape and desþ on more than one piece. That her approach record. Such descriptions always emphasize ment activities, ceremoni-
was worthy of specific comment may derive from its opposition to the als, inheritance, and status. Perhaps the most elabo¡ate was occasioned
conventional view of basket weaving as a repetitive crafi. However, in by Louisa's innovative adaptation ofthe form ofa twined burden basket
the miniature baskets, which Louisa first began weaving in r9o5, she to the coiling technique in the work numbered L.K.5r. As with the degi
often produced duplicate combinations of form and pattern, and other kup, Amy had to counter this introduction ofa new form with a weighty
weave¡s followed suit.l7 Rather than abandon the assertion that such defense of its traditionaÌ origin and fimction. Her colorful fab¡ication
dupìication did not occur alier it ceesed being true, Amy repeated it more appears on the reverse of the certificate:
vehemently, now supporting it by invoking tribal law as sanction (Cohn
Burden or carrying shape or form, a styìe of basket in this stitch
19o9:76). In Emporium propaganda, invoking a fantasy ofthe pasr to ob-
made only by the favorite relative of the Chief, who was a good
scure changes in the present requires that reality and fiction must draw
weaver in fact the most expert weaver of his family. Used in ceremo-
increasingly apart.
nials preceding great or important undertakings or expeditions.
Emporium propaganda asserted not only that the degikup designs were
It was placed in the center of the circle near the council füe. As
traditional but that they y¿ere symbolic. ln a rgoz letter to Nicholson's
each brave or person con¡ected with the expedition passed the bas-
buyer, C.S. Hartman, Amy mote: "with each individuaì basket we give
ket as they circled in their ceremoniaÌ maneuvers or dances, a gift or
catalogue numbers, history and description or definirion ofthe symbols
propitiatory offering was cast into it to gain success from the "Great-
or hieroglyphics on them, and in every way endeavour to make each
Good-oÊAll."
article en interesting reìic."ts In particuìar, Louisa was called the tribal
These offerings became the property ofthe officiating Chief
historian, and her designs were said to encode the legends, history, and
The burden-basket shape symboìized the laying of theiì burdens
traditions ofher people, in patt to keep them from being forgonen. The
or sorrows, fears and hopes, into the will oftheû spiritual Chiefl
contradictory evidence that the designs were ofrecent introduction, a¡d
even the denial ofmeaning by Louisa herself (Keller rgro:75), did noth- On the front ofeach certificate, Amy referred to her interpretations of
ing to dampen popular enthusiasm for the symbolic interpretations ema- basket meanings with a short title, and sometimes with a long sentence
nating from the Emporium. Furthermore, despite her claims that these composed by stringing together the identifrcations of each motif from
designs recorded Washoe tradition, Amy applied the same vocabulary to her vocabuìary. For example, an explanation appears on the reverse of
baskets of other tribes sold in the Emporium. the certiûcate for the coiled bu¡den basket L.K.5r (Fig. zo). From these
Amy's approach to the interpretation of symbolism in basketry desþ identifications, Amy created the long tide for this basket, recorded on the
may be reconstructed from the explanations she wrote on the certiÍcates, certificate front (Fig. zr): "Our men camped beside the roads and rivers,
especially those for Louisa Keyser's major works. Amy made numbered then assembled aror:nd the campfües, praising and extolling the sbrewd-
sketches ofthe motiß on the bla¡k side ofthe certificate, and also wrote ness and skill of their hunters in obtaining game." Amy also abstracted
out identifrcations for each. In these identiÍcations, she followed a strict from this long tide a shortened form, "Extolìing the Hr:nters," which ap-
vocabuìary ofher owrì invention, involving a standardized meaning for pears on both front and reverse ofthe certificate, and by which the basket
each motifl \{hile designs made up of simple motiß, lacking in vada- is now know¡.
tion, could be explained simply, Amy felt constrained to account for any The intent ofthese interpretations is evident Êom the vocabulary and

ro8 | Moflin Cohodos Louiso Keysø cnd the Cohns I ro9

 m Indiao Basketry

Figure 20. Certificor€ lor L.K. gr , vttittnby Amy Cohn. Four of louiso,s mcior bcskets
* in r9r5 in th€ hope thct he would ¡urchose ct leost two, ond
w€r€ s€nt to G.,4. St€inû

dt
thereb¡ fnance, bet plo¡ Io¡ o museum of Woshoe bosketry ort. Steiner r€tutr€d th€ boJk€tj
but ke¡r the certificctes.
(Courtesy Kennedy Mill Iorm Cor¡oration)

#
the pseudo-etlurographic explanations. First, the references are only to a
supposed traditional past, not to the present reality of Washoe life. Sec_
ond, there are no references to any aspects oflife that would have been of
concern to the women who made the baskets and used them in nurtur-
ing their families.æ Instead, the mentions of hunting and war, ofcults and
rituals, refer specifically to male action and status. The same emphasis may
be noted in Amy's fabdcation of a morruary tradition for the degikup. In
D. both situations, the feminine, creative aspects ofbasketry are inverted to
associate them with maìe destruction, competition, and prestige. Third,
although the certificates and pamphlets claimed that Louisa was record-
ing the myths and traditions ofher people, references to known Washoe
Figure 19. Certificote for l.K. 5o.,4.m¡ Cohn's onoÌ¡nis of motiß;
myths and ceremonies are notably absent. The many references to chieß,
A. Buildin6 o fre in the do¡time, covering it wirh c blonket, then roising it, rnokin6 the
compacts, tribaì councils, and signal fües recall the idealized and roman-
smoÀe wirl in mcny forms, eoch one c recognized s¡mbol.
ticized vision whites at this time held ofthe plains Indian warrior and his
B. Building o fre ot nighr, ¡ropping o blcnket up o¡r suppofts, or building in front of it o traditional cultu¡e.
bo¡úcqde of b¡usà, cnd mcking the flames form signcls.
The defeat ofthe Plains Indians who had heroically resisted white en-
C. AttcchinÚ cloths to sticks on
¡oles oad woving them in the sunli¿ht. croachment, and their subsequent humiliating confinement on reserva-
D. Hcnging ciotlx on tàe limbs of nees to wcve signols.
tions, may be at the heart ofthe nostalgia that fed the curio rrade in the

