Baskets were used for everything. There were baskets for food gathering, food storage, knitting and sewing baskets, baskets for the kitchen, baskets for transportation, little baskets and great big baskets.

The tradition of basket making is one of the oldest known to man and one that continues today with ancient methods and materials. Basket making at one time was a common household skill. It required few tools and could be sold or traded to grocery stores. In the early 20th century many women took up the craft.

For centuries people in every culture, from the most simple to the most sophisticated, have used baskets. They passed down their methods and styles of basket making from one generation to another. Today in many parts of the world, craftsmen still construct the same style baskets that served their culture for thousands of years.

Early basket makers used the materials available and techniques their ancestors had used in the old country. The well known egg, melon and potato basket and other gathering baskets are direct descendants of the Irish, Welsh, Scottish and English. A Scandinavian weaver may use split pine and birch bark. African baskets reflect a rich profusion of growing things—bamboo, cane, raffia, borassus, palm and fine grasses whose flexibility allows for intricate patterns.