Puppet Head (Shisha)
date: label: Accession Date
content: 21 Dec 1883
label: Collection Date
content: 1883
name: label: Collector
content: James G. Swan
label: Donor Name
content: James G. Swan
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Carved wood. Design: A human head with deeply sunken eyes. "Oala" [sic, should be Olala, Oolala, Ulala] (Mountain demon). A section is sliced from the back of the head which forms the cover to the cavity excavated in the head. The holes in back of head are for tufts of hair. The neck is fitted to be attached to a staff. Illust. in USNM Rept., 1895, fig. 203, p. 652. Loaned to the Whitney Museum of American Art 9-10-71. Returned ... 2-9-72." Identified in USNM Annual Report for 1895 figure caption as "Part of a headdress representing the Olala." On p. 653 of this publication it is noted about 89038, 89039, 89072 and 89073: "In his dances the olala of all the northern tribes use headdresses which represent a corpse...."
label: Notes
content: Provenience note: Swan list for this object in accession file, under #92 on list of objects collected at Skidegate, Skedans, Laskeek, and Fort Simpson, B.C. in the summer of 1883, identifies it as collected at Skedans, and calls it "old head of Oolalla."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 9 Nov 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Skedans (Koona), Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) / Louise Island, British Columbia, Canada, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Haida
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 013804
label: USNM Number
content: E89073-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Puppet
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 18 cm
label: Length - Head
content: 12.07 cm
label: Width - Head
content: 11.76 cm
label: Thickness - Head
content: 10.49 cm