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Elmo Puppet

National Museum of American History

Object Details

performer
Clash, Kevin
Dillon, Ryan
Henson, Jim
builder
Asch, Leslee
Wilcox, Caroly
Description (Brief)
Elmo is a furry red monster with an orange nose. He is three years old and generally refers to himself in the third person. Elmo talks in a falsetto voice and is enthusiastic and cheerful. He was originally designed in 1979 as a generic background monster and first appeared as Elmo on Sesame Street in 1980. He was performed by Kevin Clash until 2012 and was more recently performed by Ryan Dillon. This particular Elmo puppet was created around 1984.
Sesame Street has used puppetry and other arts to educate young children. Individual Americans, foundations, corporations, and federal, state, and local governments have supported the creation of public television, where Sesame Street began in 1969.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
A Gift from the Family of Jim Henson: Lisa Henson, Cheryl Henson, Brian Henson, John Henson and Heather Henson
1984
ID Number
2013.0101.01
accession number
2013.0101
catalog number
2013.0101.01
Object Name
puppet
Physical Description
plastic (overall material)
synthetic fur (overall material)
foam (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 14 in x 16 in x 11 in; 35.56 cm x 40.64 cm x 27.94 cm
See more items in
Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
Jim Henson
National Museum of American History
Subject
Children's television programs
Puppetry
Television broadcasts
Sesame Street
Record ID
nmah_1444757
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746b3-4b5c-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Related Content

  • 1980s: A Decade in the Collections

  • The Puppets and Muppets of Jim Henson

Elmo Puppet
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
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