rro I Mo¡vin CohodqJ

Louiso Keysø ond the Cohns I rrr
 image ofpower, the vvorthy ifdoomed antithesis to the effete and anxious
cit¡dweller ofour industrial age. The stereotyPes of the Plains r arrior
with his feather bonnet and tomahawk, and his Indiân Princess with her
fünged buckkin dress and braids, Ìvere PoPularized at this time through-
out the United States and Eüope, Primarily through the dime novels and
wiÌd west shows. Perpetuated by the Hollywood ûlm industry, the same
stereotypes remain with us today, in t}leir same antithetical role.
At ttre tu¡n ofthe centur¡ this romantic view ofthe noble Plains warrior
aìso provided a means of dissociâtion from the degradation of current
lndiar life. The Washoe in particular, denied access to their subsistence
resources, and with no reservation lands, survived as an impoverished
and often pitifü few, existing on the fringes ofwhite society. At best, they
worked as ra¡ch hands and washerwomen, and at worst they frequented
the Chinese sections of towns and mining camPs to obtain liquor and
opium. The marketing of Washoe basketry as an ideal and poetic form of
traditional art required that it be completely divorced from this current
reality and identiûed with the fantasy ofa nobler Past. Thus the cover
photograph ofAmy's third pamphìet (Emporium, n.d.C), IndionArt, shows
an "Indian Princess" with the tide "A Western ldyll."
Amy knew how to take firll advantage ofthe attraction this romantic
vision of the Native American held for white popular culture. One re-
port of her lecture on Washoe baskets states that she "appeared in the
gorgeou! costume of an Irdian princess wearing many valuabie pieces of
bead-wo¡k into which the histor¡ romance, sorrows, a¡d joys of their
Figure 2r . Portion I.K. 5r . , my illustrotes ecch desi8n motìf
of r€yffse of th€ certificote for t¡ibes had been woven." At the climax of this presentation, "she recited
with ún explqnation deriyed f¡om her ow¡ yocobulory. louiso's reproductior of the Wosho€ some ofthe legends and traditions ofthe Indians with a d¡amatic füe that
twined bu¡den bosket in coil€d weovì¡g (onstitut€d 0lI ûtistic in¡oyqtion, to whicb,{m¡ stirred and thrilled" (Carson Cit¡ News, March ro, r9r4).21
responded by fobrìccting o ceremoniol use for this uniqu€ piece, 0J if it we¡e o t¡oditionql The interpolation of meaning into deúikuP designs was the key tech-
form. Ámy oiso mentions louiso's ìnclusion of the b¡cided ¡im finish, obondoned by most nique employed by Amy to identify contemPorâry Washoe curio weaving
wecvers during the florscence of Wosboe curio weovin¿. with the ancient warriors of the Plains. Discussions of these interPola-
(Courtesy Kennedy Mìll Føm Corporction) tions were thus given the Sreatest Prominence in EmPorium pamphlets
and in Amyb public lectures. Her I9o9lecrure to the Leisure Hour Club
graphically illustrates the importance ofdesign interPretation in seParat-
late nineteenth a¡d early twentieth centuries. Once they no ìonger posed ing the baskets from their present reaìity. Her lectue was only one Part of
a threat, their past could be rewritten to suit the needs ofthe present. The a long evening dedicated to the fantasy oflndian culture, which included
Pìains warrior became the noble savage, living in harmony with nature a reading of ':Hiawetha." The climax was the tûbleou viv0¡t for vrhich Louisa
while perfecting masculine anributes ofbravery and pride. Whether one Keyser herseÌfwas brought to Pose. According to the newspaper report
looked at his noble or his savage side, the Plains wa¡rior remained an (Cûson City News, February 26, I9o9):

Ir2 I Moryin Cohodo.s Loùc Keysø ond the Cohrs I rr3

 The picrure in which Dat-soìaìee posed was made trebìy interesting Indian basket weavers. In many ways the two women were very simi-
because of rwo other figures. Mrs. Gladp Hofer, in a scarlet gown, lar. Like Amy, Grace Nicholson was a strong and independent woman.
recited an original poem by Mr. Vanderlieth in which the reasons for Orphaned at an early age, she was raised by her grandParents in Phila-
the designs in the basket were asked of the weaver. Her questions delphia, coming west to settle in Pasadena afier their deaths. Like Amy
'1

were answered by Miss Marguerite Raycrali, who represented the Coh¡, Nicholson selected talented weavers to patronize, and monoPo-
daintiest Indian maiden imaginable, and who is always the personi- lized their entire output (Mclendon and Holland ry79:\2). Like Am¡
fication ofgrace. The answer is also the product of Mr. Vande¡lieth,s Grace indulged in amateur ethnography and photographic documenta-
fertile brain. tion, and she even kept a ledger for part ofher career. She also claimed
that the baskets she sold represented authentic native tradition, in Part
As Louisa Keyser silently validated rhe inrerprerarions of her basketry because her clientele included museums as much as pdYate collectors.
designs, invented and recited by members of another culture, she also However, unlike Amy, Grace Nicholson never romanticized her baskets,
embodied the antithesis offantasy and reality that permitted the roman- and did not bother to seek out possible meanings for the designs. Yet her
ticizing of her art. Like most Washoe women of her time, Louisa ïvas saJes were even more successfirl than Amy's. Perhaps the higher class cli-

i
heavyset, dressed primarily in a prinr dress and scarl and generally did entele was put offby complex fabrications offirnction and meaning: G' A.
not speak in public-precisely the opposite of the slender and graceful Steiner paid the highest price for a degikup by Louisa Keyser that had no
Marguerite Raycraft, who, as the lndian Princess, declaimed on basketry discussion of its symbolism, but refused to bu¡ even at a discount, two
symbolism. Their juxtaposition at this event must have reinforced in the pieces sent on aPProval with very elaborate explanations.
minds ofthe audience the superiority oftheir fantasy oftraditional Indian Why then did Amy continue to elaborate the fabricated context for
life over the contemporary reality of Washoe existence. Louisa and her degikup and the fantastic exPlanations ofits fimction and
Once transformed and regulated, othet aspects of Washoe life also design? In part, Amy must have responded to the local cultural environ-
sparked the r¡r'hites' curiosity. The 6nal segment of this long evening of ment, which contrasted with that of Pasadena in its continuing Pioneer
Leisure Hou¡ CÌub activities devoted to Indian culture consisted of a flavor, and in the constant presence of Washoe Indians conflicting with
presentation by students from the local tndian Training School. They ideal images ofthe Native American in his gÌorious past. In her fabrica-
demonstrated the products of cralis and trades that formed part of their tion ofpoetic and elaborate interPretations for the basketry desiSns, Amy
compulsory curriculum.22 Of course, these techniques of needlework took on the role oflouisa's precontact alter ego. In Pursuing her vision of
and carpentry were of lnr'hite origin, since the child¡en were forbidden to basketry as a symbol ofthe glorious past, Amy exPressed her own person-
perpetuate their Native culture. ality and achieved some degree of public recognition. Identifying with
tn summary, by fabricaring a traditional histor¡ function, and meaning this ideal fiction became her niche in society. Judging by contemPorary
for the degùu¡, Amy Cohn identified it with the fantasy ofa superior pasr reports, Amy \ryas never more vital than when she appeared in the d¡ess
that was the opposite ofcontemporary Washoe life. From the innovation ofan Indian princess a¡d thrilled her audiences with recitations ofNatiYe
of an individualistic Washoe woman to meet ttìe needs of a contempo- myths and expianations of the poetic symbolism she divined in Washoe
rary curio trade, the degikup was transformed into a communal symbol basket weaving. As a writer, Amy had the talent to convey her own vision
ofa glorious fictional past, emphasizing male acrivities modeled on the to otÌìers in such â way that it rÀ/ould engulfthem as well.
romantic ideal of the Plains warrior. For Louisa to become a sy.rnbol of
this fictional past, she too had to be cleansed of white contamination, louiso's Physical Appeorcnce oad Personolit¡
with her birth now placed in precontact times and her weaving said to be On some topics, the exaggeration and falsification that dominate Em-
inherited by family right. porium publications become quite derogatory. While Louisa is admired
Amy's approach to the mârketing of Louisa Keyser's degikup contrasts for those artistic and historical elements-real and frctitious-used to
with that of Grace Nicholson, the other great promoter and patron of make her an impersonal symbol of Washoe life in a glorious Past, those

