Patti the Patagonian Pig Marionette: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

The circus has a long history in America entertainment beginning in the 18thc, Traveling by wagon and train the circus exposed Americans to sites and sounds never seen before, including exotic animals, people from far away lands and daring performances that required great skill and bravery. Popular with all ages, the Haines brought the spirit of the circus to hundreds of people in an around Philadelphia through their elaborate puppet shows.

The Haines' circus puppet characters included Tightrope Star, Mitzi from Vienna, Boxers Kanga and Roo, Patagonian Pigs Pinkie and Patti, Tony the Dog in clown outfit, performing bears Laska, Pete and Repete, Flying Trapeze Artist Tim, Mugsy the Barker, and a Ringmaster..

Pinkie and Patti, the Patagonian pigs are standing side by side

holding wooden sticks with leather heads and playing the marimba. The instrument is made of wood and decorated with colorful fringe around the front. Their heads are carved from wood painted pink with black eyes and bright red lips. The heads swivel at the neck.. The wooden torso is hinged at the waist and their one piece arms and legs are hinged at the top sockets. Patti is dressed in a gold satin ruffled blouse and a long paisley print gathered skirt of many bright colors. Her head is covered with a bright pink wrapped turban embellished with straw fruit and flowers and she wears a blue grass multi strand necklace, gold bead earrings and gold bracelets on both wrists. . Patti is operated with a 2--piece wooden T-shaped control and a separate one piece bar control with 7 strings.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1947
• user: Haines, Elizabeth L.
• user: Haines, Frank D.
• maker: Haines, Elizabeth L.
• maker: Haines, Frank D.
• Object Name: puppet
• Object Type: puppets
• Object Type: marionettes
• Physical Description: fiber, synthetic, rayon (overall material)
• Physical Description: leather (overall material)
• Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
• Physical Description: wood (overall material)
• Physical Description: paint (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Physical Description: straw (overall material)
• Physical Description: beads, glass (earrings material)
• place made: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
• classified: Puppetry
• ID Number: 2007.0137.005.11
• accession number: 2007.0137
• catalog number: 2007.0137.005.11
• Credit Line: Gift of Elizabeth and Frank D. Haines
• 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.