Member Book & Video Reviews
Building a Birchbark Canoe

Building a Birchbark Canoe
By David Gidmark
With a contribution by Denis Alford
Stackpole Books, paperbound, 133 pp
Bibliography, Glossary, Index, $17.95

Reviewed by John Quenell (Wooden Canoe Issue #69)
June 1995

David Gidmark, who has served as a consultant to the National Museums of Canada and the British Museum and is one of few outsiders to have learned the ancient craft of birchbark canoe making from the Algonquins themselves, has now written a thorough study of that native tradition.

Building a Birchbark Canoe includes a discussion of The Evolution of the Wâbanäki Tcîmân (an excerpt appears on page 6 of Wooden Canoe Issue #69), a section on general construction techniques and meticulously detailed descriptions of step-by-step construction methods of each of four traditional builders, Jocko Carle, William Commanda, James Jerome and Daniel Sarazin. The book is generously illustrated with diagrams and over 200 black and white photos.

The thoroughness of this study is underscored by the inclusion of a directory of Algonquin Canoe Terms in addition to the glossary, index and bibliography.

The book has been added to those available through WCHA sales.

© Copyright Notice

All items contained within these pages are © Copyright 1998, 1999 the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association, Ltd., and/or it's members. Permission to reproduce this material in any manner must first be obtained in writing from the WCHA, or the author/owner of a specific item.

Navigation Aids

[WCHA Home Page] [Table of Contents] [Member Book & Video Reviews]