Commemorative cloth
date: label: Accession Date
content: 25 Mar 2005
label: Collection Date
content: 1966 to 1967
name: label: Collector
content: Nancy E. Bliel
label: Donor Name
content: Nancy E. Bliel
notes: label: Notes
content: Commercially - produced cloth with print commemorating the independence of Malawi in 1964. It is an unhemmed length of cloth, cut from a bolt. It has 3 all-over repeating motifs in multiple colors. One is a map of Malawi with its major cities. The second is a portrait of Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who was "President for Life" of Malawi, flanked by two Malawi flags, with Lake Malawi in the background. A banner reading "Malawi Independence Day" is printed above the portrait. A lion, with the words "6th July 1964" is printed just below the portrait, at the base of the flags. The third motif shows two hands clasped together with the words "Umodzi Nyonga Yathu", which means "Our Unity and Our Strength" in Cichwea language (Mary Jo Arnoldi, curator of African ethnology, confirmed this with the Malawi Embassy in 2004). This textile was new when acquired and has never been worn, although it is about the length normally sold as a woman's wrapper (according to the donor and Arnoldi).
label: Record Last Modified
content: 28 Nov 2014
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Malawi, Africa
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: 2033293
label: USNM Number
content: E431577-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Cloth
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 179 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 88 cm