r¡4 | Morvin Cohodûs Louiso Keyser ond the Cohns I rr5

elements deûning her as a¡ individual in contemporary context are de- This association is clearly expressed in a rgrr newspaper article. Entitled
rided. Here is the initial description from rhe rgoo pamphlet (Emporium, "sorrorv Bows the Proud Head of the Famed Dat-solalee," (Corson Cit¡
n.d.A): News, December 28, rgrr), this article Ìvas prompted by Charlie Keyser's
sentencing to three weel<s in iail for aìcohol abuse. Instead of discuss-
A squaw whom nature has endowed with considerable ovoirdupois,
ing Charlie's problem with alcohol, the article satirically sPeculates on
but whose delicacy of touch and arristic ability none can dispute,
Louisa's loneliness and solrow, contrasting it \¡r'ith an idyllic life of the
posessed of childJike blandness, but gifted with much shrewdness
past. Charactedsticall¡ those passages describing this idyllic Past com-
and cunning, resorting to romancing and even weeping to gain a
bine the idealized view of the Native American in harmony with nanrre
desired object. Hand symmetrically perfect, with fngers plump and
with a positive description of Louisa as a traditional artist: "The Ponies
tapering, she weaves daily her beautiful artistic creations, secretly
are cropping the bunch grass from the hillside while on a large flat rock
vain and chuckling at the mere mention of any squaw that can com-
which draws the rays of the morning sun, her souLmate lies upon his
pete with her.
shirt-Êont a¡d sleeps the hours away. There is an air ofcontentment in the
This description involves a pair ofcle oppositions. Physicaþ Louisa,s scene, and she plaits her basket with braintipped 6nger. . . ." Although
weight is derided while her hands a¡e admired. Spiritually, Louisa's per- this idyllic past is described ostensibly to contrast with Louisa's so¡¡ow
sonality is derided vvhiìe her artistry is admi¡ed. at her husband's imprisonment, the present situation is described largely
While later Emporium publications repeat the same points almost ve¡- in terms oflouisa's weight and personality: "Her sylph-like fo¡m ofover
batim, some newspaper and magazine articles take this description as a tvventy-three stone in l'reight careens like a bark at sea as her pent-up
departure point for furthe¡ elaboration. ln her r9r2 articÌe, McNaughton emotions overflo'i,t¡ and she finds solace in t}te woman's dowry of tears."
follows the order precisely but exaggerares the details (r9rz:r9): Such fanciful descriptions oflouisa Keyser represent onìy one example
ofthe general approach to stereotyping Native Amedcans that susteined
Fat and course-featured, and with long and straighr hair hanging to
the curio trade in the eaÙ twentieth century. This widespread sym-
her waist and banged across her forehead, nearly covering her beady
bolic paradigm involved stereotlping both past and present, artificially
black eyes, she certainly has few marks of beauty. Conceited to a
reinforcing the contrast between the two. Just as the positive aspects of
wonderful degree, and possessing control of an ever-ready tear font
traditional life were magnified to create an idealized and romantic yision
v¡hen desiring to gain anything from her "boss" (as she designates
ofthe noble warrior and his princess in harmony with nature, so too the
Mr. Cohn), an inveterate liar, ever boastfirl and ungratefirl, she has
negative aspects ofmodern life were selected and exaggented to create a
nothing to recommend her until the cunning work of her shapely
despicable image of the contemporary Native Americân as coarse, stupid,
hands is in evidence. Then the fat, repulsive old Indian squaw be-
violent, and generally drunk. The wonders ofthe past were thus enhanced
comes a wonder-worker. One ca¡ hardly realize that such deìicacy of by contnst to the debasement ofthe present.
touch and artistic creative genius could dwell in such a tenement.
As products of Western ciyilization, most of us are familia¡ with such
The crudity ofthis artack only sers in bolder reliefthe emphasis on con- black-and-white polarization. For example, the existence of heaven and
trasting positive and negative qualities that served to describe Louisa hell ca¡¡rot be substantiated, yet their opposition long served to con-
Keyser. cretize the positive afld negative feelings we have about ourselyes, each
The reason for emphasizing these contrasting qualities appears to be an other, ou¡ society, or the environment in which we live. Closer to the
expression ofthe diflerenr yiews that whites held ofthe Washoe. The same point are medieval morality pÌays, or even Shakespeare's masterpieces,
people who Ídealized and admired the native past aÌso despised those which express such oppositions as the more two-dimensional characters
Indians with whom they associated. While admiration for Louisa's arristry who surround the three-dimensional "Everyman."
was part of this idealization of the Indian past, ridicule of her appear- In the Far West, at the turn of the century, the whites who created
ance and personality was part ofthe deprecation ofthe Indian present. and used such ste¡eotypes of the Native American may have been pìacing

116 I Mo¡vin Cohodø louiso Keysø ond the Cohru I rr7

themselves in this same middÌe ground as Everyrnan. They could feel in- some element both wives and child¡en have in common. For example,
ferior to the Native American of a pue and noble past, but superior to both are subordinate to the adult male who heads a famiþ and becomes
those of a tainted and debased present. Perhaps they used such stereo- responsible for their physicaì and financial welLbeing. Likewise, in her
types to rationalize their exploitation ofthe Indians and takeover oftheir pâtronage relationship with the Cohns, she relinqüished power over her
lands, or to externalize ambivalent feelings about themselves as individu- life in return for fi¡ancial security. This arrangement allowed the Cohns
als and as a society. Ifso, how they actually felt about Indians would be to fabricate her public image, which they based on such stereotypes. But
incidental. This wou-ld explain how the artistry and originality Natives whereas Amy was primarily concerned with placing Lordsa's altistry in a
put into their cuios could become secondary to the aura oftradition that traditional past that contrasted with the debasement ofthe present, Abe's
buyers attributed to them. anecdotes express his power over Louisa through ridicule.
Louisa's personality was also targeted for derision in anecdotal news- Unlike the stagecoach anecdote, which was never reprinted by the
paper articles that described Abe's clashes \,/ith her. Typical is the rgrr press, two other stories incessantly repeated by Abe Cohl and others
article entitled "Abe Cohn Is in Serious Trouble Once Again" (Cøson Ciry have become fxed in the legend ofDat So La Lee. One concerns the train
N€ws, October 7, r9rr). Framing a long description oflouisa and her career iourney to St. Louis in r9r9. Louisa is supposed to have become tired
that is paraphrased from Emporium publications, the 6rst and last para- of traveling by the time they reached Kansas City and to have decided
graphs ofthe article relate Abe's anecdote concerning Louisa's discornfort to walk back home. The joke was that she wouÌd have to be very stupid
on the stagecoach bringing her back from summer residence at Tahoe not to know she had come too far to walk back, just as in the stagecoach
City. These two paragraphs, aìong with the subtitle, appeared as follows: story she was supposedÌy unaware that a single ticket purchased a single
seat. The other familiar anecdote concerns the corset Louisa asked Abe to
Mrs. Louisa Keyser, the well known
order for her. She angdly rcturned it when it did not transform her into
artist, gives tongue lashing to manager
the slim beauty of the advertisement. Again, the laugh is on Louisa for
of the Emporium.
thinking that a corset would make her bulky form appear thin.
Last evening, when the Glenbrook stage arrived, a big fat squaw
These stories may not seem very funny to us, and they are certainly
was unloaded with the assistance ofseveral men, and alter she had
no longer believable, but at the time they \¡/ere popular and considered
been safely landed on terra 6¡ma, she galre a grunt ofsatisfaction and
accunte. white people liked to think of lndians as being unaþle to cope
bundìed herseÌfoflto give a lecture to Abe Cohn on the ways ofthe
with white technology, because it helped validate their sense ofsuperi-
White people and the way she was abused. Coh¡ saved himselffrom
odty. The fact that Louisa was intelligent, and had made the best ofwhite
the tirade by haading the buxom Ìady a halfdollar a¡d vanishing out I

presence in Washoe terútory, did not affect the public's treatment ofher.
the back door ofhis sto.re. . . .
Instead, her visibility allowed her to stand in for the tribe as a whole: she i

