Nancy Bradley

Nancy Bradley

Artisans

Basket makers

Basket making

Basketwork

Cherokee baskets

Cherokee women

Handicraft

Manners and customs

It is not known who made this undated historic photograph of Nancy Bradley working out-of-doors in front of her home. Surrounded by piles of rivercane with which to make baskets, Bradley is shown trimming the cane. Few baskets made by Nancy George Bradley (1881-1963) are known to exist, although word of her work is legendary. Both her mother, Mary Dobson (b. 1857) and her daughter, Rowena Bradley (1922-2003) were accomplished basket weavers. She was married to Principal Chief Henry Bradley; the couple had 8 children. Nancy Bradley's generation seldom sold baskets outright. There were few outlets in the town of Cherokee that bought and sold baskets. Instead, her generation bartered, trading baskets for things they could neither make nor grow. Some claim that Nancy Bradley was one of only two basket weavers who kept the Cherokee double weave tradition alive in the early 20th century.

Unknown

Photograph Collection

Hunter Library Digital Collections, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

jpg

photographs

StillImage

11036

https://southernappalachiandigitalcollections.org/object/11036

2008-11-11

All rights reserved. For permissions and use, contact Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, Inc., Cherokee, NC 28719;

Qualla Boundary

Appalachian Region, Southern

8.5" x 10.5"(dimension)

Cherokee Traditions