This object is on permanent display in the Museum’s South Florida People & Environments exhibit, located in the “Indian People in South Florida Today” gallery.
Summary
Coiled Basket With Doll Lid
Made by Agnes Billie Cypress (basket) and Lucy Johns (lid), Immokalee
Gift to the Museum from the Seminole People of Florida, 1997
Collection
Story
This basket is just magnificent. We were very honored to receive it in 1997 as a gift from the Elders of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. It’s beautifully made of coiled sweetgrass and colorful cotton thread, topped with a doll head made of palmetto fiber. Agnes Billie Cypress made the basket and Lucy Johns made the lid. The Seminoles believe that a woman who is still of child-bearing age should not close her own basket, so it’s traditional for a younger woman who makes a basket to ask an elder woman to make the lid.
Bill Marquardt
Curator, South Florida Archaeology & Ethnography*
Director, Randell Research Center*
Florida Museum of Natural History
Exhibit
On display Sept. 23, 2017-Jan. 7, 2018, Rare, Beautiful & Fascinating: 100 Years @FloridaMuseum celebrated the Museum’s rich history. Each Museum collection was asked to contribute its most interesting items and share the stories that make them special. Though the physical exhibit is closed, this companion website remains online, providing an opportunity to experience the Florida Museum’s most treasured specimens.
Exhibit Area: Always on Display
Want to see more? Explore more than 300 breathtaking color photos of plants, animals, fossils and cultural heritage materials from the Florida Museum of Natural History’s collections in the award-winning book All Things Beautiful available from the University Press of Florida.
*This title was accurate at the time the exhibit was on display in 2017. Please visit the collection website to verify current staff and student information.