Wide lanes of lazy stitch beadwork, tall narrow triangular design elements, colors (very dark green, old rose, particular shade of yellow) indicate Cheyenne. Upper part of cover reinforced with rawhide to protect head of child if cradle dropped; long pointed frame boards supposed to stick in ground if cradle dropped upside down (fide David Finster, 1969). Wooden frame; beaded buckskin cover lined with cloth.
Donor:
Phoebe Apperson Hearst
Collection place:
Great Plains, North America
Verbatim coll. place:
; Great Plains
Culture or time period:
Cheyenne and Plains and Prairie tribes
Collector:
Phoebe Apperson Hearst
Collection date:
1903
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Cradleboards
Function:
6.1 Cradles and Swaddling
Accession date:
1903
Context of use:
If the baby was a girl, the cradle was usually made by a female relative of the father, in exchange for a large gift such as a horse. If this relative happened to be the sister of father, she also named the female child.
Department:
Native US and Canada (except California)
Comment:
Exhibited: "UCLMA, Plains Indians, 1971
Loans:
S1955-1956 #2: Department of Anthropology (UC Berkeley)/Michael J. Harner (October 19, 1955–October 19, 1955), S1962-1963 #7: American Indian Council of the Bay Area (August 24, 1962–August 26, 1962), S1962-1963 #8: Four Winds Club, Oakland YWCA (September 13, 1962–September 17, 1962), S1964-1965 #111: Oakland Public Museum (June 1, 1965–June 7, 1965), S1979-1980 #32: Merritt College/Maurice Wolfe (January 14, 1980–May 6, 1980), and S1990-1991 #23: Blackhawk Museums (March 20, 1991–August 16, 1994)