Feather Cape Or Pelerine
date: label: Accession Date
content: 21 Jul 1938
label: Collection Date
content: Ca. 1840
name: label: Donor Name
content: Mrs. Maud B. Crawford
notes: label: Notes
content: COLLECTED BY A SEA CAPTAIN ABOUT 1840; MADE BY NATIVE ARTISANS OR BY CHINESE FOR THE LOCAL GENTRY; CONSISTS OF ROUGHLY WOVEN LINEN LINING TO WHICH ARE SEWN TUFTS OF DOWNY WHITE DUCK FEATHERS, AND MORE COMPACTLY WOVEN OUTER DUCK AND PARROT IN PATTERNS. DUCK FEATHERS IDENTIFIED AS 1) ANAS QUERQUEDULA "GARGANEY TEAL" AND 2) SPATULA CLYPEATA, "SHOVELER DUCK" BY DR. R. ZUSI, 1967. BOTH DUCKS OCCUR IN CHINA, NEITHER IN S. AFRICA, THEREFORE MUST HAVE BEEN IMPORTED, PERHAPS FROM CHINA. A LETTER FROM HARRISON T. DOYLE, REDDING, CONN., MAR. 20, 1968, INDICATES THAT THE SALEM MUSEUM HAS ABOUT 14 FEATHERED CAPES OF VARIOUS SIZES AND DESIGNS. ANOTHER SIMILAR CAPE WAS OFFERED FOR SALE AT AUCTION IN REDDING, CONN., AND WAS SAID TO HAVE BEEN OF "INDIAN ORIGIN AND MADE IN A CHINESE COLONY IN SOUTH AFRICA SOMETIME IN THE 1800'S. THE CAPES WERE SOLD TO THE EUROPEAN AND U.S. MARKET FOR WOMEN TO USE OVER THEIR EVENING DRESSES." (LETTER ON FILE IN REGISTRAR'S OFFICE). TABS FOR THIS CAPE ARE SEPARATELY CATALOGUED AS NO. 379195. SEE: "THE FEATHER CAPE ENIGMA: ENGLISH OR AMERICAN INDIAN?" BY ADRIENNE KAEPPLER, MUSEUM ANTHROPOLOGY 23(3):97-103. SEE PROCESSING LAB ACCESSION FILE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.
label: Notes
content: Reference: Keefe, Anna Rose, "Forgotten Fashions: Feather Pelerines of the Nineteenth Century" (2016). Open Access Master's Theses. Paper 950. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/theses/950
label: Record Last Modified
content: 17 Jul 2025
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: South Africa (collected here), Africa
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Chinese (?)
label: Culture
content: English (?)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 148919
label: USNM Number
content: E379194-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Cape