Cradle Model
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1858
label: Collection Date
content: 1838 to 1842
name: label: Donor Name
content: United States Exploring Expedition
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "ILLUSTRATED IN MASON'S CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES, USNM AR, 1887; FIG.7, P. 170. ALSO IN USNM AR, 1894; FIG. 206(B), P.514."
label: Notes
content: Wooden cradle (model or toy), stained red on exterior, with native string loop lacing which firmly holds doll in place. Doll is made of stuffed buckskin, covered with two layers of cloth; only head and feet are visible. Cedar bark bundle is attached, presumably used for head flattening. Has original Peale # label.
label: Notes
content: Entry on cradle model in Peale catalogue # 116 identifies it: "Model of cradle, made by the natives of Oregon to show the manner of flattening the heads of their children." Peale catalogue entry # 38 also mentions this cradle model. There is a doll in the cradle. Caption in USNM AR for 1887 calls this cradle Chinook. The illustrations of this object in the old USNM publications depict a long pad attached to the headboard and extending over the child's forehead and lashed down on either side of cradle, as part of the head flattening process. This pad is not present with the cradle model as of 2010. A similar cradle is shown in an drawing by Alfred T. Agate engraved by T.H. Mumford "Indian Mode of Rocking Cradle". See Charles Wilkes, 1798-1877, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition. During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842., 1845 edition, Philadelphia. Printed from original "official" 1844 Philadelphia publication plates ed., 5 vols. (Philadephia: Lea and Blanchard, 1845). Illustration appears on page 361, Volume 4. This cradle is also similar to one depicted in an engraving of a Chinook cradle with head-binding device, Columbia River area, p. 307 of Volume 1 of Belcher, Edward, and Richard Brinsley Hinds. 1843. Narrative of a voyage round the world: performed in Her Majesty's ship Sulphur during the years 1836-1842 : including details of the naval operations in China from Dec. 1840 to Nov. 1841. London: H. Colburn. See also Catlin cradle # E73312.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 18 Sep 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Northwest Coast, Oregon Territory, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Chinook (?)
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: E2574-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Cradle Model / Doll
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 26.2 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 9.5 cm