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This information was automatically generated from data provided by MAA: University of Cambridge. It has been standardized to aid in finding and grouping information within the RRN. Accuracy and meaning should be verified from the Data Source tab.

Description

Low truncated cone hat woven from spruce root and painted with a design in black, red and blue. The design painted on the crown of the hat is of an animal' s face with small eyes surrounded by blue, with a toothy mouth bordering the rim. the design on the rear is highly stylised, having two circular faces and many lines.; Good.Condition: Poor and in need of conservation. A large split in the spruce root runs horizontally across the crown and through the eye designs.

Context

Although the catalogue card states the hat is Probably Haida the low style and the geometric design lacks the fluid formlines and U-forms suggesting the hat originated amongst the Pacific Eskimos. Furthermore Erna Gunther gives in Indian Life 1972 Chicago University Press:Chicago and London, page 221, the provenance for this hat as Prince William Sound. Also in Bill Holm' s article Art and Culture Change at the Tlingit-Eskimo Border in Crossroads of Continents 1988 Ed. W.Fitzhugh and A.Crowell, (Smithsonian Institution Press: Washington D.C.) he notes the stylistic variations between the hats of the Tlingit and the Pacific Eskimos, pages 287-293, to which this hat conforms (G.Crowther). The original European tribal names and, where possible, current tribal names have both been given in separate GLT fields.; Exhibited: CUMAA new Anthropological displays 1990-, Artificial Curiosities case. Loaned by CUMAA to the Vancouver Centeniel Museum May 1986, returned January 1987.; Collected by: Swaine.Admiral.Spelman in ?1794.
Literature: Also see the 'Catalogue of the Northwest Coast Collection: Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology' (1996), Dr Gillian Crowther. (J.Tanner, May 1998). A similar example can be seen in Bill Holm' s article Art and Culture Change at the Tlingit-Eskimo Border in Crossroads of Continents: Cultures of Siberia and Alaska, ed. W.W. Fitzhugh and A. Crowell (1988: 291) (J. Tanner, 1999). See 'From Pacific Shores: Eighteenth-century Ethnographic Collections at Cambridge - The Voyages of Cook, Vancouver and the First Fleet' (J. Tanner, 1999:76). See 'Artificial Curiosities from the Northwest Coast of America (J.C.H. King, 1981: cf. Colour Plate 1; 9 and Monochrome Plate 16; 9).
This item is possibly 1842.20.1 in the Wisbech Museum records (J.Tanner, December 1998).
Vancouver Collection: George Vancouver (1758-1798) was born in King' s Lynn, Norfolk. His father, John Jasper Vancouver was assistant collector of customs at King's Lynn, which was at that time a busy seaport. It is believed that through his connections he was able to bring George to the attention of Captain James Cook, who was then preparing to sail on the second of his world voyages. Thus George entered the Royal Navy in 1771 upon receiving an appointment from Cook and thereby gained a rigorous training in seamanship. In 1791 Vancouver was sent on a mission to receive the surrender of the Spanish post at Nootka Sound in present day British Columbia, to survey the coast of the American Northwest, and to search for a water connection to the eastern part of the continent. He wrote a lengthy account of his voyage entitled, ' A Voyage of discovery to the North Pacific ocean, and Round the World' (1798). It was on this latter voyage that Spelman Swaine accompanied Vancouver and acquired the objects held at UCMAA. Spelman Swaine was born on 1st January 1769 at Lynn Regis in Norfolk and died on 13th January 1848 at Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. His forebears had risen from the ranks of yeoman farmers to gain land in the village of Leverington and build Leverington Hall about 1640, which was held by the family until the end of the 18th century. Swaine himself was brought up at Swanns, another mansion in Leverington, but later moved to Wisbech. He began his naval career in April 1782 and by the October he saw action as midshipman on the ' Recovery' in Lord Howe' s relief of Gibraltar. Thereafter, he lead an eventful and distinguished naval career, finally gaining the rank of Rear Admiral in 1846. In particular, the Swaine collection at UCMAA originates from his period with Captain George Vancouver' s expedition round the world between 1791 and 1795 on the HMS Discovery, as midshipman and later lieutenant. Swaine and his family gave a small but important collection from this voyage to Wisbech Museum, which were later acquired by UCMAA. (J.Tanner, 1999).
Exhibited: On display in the Early Voyages of Discovery case. No. 3, in the Maudslay Hall, 1990- Oct 2011.

Item History

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