For the next few days, it will be comical to watch the antics of
became the scapegoat for all negative feeÌings that whites had for Washoe.
Cohn, for Mrs. Keyser came down from Glenbrook last night, mad as
The popularity ofAbe's anecdotes goes far beyond an exaggeration of
a march hare, and life will not be sweet for Abe until he has managed
Louisa's personality and their patronage relationship. The highly visible
to explain to her that only one seat in a stage can be given to any one ,t
relationship betïveen this particular white man and a Washoe woma¡
Passenger. ,l l
was exaggerated to function as a symbol ofthe total relationship between
These passages offer several f¿milia¡ stereot)?es, such âs the shrewish whites and Washoes. This example of culrural interaction was also ex- I

wife who delivers a tongue-lashing, or the selfish and immature child pressed in terms of a domestic relationship between men and women,
who greedily accepts a bribe. But these stereotypes represent but one in order to focus on patterns of dominance and submission. The public's
pole of a dichotomy in which Abe Cohn, with his rational, adult male interest in such poÏver relationships is evident from the article on CharÌie
Keyser's impdsonmerit for dru¡Ìenness (Corson Cit)' News, December 28, t1
behavior, represents the opposite. Recourse to such obvious negative
stereotypes suggests that the article is trying to associate Louisa with rgrr). In their domestic relationship, Charlie is referred to as Louisa's
ì

ì.
rr8 I Morvin Cohod¿s loùso Keyser ond Ihe Cohns I rr9 ,l
I

t:
I
i
i
i
"liege lord and master." In their cultural interaction, Charlie, during his program, it is safe to conjecture that she will have suficient goods to make
il
l
stay in prison, becomes a "serviìe sÌave to pafess masters," while Louisa two dresses" (Corson City News, February 26, r9o9). Although this story may
;ì
) must submit to "the might and majesty of White man's Law." sound logical, it should be remembered that Abe Cohn was not in atten-
l
Since women are supposed to be dominated by men, and Washoe are dance that eyening. Louisa had come with her true patron, Amy Cobn,
supposed to be dominated by whites, the submission ofa Washoe woman who would thus have been responsible for any necessary molli$ing. Yet
to a white man was the perfect paradigm.Ë Abe was seen as the paternalis- the newspaper story focuses on the fictitious marriagelike relationship
tic figure ofauthorit¡ whiìe Louisa became the manipulative dependent. between Abe and Louisa, firlfrlling the established stereotype by depicting
Abe willingly complied with this public need, relating anecdotes about Abe bribing the peevish Louisa.
Louisa that are the same tlpe nien often tell to ¡idicule their wives. The In summar¡ the references to Louisa's physical appearance and person-
patronage relationship between Abe and Louisa was treated in the news- ality, in both Emporium pamphlets and newspaper articles, emphasize
papers as a caricature ofa marriage. In fact, a "tall tale" that appeared in a contrasts that must be interpreted as symbolic oppositions. In her pam-
Carson City newspaper in r9r3 (Cøson City News, March z6) creates a fan- phlets and lectures, Amy Cohn contrasted Louisa's artistic hands with
tasy of the first meeting between Abe and Louisa by recaìling a European her excessive weight, and her artistic talent with her manipulative per-
legend ofdoomed lovers, casting Abe as Tristan to Louisa's Isolde. sonality. The purpose of these oppositions was to associate Louisa's art
Aithough we may recognize the reasons for these exaggemtions of with an ideal vision of the tnditional past by dissociating it from tìe
Louisa's personality and relationship ¡¡rith Abe Cohn, we must still won- debasement of contemporary Washoe cultule and cu¡io trade. On the
der how much truth there was in the negative traits attributed to her. other hand, Abe's contribution, highlighted in the newspapers, was to
Abe may weÌl have encouraged Louisa to be childish and manipulative contrast his authority alld rational behavior with Louisa's powerlessness
if that was the only way he would deal with her needs. How could we and irntionality. Although Abe told the negative anecdotes primarily to
ever know, since the pamphlets and newspaper alticles are purposely increase the amount ofprestiç and attention he received, he was feeding
distorted? into the popular conception of their patronage relationship as a sym-
Fortunatel¡ there is one negative anecdote for which we can recon- bol of Washoe submission to v¡hite authodty, seen in terms of domestic
struct Louisa's side of the stor¡ It concerns the Leisure Hour Club meet- relations between women and men.
ing of February r9o9, in which Amy Cohn lectured and Louisa posed in Yet Abe and Louisa did make a likely pair. Abe's jovial, attention-seeking
a tableau. Louisa was evidently uncomfortable and impatient at the long personality was the perfect foil for Louisa's retiring, taciturn, and some-
wait for her stint at the end of the evening. A local resident remembered times emotional natu¡e. Both took on the role ofsideshow hawkers, with
that she y,¡as in mourning at the time (Elsie Chichester, pers. comm., 1983); Louisa's public weaving and Abe's humorous storytelling designed to
and in fact, although the precise date cannot be determined, Louisa's drâw customers into the shop and keep them interested long enough to
brother, Jim Bryant, had died within the previous year.2a Adding to her buy a Washoe curio. Van Loan's article (19o6:5) makes this dual attraction
griefl her stepson, Charlie Keyser, Jr., had shot his wife to death a month clear. In Carson City, he was taken to the Emporium not so much to see
before, and was in prison awaiting certain conyiction and execution. Con- the baskets as to hear Abe's "spiel' (as Van Loan calìed it). At Lake Tahoe,
sidering these personal tragedies, Louisa's ilì.temper at waiting through he recalled the unsurpassed beaury of Louisa's baskets as he met her at
the long function is understa¡dable. . the steamer pier, on her way to a lVashoe "pow-pow" in a childish funk.
Whereas such behayior would be excusable in another person, it
seemed so appropriate to the stereotype ofLouisa's childish personality
loter Fictions on Louiso's Eøly Life
that it was selected for public comment and reinterpretation. Here is what
the newspaper reported: "It is said that for every flfieen minutes deìay, In creating a false aura of tradition for Louisa and her
Mr. Cohn was compelled to add a yard of caÌico to the stuff promised her Amy tended increasingly to fabúcate details of Louisa's early life,
degikup,

for a new dress ald as she waited over two hours for her 'stunt' on the before contact with whites and especially before beginning her patronage

rzo I Mo¡vin Cohodos Loui¡o Kevsø ond the Cohns I rzr

relationship with the Cohns. These eflorts were renewed by Abe Cohn 1834. Both dates are exaggerated: Louisa's birth cannot be pinpointed,
and others around the time ofLouisa's death, resulting in the addition of but it must have been between r84S and r8SS, so Louisa was probably not
severaÌ elements to the Dat So La Lee legend. yet born when Fremont made his historic contact.
When Louisa was on her death bed in November 1925, Dr. S.L. Lee While Amy's exaggeration ofher birth date to 1834 had served to place

fnally "revealed" the derivation of the name Dat So La Lee. Noting that Louisa's origin in precontact setting, this later story ofher meeting with
a

