The artifact of the month for May is two pieces (2019.06.216a and 2019.06.216b) of experimentation with paper armor created by Douglass Morse Howell. This piece was donated by Alexandra Soteriou and collected while she was a studio assistant for Douglass Morse Howell in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It showcases his experimentation with flax and linen papermaking strength to try to make it as durable as armor.

The artifact of the month for March is the Hyakunin Isshu Special Selection / no.1215 set of Karuta handcrafted by Satoshi Tamura from the Tamura Shogundo studio in Kyoto, Japan. 

Satoshi Tamura and the Karuta Studio, Tamura Shogundo 

This month’s Artifact of the Month features a map of ancient Asia Minor made by the  W. & A.K. Johnston firm in the mid to late 1800s. The map shows the historical regions of Armenia Maior, Mesopotamia, and Babylonia, among others. There is a note in pencil along the edge of the sheet indicating 1897 as a possible date of publication, but further research has yielded another date of 1877 based on the atlas published by the firm in that year as well as the fact that the cartographer, Keith Johnston, passed away before 1897.

This month’s Artifact of the Month is eleven spiral-bound notebooks filled with Chinese paper cuts (#2014.002.001-011). These notebooks are covered in decorative paper and hold over twenty paper cuts per notebook, each with a backing of index card. The subjects range from multi-color dragons to highly detailed horses. Chinese paper cuts are called jiǎnzhǐ and serve many different traditional purposes, including decoration for homes or festivals in addition to tools for religious rites.

This month’s Artifact of the Month is a collection of Imperial Japanese paper ration wrappers from World War II that were sent to the then Institute of Paper Chemistry (now Renewable Bioproducts Institute) on June 20, 1944. There are five separate pieces that are accompanied by a letter from Major James Clark in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps. These paper fragments have labels and instructions printed in Japanese with handwritten notes in English about the ration manufacturers in Osaka.

This month’s Artifact of the Month is a sheet of Chinese dressing room wallpaper from the 20th century that was painted and woodblocked by hand. The pattern is comprised of shimmering gray-green moths, vines, and gourds on a rust-colored background. The single color of the pattern indicates that only one woodblock was used for printing. This wallpaper was clearly handmade as evidenced by the slight misalignment of the pattern on the sheet, the brushstrokes of the red background, and the varying values due to uneven pressure application.

This month's feature is a Chinese joss paper (also known as spirit paper or ghost paper) robe and pants. In our collection this pair of objects share the number 1993.006.728.  

These articles of paper clothing were never meant to be worn by the living. For almost 2000 years, Chinese mourners have been making joss paper objects for the dead. These objects are usually burned in ceremonies after the funeral but are sometimes buried with the deceased. It is believed that the joss paper items will become their real equivalents in the afterlife.