Indian Maiden or [slang] Cigar Store Indian, no date [1800s]. Hand-painted, carved wood. Western Americana Collection, transferred from Nassau Hall October 1957. Provenance unknown. Ex 4872.
Alfred Bush, former curator of Western Americana writes, “I realize I really don’t know anything about that fine Indian lass. I always assumed she came from Philip Rollins (Philip Ashton Rollins, Class of 1889 and chairman of the Friends of Princeton University Library) but I really don’t know.”
“For years she greeted visitors to Western Americana when it was in the old faculty lounge on the third floor (with the Cigar printing on the base covered so as not to offend the many Indian students who were regular visitors back then). But, as you know, there were several artifacts that came with the collection.”
No images of Nassau Hall have been found that include this figure.
