Bark Cloth, Uncolored
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1858
label: Collection Date
content: 1838 to 1842
name: label: Collector
content: Lt. Robert E. Johnson
label: Donor Name
content: United States Exploring Expedition
notes: label: Notes
content: Peale catalogue identifies # 1457 - 1464: "Cloth made of bark, preparatory to being printed."
label: Notes
content: Tapa was examined while folded. Tapa is folded into a rectangular package with cordage wrapped around it. Strung through the cordage is a small paper label reading, "by R. E. Johnson Ex. Ex. b. 34 - No. 6". Tapa is a thin white tapa, unembellished. It has fringed ends, both long and short. Curator for Oceania Ethnology Adrienne Kaeppler and tapa project conservators discussed options for treating this tapa in 2012, but decided to leave it in its current configuration because the tapa is in stable condition, it is undecorated, there are many other examples of this type of tapa, and it shows how the majority of the tapa was folded during collection and for many years in NMNH storage. Tapa does have visible tears on the outer layer of folding and may have some loss also on the outer layer.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 1 Jul 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Fiji, Melanesia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Fijian
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 66A00050
label: USNM Number
content: E4386-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Barkcloth
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 56 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 22.3 cm
label: Height - Object
content: 1 cm