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 609 items.
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Poster, Cleveland: Many Peoples One Language
- Description
- Waves of non–English–speaking European immigrants flooded the cities of industrial America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Local governments and civic groups sought to encourage immigrants to learn to speak, read, and write English. This 1917 poster from the Americanization Committee of the Cleveland Board of Education was posted in schools in an attempt to reach immigrant parents through their children.
- An appeal to attend free evening English classes appears on this poster in six languages : Italian, Hungarian, Slovenian, Polish, Yiddish, and English. Cleveland's factories, steel mills, port facilities, and assembly plants teemed with the new working–class arrivals from central and eastern Europe. On the eve of the American entry into World War I, nationalistic passions were rising and new immigrants were especially encouraged to "become American" by learning English and preparing for American citizenship.
- The 29" x 43" poster is a J. H. Donahey publication printed by the Artcraft Company of Cleveland, Ohio.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1917
- maker
- Artcraft Co.
- ID Number
- 1986.0799.01
- accession number
- 1986.0799
- catalog number
- 1986.0799.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
"In-Out" Basket
- Description
- The process of manufacturing such baskets is called "sewing," but it is actually a process of binding and coiling long strands of grass. In the wetlands, two kinds of grasses are used; "sweetgrass," and more recently, black rush, also known as "bullrush." Strips of oak wood, or palmetto fronds are used to bind together long bundles of grass, which are then coiled into a particular shape. Makeshift tools, such as broken-off spoons, flattened nails, or cow ribs are used for the coiling and binding process. Sometimes, colored grasses or pine needles are used in the show baskets, although the use of sweetgrass, bulrush, and palmetto is standard.
- Today, the role of the men and boys is to gather the materials, the women do the weaving and market the baskets. Until recently, baskets were sold from family-operated roadside stands, but increasingly, they are sold at county fairs and cultural festivals. Many of the older women regarded basketmaking as a carefully guarded community secret, but many of the younger women give basketmaking seminars to people from outside of the communities. The women of an earlier generation were not always comfortable with the term "gullah", younger women tend to recognize its historical and cultural value.
- Today, the baskets are for domestic and decorative purposes, rather than agricultural use, and there is a much wider variety of shapes than when baskets were used on the plantations. Some coil weaving produces wall decorations, ladies' hats, and men's caps. Although there are no fixed rules for terminology, certain shapes are often given specific names. Some of the named shapes are for placing utensils inside the baskets.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1970
- ID Number
- CL*298252.18
- collector/donor number
- C.26.1.
- accession number
- 298252
- catalog number
- 298252.18
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Weber Upright Piano
- Description (Brief)
- Albert Weber became Steinway’s principal competitor in the 1870s, just as the Chickering company began to falter. Weber made few technical innovations. He simply made extremely fine pianos like this 1876 upright and sold them at fair prices. Beautifully decorated by Herter Brothers, furniture designers of New York, this instrument helped Weber challenge Steinway at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876. The piano is serial number 9957, and has a compass of AAA-c5, tape-check upright action (probably not original), felt hammers, single-, double-, and triple-strings, cross-strung, 2 pedals: “soft” and dampers, a double iron frame, and an ebonized case with inlaid designs and gilded banding.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1876
- maker
- Weber
- decorator
- Herter Brothers
- ID Number
- 1980.0360.01
- catalog number
- 1980.0360.01
- accession number
- 1980.0360
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Face Vessel
- Description
- The tradition of shaping human likenesses on ceramic vessels is thousands of years old. Face vessels held different meanings in different cultures around the world. Some were probably used in burial rituals, others satirized the person whose features were captured in clay, and still others were made just for fun.
- The earliest face vessels known to have been produced by white southern potters were probably not made until the end of the 1800s. White potters working in the Edgefield area in the mid-1800s may have seen the slave-made vessels and taken the idea with them as they moved out of South Carolina.
- Like many southern pottery families, the Brown family encompasses a line of potters generations long. The Browns began making pottery in west-central Georgia by the mid-1800s before migrating east to the Atlanta area after the Civil War. The family spread from there to North and South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas.
- Starting in the 1960s, a growing interest in southern face vessels as examples of 20th-century folk art prompted collectors, historians, and cultural institutions to seek out and encourage the potters who produce them. This piece, in the middle, was made by a member of the Brown family in North Carolina, and donated to the Smithsonian by Ralph Rinzler and his wife. Working for the Smithsonian's Office of Folklife Programs, Rinzler was instrumental in the rediscovery and popularization of face vessels.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1967-1968
- maker
- Brown Pottery
- ID Number
- 1981.0287.5
- accession number
- 1981.0287
- catalog number
- 1981.287.5
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Face Vessel
- Description
- The tradition of shaping human likenesses on ceramic vessels is thousands of years old. Face vessels held different meanings in different cultures around the world. Some were probably used in burial rituals, others satirized the person whose features were captured in clay, and still others were made just for fun.
- The earliest face vessels known to have been produced by white southern potters were probably not made until the end of the 1800s. White potters working in the Edgefield area in the mid-1800s may have seen the slave-made vessels and taken the idea with them as they moved out of South Carolina.
