Woven leaf fan with handle from Hawaii. Traditional Hawaiian weaving techniques were used to create the checked pattern. Wider width leaves were used at the base of the fan and wrap around the handle, narrow width leaves were used to create the scalloped edge along the top. The word "ALOHA" has been woven into the left side of the fan with a red-brown plant fiber. Fans like this were widely available in Hawaii for the tourist market.
fans (costume accessories)
leaf (plant material)
Fan
Original To Stephen Phillips House (Salem, Mass.),
Unknown
Pacific Island Group
17 x 11 (HxW) (inches)
Gift of the Stephen Phillips Memorial Charitable Trust for Historic Preservation
2006.44.3681
Memoirs of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Vol. II, No. 1. Google Books
Historic New England is committed to implementing reparative language description for existing collections and creating respectful and inclusive language description for new collections. If you encounter language in Historic England's Collections Access Portal that is harmful or offensive, or you find materials that would benefit from a content warning, please contact [email protected].