Basket Maker Dat So La Lee’s Artistry Was a Means of Survival

As a member of the Yerington Paiute Tribe and a first-generation scholar, my role on the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum Committee of Scholars carries a deep responsibility. Grounded in tribal principles of truthfulness, accountability, and transparency, I am passionate about educating non-Native audiences on how they engage with Native American history and cultural items in museums. My focus is on guiding these audiences to understand how Native women continue to express their agency within our communities and have always been at the forefront of advocating for our people’s rights. It’s not enough to tell the history of our lives; we need to show how colonization has changed the way people see Native women, often causing them to misunderstand our voices, art, and love.

One example of this loss of context is the life of Washoe basket weaver Dat So La Lee. Today, she is mainly remembered for her degikup baskets, which are tightly coiled, nearly round baskets that hold deep spiritual meaning in Washoe tradition and are used in special ceremonies. Her legacy, however, has primarily been shaped by the stories created by Abe and Amy Cohn, who promoted her work in Carson City, Nevada, during the basket craze of the late 1800s. These stories often overshadow who Dat So La Lee truly was, reducing her life to a narrative created by the Cohns instead of showing her full identity as a Washoe woman and artist. Dat So La Lee was not just a recipient of the Cohns' support; she was an active partner who set terms for her work. She maintained control over her craft, teaching younger Washoe women and making sure her community’s traditions survived, even as she faced the challenges of a colonial economy.

I do not claim to know everything about the histories or stories of other Native communities. My goal is to offer audiences new ways to connect with historical collections and to center Native women—especially when viewing items held in museums. This blog post is not a complete summary of Dat So La Lee’s life but a way for readers to begin appreciating the lives and contributions of Native women.

Before American Settlement

Dat So La Lee, born in the 1830s, grew up in the Washoe community before American settlement disrupted the Washoe people’s way of life. The Washoe lived near the eastern foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, thriving through a seasonal cycle of hunting, gathering, and fishing. Washoe women played a central role by weaving baskets for everyday use, using materials like willow and fern roots gathered year-round.

Basket weaving was passed down from generation to generation. Elder Washoe women taught young girls to weave with good intentions and to pay attention to their dreams, which could reveal the basket's design. These teachings, combined with Dat So La Lee’s skill in selecting materials, fostered her deep connection to the land and her craft. This spiritual bond remained central to her life, even as settlers encroached on Washoe land.

Settlement

When settlers arrived in Washoe land during the California Gold Rush, they disrupted the tribe’s way of life by taking control of essential resources like waterways and land that the Washoe people relied on for food. Like many Native people at the time, Dat So La Lee had to navigate this shifting landscape. She worked as a housemaid and traveled between California and Nevada, taking on work as a ranch hand. During this time, she faced significant personal loss, grieving the deaths of her first husband, Assu, and their two children. She later remarried a man named Charley Keyser and took on the name Louisa Keyser (1). By 1895, Dat So La Lee, now in her sixties, returned to Carson City to sell a series of miniature baskets to Abe Cohn. Abe and his wife, Amy, had transformed his father’s general store into a curio shop catering to tourists, part of the growing “Indian craze” of the late 1800s (2). This craze saw a surge in non-Native interest in Native American crafts, particularly baskets, which were romanticized and commodified as symbols of an "authentic" Native past.

Patronage and Exploitation

Recognizing Dat So La Lee’s extraordinary talent, the Cohns proposed an arrangement where she exclusively produced baskets for their store in exchange for living expenses and a place to live. This arrangement lasted for decades, with Dat So La Lee becoming known as the “Queen of the Washoe Basketmakers.” However, this relationship was not without exploitation. The Cohns heavily marketed her work, fabricating stories about her life and the meaning behind her basket designs to meet the demand for “authentic” Native crafts. They often exaggerated or entirely invented details about Dat So La Lee’s background to increase the baskets’ market value, capitalizing on the public’s romanticized image of Native American artistry (3).

Still, Dat So La Lee kept her independence by setting her terms for her work. She controlled her craft, using traditional Washoe designs and passing her knowledge to younger Washoe weavers. When the Cohns tried to set strict work hours and even put her in the shop window to weave for passing customers, she pushed back. Dat So La Lee often chose to weave only when she felt spiritually and emotionally ready. Even as the Cohns sold her work for profit, Dat So La Lee added her own ideas to the tradition, creating the unique degikup baskets that became her signature style. She also found inspiration from other Native communities, like the Pomo, and included their designs in her work, honoring a long tradition of cultural exchange among Native Nations.

In this way, Dat So La Lee preserved her people’s cultural heritage, ensuring that it would endure beyond the commercial pressures of the curio market.

Legacy

Dat So La Lee's life shows how Native women have preserved and adapted their cultural traditions, even through the challenges of American settlement. Her basket weaving demonstrates resilience, creativity, and a commitment to Washoe practices, even as she navigates the demands of a changing economy. Even though she worked with non-Native people like the Cohns, she kept control over her craft and made sure her knowledge was shared with future generations.

This year, the Nevada State Museum honored Dat So La Lee’s contributions with a special Women’s History Month medallion. She is also celebrated through various murals, public art installations, and exhibitions across Nevada. Many contemporary Washoe weavers credit her with bridging the past and present, and her influence continues to guide their creations today.

Dat So La Lee’s legacy shows why it’s essential to focus on Native women in history and recognize their accurate contributions, not just idealized stories. Her baskets are not just artistic creations but enduring symbols of survival, cultural continuity, and Native sovereignty.

Notes:

1. Dat So La Lee was given this name by the Cohns for marketing purposes. Although it was not her real name, it became the identifier by which she became widely recognized in the non-Native world.
2. Elizabeth Hutchinson. “The Indian Craze: Primitivism, Modernism, and Transculturation in American Art, 1890-1915.” Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2009.
3. Marvin Cohodas, “Louisa Keyser and the Cohns: Myth Making and Basket Making in the American West,” in The Early Years of Native American Art History: The Politics of Scholarship and Collecting, ed. Janet Catherine Berlo (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1992), 118.

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