A hat manufactured by a C[l]atsop woman near the Pacific Ocian

Object Status:

Unlocated

Primary Source Reference:

Peale Museum Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 43

Additional Source Text:

"From whence it was brought by Capts. Clarke & Lewis."

This artifact appears on a long list of "Articles collected by Meriwether Lewis Esqr. and William Clark Esq. in their voyage and Journey of Discovery, up the Missouri to its source and to the Pacific Ocean, presented at different periods, through the president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson."

Notes:

Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) and William Clark (1770-1838) undertook their western Expedition in 1804-1806. They sent Native American hats east on several occasions. They "probably erred, however, when they attributed the manufacture of onion-dome hats to Clatsop women, if indeed the hats they purchased were of that type. Although the Clatsops were accomplished weavers and the explorers did commission Clatsop women to weave them basketry hats, special skillls were required to weave this particular trype. In fact, these shapes and designs were made only by whaling peoples of the Northwest Coast, specifically the Nootkas." Castle McLaughlin, The Arts of Diplomacy: Lewis & Clark's Indian Collection (Seattle, 2003), p. 96. See also "Chinookan Woven Hats," by Mary Malloy, at https://lewis-clark.org/native-nations/chinookan-peoples/chinookan-wove…

The hat pictured here may once have been in the Peale Museum. It is one of the many cultural items that the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography, Harvard University, acquired in 1899 from Moses Kimball's Boston Museum. Kimball and P. T. Barnum jointly purchased many of the Peale collections when they were sold about 1849. It is quite possibly the one the Peale Museum received from Lews and Clark.

The Peabody also has a second whaling hat (pictured here) and a woven top hat (pictured here) that may have been in the Peale Museum (Object numbers 99-12-10/53080 and 99-12-10/53176)