- Like many southern pottery families, the Brown family encompasses a line of potters generations long. The Browns began making pottery in west-central Georgia by the mid-1800s before migrating east to the Atlanta area after the Civil War. The family spread from there to North and South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas.
- Starting in the 1960s, a growing interest in southern face vessels as examples of 20th-century folk art prompted collectors, historians, and cultural institutions to seek out and encourage the potters who produce them. This piece, on the left, was made by a member of the Brown family in North Carolina, and donated to the Smithsonian by Ralph Rinzler and his wife. Working for the Smithsonian's Office of Folklife Programs, Rinzler was instrumental in the rediscovery and popularization of face vessels.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1967-1968
- maker
- Brown Pottery
- ID Number
- 1981.0287.6
- accession number
- 1981.0287
- catalog number
- 1981.287.6
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Face Vessel
- Description
- The tradition of shaping human likenesses on ceramic vessels is thousands of years old. Face vessels held different meanings in different cultures around the world. Some were probably used in burial rituals, others satirized the person whose features were captured in clay, and still others were made just for fun.
- The earliest face vessels known to have been produced by white southern potters were probably not made until the end of the 1800s. White potters working in the Edgefield area in the mid-1800s may have seen the slave-made vessels and taken the idea with them as they moved out of South Carolina.
- This jug, on the right, was made by Georgia potter Cheever Meaders (1887-1967) who produced a small number of face vessels. Although they were popular, Meaders felt that they were too much trouble to make. Meaders used pieces of broken, glazed plates for the eyes and teeth on this piece.
- Starting in the 1960s, a growing interest in southern face vessels as examples of 20th-century folk art prompted collectors, historians, and cultural institutions to seek out and encourage the potters who produce them. This piece was donated to the Smithsonian by Ralph Rinzler and his wife. Working for the Smithsonian's Office of Folklife Programs, Rinzler was instrumental in the rediscovery and popularization of face vessels.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1967
- maker
- Meaders, Cheever
- ID Number
- 1981.0287.7
- accession number
- 1981.0287
- catalog number
- 1981.287.7
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Pitcher Honoring Frederick Douglass
- Description
- This hand-modeled and molded, unglazed red earthenware pitcher honors Frederick Douglass, "Slave Orator/ United States Marshall, Recorder of Deeds D.C./ Diplomat."
- Although the maker is unknown, we do know that the design for the pitcher was copyrighted by a J. E. Bruce of Albany, New York, in 1896, one year after Douglass's death.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca 1895
- designer
- Bruce, J. E.
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1981.0353.1
- catalog number
- 1981.353.1
- accession number
- 1981.0353
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
The Last Moment of the Emperor Maximilian
- Description
- This relief print from The Magazine of Art dramatically illustrates the final moments before the execution of the Mexican Emperor Maximilian I in 1867. An Austrian noble by birth, Maximilian was installed by Napoleon III of France. French forces had invaded Mexico in 1862, after President Benito Juárez suspended payments on its foreign debt. Despite a major victory by Mexican forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, the French seized control of large sections of Mexico, including the capital. Maximilian was initially supported by Mexican conservatives in a backlash against the changes instituted by the Mexican War of Reform (1857–1861). However, once on the throne, his support of a free press, open universities, land reform, and other progressive ideas of the day proved to be out of step with his conservative constituency and the Catholic Church. Menaced by the government of the United States, victorious after its own civil war, and the rising success of Mexican nationalist forces, the French withdrew their military support of Maximilian, the last emperor of Mexico. This historic image is one of 45,000 artistic and commercials prints housed in the Graphic Arts Collection of the National Museum of American History.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca 1890
- graphic artist
- Babbage, T.
- publisher
- Magazine of Art
- ID Number
- 1996.0197.350
- catalog number
- 1996.0197.350
- accession number
- 1996.0197
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Carnival Mask
- Description
- This papier-mâché mask was made by Miguel Caraballo in 1985. Masks like this are typically worn by young men from the neighborhood, who don the costume of a vejigante , a character who roams the streets during Carnival, playfully scaring children and other revelers, and swatting them with vejigas (balloon-like, inflated animal bladders).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1985
- maker
- Caraballo, Miguel Angel
- ID Number
- 1997.0097.0002
- accession number
- 1997.0097
- catalog number
- 1997.0097.0002
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Cuban Rumba Dress
- Description
- This is a Bata Cubana, or Cuban Rumba dress, donated to the Smithsonian by Celia Cruz, the great Cuban salsa singer in 1997. An adaptation of the traditional Cuban rumba dress, it was made in the United States by Cuban-born designer José Arteaga. The Bata Cubana has its roots in the 19th century, with origins as diverse as the multicultural makeup of the people of Cuba. It brings together influences from Spanish, French, and African culture and dress, combining theater, fiesta, and the spectacle of carnival with slave and gypsy dress. The Bata Cubana is a garment worn for performance on stage or cabaret. Celia Cruz's Bata Cubana is made of orange polyester satin, trimmed with white nylon eyelet along ruffle-edges and eyelet beading along seams with inserted orange ribbon. The Bata Cubana was Celia's preferred performance costume.
- Date made
- ca 1992
- date made
- 1973-1987
- designer
- Arteaga, Enrique
- ID Number
- 1997.0291.01
- accession number
- 1997.0291
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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