Washoe often took the name of their employers and protectors, and re- Fremont also incorporates the two themes earlier developed arolrnd the
calling his earlier claim to have befriended and patronized Louisa be- selection of Louisa Keyser to represent the entire Washoe tribe. First,
fore she came to work for the Cohns, Lee explained that she must have Louisa is here placed in the srgnificant moment offirst recorded contact
used his name, transposing "Doc" to "Dot" a¡d then making sylìables which separates Washoe prehistory from Washoe history, and thus sym-
out of his initials (Nevado Appecl, November 4, 1925). Of couse, ¡¡¿aiting bolically separates their glorious and idealized pasr from their debased
until Louisa was too infrm to object casts doubt on the veracity of his present. Second, the tale involves the usual opposition ofan active white
claim. In fact, Washoe took Engìish names fiom their employets, not man and a submissive Washoe woman to express cultural dominance.
Washoe names. Moreover, the Washoe recognize the name (whlch they The longer narrative documenting Louisa's early relationship with Abe
pronounce "Datslai-lolee") as a Washoe term meaning "big hips." Lee's Cohn is divided into two episodes. The füst, dated to r87r, reports that
claims to pre-Empodum pahonage ate likewise unsubstantiated: the bas- Louisa, known as Dabuda,a was hired by Abe's father, Harris Cohn, owner
kets in his collection woven by Louisa Keyser were all acquired from the of a general store in the mining town of Monitor, California. While per-
Emporium in r899-r9oo, well after she began weaving for the Cohns. forming her domestic chores and caring for young Abe, Louisa tells him
Abe Cohn also had a story to tell of Louisa's early life and his influence the tales and traditions of her people, awakening in the boy a lifelong
on it. The most complete narratiye ofthese fictional events was first com- interest in Indian culture. The second episode supposedly takes place in
piled in the report Henrietta Burton prepared for the Bureau of Indian 1895, when Abe owns a clothing store in Carson City from which he sells
A.ffairs in with Abe. This narrative has
1932, based entirely on intervie\rys baskets, and where Louisa, called Dat So La Lee, takes him four whis- I
:
since been repeated and further elaborated in most of the neÌvspaper key flasks that she has covered with twining. Recognizing her exceptionaì
and magazine articles on Louisa Keyser written since that time (see, for abilit¡ Abe tells her to return to the weaving ofthe ceremonial degikup,
examplg, Mack 1946; Ewing r98g). promising his protection fiom Paiute reprisals. A longer version of this
Abe's flctional narrative oflouisa's early life begins with the storyofher tale elaborates their dramatic reurìion, as Abe finally realizes that this old
meeting, in 1844, withJohn C. Fremont, the first white man to record his Indian woman is actually the beloved Dabuda ofearlier days.
joumey through Washoe territory and contact with the Washoe. Louisa Stern attempted to investigate this picturesque fabrication, finding only
is supposed to have been with a nephew, who was kicked by a soldier's that no Harris Cohn owned a store in Monitor (Stern 1983: 294-99). }low-
rearing horse. By way of apology, Louisa was given some brass buttons ever, other contradictions render the entire sequence a fabrication. For
which she treasured throughout her life and took to her gave. According example, a more accurate estimate of Louisa Keyser's birth would make
to this narrative, shortly before her death Louisa guided Cohn to ttre spot her only five to ten years older than Abe, so she is unlikely to have helped
in Eagle Valley where the meeting took place. raise him. And Abe was only one year old when his family moved to Vir-
As with the other narratives, this fiction has genera\ been accepted ginia City (Gerald Cohn, pers. comm., 1989). Also, earlier Emporium pro-
despite its historical impossibilit¡ As Gigli (1974:5) notes, Fremont did paganda (Emporiurn, n.d.B; Van Loan 19o6:5) asserted that the Cohns'
not pass through Eagle Valley. Also, Louisa was aflicted with dropsy in füst contact with Louisa was when they hired her to do their washing.
later years, and could not even walk a block without resting (Nancy Bow- This story is remarkably similar in structure to the tale of Louisa's meet-
ers, pers. coflrm., r98g), so it is unhkely that she guided Cohn anl.where. In ing ïv'ith Fremont. Both rely on the opposition of a white man and a
orde¡ to accommodate this meeting, Cohn had to revise her year ofbirth Washoe woman to represent the dominance of white over Washoe, and
back to 1829, thus contradicting Amy's assertion that Louisa was born in both )uxtapose the glorious Washoe past with the debased present. But

r22 I MoÌvìn Cohodds Louisc Keysa oad the Cohns I rz3

separation of this narrative into two episodes makes the contrast ofpast ing on these issues ofgreater moment to Nevadans, the stories âbout Abe
artd present much clearer, and aìlows for a reversal ofthe pattem ofdomi- and Louisa have very litde to do with basketry or the curio trade.
nance and submission. In the fi¡st episode, Louisa represents tìe native
traditions of the Indian past which the \,r'hires of Carson City admired,
The Imoge ond Impoct ofÁm/ Coh¡
so she appears as the figure of greater power or respect when she tells
stories to the boyas she cares for him. A reversal occurs in the second epi- The Emporium propaganda, discussions oflouisâ Key-
sode, when she becomes dependent on Abe's protection and patronage. ser's a¡t, her personality, and her relationshiP with the Coh¡s were alL
Now she represents the submission ofpresent-day Washoe to benevolent manipulated to fit preconceived stereotyPes about differences between
white authority. the past and present. ofthe Washoe, and their relationship with whites.
The same reversal characterizes the earlier fictionalized account of the Through this manipulation, the paradigm ofthe white male patron and
initial contact between Abe a¡d Louisa. This story appeared as a humor- the Washoe female attist was rePresented as t}re caricature ofa malriage,
ous "tall tale" in a r9r3 newspaper, and casts Abe as Tristan to Louisa's with the mature a¡d benevolent Abe Patiently cultivating the immature
Isolde (Corson City News, March 26, rgrg). Although in the first part ofthe and r:ngrateful Louisa.
story Louisa is the powerfuì and wild native princess about to slay the Where could Amy flt into this paradigm? She did not frt the stereotyPe
helpless Abe, she voluntarily relinquishes her independence and foììows of a patron, since she was a woman. And she certainly did not út the
Abe to Carson Cit¡ where she ends up as his humble artist-servant. stereot)?e ofa late Victorian wife, despite occasionaì attempts by ne}/s-
A.ll three stories emphasize the reversal of power relationships to ac- paper y/riters to force her into that mold. Amy rras not onÌy creative and
commodate the whites' ambivalent view of the Native American as both intelligent, she was anything but dependent or immature. She survived
brave warrior and dru¡k. All of these stories draw on the more wide- young widowhood with three small daughters,26 and went on to Promote
spread currency of the noble savage, a romantic image which is also at a new curio tradition, manage a successful curio store, lecture on tour,
the hea¡t of the European legend of Tristan (or Tristram). In the West- write pamphlets and articles, and generally carve out a place in Nevada's
ern mind, progress is both inevitable and a moral imperative whereby history She headed the local Red Cross chaPter for a time, and the title
man increasingìy dominates nature, bending it to his rational will, there\ of her obituary refers to her as "one of Nevada's most brilliant women"
tEnsforming it into culture. In American fiction, the Natiye American, (Nevoda Áppeal, December r9, r9r9). Significandy, whereas Margaret Jones
whether nobìe or sâvage, is always doomed by his own cultural limita- Cohn's death certificate lists her proGssion as "housewife," Amy's identi-
tions to be pushed aside by the march of Westem civilizâtion (Billingron fies her as an "author."
r98r:ro6-7). Notwithstanding hel passion for Native American culture, her partici-
Riley notes that the Indian Pdncess is the female version of the noble pation in the fantasy of the noble savage, and her unique career, Amy's
savage type (r9fu:gz). Whether an Irish Princess (like Isolde) or an Indian approach to the promotion and Patronage ofWashoe basket weaving does
Princess, the choice of the feminine personality to personify nature, or conform to some widespread trends in late Victorian America, especially
man-in-nature, allows the legend to function as a parable for cultu¡al in the Far West. Boús's analysis (1986) of the futs and Crafts Movement in
evolution. Thus a stable chancter of nineteenth-century American fic- the United States highlights several points ofsimilality. For example, she
tion is the humble Indian Princess who aids the white man in his quest notes that "the arts and crafis movement drew uPon an already existent
and thereby assures her own domination and often her own destruction network" which was "the women's club movement-devoted to tradi-
(Billington r98r:ro8; Johlson r89z). The humorous and popuìar stories tional humanistic culture, self improvement through group study, and
ofAbe and Louisa represent a twentieth-centuy adaptation ofthis arche- social philanthropy" (p. Ioo). Amy's 6rst pubìic Ìecûe, in I9o9, was to
t)?al construct, still designed to reinforce notions of the moral and intel- just such an organization, the Leisure Hour Club. Her lecture in r9I3 was
lectual superiority of Western civilization, and thereby ro rationalize the to a regional meeting of the Nevada Federation of Women's Clubs, and
domination ofNative Americans and appropriation ofthei¡ lands. Focusi her subsequent lecture tour in r9r4 involved a string ofwomen's clubs

