OBJECTS Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
0000.007.002 |
Object Name |
Biospecimen |
Source |
Burrows Family Artifacts |
Date |
1946 |
Place of Origin |
Fiji, Suva |
Place |
Fiji, Suva |
Description |
Tapa cloth. Made of bark, decorated with dark brown marks in geometric patterns. Small piece of tapa cloth is glued to it; handwritten on that piece is "Ruth from John" No other identifying marks. |
Provenance |
Card with it reads "A piece of Tapa cloth made from the bark of a tree from Suva, the capital of the Fiji Islands. John Miesel brought it to his sister Ruth, on his return from service in 1946." |
Notes |
Made a test with swabs and it does not seem to be affected by water, so that fact could be used to help flatten it. Rolled for storage 4/11/2023. Ruth Elizabeth Miesel lived from 4 Jun 1909 to 17 Nov 1946. She died of cancer. John Louis Miesel was a member of the "US Army Air Forces" "Tapa begins with bark—commonly harvested from the paper mulberry tree (Broussonetia papyrifera), but sometimes from the breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) or banyan (Ficus prolixa) tree. The bark is pulled off in a single sheet, and then the inner bark is separated and soaked in water to soften." - from nhm.org |
Search Terms |
World War II United States Army Air Forces |
Dimensions |
H-75 W-75 inches |
Event |
World War II |
Made |
Fiji Island natives |
Material |
Bark |
Owned |
John Miesel, Ruth Miesel |
People |
Miesel, John Louis Miesel, Ruth Elizabeth |