Bark Cloth
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1858
label: Collection Date
content: 1838 to 1842
name: label: Collector
content: Dr. Silas Holmes
label: Donor Name
content: United States Exploring Expedition
notes: label: Notes
content: BARK CLOTH WRAP-AROUND SKIRT WHICH IS CONSTRUCTED OF FIVE LAYERS OF CLOTH ALL IN NATURAL COLORS AND WATERMARKED. THE TWO OUTER LAYERS ARE SIMILARLY (BUT NOT IDENTICALLY) DECORATED WITH RED AND BLACK STAMP DESIGNS AND LINE PATTERNS. EACH LAYER HAS A DIFFERENT WATERMARK - THREE ARE RECTANGULAR CELL-LIKE SHAPES, ONE IS A FISH-EYE DESIGN, AND ONE IS A DIAMOND SHAPE. HAS ORIGINAL PEALE TAG; ALSO SHIPPING TAG READS, "SANDWICH ISL. BY DR, HOLMES, EX EX. BOX 20". OLD 19TH OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBITION LABEL READS, "NATIVE CLOTH MADE FROM THE BARK OF THE PAPER MULBERRY, ORNAMENTED WITH RED AND BLACK PARALLELOGRAMS AND LINES. SANDWICH ISLANDS, 1867. COLLECTED BY LIEUT. C. WILKES, U.S.N.". EXHIBITED MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, 1985-86. EXHIBITED SITES "MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS," 1987-89.
label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "[Catalog Numbers E3521 - E3533] MADE FROM THE BARK OF THE PAPER MULBERRY AND DYED RED WITH DARKER LINES. THIS CLOTH IS MANUFACTURED BY THE WOMEN WHO PLACE THE BARK, AFTER SOAKING IT IN WATER UNTIL IT IS SOFTENED, UPON A LOG, AND BEAT IT OUT THIN WITH WOODEN MALLETS. BEFORE BEATING THEY SCRAPE THE BARK WITH RUDE [sic] SHELL INSTRUMENTS TO REMOVE THE OUTER SKIN."
label: Notes
content: From card: "3530. Fine piece. (this information given by K.P. Emory, Bishop Museum, 6/24/41]. Inventoried 1975"
label: Notes
content: Object was on display in National Museum of Natural History exhibit "Na Mea Makamae o Hawai'i - Hawaiian Treasures", 2004-2005.
label: Notes
content: Five layer pa'u (skirt) with the two decorated outer layers, each with distinctly different design, but using similar stamp patterns to produce them. Painted designs are in black and red colors. There are numerous tiny splatter marks of red and black paint on each decorated sheet. The three inner layers are undesigned except for the beater mark. Each of the five sheets is beater marked. Two sheets have a diamond shape beater mark and three have rectangular marks. One end of the pa'uhas been cut in a repeated curve. Three sheets are of a lighter hue in the cloth itself and the other two are several shaeds darker overall. A rigid plant fiber was used to sew the five layers together.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 5 Jun 2024
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Hawaii (Hawaiʻi), United States, Polynesia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Hawaiian (Kanaka ʻŌiwi, Kanaka Maoli)
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: E3530-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Barkcloth
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 210.5 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 115.5 cm