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Tomah Joseph
Tomah Joseph (c. 1837–1914), a.k.a. Joseph Tomah and Tomah Josephs, was a Passamaquoddy artist and governor of communities in Maine in the United States. He taught the future US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt how to canoe.
Tomah Joseph was born in 1837 in the Passamaquoddy Indian Township Reservation in eastern Maine. He married Hanna Lewey. The couple had a son Sabattis in 1871.
He worked as guide during the summers around Campobello Island in southwestern New Brunswick. Joseph and his family would make an annual trip from the St. Croix River to the Passamaquoddy Bay to work seasonally, collecting materials for their basket weaving. In the summers, he began to take visitors out in his canoe for tours and fishing. During his time as a guide, he mentored a young Franklin Roosevelt while teaching him how to navigate the ocean surrounding Campobello Island. Along with canoeing, he was a fly fishing and hunting guide. During his time as a fly fishing guide in the late 1800s, he was given credit for the Tomah Jo wet fly attractor pattern.
Joseph was elected governor of the Passamaquoddy Tribe around 1882.
Tomah Joseph made both practical household items and more decorative items out of birchbark, that he covered in Passamaquoddy carvings and then sold to tourists. This was done both for economic gain and to preserve the heritage of the Passamaquoddy tribe. Tomah Joseph's birchbark artwork differed from past native pieces as he developed his own illustrative style along with new forms that fit modern Victorian usage, such as yarn holders and waste baskets, which were previously not seen in birchbark craft.
Canoe Backrest were made both for their comfortable practicality while touring and then sold after a souvenirs. The backrest had a front and back panel with an ash tree seam connecting the two sides. It would normally be filled with wood shavings to hold its shape. Often these backrest were decorated with illustrations of the Native American legend behind Friar's Rock. They were made and sold from 1890 - 1900.
Lidded Box, in the Metropolitan Museum, is a 10.2 x 7 cm birchbark container made in 1890. It has carvings of birds on its lid, human figures on three of its four sides, and the words "KOLELEMOOKE MIKWID'HAMIN" on the fourth.
Tomah Joseph Basket was made in 1906. His signature story illustrations are carved on the outside of it. The imagery includes a bear, man, and canoe amongst other figures.
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Tomah Joseph
Tomah Joseph (c. 1837–1914), a.k.a. Joseph Tomah and Tomah Josephs, was a Passamaquoddy artist and governor of communities in Maine in the United States. He taught the future US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt how to canoe.
Tomah Joseph was born in 1837 in the Passamaquoddy Indian Township Reservation in eastern Maine. He married Hanna Lewey. The couple had a son Sabattis in 1871.
He worked as guide during the summers around Campobello Island in southwestern New Brunswick. Joseph and his family would make an annual trip from the St. Croix River to the Passamaquoddy Bay to work seasonally, collecting materials for their basket weaving. In the summers, he began to take visitors out in his canoe for tours and fishing. During his time as a guide, he mentored a young Franklin Roosevelt while teaching him how to navigate the ocean surrounding Campobello Island. Along with canoeing, he was a fly fishing and hunting guide. During his time as a fly fishing guide in the late 1800s, he was given credit for the Tomah Jo wet fly attractor pattern.
Joseph was elected governor of the Passamaquoddy Tribe around 1882.
Tomah Joseph made both practical household items and more decorative items out of birchbark, that he covered in Passamaquoddy carvings and then sold to tourists. This was done both for economic gain and to preserve the heritage of the Passamaquoddy tribe. Tomah Joseph's birchbark artwork differed from past native pieces as he developed his own illustrative style along with new forms that fit modern Victorian usage, such as yarn holders and waste baskets, which were previously not seen in birchbark craft.
Canoe Backrest were made both for their comfortable practicality while touring and then sold after a souvenirs. The backrest had a front and back panel with an ash tree seam connecting the two sides. It would normally be filled with wood shavings to hold its shape. Often these backrest were decorated with illustrations of the Native American legend behind Friar's Rock. They were made and sold from 1890 - 1900.
Lidded Box, in the Metropolitan Museum, is a 10.2 x 7 cm birchbark container made in 1890. It has carvings of birds on its lid, human figures on three of its four sides, and the words "KOLELEMOOKE MIKWID'HAMIN" on the fourth.
Tomah Joseph Basket was made in 1906. His signature story illustrations are carved on the outside of it. The imagery includes a bear, man, and canoe amongst other figures.
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