Wooden Model Baby For Cradle
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1864
name: label: Donor Name
content: James G. Swan
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "WITH BEDDING PADS FOR COMPRESSING THE HEAD & SHADE TO COVER THE EYES. SHOWING THE METHOD OF COMPRESSING THE HEAD. #1043: CRADLE A TROUGH RUDELY HEWED OUT OF A CEDAR WOOD. A LOW BRIDGE IS LEFT ACROSS THE TROUGH TO STRENGTHEN IT. SLATS ARE PUT ACROSS TO LEVEL OF HEIGHT OF BRIDGE. THE BEDDING IS MATS OF CEDAR BARK. ON LOWER END OF CRADLE IS A HANDLE. AROUND THE SIDES ARE FASTENED STRINGS. THE COMPRESS IS FASTENED TO HEAD OF CRADLE. IT CURVES OVER AND IS TIGHTENED BY MEANS OF CORDS TO SIDES OF CRADLE. IT IS WOVEN OF ? AND STUFFED TIGHTLY WITH CEDAR BARK. IN CRADLE IS A WOODEN MODEL OF BABY UNDERGOING THE PROCESS OF HEAD FLATTENING. COVERING A CEDAR MAT. L. 26", W. MIDDLE 8 3/4", L. END 5" UPPER 6 1/2", DEPTH 4 1/4". L. HEAD COMPRESS 10" W. OF STEM 3" EXPANDED END 3 3/4".
label: Notes
content: Originally, catalog numbers 1043 and 1044 together comprised a cradle and a wooden figure to go in the cradle for display. As of 2009 (and probably for many years prior to that) the cradle itself is missing, and what remains is a wooden figure, apparently representing the baby that would have gone with the cradle for "showing the method of compressing the head". The card describes the cradle itself as catalog number 1043, which means this figure might have originally been 1044? It is currently marked with number 1043 in an ink that does not appear old enough to be the original number. However, a 19th or early 20th century exhibit label describing the cradle as # 1044 is stored with the card.
label: Notes
content: The cradle (and apparently the wooden figure) were illustrated, under # 1044, on p. 91 in Rhees, William Jones. 1880. Visitor's guide to the Smithsonian institution and National museum, Washington, D.C., Part 3[Washington]: Judd & Detweiler. https://books.google.com/books?id=L5ZJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA91#v=onepage&q&f=false . Speculatively, ET15954 may possibly be the cradle E1044? (it currently includes the later addition of a plaster baby mannequin head for display purposes.)
label: Record Last Modified
content: 7 Jul 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Neah Bay, Washington, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Makah
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 000494
label: USNM Number
content: E1043-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Figure
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 66 cm
label: Width - Middle
content: 22.22 cm
label: Length - End
content: 13 cm
label: Unknown - Upper
content: 16.5 cm
label: Depth - Object
content: 10.79 cm
label: Length - Head Compress
content: 25 cm
label: Width - Stem
content: 8 cm
label: Unknown - Expanded End
content: 9.53 cm