Ida Branscum was one of the original crafters at the Ozark Folk Center,
demonstrating spinning to hundreds of visitors.
This Ozark Folk Center 50th Anniversary Legacy Photo is in memory of our great-grandmother, the quintessential pioneer woman, Ida Branscum.
With love, from her great-granddaughters, Pam, Connie, and Carrie.
Ida Branscum was the quintessential Ozark pioneer woman. She was christened Mary Ida by her parents Peggy Ann Gray and James Monroe Clark in 1897. The Clarks were hard working folks, providing for thirteen children on a farm near Fairview in western Stone County. Ida learned her skills in spinning, knitting, gardening, cooking and quilting from her mother as a very young girl. She learned what plants and roots made dyes for the yarns she spun as well as what "medicines" could be found in the woods.
Ida married Ulysses Branscum and they raised three sons on a farm near her old home place. Ida sold eggs and cream to make extra money and she also served her community as a midwife. Eventually Ida went to work in the Timbo School cafeteria as a cook, a job she enjoyed for many years before retiring. Testimony to her well known green thumb can still be seen, when the roses she started from cuttings, bloom each summer beside the Ozark Folk Center Herb Cabin door.
In the 1960s the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service sent craftsmen from this area to Berea, Kentucky to study economic development in the Appalachians, through production and marketing of traditional crafts. In this manner, Ida and Ulysses became involved in the early formation of The Ozark Foothills Handicraft Guild, which evolved into the current Arkansas Craft Guild.
Ida was already an outstanding spinner, producing consistent hanks of lovely yarn. She used a walking wheel, spinning cotton, wool, and even dog hair of several varieties. In 1973 she was asked to demonstrate at the Ozark Folk Center and share her lifestyle stories and spinning abilities with hundreds of eager visitors. Fiber artists spinning today at the Folk Center, can trace their knowledge back to skills Ida originally handed down almost forty years ago.
Ida passed away in 1986 but her legacy lives on in her grandchildren, great grandchildren and fiber arts apprentices.
This entry is based on an interview with Maxilea McCasland, Ida's granddaughter, for the Committee of One Hundred cookbook.
Photo courtesy Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism
The Committee of One Hundred Tribute Wall recognizes contributions to the
preservation of Ozark folk culture.
Interested in preserving the folk culture of the Ozarks? Consider a
The Committee is made up entirely of volunteers so, except for transaction fees, all of your donation funds music, craft, or the herb gardens and, as a 501c3 entity
your donation is tax deductible!
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