doll with cradleboard

doll with cradleboard

doll with cradleboard

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Introduction

A cornhusk doll and cradleboard gifted to Emily S. Howells, sister-in-law of Reverend Adam Elliott, by a Betsey Turkey of Six Nations in 1840. Howells was sixteen when receiving this gift, living at the Tuscarora Parsonage where Rev. Elliott would minister to the people of Six Nations. Howells would go on to marry Chief George Henry Martin Johnson, and be parents to celebrated poet E. Pauline Johnson.

Name of Maker(s): Betsey Turkey
Nation of Maker: Hodenosaunee/Haudenosaunee
Nation of Origin

Inscription on back of board: "Betsey Turkey/ 1840/ to Miss Emily S. Howells/ 1840/ Tuscarora Parsonage/ Canada, Ont,/ 1840" [Quotations "Ont" is written in a different ink on top of original inscriptions. nb. "Ontario" was not a province in 1840]

Reasons for connecting this relative with particular nation(s)

Inscription on back of board: "Betsey Turkey/ 1840/ to Miss Emily S. Howells/ 1840/ Tuscarora Parsonage/ Canada, Ont,/ 1840" [Quotations "Ont" is written in a different ink on top of original inscriptions. nb. "Ontario" was not a province in 1840]

Place of Origin: Six Nations of the Grand River Territory
Date Made or Date Range: 1840
Materials

Cornhusk, (human?) hair, broadcloth, red silk, woolen cloth, beads, wood, red and blue paint,

Techniques or Format

Cornhusk doll with human(?) hair. She wears a black broadcloth(?) skirt with complex linear beadwork pattern, hatching and crosses. Wears an overdress of a fine cream-colored woven cloth edged with red silk ribbon. Grey silk ribbon at the bottom edge of skirt and leggings. Black wool cloth leggings with beaded border. Skirt made of one piece with seam along one side, beadwork and ribbon along seam.

Cradleboard has an attached wrapper of same black woolen cloth as leggings, edged with red silk ribbon and white beadwork at top. Wrapper attached with hide thong along the top inner edge. Hoop of cradleboard has ornamented chipped carving, oval motifs with red and blue paint.

Other Notes

Inscription on back of board: "Betsey Turkey/ 1840/ to Miss Emily S. Howells/ 1840/ Tuscarora Parsonage/ Canada, Ont,/ 1840" [Quotations "Ont" is written in a different ink on top of original inscriptions. nb. "Ontario" was not a province in 1840]

Dimensions: 45 × 0 × 0 cm
Reasons for connecting this relative with particular times, materials, styles and uses

Inscription on back of board: "Betsey Turkey/ 1840/ to Miss Emily S. Howells/ 1840/ Tuscarora Parsonage/ Canada, Ont,/ 1840" [Quotations "Ont" is written in a different ink on top of original inscriptions. nb. "Ontario" was not a province in 1840]

Current Location: Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, ON, Canada
Catalogue, Accession or Reference Number: 922.1.96 a-b
Collection at Current Location: Evelyn Johnson/Chiefswood Collection
GKS Reference Number: 27329
How to Cite this Item

Betsey Turkey, doll with cradleboard. Currently in the Royal Ontario Museum, 922.1.96 a-b. Item photographed and described as part of a GRASAC research trip October 2014; GRASAC item id 27329.

Approximate Place of Origin

43.0703, -80.1184

Source of Information about Places

Inscription on back of board: "Betsey Turkey/ 1840/ to Miss Emily S. Howells/ 1840/ Tuscarora Parsonage/ Canada, Ont,/ 1840" [Quotations "Ont" is written in a different ink on top of original inscriptions. nb. "Ontario" was not a province in 1840]

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