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The Sudbury Bow
Object Number 95-20-10/49340
Display Title The Sudbury Bow
Descriptions
Object Description Made from hickory, the bow measures over 5 feet high. An inscription on the bow reads: "The bow was taken from an Indian in Sudbury, Masstts A,D, 1660 by William Goodnough, who shot the Indian while he was ransacking his house for plunder." This description was interpreted literally, resulting in the title “The Sudbury Bow.” While the Indigenous maker of the bow is unknown, it is believed to be one of the only surviving examples of a seventeenth-century Native American bow. The bow was also used as inspiration for the bow depicted on the 1898 Seal of Massachusetts.
Inventory Description Bow, carved wood, curved, tapered at both ends
Classification
  • Bow
Department Ethnographic
Date 17th century
Culture
  • Algonquian
  • Wampanoag
Geography/Provenience/Site Name
North America / United States / Massachusetts / Middlesex County / Sudbury
Materials Hickory wood
Dimensions Distance (Bowed length): 167.6397 cm Distance (Total Length): 169.5447 cm Distance (Hand grip): 10.16 cm Distance (Widest bevel): 12.065 cm Overall: 169.5 × 4.6 × 3 cm (66 3/4 × 1 13/16 × 1 3/16 in.)
Quantity 1
Label on object "This bow was taken from an Indian in Sudbury, Masstts A.D. 1660 by William Goodnough who shot the Indian while he was ransacking his house for plunder." An additional severely faded notation appears on the adjacent faceted side of the bow, with only "A.D. 1660" still legible. On the faceted side of the bow to the right of "A.D. 1660" there are red, faded numbers, "4934_".
Credit Line Gift of the American Antiquarian Society, 1895
Provenance
Collector Possibly William Goodnough (1660)
Previous owner Rev. Charles C. P. Crosby (April 29, 1826)
Donor American Antiquarian Society (1895)

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