M0005524: The "Taboo goblins" of Urama Island, Papua New Guinea

Previous title, replaced November 2021: The Taboo goblins of Urama

Reproduction of a photograph of two people wearing the costumes of "taboo goblins". The orginal photograph was taken by Frank Hurley, c.1920 who wrote that the goblins were used "by the old men of the clan to keep the village in control, and to guard certain fruits and vegetables for use at festival time". The photograph was reproduced in Hambley, Wilfrid Dyson: Origins of education among primitive peoples, London: Macmillan, 1926. A copy of the book illustration was acquired by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum and accessioned in 1938 (accession number PHO 10789).

4 August 1938

1 photograph glass plate negative; 12 x 16.5 cm

Catalogue data comes from a combination of entries in the original glass plate registers, metadata created when the glass plates were digitised in the early 2000s and enhancements made by the cataloguer in 2021.

Please consult the digitised version as this item is fragile. Email library@wellcomecollection.org to request access to the physical item.