Gift of Pratt Institute

Worn by both men and women, tubes of bone or wood pushed through the ear were a common form of personal adornment in central California.These have been elaborately decorated with feathers and clamshell.

This type of headdress is restricted to women wearing it. The quill decorations are commonly used on many dance regalia articles in southern California.The decorations mounted on slender wires will move as the wearer moves.

This ceremonial plume would have been worn straight across the back of the head, stuck into a hair net. Curator Culin's informant, George, said that it indicated his rank as captain and it had been a gift to him. The raw materials are responsible for much of the effect of wealth and prestige. The larger piliated woodpecker does not live around Chico; its feathers must be traded in from the mountains. This pin employs sixteen of its scalps- a multiple of four, the sacred number. The manzanita wood for the shaft is especially hard and difficult to carve.

This Doctor's headdress was probably made by Dr. Hudson using gull feathers his wife gathered with special permission from the game warden. The Big-Head headdress or Kuksu shna, a ceremony involving the impersonation of a god. The feathers are attached to a twined redbud or dogwood framework, and a projecting snout, representing the long nose of the Kuksu spirit, is composed of short feathers attached to a stick. There has been some confusion as to if this is made correctly or it may have been rendered slightly differently by Hudson after a particular Pomo group.

This headdress would have been worn by a man on the back of the head. The long wooden pin would secure it to a hairnet. It is part of a dance outfit see 06.331.8027,a,b,c,e.

This pottery doll wears hanging earrings and a necklace (both of dark blue and white beads), bracelets on either wrist (of sea-blue beads), and purplish-black yarn around waist which holds a red skirt. The black, thick hair falls straight with a bang effect at the forehead. Openings in ear lobes, nostrils, and mouth--eyes are black and white. Slight suggestion of breasts: toes and fingers defined. Brown line designs cross the eyes, jaws and chin and begin at the collar bone on the torso and continue, vertically, down the chest, arms and legs. Her skirt is wrapped around the waist and fastened with a yarn waistband.

Loom woven beaded band.

One bear claw with some fur still attached on a hide thong.

Probably Sioux. A staff that has holes for a strap. Possibly is a Warrior's Society dance staff and needs more research as if so, they are very special. See also 50.67.94.