Next Up at Peabody: Haida Masks and Dolls Made for the Souvenir Market

In the 1820s American and British traders traveled to the Northwest Coast to procure sea otter pelts for the Chinese market. A secondary trade in ethnographic artifacts developed and Northwest Coast Indian artists created pieces specifically for sale to foreigners. Among the most extraordinary are a series of portrait masks and dolls made by a Haida master carver; two of each are in the collection of the Peabody Museum. Associate of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Mary Malloy will introduce eleven masks and four dolls made by the same hand and depicting the same high-ranking Haida woman wearing a prominent labret in her lip. A lecture is a bonus, especially on a niche topic like this. One will be offered October 11 at the Geological Lecture Hall (24 Oxford St., Cambridge) at 6:00 p.m.