Family & Social Life - Overview
Donations to the Museum have preserved irreplaceable evidence about generations of ordinary Americans. Objects from the Copp household of Stonington, Connecticut, include many items used by a single family from 1740 to 1850. Other donations have brought treasured family artifacts from jewelry to prom gowns. These gifts and many others are all part of the Museum's family and social life collections.
Children's books and Sunday school lessons, tea sets and family portraits also mark the connections between members of a family and between families and the larger society. Prints, advertisements, and artifacts offer nostalgic or idealized images of family life and society in times past. And the collections include a few modern conveniences that have had profound effects on American families and social life, such as televisions, video games, and personal computers.
"Family & Social Life - Overview" showing 50 items.
Page 1 of 5
1880 - 1900 The Closet Folding Bathtub
- Description
- With daily bathing becoming more accepted by the 1880s, many attempted to develop innovative ways to heat bath water and to incorporate the portable bathtub within a room setting. The Mosely Folding Bath Company advertised a folding bath in the 1895 Montgomery Ward Catalog. This tub, disguised as a mirrored wardrobe, folded down and out of its wood casing into the room, revealing the heater above.
- This was similar to Bruschke & Ricke’s combined sofa and bathtub of the same period. The sofa’s bolster concealed a water tank and heater, while the seat unfolded to reveal a bathtub. Often, large rubber aprons protected the wood or carpeted floor. Accounts of igniting sofas and burned bathers dampened the product’s appeal. Since neither bathtub attached to plumbing nor pipes, used bath water drained into a basin and then required emptying.
- For more information on bathing and bathtubs in the 19th and early 20th centuries, please see the introduction to this online exhibition.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1880-1900
- manufacturer
- Mosely Folding Bath Co.
- ID Number
- 1977.1217.13
- catalog number
- 1977.1217.13
- accession number
- 1977.1217
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
sound recording: Old Fashioned Meeting, The; Ninety and Nine, The
- Description (Brief)
- F. Carlton Booth. side 1: THE OLD FASHION MEETING; side 2: THE NINETY AND NINE (Singspiration 1041). from the album "Singing" (Singspiration 4)
- 78 rpm
- Location
- Currently not on view
- recording artist
- Booth, F. Carlton
- maker
- Singspiration
- ID Number
- 1996.0320.05023
- maker number
- 1041
- 4
- catalog number
- 1996.0320.05023
- accession number
- 1996.0320
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
sound recording: We Shall See His Lovely Face; Jesus Gives Me a Song
- Description (Brief)
- F. Carlton Booth. side 1: WE SHALL SEE HIS LOVELY FACE; side 2: JESUS GIVES ME A SONG (Singspiration 1042). from the album "Singing" (Singspiration 4)
- 78 rpm
- Location
- Currently not on view
- recording artist
- Booth, F. Carlton
- maker
- Singspiration
- ID Number
- 1996.0320.05024
- maker number
- 1042
- 4
- catalog number
- 1996.0320.05024
- accession number
- 1996.0320
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
sound recording: Singing; Gethsemane
- Description (Brief)
- F. Carlton Booth. side 1: SINGING; side 2: GETHSEMANE (Singspiration 1040). from the album "Singing" (Singspiration 4)
- 78 rpm
- Location
- Currently not on view
- recording artist
- Booth, F. Carlton
- maker
- Singspiration
- ID Number
- 1996.0320.05025
- maker number
- 1040
- 4
- accession number
- 1996.0320
- catalog number
- 1996.0320.05025
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
sound recording: When the Bloom Is On the Sage; Hills Of Old Wyoming, The
- Description (Brief)
- Curley Bradley. side 1: WHEN THE BLOOM IS ON THE SAGE; side 2: THE HILLS OF OLD WYOMING (Universal 7500). from the album, "Curley Bradley presents the Tom Mix of Radio" (Universal U2)
- 78 rpm
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1948
- recording artist
- Bradley, Curley
- maker
- Universal
- ID Number
- 1996.0320.05062
- maker number
- 7500
- U2
- accession number
- 1996.0320
- catalog number
- 1996.0320.05062
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
sound recording: Ridin' Down the Canyon; Carry Me Back To the Lone Prairie
- Description (Brief)
- Curley Bradley. side 1: RIDIN' DOWN THE CANYON; side 2: CARRY ME BACK TO THE LONE PRAIRIE (Universal 7501). from the album, "Curley Bradley presents the Tom Mix of Radio" (Universal U2)
- 78 rpm
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1948
- recording artist
- Bradley, Curley
- maker
- Universal
- ID Number
- 1996.0320.05063
- maker number
- 7501
- U2
- catalog number
- 1996.0320.05063
- accession number
- 1996.0320
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
sound recording: Tumbling Tumble Weeds; San Antonio Rose
- Description (Brief)
- Curley Bradley. side 1: TUMBLING TUMBLE WEEDS; side 2: SAN ANTONIO ROSE (Universal 7502). from the album, "Curley Bradley presents the Tom Mix of Radio" (Universal U2)
- 78 rpm
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1948
- recording artist
- Bradley, Curley
- maker
- Universal
- ID Number
- 1996.0320.05064
- maker number
- 7502
- U2
- accession number
- 1996.0320
- catalog number
- 1996.0320.05064
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
sound recording: Nellie Bly; Virginia Reel
- Description (Brief)
- Ed Durlacher and The Top Hands. side 1: NELLIE BLY; side 2: VIRGINIA REEL (Sonora 1121). from the album, "Country Dances" (Sonora MS 479)
- 78 rpm
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1946
- recording artist
- Ed Durlacher and The Top Hands
- maker
- Sonora
- ID Number
- 1996.0320.05093
- maker number
- 1121
- MS 479
- accession number
- 1996.0320
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
sound recording: Uptown-Downtown; Sanita Hill
- Description (Brief)
- Ed Durlacher and The Top Hands. side 1: UPTOWN-DOWNTOWN; side 2: SANITA HILL (Sonora 1122). from the album, "Country Dances" (Sonora MS 479)
- 78 rpm
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1946
- recording artist
- Ed Durlacher and The Top Hands
- maker
- Sonora
- ID Number
- 1996.0320.05094
- maker number
- 1122
- MS 479
- accession number
- 1996.0320
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
sound recording: Red River Valley; Loobie Lou Skip To My Lou
- Description (Brief)
- Ed Durlacher and The Top Hands. side 1: RED RIVER VALLEY; side 2: LOOBIE LOU SKIP TO MY LOU (Sonora 1123). from the album, "Country Dances" (Sonora MS 479)
- 78 rpm
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1946
- recording artist
- Ed Durlacher and The Top Hands
- maker
- Sonora
- ID Number
- 1996.0320.05095
- maker number
- 1123
- MS 479
- accession number
- 1996.0320
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center