Bert Puppet: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Bert is a hand-rod puppet originally performed by Frank Oz and currently performed by Eric Jacobson. In a hand-rod puppet, like Bert, the performer’s dominant hand goes into the puppet’s head and operates the mouth and sometimes other facial features. The less dominant hand controls the arm rods, which are thin rods connected to the puppet’s hands. Bert lives on Sesame Street with his best friend and roommate Ernie. He has a serious personality and a pet pigeon named Bernice. Bert, with Ernie, has been a part of Sesame Street since the first test pilot episodes and the premier in 1969, and this puppet is the original Bert used for those pilot episodes.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1969
• performer: Oz, Frank
• performer: Jacobson, Eric
• maker: Henson, Jim
• maker: Sahlin, Don
• Object Name: puppet
• Physical Description: foam (overall material)
• Physical Description: felt (overall material)
• Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
• Physical Description: fabric (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 23 1/2 in x 23 in x 9 in; 59.69 cm x 58.42 cm x 22.86 cm
• Subject: Sesame Street
• Subject: Children's television programs
• Subject: Puppetry
• Subject: Television
• Subject: Television broadcasts
• ID Number: 2013.0101.13
• accession number: 2013.0101
• catalog number: 2013.0101.13
• Credit Line: Gift of the Family of Jim Henson: Lisa Henson, Cheryl Henson, Brian Henson, John Henson and Heather Henson
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.