Summary

Alternative Name(s): Baby Rattle

Rattle carved from a single piece of linden wood some time after 1900. Linden is the North American name for the genus Tilia, which comprises about 30 tree types throughout the temperate northern hemisphere. It is therefore likely to have been collected by American folklorist Dr Dorothy Howard.

This object is part of the Dorothy Howard Collection, gathered by eminent US folklorist and scholar Dr Dorothy Howard, who visited Australia as a Fulbright fellow in 1954-55 to document and research the folklore of Australian children. The Collection primarily contains documents, photographs and objects from Australia and the United States. It is now contained with the Australian Children's Folklore Collection (ACFC), unique in Australia, documenting contemporary children's folklore across Australia and in other countries reaching back to the 1870s. The Collection has a strong component of research material relating to Victoria.

Physical Description

Baby's rattle carved from a single piece of linden wood. The wood is not varnished or stained. Rectangular in shape, with three hollow windows cut out from the wood, graduating from the largest at the base and the smallest at the top. A carved wooden ball is within each window. The top window is damaged and the ball is missing. Three oval shaped links are attached to the top of the rattle. The top one has a round ball shaped into it. The surface edges of the rattle are decorated with scallops. The base is shaped to form four legs, one unfinished.

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