Fan Handle
date: label: Accession Date
content: 2 Apr 1927
name: label: Donor Name
content: Miss Isabel C. Freeman
notes: label: Notes
content: Attributed as possibly Micmac by E. S. Dodge, Peabody, Salem, Mass. From card: "Moose hair floriated decorated designs on birch bark. Fan Holder - Ruth Whitehead, Nova Scotia Museum, 12/4/1978. "Fan handle. Birchbark, moosehair, cotton thread. Birchbark fan handle constructed of two panels bark sewn together at sides with cotton thread. The top edges are left unsewn, and the feathers or other body of the fan are inserted between them. Each panel is edged with lengths of white moosehair, oversewn thread and embroidered with moosehair, in floral motifs." R.H.W. Loaned to Nova Scotia Museum 10/1/79. Returned 4/11/80. Loaned to Oatlands 9-6-83. Returned 9-20-83."
label: Notes
content: An alternate ID would be Huron (Wendat). Embroidered birch bark trays are commonly seen as tourist items made by Native people of the Quebec region for tourism purposes, trading, and sale to collectors. Birchbark containers embroidered with moosehair were one of the specialties of Huron/Wendat women. The Micmac/Mi'kmaq made similar ones, but theirs were decorated with porcupine quillwork in geometric motifs. In the second half of the 19th century, fans were very much in demand, and all the Northeastern Indigenous groups made them as souvenir items. Their popularity became so widespread that the Tupinamba of Brazil even started making them. However, the most famous ones were made by Huron-Wendat women artisans in Wendake (Lorette). Sources: Bruchac, Margaret, and Liliana Gurry. “Moose Hair Embroidered Birchbark Trays: French, Native, or Both.” Penn Museum Blog, November 9, 2018. Retrieved March 26, 2022, from https://www.penn.museum/blog/museum/moose-hair-embroidered-birchbark-trays-french-native-or-both/ . Sioui, Linda. “The Huron-Wendat Craft Industry from the 19th Century to Today.” Musée McCord Museum, 2007. Retrieved March 26, 2022 from http://collections.musee-mccord.qc.ca/scripts/printtour.php?tourID=cw_huronwendat_en&Lang=2 .
label: Record Last Modified
content: 13 Sep 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: New England, United States / Canada (not certain), North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Micmac (Mi'kmaq) (?)
label: Culture
content: Huron (Wendat) (?)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 096010
label: USNM Number
content: E334974-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Fan