Frederick Douglass Hand Puppet: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This large arm puppet represents Frederick Douglass, the renowned 19th century abolitionist, journalist, and statesman. Douglas is made of soft plush fabric and batting and is dressed in 19th century style. Douglass is one of three puppets created to celebrate the 150th birthday of Lewis Latimer (1848-1928), an African American scientist, inventor, and engineer.

In 1998, the Lemelson Center at the National Museum of American History commissioned the Brewery Troupe of Freeport, New York, to create puppets that could be used in their education program "Lewis Latimer: The Renaissance Man". In addition to Douglass, puppets representing Lewis Latimer and Thomas Edison were created for the program.

The Brewery Troupe was founded in 1973 by Brad Brewer, an accomplished puppeteer who trained under Jim Henson and performed puppetry shows on TV and the stage. The Brewery Troupe's goal is to interpret African American literature, music, and humor through the arts of the puppet theater.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date made: 1998
• transferring agency: Lemelson Center
• depicted: Douglass, Frederick
• user: Brewery Troupe, Inc.
• maker: Brewery Troupe, Inc.
• Object Name: puppet
• Physical Description: fabric (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 124.5 cm x 53.25 cm; 49 in x 20 15/16 in
• place made: United States: New York, Freeport
• Associated Place: United States: New York, New York
• Subject: Puppetry
• Subject: Anti-Slavery
• Subject: Invention
• Subject: African American
• ID Number: 1999.0144.03
• accession number: 1999.0144
• catalog number: 1999.0144.03
• 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.