Puppet Head (Shisha)

Item number E89073-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.

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Notes

From card: "Carved wood. Design: A human head with deeply sunken eyes. "Oala" [sic, should be Olala, Oolala, Ulala] (Mountain demon). A section is sliced from the back of the head which forms the cover to the cavity excavated in the head. The holes in back of head are for tufts of hair. The neck is fitted to be attached to a staff. Illust. in USNM Rept., 1895, fig. 203, p. 652. Loaned to the Whitney Museum of American Art 9-10-71. Returned ... 2-9-72." Identified in USNM Annual Report for 1895 figure caption as "Part of a headdress representing the Olala." On p. 653 of this publication it is noted about 89038, 89039, 89072 and 89073: "In his dances the olala of all the northern tribes use headdresses which represent a corpse...."Provenience note: Swan list for this object in accession file, under #92 on list of objects collected at Skidegate, Skedans, Laskeek, and Fort Simpson, B.C. in the summer of 1883, identifies it as collected at Skedans, and calls it "old head of Oolalla."