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160:. She attended the Indian boarding school for less than year and then opted to attend a day school in which she felt more comfortable attending- it was here that Elsie became proficient in speaking English during her early teen years. In addition to living in Covelo and Hopland, Elsie lived in several Pomo communities, including Cloverdale, where she was raised by her grandmother, and
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her tribe. She taught at the
Mendocino Art Center to both Natives and non-Natives as a means of preserving the art of basketweaving and the tradition associated with it. Late in her career, Elsie Allen began using commercial materials in her baskets after receiving a vision. One of her last students was her niece,
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Although she learned to weave as a child, Allen was only able to weave full-time at the age of 62, when her children were all grown. During the 1950s and 1960s, interest in basketry among Pomo had waned, so Allen began teaching anyone interested in learning her technique, which created controversy in
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Elsie came from a family of accomplished basketweavers, including her mother, Annie Ramon
Gomachu Burke (1876–1962) and her maternal grandmother, Mary Arnold (1845–1925), both of Cloverdale Rancheria. Elsie's mother, Annie founded the Pomo Indian Women's Club, which promotes the tribe's basketry. She
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In addition to being a skilled basketweaver, Allen made it a point to be active in her community. While balancing work and raising her children, Elsie was active in several Pomo and Hintil women's clubs, in which organizations aimed to improve the social and economic environment of Pomo communities.
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Elsie
Comanche Allen was born on September 22, 1899, near Santa Rosa, California. Her parents, George and Annie Comanche (Comanche is an Anglicized version of the Pomo name, Gomachu), were wage laborers, who worked on farms owned by non-Native Americans, a job that was common for Pomo people in the
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As a female chief of her community, Elsie made it a point to promote education, cultural preservation, and Native rights in the community. Because of her efforts, she was regarding as a cultural scholar by her community and was deemed "Pomo Sage" was granted an honorary Doctor of
Divinity degree.
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She also made it a point to direct her efforts in ensuring Pomo students had education funding. In addition to her activism regarding social, economic, and cultural advancements, Allen also organized fund-raisers and aided in the establishment of scholarships for Pomo students.
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The Pomo people traditionally lived in the area around the
Russian River in California- including Sonoma, Mendocino, and Lake counties. This area has an abundance of willows, sedges, and other plants that are traditionally used for basketweaving.
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Elsie married Arthur Allen, a northern Pomo man who was half Pomo and half
English, in 1919, and between the years of 1920 and 1928, the couple had four children together, Genevieve, Leonard, Dorothy, and George.
248:, Elsie Allen is regarded as one of the three best-known California basketweavers of her generation. Allen is the subject of several books, including Dot Brovarney, Susan Billy, and Suzanne Abel-Vidor's 2005
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164:. She also lived briefly in San Francisco at the age of 18, where she found housekeeping and hospital work jobs, and it was in San Francisco that Elsie met her husband, Arthur Allen.
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Allen was once involved in a desegregation case regarding non-Native-owned businesses that would not allow Pomos and whites to sit together.
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early twentieth century. Her father died when she was eight. Soon after, her mother remarried and moved the family to
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also convinced Elsie to break with tradition and not burn or bury her baskets – instead to keep them for future basketmakers.
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Woven Worlds: Basketry from the Clark Field
Collection at the Philbrook Museum of Art
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Allen's grandmother, Nellie Burke, weaving a 4-foot-high (1.2 m) basket in 1898
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A promise kept: Basketry of the Pomo and the Elsie Allen basket collection
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Red. ed. Happy Camp, California: Naturegraph
Publishers, Inc. (1972).
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Remember Your
Relations: Elsie Allen Baskets, Family, And Friends
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Elsie Allen Exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California
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Native American women : a biographical dictionary
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Visual arts of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas
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Indian Basketmakers of California and the Great Basin
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237:Allen died on December 31, 1990, at the age of 91.
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130:Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California
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277:Pomo Basketmaking: A Supreme Art for the Weaver.
118:(September 22, 1899 – December 31, 1990) was a
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16:Native American Pomo basket weaver (1899–1990)
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571:. Tulsa, OK: Philbrook Museum of Art, 2001.
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612:Elsie Allen (1899-1990) Pomo Basket Family
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583:Gretchen M Bataille; Laurie Lisa (1993).
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451:Sonoma State University Library.
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819:Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
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407:. Facts On File. Inc. pp.
403:A to Z of Native American Women
367:Sonoma State University Library
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320:Native American basket weavers
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895:American women basket weavers
890:Native American women artists
875:20th-century American artists
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252:and Sandra J. Metzler's 1996
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221:Allen worked with linguist
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152:Elsie's first language was
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363:"Elsie Allen, 1899-1990"
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900:American basket weavers
870:Native American writers
845:Weavers from California
399:Sonneborn, Liz (1998).
260:Elsie Allen High School
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446:June 10, 2010, at the
441:Elsie Allen 1899-1990.
264:Santa Rosa, California
227:Southern Pomo language
217:Southern Pomo language
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162:Pinoleville Rancherias
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730:Precolonial painting
668:Art history timeline
369:. September 15, 2017
312:United States portal
266:, is named for her.
116:Elsie Comanche Allen
47:Elsie Comanche Allen
840:Pomo basket weavers
567:Wycliffe, Lydia L.
325:Native American art
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673:Individual artists
552:Dalrymple, Larry.
223:Abraham M. Halpern
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725:Photography
617:Elsie Allen
529:Amazon.com.
485:Wyckoff, 65
467:Wyckoff, 64
242:Mabel McKay
211:Susan Billy
98:Self-taught
84:Nationality
25:Elsie Allen
834:Categories
744:By culture
547:References
144:Background
134:California
78:California
61:California
53:1899-09-22
792:By region
593:909403141
128:from the
94:Education
814:Paraguay
766:clothing
735:Textiles
710:Ceramics
703:By media
444:Archived
284:See also
188:Basketry
172:Activism
138:basketry
756:Huichol
720:Jewelry
715:Fashion
661:Surveys
505:May 13,
799:Alaska
783:Muisca
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233:Legacy
761:Inuit
331:Notes
778:Maya
589:OCLC
573:ISBN
558:ISBN
507:2010
413:ISBN
411:–2.
375:2019
244:and
154:Pomo
123:Pomo
88:Pomo
68:Died
43:Born
262:in
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