Theresa Secord facts for kids

Theresa Secord was born in 1958. She is a talented artist, a skilled basketmaker, a geologist, and an activist from Maine. She is a member of the Penobscot Nation, an Indigenous group.

Theresa Secord's great-grandmother was Philomene Saulis Nelson, a very famous weaver. Theresa also helped start an important group called the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance (MIBA) in Old Town, Maine. She used to be its director.

When Theresa was learning to make baskets, she worked with a basketmaker named Madeline Tomer Shay. Theresa realized that not many young Wabanaki people were learning to make traditional baskets. These baskets are made from brown ash and sweet-grass.

After Madeline Shay passed away, Theresa Secord started MIBA in 1993. Her goal was to help keep Wabanaki language and culture alive. In 2003, MIBA won an award called the International Prize for Rural Creativity. This was partly because they helped lower the average age of basketmakers in Maine from 63 to 43 years old. This meant more young people were learning the craft!

Theresa Secord's amazing basket artwork has been shown in many places. These include the Hudson Museum at the University of Maine and the National Museum of the American Indian in New York. Her work has also been displayed at the Southwest Museum of the American Indian in Los Angeles.

Theresa is also related to other famous people. Her great-aunt was Molly Spotted Elk, a well-known Penobscot dancer, actress, and writer.

Learning and Career

Theresa Secord studied geology, which is the science of Earth's physical structure and substances. She earned her first degree in geology from the University of Southern Maine in 1981. Later, she got a master's degree in Economic Geology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1984.

After her studies, she worked as a Staff Geologist for the Penobscot Nation. From 1988 to 1993, Theresa also learned how to weave and speak the Penobscot language from Madeline Tomer Shay.

Family Life

Theresa Secord has two sons, Caleb Hoffman and Will Hoffman. Caleb is also a basketmaker. He is learning from another skilled artist named Jeremy Frey.

Awards and Special Honors

Theresa Secord has received many important awards for her work:

• In 2003, she won the "Prize for Women's Creativity in Rural Life." This award came from the Women's World Summit Foundation. She was the first person from the U.S. to receive this honor. The award recognized her efforts to help rural basket makers improve their lives. She was one of five winners invited to talk about her work at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland.
• In 2009, she received the Community Spirit Award from the First Peoples Fund. This award celebrates Native artists and cultural bearers.
• In 2016, she received the National Heritage Fellowship. This is the highest honor the United States government gives for folk and traditional arts. It's awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts.
• In 2017, she was the Bernard Osher Lecturer at the Portland Museum of Art. This is a special talk given by a respected expert.

Her Writings

Theresa Secord has also written or contributed to several publications:

• Changing Faces of Tradition: A Report on the Folk and Traditional Art in the United States - Chapter 5 Organizing
• Two Maine Forest Pests: A Comparison of Approaches to Understanding Threats to Hemlock and Ash Trees in Maine