Resource hub • Real books and doors
The boathouse keeps books the way it keeps tools, within reach and a little swollen from the damp. This page is the part of the shelf we can hand you directly.
Start here
The Reading Shelf, the full course. Eight readings, eight guides, free.
coastsalish.art, structured Coast Salish design education for verified Coast Salish tribal members.
The shelf of books
Ask your local library first. Then, if a book is going to live with you, these links keep the site’s lights on.
Brotherton, B. (Ed.). (2008). S’abadeb, The Gifts: Pacific Coast Salish Art and Artists. Seattle Art Museum / University of Washington Press. Amazon
Suttles, W. (1987). Coast Salish Essays. Talonbooks / University of Washington Press. Amazon
Tepper, L. H., George, J. (Chepximiya Siyam), & Joseph, W. (2017). Salish Blankets: Robes of Protection and Transformation, Symbols of Wealth. University of Nebraska Press. Amazon
Olsen, S. (2010). Working with Wool: A Coast Salish Legacy and the Cowichan Sweater. Sono Nis Press. Amazon
Stewart, H. (1984). Cedar: Tree of Life to the Northwest Coast Indians. Douglas & McIntyre / University of Washington Press. Amazon
Carriere, E., & Croes, D. R. (2018). Re-Awakening Ancient Salish Sea Basketry. Northwest Anthropology. Amazon
Miller, B. G. (Ed.). (2007). Be of Good Mind: Essays on the Coast Salish. UBC Press. Amazon
Bierwert, C. (1999). Brushed by Cedar, Living by the River: Coast Salish Figures of Power. University of Arizona Press. Amazon
Watt, R. D. (2019). People Among the People: The Public Art of Susan Point. Figure 1 Publishing. Amazon
Blanchard, R., & Davenport, N. (Eds.). (2005). Contemporary Coast Salish Art. Stonington Gallery / University of Washington Press. Amazon
Cole, D., & Chaikin, I. (1990). An Iron Hand Upon the People: The Law Against the Potlatch on the Northwest Coast. Douglas & McIntyre. Amazon
Lincoln, L. (1991). Coast Salish Canoes. Center for Wooden Boats. Amazon
Holm, B. (1965). Northwest Coast Indian Art: An Analysis of Form. University of Washington Press. For the Northern contrast, not the Salish description. Amazon
The free doors
Some of the best scholarship costs nothing.
Thom, B. (2003). Intangible Property Within Coast Salish First Nations Communities. The single best paper on how knowledge is owned here. Read it here
Claxton, N. X. (2015). To Fish as Formerly. The reef net dissertation. Read it here
Angelbeck, B. (2009). “They Recognize No Superior Chief.” The warfare dissertation. Read it here
Waterman, T. T., & Coffin, G. (1920). Types of Canoes on Puget Sound. Read it free at archive.org
Lin, A. T., et al. (2023). The woolly dog genome paper in Science, and the Smithsonian’s Sidedoor episode telling its story. The paper
The Whatcom Museum’s virtual Coast Salish basket exhibit.
How to read this coast
A suggested path, if you want one. Start with the Reading Shelf’s first reading, which teaches the seeing. Follow whatever pulled at you, the water pages here, the weaving, the baskets. Somewhere in the middle, read Thom’s paper and understand why the seventh reading holds its silence. Then go meet the living art, at the museums on the Noticeboard and from the artists themselves. That path, walked slowly, is the whole site in one paragraph.
[CO-AUTHOR: additions, subtractions, and any community-published materials that belong here.]