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Andrew Dana’s Doll
The Frank T.
Siebert Collection
Courtesy of Stephanie Finger
35 cm tall
Penobscot Andrew Dana owned this doll. Andrew grew
up on Mattanawcook Island, a tiny Penobscot village
in the Penobscot River at Lincoln, Maine. Located
about 25 miles upriver from the main Penobscot village
at Indian Island, Old Town, the Mattanawcook Island
village was a more remote community. Linguist Frank
Siebert sought out Penobscot speakers from there when
he began his study of the language in the 1930s. Andrew
became a close friend, colleague and language teacher
to Siebert. When Andrew died in 1968, Siebert was
devastated; he continued to work with Andrew’s
wife, Susie, who was also a native speaker of the
language.
Andrew was born in February 1898
and lived with his grandfather, Francis Joseph Dana.
Francis Dana was a proficient Penobscot speaker and
one of the last of the traditional narrators who remembered
and performed the very ancient Penobscot stories.
Young Andrew grew up listening to his grandfather’s
narratives. Later, as an elder himself, he recounted
them for Frank Siebert.
The doll is delicate and intricately
carved. He carries a tiny bow and wears bird claw
and bead necklaces and a feather headdress. He is
dressed in a buckskin jacket and leggings typical
of 19th century men’s “traditional”
clothing, and has his recurved bow and a feather headdress.
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