Bark Canoes
"This handsomely illustrated work presents a clear and succinct review of the talented, driven, and irascible [Adney]... Recommended."
-- Choice
The bark canoe was the method of water travel for centuries, by native people in North America. The canoe made possible hunting, trade, and communication between native groups. Edwin Tappan Adney singlehandedly preserved the fading history of Indigenous bark canoe construction in North America, building 110 historically accurate canoe models, many based on canoes that were the last remaining example of their type. Adney calculated that his canoe models consumed over 20,000 hours of detailed drawing, research and building.
Bark Canoes profiles Adney's life and life's work. Born in the United States in 1868, he lived much of his adult life in Canada. His last years were spent almost penniless in a small bungalow in New Brunswick. Canoe research and model building were only one of the passions that drove this extraordinary man. Respected by scholars for his work with canoes, ethnography and Native languages, he struggled against enormous odds to create and preserve his models and papers.
Now owned by the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia, 110 of his beloved canoe models have been photographed and are presented here in splendid color. This book is a great resource for anyone interested in the history of North American Indigenous people and how they lived. The Mariners' Museum holds the largest international collection of maritime artifacts in North America, including ship models, paintings and hundreds of thousands of vintage photographs.
Author John Jennings compiled the critically-acclaimed The Canoe: A Living Tradition republished by Firefly Books in 2025. Professor Jennings specializes in the frontier history of the Canadian and American West.