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A selection of wicker hampers

A hamper is a primarily British term for a wicker basket, usually large, that is used for the transport of items, often food.

In North America, the term generally refers to a household receptacle for clean (out of the dryer or off the line) or dirty clothing, regardless of its composition, i.e. "a laundry hamper".

In agricultural use, a hamper is a wide-mouthed container of basketwork that may often be carried on the back during the harvesting of fruit or vegetables by hand by workers in the field. The contents of the hamper may be decanted regularly into larger containers or a cart, wagon, or truck.

The open ventilation and the sturdiness offered by a hamper has made it suitable for the transport of food, hence the use of the picnic hamper.

At one time it was common for laundry services to leave a large basketwork container with a lid which is now commonly referred to as a clothes hamper. The same type of container would be used to return clean clothing, which would be put away by the laundry service and the empty container left in place of the full container for later pickup.

This type of daily or bi-daily hamper service was most common with Chinese laundry services in 19th century England and America.

Charitable hamper[link]

There is a long tradition of community and social philanthropy and charity related to hampers, in which persons or community groups donate to needy people a hamper of food, clothing, toiletries, cleaning products, or other household necessities, to assist with their family economy.

Up until the mid 20th century, in the Western tradition, the hamper was a basket that could be carried by the donor and physically handed to the recipient. This limited the size of the gift to food ingredients for at most several days, or other necessities for one to two weeks. The basket itself was a useful item around the house or farm, and any cloth wrapping for the food or lining of the basket would also be usable by the recipient family.

In more recent times, the hamper would likely be a plastic bag or acrylic fibre bag of a size that can be carried, with tinned or packaged goods. A Christmas hamper is likely to be bigger and have some party or celebratory foods, or toys. Hampers can also contain related festive foods.

Commercial hampers[link]

A number of companies exist that sell ready-made food hampers or provide customers the service of compiling a custom hamper for them, which may involve company staff going shopping for requested specific items on behalf of individual customers. Such hampers are popular gift items in the UK and Ireland. Hamper companies usually link their services to certain occasions, most particularly Christmas, and provide options for payment across the year. Grocers, delis and supermarkets may also stock ready-made hampers, though mostly just on a seasonal basis, and with a selection generally limited to items stocked by the store or sourced from their own suppliers.^[1]

Recently dietary hamper companies have sprung up which provide sufferers of diseases such as diabetes or those intolerant to foods such as gluten a selection of food which is suitable.

Historically, hampers have been filled with pre-selected items, which has meant that the recipient has often found several items which are not to the their taste and are wasted. Several companies have started offering customers the opportunity to select each item in their hamper, some going as far as allowing the customer to add a photo to the lid of their vessel.

See also[link]

Look up hamper in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Wardrobe

Notes[link]

Bernard Egan "Ben" Hamper (born c. 1956) is a Michigan-based writer. He was born in Flint, Michigan from a Catholic family that had many former employees of General Motors amongst its members. Hamper also worked for General Motors in Michigan for several years and wrote for Michael Moore's Flint Voice. He has also worked as a correspondent on several of Moore's television projects. Ben also hosted and wrote comedy for Take No Prisoners TV show in Flint. This program aired on local community access and documented the Flint underground music scene from 1989 to 1998.

In 2006, Hamper launched a new radio show, Soul Possession, on community radio station WNMC-FM in Traverse City, Michigan. The show focuses on his extensive collection of obscure soul and funk records and can be heard Friday evenings between 9 and 11 pm ET via the station's audio stream. In 2010, Hamper launched another radio show, Head For The Hills, also on WNMC, focusing on his obscure collection of classic and obscure Country records and can me heard Sundays between 10AM and 12PM ET.

His memoir, Rivethead: Tales From the Assembly Line (ISBN 0-446-51501-9), published in 1991, is an autobiographical account of his life in Flint and subsequent employment on the General Motors assembly line between 1977 and 1988.

Television and film[link]

Hamper has appeared in a number of high profile TV and film roles, most notably in association with Michael Moore. In fact Hamper was at Moore's side for most of Moore's career from his very early days to his TV shows in the mid 1990s.

Hamper first began writing articles for the Flint Voice. In fact, on the day Moore and Hamper were to meet to discuss Hamper's writing for the Flint Voice, Harry Chapin — a long time benefactor for the paper — was killed in a car accident. Hamper turned around and went home. He did however end up with a writing assignment and rather quickly became a local celebrity who wrote scathing true stories of life on the assembly line. He was kept on when the Flint Voice became the state-wide Michigan Voice where he was again one of the more popular writers. When Moore left for Mother Jones in 1986, he brought Hamper over with him and put him on the cover. Moore was fired shortly after. Hamper was asked to keep writing for Mother Jones, but out of loyalty chose not to continue {Rivethead: Tales from the Assembly Line, pg 220}.

When production of Moore's documentary film Roger & Me began in early February 1987, Moore asked Hamper to recall one of his infamous panic attacks stemming from his work at the GM Truck & Bus plant on Van Slyke Road.

After Roger & Me, Hamper's book Rivethead became a national bestseller. He then appeared on the cover of The Wall Street Journal and was interviewed by NBC and CBS for various news shows.

Matt Dillon was tapped to star in the film adaption of Rivethead, with Richard Linklater writing and directing, but the project did not move beyond early stages of development.

In 1995, Hamper had a memorable cameo appearance in Michael Moore's film Canadian Bacon and was later tapped as a correspondent for both TV Nation and The Awful Truth documentary television shows. These were the last official associations with Moore, but the two remain good friends to this day.^{[citation needed]}

External links[link]

• Hamper's homepage
• Ben Hamper at the Internet Movie Database
• Ben Hamper’s Chevrolet Truck & Bus ID badge at FlintHistory.com
• Hamper on TV Nation
• Hamper profile at WNMC
• Ben Hamper's Radio Show archive page