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Beaded cradleboard with geometric designs on hide / Unidentified

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Essay/Description

Beaded cradleboard, predominately white with multi-colored geometric design on buckskin, ending in twisted leather fringe. Rigid head frame lined with cotton material and buckskin head carrier. Three brass studs on each of the two frames at top.

This lattice-style cradle is made from a hide cover wrapped around rawhide supports at the head and foot and a rawhide backing, all laced to a board frame. This sturdy construction protected the baby, with a rawhide hood around its face and strong boards and rawhide at its back. The cradle could be carried on a mother's back or leaned against a tree or post with the boards on either side providing stability. Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho, Lakota, and Cheyenne women began using this style of cradle in the 1860s.

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©Gilcrease Museum
Title(s): 
Beaded cradleboard with geometric designs on hide
Creator(s): 
Unidentified (Author)
Culture: 
Native American; Cheyenne or Kiowa
Date: 
circa 1920
Materials/Techniques: 
wood, buckskin, sinew, glass beads, thread, copper alloy, iron tacks, twine, cloth and rawhide
Classification: 
Ethnographic Objects
Furnishings
Object Type: 
Cradleboard
Accession No: 
84.628
Previous Number(s): 
8426.628
Department: 
Anthropology
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