The Bullroarer Atlas

MUS2026-123 - museum specimen

Penobscot bullroarer, Old Town, Maine (Speck: NMAI specimen + APS drawing)

United States - Old Town (Indian Island), Maine - North America - Eastern Woodlands

Function not recorded

Penobscot wood-and-twine bullroarer collected by Frank Speck in 1911.
Penobscot wood-and-twine bullroarer collected by Frank Speck in 1911. Image source

Source term: bullroarer

On Indian Island, home of the Penobscot Nation, this bullroarer survives ready for action. Its long leaf-shaped blade is finely serrated along one edge, and the braided cord still joins it to the wooden handle that gave the player a full swinging reach. A separate bullroarer drawing in Frank Speck’s Penobscot papers confirms the form he recorded there in 1911.

Object
Complete bullroarer rig: leaf-shaped carved wooden blade, finely serrated along one edge, with braided twine and a long wooden swinging handle. NMAI 2/9224.
Function
Specific use not recorded.
Map confidence
high - Old Town, Maine — the Penobscot community Speck worked in
Source location
Page references

NMAI 2/9224; APS Mss.Ms.Coll.126, file 8-37-i (archival object 977380)

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