Blue and white bandana owned by Melvin Van Peebles: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A navy-blue bandana worn by Melvin Van Peebles. The square shaped bandana is made from cotton and has a large central abstract butterfly-like motif with a scalloped border around it. It’s surrounded by smaller, disparate abstract leaves and floral motifs. A square scallop-edged white border and a sold white linear border outline the central square. Outside of that is a dense pattern of floral motifs, abstract triangular shapes, leaves, and butterfly-like motifs surrounded with a scalloped edge. The outer pattern is surrounded by two white scallop edged lines. Printed in one corner on each side of the kerchief is white text that reads [FAST COLOR / 100% COTTON / RN 13960].

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 2000 - 2010
• Created by: Unidentified
• Subject of: Melvin Van Peebles, American, 1932 - 2021
• Type: scarves (costume accessories)
• Type: kerchiefs
• Medium: cotton and dye
• Dimensions: L x W: 19 1/8 × 21 5/16 in. (48.5 × 54.2 cm)
• Place made: United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Black Enterprise
• Topic: Clothing and dress
• Topic: Fashion
• Topic: Film
• Topic: Musicians
• Object number: 2024.60.23
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: No known copyright restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.