Arthur and Shifra Silberman Collection
Claude Medford was a Choctaw artist and craftsman. He learned to weave cane-splint baskets in traditional styles at an early age by his Choctaw grandfather, a medicine man. Medford earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology and art history at the University of New Mexico. He later traveled throughout the Southeast, visiting numerous tribes including the Alabama, Tunica-Biloxi, Coushatta, Pamunkey, Caddo, Delaware, and Yuchi, and researching the heritage of the Choctaw people. Medford learned each tribe’s style of basketry, which was important to him because of his grandfather’s influence. He taught classes and workshops at the American Indian Archaeological Institute in Washington, Connecticut, and the Clifton Choctaw Indian community west of Alexandria, Louisiana.