lz4 I Morvin Cohodos Louiso Ke¡sø oad tbe Cohns ì Iz5

 throughout southern a¡d western Nevada. Clara McNaughton also pub- also used her interpretations to formulate and promote his evolutionary
lished an article on Louisa Keyser in the Gene¡al Federqtion of Women's Clubs theories on the origin of symbolism in art (r9qa:645).28
Mcgozine (r9rg). In r9r9, the Cohns took Louisa ro rhe Industrial Arrs Ex- As noted earlier, the contemporaneous texts on Native Ame¡ican bas-
illi position in St. Louis, a fair that was specifically organized a¡or:nd the arts ket weaving by Mason and James contrast in their academic versus PoPu-
I,ji and crafts ideology ofelevating taste in home decoration by emphasis on lar tone. James's romantic approach has continued Pdmarily in texts and
ii,ì
r,l handmade objects. That Amy subscribed to the ideology of the futs and catalogues that encompass a broad range of Native American art, such as
ll Crafts Movement is also suggested by the Cohrs's validation of Louisa Dockstader's (1966) surve¡ Coe's (1976) bicentennial exhibit catalogue,
,ii Keyser as a true artist, a tide that couìd not be applied to a Native American a¡rd Furst and Furst's (1982) detailed text. Typically, one or more oflouisa
woman basket weaver outside ofthis context (see Boris 1986:ro9). Keyser's degikup a¡e illustrated with a short accomPanying text that fol-
ilti
During more than trÀ/o decades of traveling and working together, a lows Emporium propaganda, recording one or both ofLouisa's Washoe
Ìì.j
Ììl
strong rclationship must have developed between Amy Coh¡r and Louisa names-with no mention of her English name-and tra¡scribing from
il Keyser. In her study of frontier women, BJley discovered that friend- the certificate the length oftime ù weaving and the extended title repre-
i
ships between Native and white women were cornmon in the West, as senting the syrnbolic interpretation.
:: women were more inclined toward mutual aid, trust, and interdepen- In such general sources, each ofthese elements is fìrrther exaSSerated.
i,. dence than were the aggressive and competitive males of both cultures For example, Coe þ976:zrr) extends the years oflouisa's birth ond deqth,
iil (Riley r9fu:174-84). Riley notes thar this significanr factor off¡ontier life recording her life span as 183r-1926. Coe also mistakenly records that
ti
was generally overlooked in favor ofstereotyped relationships and vio- Louisa went blind afier completing L.K.6r in r9r8 (1976:zrr),? apparently
iì
lent imagery that dominated the dime novels a¡d wild west shows (Riley unaware that she completed over sixty additional works and retained
r984:z5r). Thus the lack of information on the relationship between Amy her sight until death. Furst and Furst (1982:88) mistakenly transpose the
and Louisa is not surprising. weaving time for L.K.57 from seven months to seven days, an impossible
The context in which Amy developed her career may also explain why assumption. fu with other authors, Coe's (1976:zIr) attribution to Louisa
she underplayed her own role as trader and patron in her pamphlets and Keyser of a Washoe basket in a diflerent style betrays the legacy of the
lectures, giving most ofthe credit to Abe. Amy was directing her promo- Emporium's one-sided promotion of this single artist.
tionaÌ approach to the popular culture to which she belonged, not to an Amy's interpretation of symbolism in Louisa's basketry designs has
elite audience. To achieve acceptance in Carson City societ¡ she may have captured and held public attention. Unaware that these meanings were
felt constrained to support the public view of the patronage relationship fabricated, many authors have happily reproduced what seemed ulique
between Abe a¡d Louisa. insights into Native thought. Both Docl<stader a¡d the Fursts were im-
Amy's responsiveness to the public taste for romanticized fab¡ications pressed by the abrupt or choppy quality of the extended titles, which
may be gauged not only from the conrinuing popularity ofthe Dat So La we have seen were composed by stringing together the interPretations
Lee legend in western Nevada, but also from her persistent influence on of individual symbols according to Amy's vocabulary. Dockstader's praS-
writers of national reputation. matic explanation was that such titles demonstrated the difËculty oftrans-
Amy's most direct and potent impact was on George Wharton James. lating Native symbolism into English (1966: #r48), while the Fursts react
|ames had Érst used Amy's information on Louisa and her baskets in his more romantically in comparing it to Japanese hoiku poetry (1982:88)l
original version oflndion Bcsketry (l9or). Afier Amy developed certificates The large body of academic literature on Native American basket weav-
ald more complex symbolic interpretations, she sentthem toJames, who ing produced since Mason's work has diverged more sharply fromJames's
incorporated the ner¡¡ material in his revised editions (r9o4, r9o9)?TJames popular approach. Anthropological texts generally treat baskets much
continued to discuss Amy's interpretations ofbasketry symbolism in his like ceramic shards: classifying them according to shape, function, and
articles and lectures. When he did not have her interpretation ofa particu- technique, and rècording lists ofdesign motifs. These texts fail to recog-
Iar piece, he invented his own using her vocabulary (James r9o3b). He nize historical change, the impact ofwhite culture especially on the curio

