Some Recent Contribution of the Cherokee Indians of North Carolina to the Crafts of the Southern Highlands

Statement of the problem: The problem involved in this study is connected with the present state of craft work among the Indians living on the Cherokee Reservation in North Carolina, although it is recognized that the present cannot be separated entirely from the past. The terms "crafts" or "craft work" were used in setting up this problem to indicate criteria by which objects were to be selected for illustration, i.e., to signify those handmade objects usually not produced in quantity, which have some originality and some definite art quality, by contrast to the more common term "handicrafts" which is often used to denote the many objects made by machine or by hand by common repetitive processes and which lack originality without which they cannot claim to be art. It was the purpose of this investigator to record types of craft work being made now in a group of Cherokee homes and/or being taught in the Cherokee Indian School and to note materials, techniques, colors and design motifs most frequently used.