Grass Cord Or Twine Item Number: E23514-0 from the National Museum of Natural History

Notes

FROM CARD: "TROCADERO JULY 1885."From old James G. Swan tag with artifact: "8 bdls grass & rag cords. Used in mat manufacture (Clallam Indians). [Additional note on tag in another hand:] 2 of grass twine."It appears E23513 and E23514 may have been combined during cataloguing or not long after? 23513 per the ledger book was 8 bundles of grass and rag cords used in mat manufacture, etc.. 23514 was supposed to be 2 bundles of grass twine used in mat manufacture, etc.. There is currently no catalogue card for 23513, nor are there artifacts bearing that number. Also, the old James Swan tag currently with the cords # E23514 appears to describe both 23513 and 23514. Smithsonian records indicate some at least of 23514 (or 23513?) went to the Trocadero Museum in July of 1885. It is unclear if what remains in the Anthropology collections constitutes 23514, 23513 or some combination of both?See Cat. 107 p. 191 in Faucourt, Camille. 2020. A La Conquête de l'Ouest : Collectes Amérindiennes de La Smithsonian Institution Conservées Au Musée Du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux. Entry is on Musee Du Quai Branly Catalog no. 71.1885.78.78, which their records identify as formerly Smithsonian no. E23514. This object appears to include at least some red fibers along with the grass.