Wooden Model Baby For Cradle

Item number E1043-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.

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Notes

FROM CARD: "WITH BEDDING PADS FOR COMPRESSING THE HEAD & SHADE TO COVER THE EYES. SHOWING THE METHOD OF COMPRESSING THE HEAD. #1043: CRADLE A TROUGH RUDELY HEWED OUT OF A CEDAR WOOD. A LOW BRIDGE IS LEFT ACROSS THE TROUGH TO STRENGTHEN IT. SLATS ARE PUT ACROSS TO LEVEL OF HEIGHT OF BRIDGE. THE BEDDING IS MATS OF CEDAR BARK. ON LOWER END OF CRADLE IS A HANDLE. AROUND THE SIDES ARE FASTENED STRINGS. THE COMPRESS IS FASTENED TO HEAD OF CRADLE. IT CURVES OVER AND IS TIGHTENED BY MEANS OF CORDS TO SIDES OF CRADLE. IT IS WOVEN OF ? AND STUFFED TIGHTLY WITH CEDAR BARK. IN CRADLE IS A WOODEN MODEL OF BABY UNDERGOING THE PROCESS OF HEAD FLATTENING. COVERING A CEDAR MAT. L. 26", W. MIDDLE 8 3/4", L. END 5" UPPER 6 1/2", DEPTH 4 1/4". L. HEAD COMPRESS 10" W. OF STEM 3" EXPANDED END 3 3/4".Originally, catalog numbers 1043 and 1044 together comprised a cradle and a wooden figure to go in the cradle for display. As of 2009 (and probably for many years prior to that) the cradle itself is missing, and what remains is a wooden figure, apparently representing the baby that would have gone with the cradle for "showing the method of compressing the head". The card describes the cradle itself as catalog number 1043, which means this figure might have originally been 1044? It is currently marked with number 1043 in an ink that does not appear old enough to be the original number. However, a 19th or early 20th century exhibit label describing the cradle as # 1044 is stored with the card.The cradle (and apparently the wooden figure) were illustrated, under # 1044, on p. 91 in Rhees, William Jones. 1880. Visitor's guide to the Smithsonian institution and National museum, Washington, D.C., Part 3[Washington]: Judd & Detweiler. https://books.google.com/books?id=L5ZJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA91#v=onepage&q&f=false . Speculatively, ET15954 may possibly be the cradle E1044? (it currently includes the later addition of a plaster baby mannequin head for display purposes.)

Item History

What

Name
Wooden Model Baby For Cradle
Identification Number
E1043-0
Type of Item
figure

Where

Holding Institution
National Museum of Natural History
Made in
Washington, USA
Collected in
Washington, USA

Who

Culture
Makah
Received from
James G. Swan

When

Acquisition Date
during 1864

Other

Accession Number
000494

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