126 I Moryin Cohodor Louìso Keyser ond the Cohns I rz7

trade, or the innovations ofindiyiduaÌ attists, because they operate on the in 1915-16. Photocopies of this correspondence were generously provided by
assumption that tribes, not people, make baskets. Barrctt's lengthy essay William Hu.fl
(r9r7) on Washoe basketry sticks to the usual discussions ofshape, tech- ro. This basket (Cohodas 1983: fig. 16) is now in the Lowie Museum ofA¡th¡o-
nique, design, and so forth. Although he visited Carson City as well as pology (cataÌogue no. r-72860). David and Ge¡trude Shoemaker ofOakland, Cali
fomia, purchased the work as a "Dat-solalee," but without ce¡tifrcate.
Carson Valle¡ he makes no mention ofthe Emporium, the Cohns, Louisa
rr. The joumal of Lee's collection is in the a¡chives ofthe Nevada State Mu-
Keyser, or even the weavers who were his informants and from whom he
seùm, Ca$on City.
purchased baskets. Only in the last decade have academic authors begun ¡2. A copy ofthe bill ofsale was provided by lvilliam Hufl
to anaþe change and individual contributions in order to clarifi the his- rg. See note 8.
torical contexts of Native American basket weaving (Bates 1982; Cohodas 14. Amy's records in the ledger of Louisa Keyser's baskets also reveaì a ¡eo¡i-
1979, 1982, 1983, 1986), utiìizing the strength ofborh anthopological and entatioD at this point. The basket entered in the ledger as L.K.38 was actually
woven four years earlier, between those numbered L.K.25 a¡d 26. The next beskets
historical approaches for a more comprehensive result.
entered, L.K.39 and 40, are minor pieces, which usually do not receive their own
numbe¡s. The following basket is "Beacon Lights," the large masterpiece which is
rhe subject ofso much comment. Mysteriousll this d€0ikuP is given two numbers,
NOTES recorded as L.K.4r-42.
15. In a probate hearing on her b¡othe¡Jim Bryant (also called Mon Bþ, Louisa
r. Amy Cohn's correspondence with Oris T. Mason is on ûle in the A¡th¡o- testiled that he¡ father's name was Da-da-u-on-gala. Louisa did not know he¡
poìogy tuchlves of the U.S. Narional Museum of Natural History, Smithsoniån mother's name. This ignorance is common when the mother dies in childbirth,
Institution, lvashington, D.C. which may have occu¡¡ed in Louisa's case.
2. Mate¡ials related to rhe Empodum may be found in the Anthropology Ar- 16. Unpublished, t)?ed maruscript in C. Hart Me¡riam ñle on \{ashoe Basketry,
chives of the U.S. Museum of Nationâl History, in the fuchives of the Nevada Bancroft LibÉry, University of California at Berkeley.
State Museum in Carson City, in the Nevada Historical Society in Reno, and in the 17. The Cohls aÌso sold a duplicate pair ofbaskets by "Suzie" to G.A. Steiner
George WhartonJames papers on ûle in the library ofthe Southwest Museum, Los in 1914.
Angeles. r8. Amy Cob¡ to C. S. Hartman, March 17, I9o2, on 6le in the Grace Nicholson
3. This trip is documented by briefmentions in Carson City newspapeß, in- Papers at the Huntington LibüÌy, Sa¡ Marino, Califomia.
cluding the Neiodo,Ap¡eoì, March z4 and May I and zz, and the Cúrson Citl News, 19. Explanations on L.K.5o and 5r are taken from certiûcates in the G. A Steiner
April 8, r899. collection. Abe Cohn had sent these baskets to Stei¡er, who retumed them but
4. Mentions ofrhis Tahoe exhibir may be found in rhe Nevado ,{ppeoJ, May z3 and kept the certiflcates. \Ã/iÌliam Hu.ff proyided photocopies.
25, June 3 altd 27, and Juìy 24, r9oo. 20. ln one example the refelences to war and male activities ale uPdated A
5. The exhibit in Saclalnento is menrioned in the Cdlson Cit', News, August 30, long explanation is included in the ledger for Louisa Keyser's baskets ofa Piece
and the Nevcdo Appeol, August 8 and 28, r9oo. The exhibit in Reno is mentioned in begun by her sister-inla\a¡ Scees B¡ya¡t, a¡d finished by Louisa afte¡ Scees's death.
the Ccrson Cir¡ News, September 2r, 25, 22, and the Nevodo,{ppeoì, September zo and The ledger states that the basket's moti4 interPreted as "birds," refers to the par-
26, t9oo. ticipation ofscees's son Hugh in World ìtrar I. When Louisa began finishing the
6. Amy's trip to Pasadena is mentioned in the Nevodc Appeol, Novembe¡ zz and piece, she used the motif that Amy interPrcts as "men," so tle desiSn was now in-
December 15, 19o6. terpreted as "the boy had joined the forces ofmany other men" (Burton I93z:64).
7. Amy's r9r3 lecrure in Ca¡son City ând r9r4 ìecture tour are teported in the z¡. Canadian halfMohawk poet Pauline Johnson also gave recitations dressed
Nevcdc Appeol, February 28 and March 7, r9r4, and in the Corson Cifl N€ws, October 22 as an Indian Princess (Keller r98I) in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
arrdNovember r, r9r3, and February 8, r5, and 28, and Ma¡ch lo, rr, and 15, r9r4. centur¡ She does not appear to have reached Nevada, but Amy may have been
8. Van Loan to Nicholson, October 6, 19o6, on file with rhe G¡ace Nicholson influenced by her reputation or by that ofan Amedca¡ cultivating a simila¡ act.
Papers at the Huntington Library, Sa¡ Marino, California. 22. Public school instructiofr in the arts a¡d c¡afts was one olthe most Perva-
9. Reference to the plans for building a museum occurs in the Nevodo,Appecl, sive inluences ofthe futs and C¡afts Movement, which promoted it as a method
August 2, r9r5, while the backgrouad on Cohn's attempts to sell baskets to sup- of cultivating discipline in Amedca's youth (Boris 1986:83) and as a method ôf
port this venture appeats in correspondence between Abe Cohn and G.A. Steiner socializing and controlling etluric groups (Lears r98I:64). In the l¡dian schools,

r28 i Mo¡vin Cohoddr louiso Keyser ond the Cohns I rz9

ììili
iilll
i'| l where students we¡e imprisoned against their will and bearen ifthey spoke their Bulton, Henrietta K.
rilr
native languâge, these ma¡ual exe¡cises formed a powerful tool ofacculturation. rgzz "A Study ofthe Methods Used to Conserve the Art of Washoe Indian
2g. The selection oflouisa to represent lvashoe submission is evident f¡om the Basketry." Manuscript prepared for United States Department ofthe In-
triii terio¡, Office oflndian Afairs, Division ofExtension and Indust¡y. lText
Ìrt:Ì overall treatment of Washoe in the Carson Ciry newspape¡s. Othe¡ than Louisa
Keyser, the onÌy Washoe ftequently mentioned by narne was Captain pete, spokes- on file in Nevada State Museum Archives, Carson Citf PhotograPhs
itiì
ma¡r fo¡ the Carson Valley Washoe. Captain Pete was tteated with great respect and on frle in Anthropological Archives, United States National Museum of
l
il faimess, because of his supposed rarù; whe¡eas Louisa was selected fo¡ ste¡eo- Natural History, Smithsonia¡ Institution.l
i-.ì Calson City News
typinS and derision, since she lacked such status.
24. r¡y'ith Louisa's parents, her other siblings, and he¡ own children long dead, r9o9 "Basketry lVas Theme ofTalk," Cøson City News, February 26, p. 4.
lri Jim had been the only member of her immediate family to survive inro maturiry, rgrr "Abe Cohn Is in Seäous T¡ouble Once Again," Co¡son Cit)' News, Octo-
and they were quite close. Louisa often lived withJim and his wife, Scees Bryant, ber 7, p. t.
;ìll who became her closest disciple in the art ofbasket weaving. After Scees,s death r9n "Sollow Bows the Proud Head ofthe Famed Dat-sola-lee," Corson Cit/
lir in r9r8, Louisa took in their son, Hugh. News, December 28, p. t,

