Puppet-Head (Shisha)

Item number E89072-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.

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Notes

From card: "Ilus. in USNM Rept 1895; fig. 202, p. 652. 11/1963 All that is left is a well carved human head showing where hair tufts had once been inserted all over the top, and hollow back where the rattle element had been held in by a piece of leather fastened over the hole (just edges of leather left. Stem at the neck point appears to indicated that something else was once fastened on. Loan: R. H. Lowie Museum 12/31/64, loan returned feb 15, 1966." 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...." From second (newer) card: "Made of carved wood in two longitudinal sections. Design: Head of "Oala" [sic, should be Olala, Oolala, Ulala] (The mountain demon). Tufts of hair are secured in small holes in top and back of head. A square hole is inserted in back of head and the neck is fitted to attach it to a staff. Illust. in USNM Rept., 1895, fig. 202, p. 652. Loaned to the Whitney Museum of American Art 9-10-71. Returned ... 2-9-72."Provenience note: Swan list for this object in accession file, under #91 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."