Shaker museum logo on a white background.

Shaker Museum

Installation view, 2018.

A wooden floor in a room with baskets on display.

Apple basket. Mount Lebanon, NY, ca. 1840-1860.

A brown wicker basket on a white background.

Shop basket lined with oil cloth. Canterbury, NH, ca. 1840-1860.

A large wicker basket on a white background.

Rectangular carrier. Mount Lebanon, NY, ca. 1840-1860.

A wicker basket with handles on a white background.

Field Basket. Mount Lebanon, NY, ca. 1840-1860.

A wicker basket with handles on a white background.

Round carrier. Mount Lebanon, NY, 1858. Considering the initials that mark this leather-lined basket, it was apparently first used by Sister Emily P. Wilkinson (1831-1867) and later by Sister Catherine Van Houten (1817-1896).

A wicker basket with handles on a white background.

Durable beauty: Baskets from Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon (2018)

Online Exhibition

Shaker Baskets

The Shakers made it their mission to “honor right use, to seek tight form, to eliminate the necessary.”

Baskets came in two distinct styles: utility, and “fancy-work.” The basket-maker’s primary concern was function, not form. Utility baskets were hefty, working implements designed for heavy use in fields, orchards, barns, and workrooms.

The Shakers used a few simple forms which could be adapted by varying height, weight, and handles. In the mid-19th century, sales of utility baskets declined as factories produced baskets faster and cheaper than Shaker-made ones.

Changing styles forced the Shakers to adapt new methods although they only made things which could be put to good use. While isolated, Shakers were not unaware of goings-on around them, and throughout their history, new converts brought contemporary tastes and attitudes to the community.