25. Con6rmation thar Louisa had been known as Dabuda comes from the r9r4 "M¡s. Abe Cohn Won Hono¡s in GoldÍeld," Ccrson City News, March ro,
Eugene Mead collection ofWashoe baskets, now in the U.S. National Museum of P. r.
ii', r9r+
iì, Natuül History, Smithsonian Institution. Mead c¡edirs his Louisa Keyser basket to "Greatest P¡ice Has Been Paid fbl the Greatest washoe Basket," Co¡son
"Da-boo-de." Cit/ N€ws, April r , p. r .
il'., 26. When Amy's husbard died in 1883, her daughters were three (Reine) and r9r5 "Abe Cohn Building fo¡ l¡dian Baskets," Co¡son City News, August 4, p. I.
one (the twins, Vera and Zoe). Census accourts difler as to whether Amy was Cerveri, Doris
ii
twenty-two or thirty at the time. As yet, no ¡eliable information has surfaced on t962 "Queen ofthe Washoe Basketma.ke¡s," Indion Life, PP.3o-3I.
how she survived and supported her child¡en for the next eight years, before 1968 "Dat-so-la-lee, Queen of the Baskermakers," Red Iryest, November, PP.
marrying Abe Cohn in r89r, but there arc indications that she may have tumed 39-42.
her home into a boarding house. Coe, Ratph T.
22. James appears to have remained quite friendly with the Cohns. He often 976 Soc¡ed Ci¡cles: Two Thou¡o¡d Yeo¡s of North Am€dco¡ Indion Art. London: AÌts
stayed at Lake Tahoe a¡d even \rrote a book on the area (James rgrg), and he Council of G¡eat B¡itain.
.
accepted fiom the Cohns one oflouisa Keyser's 6nest de¿ikup (L.K49) as a gift. Cohn, C. Amy
28. James's claim that his interpretations derived from ,,many years of close r9o9 "Arts a¡rd Gafts of the Nevada Indians," Nevodo Histo¡icql Society Biorurucl

personaì contactwith the lndians" (James r9o3a:644) may now be discou¡rted. R(por¡. Reno.

29. Fallon (1975:28) also recorded that Louisa had lost her sight afte¡ weaving Cohodas, Marvin
j L.K.6r- The sou¡ce ofthis misinformation is not knoìvr. L97g Degikup: Woshoe ¡t¡cy Baskeü/, 1895-1935. Vancouve¡: Fine futs GalÌery
University ofB tish Columbia-
rg82 "Dat so la lee and the Degikup," Ho.lcyon. Reno.
i

1983 tryoshoe Bqsketry. .Am€ con Indion Bosketr¡, ond Orher Notiv€,4rts 12 Portland.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 1986 "Washoe Innovators and their Pat¡ons," in The A¡s of th¿ No¡th,{me¡ico¡
Edwin L. Wade, PP.2o5-2o. New
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ì', Barrett, Samuel A. Yo¡k: Hudson Hills Press.
ì,1 r9r7 "The Washo I¡dians," Milwoukæ Public Museum Bullerin z(r):r-52. Dockstader, Frederick J.
Bates, Craig D. :1966 Indion i4rt iD ¡m€Ìico: The,4¡s a¡d Crqfu of the North Amøicon Indior, 3d ed'
1982 Yosemite Miwok/Paiure Bosken¡. Amerìcon Indion Bcrketry 8. portla¡d. G¡eenwich, Conn.: New York Gnphic Society.
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r3o I Morvin Cohodos

Louisc Keyser ond the Cohns I t3I
 I
Fallon, Carol Anna Curtenius Roosevelt and James G,E,
,4¡tiso¡s of the ,4medcoi, ed,

I
r97S The,A¡t of the Indion Bosk€t in North Amedco. Lawrence: University of Kansas Smith, pp. ro4-29. New Yo¡k: Museum ofthe Ame¡ica¡ lndia¡.
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Fowle¡, Don D., and Catherine S. Fowler rgog "Nevada l¡dia¡ Baskets and Thei¡ Make¡s," Out W€st, March-April, pp.
'lll r97o "Stephen Powers' 'The Life and Cultu¡e ofthe lVasho and Paiutes,", 433-39, 579-4.
i.ii Ethnohistory ry (3-4) : l 7 - 49. r9t2 "Native lndian Basketry," New lïat, October, pp.I7-2o.
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iìr ,)
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French, He¡bert A. washington, D.c.

i:'
rl
rgoo "Dat-so-la-lee, A ìMashoe Basket Make¡," The Soturdoy lflav€, August 25, Nevada Appeal
:i p. 13. San Flancisco. r9r9 "One of Nevada's Most Brillia¡t women Answers Last summons," Ne-
ìi Furst, Peter T., andJill L. Furst vcdc Appeol, Decemberp. r .
19,
iì;l \982 No¡th Americo¡ I¡dio¡ A¡t. New Yo¡k: Rizzoli. r92S "Derivation ofName Dot-sola-Ìee Revealed," Nevcdo.AppøI, November 4,
ìlr.
irì
Gigli, Jane Green HiclGon P- r.
t,' 1967 "Dat So La Lee, Queen ofthe Washo Baskerma.ke¡s," Nevqdq Stcte Museum Krley, (¡renqa
1l Populdr Seri€s 3. Repdnted [1974]in Donald Tuoþ alrd Doris L. RendaìI, 1984 l{omen o¡d Indions on the Frontier, I8z5-r9I5. Albuquerque: Unive$ity of
i New Mexico Press.
eds., Collected Popers on ,4bortindl Bosk€try. Nevada State Museum Anth¡o-
pological Papers 16 : r-27. Sargent, lrene
James, George rffhalton r9o4 "Indian Basketry: Its Strûcture and Deco¡ation," Th€ CroftJmqn 7:32r-34.
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I
tion, Report for r9o3, pp. 644-45. Srdres Jewish H¡roricûl Quutaly ry(4):z9r-97.

¡9o3b "Letter to the Ediror on the Subject ofAmerica¡ Indian Basker Work," Van Loan, C. E.
¡i
Internotionol Studio, August zo, pp. t44-46. lllay have been reprinted ûom 19o6 '$ I5oo Asked for One Basket Made by Washoe Indian Squaw," los ,A.ngeles

rl Ihe Troveller.] Exoininer, September 16, p. 5.

ri
,
rgr5 The Loke of the Sþ: Loke Toùoe. Pasadena.
lll Johnson, Pauìine
l.ji, 1892 "A Strong Race Opinion on the lndian Girl in Modem Ficrion," Totonto
iii Sundoy Globe, May zz. Reprinted in Kelle¡ r98r:rt6-zr.
¡l
ìì
:ì Kellea Betty
; r98r Pduline: A Bio$úph/ of PûuIi¡€ Johron. Vancouver and Toronto: Douglas and
Mclntyre.
Kelle¡, Clara D.
i1 rgro "Life at Lake Tahoe," Los AngeÌa Times, Illusnoted Weekly Mogozine, July 17,

PP.7+-7 S.
,
Lears, T,J. Jackson
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Mack, Efie Mona
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Mclendon, Saþ and B¡enda Shea¡s Holland
1979 "The Basketmake¡: The Pomoa¡s of Califomia," in Th€,A¡c€srors: Nqtiy€

rgz I Morvin Cohodos Louisc KEsø ond the Cohns I r33