Piece Of Tapa
date: label: Accession Date
content: 26 Oct 1874
label: Collection Date
content: 1838 to 1842
name: label: Collector
content: Major William Rich
label: Collector
content: United States Exploring Expedition
label: Donor Name
content: Prof Spencer F. Baird
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "15090-8. INVENTORIED 1975."
label: Notes
content: 15090 - 15098 originally catalogued as just Polynesian. An unknown person pencilled in Hawaii? at a later date. This tapa has been attributed as Samoa.
label: Notes
content: Bark cloth "siapo", Samoa. The material of the siapo comes from the inner bark of the paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera). After the inner bark was removed from the plant, and left to soak in water, it would have been beaten by a wooden mallet on an anvil, to become a sheet of u'a. Sheets of u'a were then pasted together with a natural adhesive, such as arrow-wood. It is a siapo mamanu, which means a siapo decorated in freehand, not the rubbing style. There are three patterned areas (with triangles, cross-hatchings and lines) divided by two large dark areas, which are probably decorated with o'a (sap from the Bishofia javanica) painted on lama (candle nut seed ash). There is an old museum tag attached to reverse side with the inscription, "Type/Samoa/15095". Art professor and 4th generation siapo Artist, Regina Meredith, American Samoa, provided the following information between July – August 2013: o'a = sap from the Bishofia javanica lama = candle nut seed ash ele = brownish red ochre u'a = one sheet of plain tapa siapo tasiga = tapa with rubbed pattern; older style; original method siapo mamanu = tapa with designs drawn with freehand upeti = board "The rubbing is a mixture of o'a and ele." "Siapo does not have a story, designs are more random." "The ash is from the candle nut seeds. Very very black!"
label: Notes
content: Stored in Pod 4 oversize whole unit. Advance arrangements are needed for access.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 31 Jul 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: American Samoa (not certain), Samoa (not certain) / United States (not certain), Polynesia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 74A00057
label: USNM Number
content: E15095-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Barkcloth
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 207 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 136 cm