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(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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The 19th century was a period of intense industrialization. Eager consumers purchased an ever-increasing variety of factory-made, mass-produced goods. It seemed to many observers living at the turn of the 20th century that older crafts and the culture that supported them were fast disappearing. The Arts and Crafts Movement of the period was born from the desire among many people to preserve and celebrate traditional crafts and art forms. The town of Deerfield, Massachusetts, was a center for the American Arts and Crafts Movement at the turn of the 20th century. A group of artists and residents founded the Deerfield Industries, a cooperative association of craftspeople producing handcrafted, useful objects for the home. The basket makers of Deerfield's Arts and Crafts movement used a variety of materials in their baskets. These included imported raffia and palmetto palm, native sweet grass, willow withes, reeds, rushes, pine needles and common grasses. This large melon type basket is made of willow and was made in Deerfield around 1920.
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