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ProvenanceDavid Wooley, Corrales, New Mexico; Toby Herbst, Santa Fe, New Mexico
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.77.
Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 72.
Culture
Menomini
Roach Spreader
Datec. 1850
DimensionsOverall: 2 1/4 × 2 1/4 × 7 1/4 in. (5.7 × 5.7 × 18.4 cm)
Object numberT0019
Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label TextRoach spreaders are tied atop and in the center of a deer and porcupine hair headdress known as a roach. They hold the roach open and the hair erect, as well as form a support platform for one or more feathers which stand up in a tubular socket provided for this purpose in the front part of the spreader. Some of the wearer's hair would be pulled through the large hole right behind this socket in order to attach spreader and roach to his head. Crosswise-placed small holes serve to hold secondary feather sockets. (c.f. fig. XX T14) Heart-shaped cut-outs are often decorate the old roach spreaders of the Menominee, Potawatomi, Iowa and Osage; similar cut-outs were often made in the metal blades of tomahawks. (c.f. Feder 1968, fig. 20). Metal is also the material used for more recent roach spreaders. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)ProvenanceDavid Wooley, Corrales, New Mexico; Toby Herbst, Santa Fe, New Mexico
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.77.
Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 72.
On View
Not on viewc. 1795-1820
