Skip to main content
The roach is composed of red-dyed deer hair and porcupine guard hair knotted around horsehair. When fitted over the crown of the head, the roach creates a cockscomb effect. The roach spreader, attached to the roach with thongs, holds an eagle feather in a socket. The arrangement of attachment holes in this spreader indicates it was made and used by people who no longer wore their hair long, as it lacks the large central hole through which the wearer's hair was drawn. The angled top of the feather socket points to an Upper Missouri River origin. Cutout bird figures do not show up on early 19th-century examples, and the only other known roach spreader with cutout bird figures is in the Hotz Collection in Zurich, Switzerland. It is of recent but apparently unknown origin. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)
ProvenanceDavid Wooley, Corrrales, 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.158.
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. 181.
Culture
Mandan, Arikara, Hidatsa
Roach and Roach Spreader
Datec. 1900
DimensionsOverall: 2 × 6 in. (5.1 × 15.2 cm)
Object numberT0061a-b
Credit LineLoan from the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label TextThe roach or decorative hairpiece was originally a warrior's headdress and was inspired by the pileated woodpecker whose crest stands up when it is "angry" and "attacks" the tree. Due to this interpretation of the bird's behavior, roaches became associated with the Thunderbird and warfare. In more recent times roaches were worn in the Grass Dance, and they are still a standard ingredient in the powwow regalia.The roach is composed of red-dyed deer hair and porcupine guard hair knotted around horsehair. When fitted over the crown of the head, the roach creates a cockscomb effect. The roach spreader, attached to the roach with thongs, holds an eagle feather in a socket. The arrangement of attachment holes in this spreader indicates it was made and used by people who no longer wore their hair long, as it lacks the large central hole through which the wearer's hair was drawn. The angled top of the feather socket points to an Upper Missouri River origin. Cutout bird figures do not show up on early 19th-century examples, and the only other known roach spreader with cutout bird figures is in the Hotz Collection in Zurich, Switzerland. It is of recent but apparently unknown origin. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)
ProvenanceDavid Wooley, Corrrales, 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.158.
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. 181.
On View
Not on view1825-1850
