Cultures & Communities - Overview
Furniture, cooking wares, clothing, works of art, and many other kinds of artifacts are part of what knit people into communities and cultures. The Museum’s collections feature artifacts from European Americans, Latinos, Arab Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, African Americans, Gypsies, Jews, and Christians, both Catholics and Protestants. The objects range from ceramic face jugs made by enslaved African Americans in South Carolina to graduation robes and wedding gowns. The holdings also include artifacts associated with education, such as teaching equipment, textbooks, and two complete schoolrooms. Uniforms, insignia, and other objects represent a wide variety of civic and voluntary organizations, including youth and fraternal groups, scouting, police forces, and firefighters.
"Cultures & Communities - Overview" showing 554 items.
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Barber's Tools
- Description
- This barber's kit included a pair of scissors, a manual clipper, straight razors, and a brush. Barbering has long been an independent, respectable way to earn a living. These tools belonged to an itinerant barber in Puerto Rico. In the 1930s and 1940s, la zafra, the sugar harvest, brought younger men, women, and families from the rural highlands and the urban coastal regions together. Itinerant barbers followed the sugar harvest, earning a significant part of their income.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- early 20th century
- ID Number
- 1997.0097.0835.001
- accession number
- 1997.0097
- catalog number
- 1997.0097.0835.001
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Half Model of the Pilot Schooner Hesper
- Description
- Hesper was a Boston pilot schooner, designed for speed in order to be the first to reach offshore merchant vessels and escort them through the treacherous harbor islands into the port. The fastest boat got to the client first, and Hesper had the reputation of being the fastest of the fast throughout her working career. Designed in 1884 by Boston naval architect Dennison J. Lawlor, the schooner measured 102 feet on deck by 23 feet in beam, with a 12-foot draft.
- Location
- Currently on loan
- designer
- Lawlor, Dennison J.
- ID Number
- TR*076037
- catalog number
- 76037
- accession number
- 15228
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Cantimplora
- Description
- This contemporary coconut canteen demonstrates dynamic craftsmanship using a variety of materials. The main body is made from a polished coconut incised with geometric designs. It is carried in a metal frame with a wooden handle and sealed with a plastic and cork stopper.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 20th century
- ID Number
- 1997.0097.0956
- catalog number
- 1997.0097.0956
- accession number
- 1997.0097
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Carpenter's Tools
- Description
- Pictured here are a carpenter's hammer and square. Carpentry was considered both skilled and semi-skilled labor. Many carpenters worked independently and traveled the countryside looking for work opportunities.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 20th century
- ID Number
- 1997.0097.1130
- accession number
- 1997.0097
- catalog number
- 1997.0097.1130
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Máquina de Margaritas Heladas
- Description
- In the 70's, the margarita surpassed the martini as the most popular American cocktail and salsa surpassed ketchup as the most-used American condiment. Today, Mexican cuisine, in all its modified, regionalized, commercialized, and even highly processed varieties, has become as American as apple pie. Mariano Martinez, a young Texas entrepreneur, and his frozen margarita machine were at the crossroads of that revolution. The margarita was first made on the California-Mexican border, and became associated with the service of Mexican food, particularly, with one of its variants, Tex-Mex, a regional cuisine that became popular all across the United States. In 1971, Martinez adapted a soft serve ice cream machine to create the world's first frozen margarita machine for his new Dallas restaurant, Mariano's Mexican Cuisine. With their blenders hard-pressed to produce a consistent mix for the newly popular drink they made from Mariano's father's recipe, his bartenders were in rebellion. Then came inspiration in the form of a Slurpee machine at a 7-Eleven, a machine invented in Dallas in 1960 to make carbonated beverages slushy enough to drink through a straw. The soft-serve ice cream machine that Martinez adapted to serve his special drink was such a success that, according to Martinez, "it brought bars in Tex-Mex restaurants front and center. People came to Mariano's for that frozen margarita out of the machine." Never patented, many versions of the frozen margarita machine subsequently came into the market. After 34 years of blending lime juice, tequila, ice, and sugar for enthusiastic customers, the world's first frozen margarita machine was retired to the Smithsonian.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca 1970
- maker
- Sani-Serv
- ID Number
- 2005.0226.01
- catalog number
- 2005.0226.01
- accession number
- 2005.0226
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Presentation Trumpet, "Washington Engine Co."
- Description (Brief)
- As more American volunteer fire fighting companies began to form during the late 18th century, a need emerged for better organized efforts in combating conflagrations. Engineers and officers would use “speaking trumpets” to amplify their voices over the noise and commotion of a fire scene to direct the company in effectively fighting the blaze. Two trumpet variants are reflected in the collection: plain and functional “working” trumpets that were actively used at fires, and highly decorated “presentation” trumpets. Presentation trumpets were awarded to firefighters in honor of their service, or between fire companies during visits, competitions, and musters.
