First Nations Baskets at the Lytton First Nation

The Collection

(click on the image for larger image and complete information)

Image	Catalogue Number	Object Name
	1	Triple Cross Pyramid Design
	2	Stone Hammer Design
	4	Butterfly Design

Lytton First Nation

About Us:

Lytton First Nation is the current recognized name for the largest community within the Nlaka’pamux territory. Living right at the centre of their world at Lytton where the Fraser meets the Thompson River, they have long since been referred to as Thompson Indians as well because people could not pronounce Nlaka’pamux. It was here in 1808 that Simon Fraser met 1200 Nlaka’pamux and he was impressed by their hospitality. The river that descended bears his name and he named the Thompson after David Thompson another early explorer.

The Nlaka’pamux knew this place as Tl’kemstin (Kumsheen). They are Interior Salish people living in the Plateau of British Columbia. It was a very strategic place to live, it supported many people through the large salmon migrations to the spawning grounds and this location offered them the access to these, in earlier times, plentiful salmon runs. This sustained them and was a big part of their economy and culture.

Our Baskets:

Another mainstay of both their economy and culture was basketry. The Nlaka’pamux were well known for the skill in producing large, plentiful, and well decorated works of art in coiled basketry. Many women made them and the tradition was passed from grandmother to granddaughter and to nieces etc. These women knew that making the best baskets would prevent them from going hungry. It was a way to making a living.

As basketry was part of ways to make a living through trade, sale, and bartering for other items, changes were made to the way baskets were made. They modernized styles to fancy them for display in homes of white women who adored the beauty and strength that the baskets represented.

A basketry shop was located on Kickkumcheen Indian Reserve 18 and it was here that Rosie Skuki a proficient basket maker herself sold baskets made by Nlaka’pamux women up and down the Fraser. It was through this shop that Rosie Skuki would meet Gladys Hunter (1907-2007) a woman from Vancouver who was married to a prominent judge there. Gladys felt the need to assist Indian people, so she collected clothing, house wares, toys, etc. and would arrange to bring these items to Lytton. Gladys Hunter was born in 1907 and died just short of her 100th birthday in 2007. Ten years earlier in 1997 she repatriated and donated an extensive collection of Native artifacts. Most were baskets she had collected through Rosie Skuki.

Gladys Hunter seated among her baskets repatriated to the Lytton First Nation, Lytton Memorial Hall, Photo by Eric Siwik.

It was from this collection that three of the noted ‘James’ baskets came to be located. Baskets that were definitely in the 1930’s photos were taken in North Bend. When Irene Bjerky interviewed Mary James in North Bend, she noted that her mother in law was related to Arthur Skuki (Rosie’s husband) in Lytton but did not know how. In Mrs. Hunter’s collection she had a small tag which was not attached to any basket, indicating it was from Spuzzum in 1934 made by Mr. Skuki’s sister. Through the research we know the James women from North Bend are connected to Spuzzum as well through Christina’s father Paul Youla, the last survivor of the Fraser Canyon War.

In 2004 Lisa Codd was giving a presentation in Yale about the basket they found in Langley’s collection. Before she mentioned it in her presentation, John Haugen interrupted her and said the basket was from the James photo. John also knew he had seen some of the other baskets before. They were from Gladys Hunter’s collection and they were used to take photos with Lytton Elders. The three baskets in Lytton were indeed in the photo and are included among the Christina James baskets.

Telephone: (250) 455-2304
Fax: (250) 455-2291
E-Mail: info@lyttonfirstnations.ca
Web Site: http://www.lyttonfirstnations.ca/