Many notable museums hold burl treen collections, although not all have their collections on public display; Winterthur, Wilmington, DE; Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, MA; Historic Deerfield, Greenfield, MA; Fennimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY; Smithsonian Museums, Washington, DC; Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI; Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis, IN, to name but a few.
Historical burl treen is much sought after and brings very respectable prices on the open market. There are numerous private collections.
Recognized as it is, relatively little has been published as reference material for burl treen. For those wanting more of an understanding of burl treen or treen in general, the following references are listed:
DeVere Cards’ 30 page booklet “The Use of Burl in America”, 1971, discussed the subject with illustrated black and white examples from his collection and studied works. Mr. Card is considered the first of the true burl treen collectors. He states he “owned or examined ---perhaps as many as 1500 burl articles.”
More recently published is “North American Burl Treen”, 2005 by Steven S. Powers of S. Scott Powers Antiques. Mr. Powers is recognized as the authority on burl treen. A wonderful study of approximately 200 objects with over 250 color photographs. His book is the first comprehensive study of burl treen, showing different applications of burl, with many pieces in uses other than food service.
A compilation of articles from “The Magazine Antiques” can be found in “Country Things”, first edition, 1930. Three articles, “When Treen Ware Was the Ware”, Edith Minter, Dec. 1930, "Early New England Woodware”, Mary Earle Gould, Feb. 1937, and “The Burl and it’s Uses”, Mary Earle Gould, Oct. 1939 discuss treen and burl. Interesting articles with many “personal” views.
“Early American Wooden Ware”, Mary Earle Gould, 1942.
"American Woodenware and Other Primitives”, edited by Don A. Maust, 1974, a compilation of essays on “early American woodenware and other American objects which were important to the beginning American middle-class population”. In the essay “The Bowl, Mans First Receptacle” a picture is shown of a “bowl made in 1803 by an Indian, Huge Pie”. The bowl has a “handle hole” cut into one end. Inspired by that picture, and while still working in straight- grained wood, I made my first cut – out handle [handle hole] bowl in 2001. This began a set of connected circumstances that have brought me to where I am today.
"Great Lakes Indian Art”, edited by David Penney, 1989, good essay on and examples of effigy bowls.
"Art of the American Indian Frontier”, David Penney, 1992.
"The Arts of the North American Indian”, edited by Edwin Wade, 1986. Various essays on Native American Art.
To gain some understanding of the roots of Colonial treen, “Treen or Small Woodware Throughout the Ages”, Edward Pinto, 1949 and the overwhelming ”Treen and Other Wooden Bygones”, Edward Pinto, 1969, an exhaustive study of European, and in particular, English treen.
"Treen for the Table”, Jonathon Levi, 1998, European treen with color photographs.
Other references may be found in publications on Antiques, Native American Art, or Colonial living