- This speaking trumpet was presented by the Philadelphia Engine Company No. 18 of Boston to Philadelphia’s Washington Engine Company in 1832. The trumpet is made of brass, with a tin mouthpiece and an upper half sheathed in leather. A purple cord with tassels is attached near the mouthpiece, though it is of a later date than the trumpet itself. The brass trumpet is missing its bell, but the shaft is engraved with the inscription “Presented by the Philadelphia Engine Co. No. 18 of Boston to the Washington Engine Co. of Philadelphia, 1832." The Philadelphia Engine Company was founded in 1825 on Beacon Street, near Boston Common. Soon after this trumpet was made, the company changed its name to Lafayette and eventually disbanded in 1851. The Washington Engine Company was founded in Philadelphia in 1796 and would remain active until the city changed over to a municipal fire department in 1872.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1832
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 2005.0233.0821
- accession number
- 2005.0233
- catalog number
- 2005.0233.0821
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Presentation Trumpet, "James F. Gaffney"
- Description (Brief)
- As more American volunteer fire fighting companies began to form during the late 18th century, a need emerged for better organized efforts in combating conflagrations. Engineers and officers would use “speaking trumpets” to amplify their voices over the noise and commotion of a fire scene to direct the company in effectively fighting the blaze. Two trumpet variants are reflected in the collection: plain and functional “working” trumpets that were actively used at fires, and highly decorated “presentation” trumpets. Presentation trumpets were awarded to firefighters in honor of their service, or between fire companies during visits, competitions, and musters.
- This silver plated speaking trumpet was presented to James F. Gaffney and dates from the mid to late 19th century. The trumpet has a plain surface with beaded bands around the mouthpiece and upper and lower bulges in the trumpet. There is an egg and dart pattern stamped around the bell of the horn. Two gilded eagles’ heads are attached to the trumpet holding rings in their beaks that are connected by a braided purple cord with tassels on the end. There are decorative incisions around an engraving that reads “Presented to James F. Gaffney by his Friends for his Good qualities as a Fireman and his Virtues as a citizen.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1860
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 2005.0233.0822
- accession number
- 2005.0233
- catalog number
- 2005.0233.0822
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Presentation Trumpet, "Washington Fire Engine Company"
- Description (Brief)
- As more American volunteer fire fighting companies began to form during the late 18th century, a need emerged for better organized efforts in combating conflagrations. Engineers and officers would use “speaking trumpets” to amplify their voices over the noise and commotion of a fire scene to direct the company in effectively fighting the blaze. Two trumpet variants are reflected in the collection: plain and functional “working” trumpets that were actively used at fires, and highly decorated “presentation” trumpets. Presentation trumpets were awarded to firefighters in honor of their service, or between fire companies during visits, competitions, and musters.
- This silver plated speaking trumpet was presented to the Washington Fire Engine Company by the Jovial Club of Paterson, New Jersey in 1860. The trumpet is engraved with ivy and flowers around the entire trumpet and has an inscription inside an oval cartouche framed by tree branches. This inscription reads, "Presented by the Jovial Club of Paterson, N.J. to Washington Fire Engine Company No. 3, February 22, 1860." The braided orange cord with tassels is attached to the trumpet by rings in the shape of fire hats. In September of 1862 many members of the Washington Fire Engine Company formed Company A in the 25th Regiment of the New Jersey Volunteers.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1860
- ID Number
- 2005.0233.0823
- accession number
- 2005.0233
- catalog number
- 2005.0233.0823
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Presentation Trumpet "Fireman's Exempt Association"
- Description (Brief)
- As more American volunteer fire fighting companies began to form during the late 18th century, a need emerged for better organized efforts in combating conflagrations. Engineers and officers would use “speaking trumpets” to amplify their voices over the noise and commotion of a fire scene to direct the company in effectively fighting the blaze. Two trumpet variants are reflected in the collection: plain and functional “working” trumpets that were actively used at fires, and highly decorated “presentation” trumpets. Presentation trumpets were awarded to firefighters in honor of their service, or between fire companies during visits, competitions, and musters.
- This silver plated speaking trumpet was presented to the Firemen’s Exempt Association by the Liberty Steam Fire Engine Company, both of Paterson, New Jersey in 1890. The three sections of the trumpet are connected by bulging bands with decorated engravings. The upper section of the trumpet has a floral engraving. The center section of the trumpet has an oval cartouche containing an inscription that is surrounded by floral engravings. The inscription reads “Presented by Liberty S.F.E. Co. No. 7 to the Firemen’s Exempt Assoc. 1890, Patterson, N.J.” The bell of the trumpet has an engraving of a fire engine that is surrounded by floral engravings. An orange braided cord with tassels is attached to the trumpet by rings going through miniature fire helmets. The Firemen’s Exempt Association was a group formed to foster camaraderie between volunteer firemen after they had ceased participating in active duty, and fraternal visits between active fire companies and veterans groups were common practice in 19th century fire service.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1890
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 2005.0233.0824
- accession number
- 2005.0233
- catalog number
- 2005.0233.0824
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Presentation Trumpet, "Neptune Engine Company"
- Description (Brief)
- As more American volunteer fire fighting companies began to form during the late 18th century, a need emerged for better organized efforts in combating conflagrations. Engineers and officers would use “speaking trumpets” to amplify their voices over the noise and commotion of a fire scene to direct the company in effectively fighting the blaze. Two trumpet variants are reflected in the collection: plain and functional “working” trumpets that were actively used at fires, and highly decorated “presentation” trumpets. Presentation trumpets were awarded to firefighters in honor of their service, or between fire companies during visits, competitions, and musters.
- This silver plated trumpet was presented to the Neptune Engine Company by the citizens of Paterson, New Jersey through Josiah P. Doremus in 1867. The trumpet has three sections. The lower bell bears an engraved image of a steam powered fire engine. The center portion is an inscription framed by engraved decorative foliage that reads “Presented to Neptune Engine Company No. 2 by Citizens of Patterson, N.J. through Josiah P. Doremus. Sept 2nd 1867.” The upper section has a variety of decorative engravings. Josiah Doremus was a prominent businessman in Paterson, New Jersey during the middle of the 19th century.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1867
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 2005.0233.0825
- accession number
- 2005.0233
- catalog number
- 2005.0233.0825
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center