Basketry & Beyond: Constructing Cultures

Abstract

disappearing, the creation of the Tullie House museum (opened 1893) provided the trigger, making this a period collection in its own right today. The Milbourne collection from Cumbrian farms was added in 1946–51. This delightful little volume in A5 format is very easy to use. References in the main text link to a summary Bibliography and Notes, conveniently on facing pages. The volume concludes with a catalogue, clearly listing accession number (useful for access enquiries), object name, dimensions and provenance detail (so often lost or overlooked). The catalogue object numbering links directly to the illustrations that are grouped around processes such as drainage, harvesting, etc. or the specific equipment associated with shepherding, milking, butter and cheese-making. To conclude, there is a fearsome set of different types of animal traps. The author’s grouped illustrations are his distinctive trademark. My personal preference is for the distinctive black-and-white treatment so successfully used in earlier volumes, such as the Torquay study; but colour adds a new dimension, particularly in the recreation scenes, both perhaps best appreciated in a larger format than this volume offers. Finally, to state the obvious that this project, as with so many others in Peter Brears’ repertoire was a labour of love, achieved largely if not completely at this own expense, ‘several weeks’ having been spent in the museum stores ‘while studying and drawing the collection’. How rare is that these days? The Society’s 2019 annual conference held at Tullie House included a memorable and much appreciated presentation on this project by the author along with museum staff, reported in Folk Life Newsletter, no. 35 for Spring 2020.