Piece Of Tapa, Dirty Yellow
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: "INVENTORIED 1975."
label: Notes
content: Tapa was catalogued as from Polynesia, but has been attributed as possibly from Hawaii.
label: Notes
content: The ribbed lines of the tapa resemble those typical of Hawaiian kapa. Neich & Pendergrast (1997, p.91) outline that these lines were formed by pressing the cloth, while damp, into a wooden board with parallel grooved lines. The orange brownish color of the tapa could be a plant dye, such as turmeric, or an ochre. Neich & Pendergrast (1997, p.92) also note that 19th century kapa is very fine and thin. The tapa also resembles other tapa in collection which have been identified as being made from paper mulberry (broussonetia papyrifera in Latin, wauke in Hawaiian). If it is Hawaiian kapa, according to Neich & Pendergrast (1997, p.92) it would have been made by stripping the inner bark from a paper mulberry plant and then beating it on a stone anvil with a round wooden beater. These strips were soaked in water, to allow the fibers to slightly ferment and soften. Afterwards a rectangular beater was used to macerate and felt the strips into larger pieces. Bibliography: Neich, R. & Pendergrast, M. 1997, Pacific Tapa, David Bateman Ltd., Auckland.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 1 Jul 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Hawaii (Hawaiʻi) (not certain), United States (not certain), Polynesia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Polynesian
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: E15088-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Barkcloth
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 323.5 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 88.4 cm
label: Height - Object
content: 0.1 cm