Mr. Bones Skeleton Marionette
date: label: Date made
content: 1860
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Mr. Bones is one of the earliest puppets in the Museum's collection. This oversized skeleton marionette is made of painted wood, and operates with nine strings on three bars. Bones is thought to be part of an unusual marionette/minstrel show said to have been staged on a showboat traveling up and down the Mississippi River between 1850-1875. Showboats offered a variety of entertainments, including both comedy, and music to working class Americans in urban and rural areas.
label: Description (Brief)
content: This disassembling skeleton, appeared along with a group of marionettes that included Mr. Tambo, a horse skeleton, and a white policeman. A common form of entertainment, the popular minstrel show is considered to be the first uniquely American form of entertainment that featured white people parodying African Americans. The rest of the show featured songs, dances and other variety acts, and ended with a short skit. It was rare, however, that this popular amusement involved puppetry.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States
topic: label: general subject association
content: Minstrels
label: general subject association
content: Puppetry
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Puppets
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Hazelle H. and J. Woodson Rollins
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1979.1164.02
label: accession number
content: 1979.1164
label: catalog number
content: 1979.1164.02
objectType: label: Object Name
content: puppet
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paint (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: string (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 30 in; 76.2 cm