Industry & Manufacturing

The Museum's collections document centuries of remarkable changes in products, manufacturing processes, and the role of industry in American life. In the bargain, they preserve artifacts of great ingenuity, intricacy, and sometimes beauty.

The carding and spinning machinery built by Samuel Slater about 1790 helped establish the New England textile industry. Nylon-manufacturing machinery in the collections helped remake the same industry more than a century later. Machine tools from the 1850s are joined by a machine that produces computer chips. Thousands of patent models document the creativity of American innovators over more than 200 years.

The collections reach far beyond tools and machines. Some 460 episodes of the television series Industry on Parade celebrate American industry in the 1950s. Numerous photographic collections are a reminder of the scale and even the glamour of American industry.

The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this Richard Nixon campaign pin in 1968. Scovill was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this Richard Nixon campaign pin in 1968. Scovill was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, medals, and pins.
The circular white button bears the text “NIXON” in red and “AGNEW” in blue. The button has a pin on the back, allowing it to be worn. Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew successfully ran for President and Vice President on the Republican ticket in 1968.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968
referenced
Nixon, Richard M.
Agnew, Spiro T.
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1301
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1301
The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this souvenir coin in 1965. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this souvenir coin in 1965. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, medals, and coins.
Obverse: Bust of P.T. Barnum facing right.
Reverse: Image of an eagle. The legend reads: The Annual Barnum Festival/ 1965/ BRIDGEPORT CONNECTICUT YANKEE COIN CLUB/ COIN-O-RAMA
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965
depicted
Barnum, P. T.
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1612
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1612
This rectangular wooden box features two wood and metal strips along its upper edges, indicating its use for carrying packaged cold cheeses, bottles of milk, and other dairy products.
Description
This rectangular wooden box features two wood and metal strips along its upper edges, indicating its use for carrying packaged cold cheeses, bottles of milk, and other dairy products. Both sides of the crate are marked in black with the name 'POLLY-O' written over the Pollio Dairy Corporation’s logo, an image of a parrot wearing a chef’s hat and carrying a fork. The numbers “4-65” in the lower right-hand corner indicate the box was manufactured in April 1965. The telephone number, “MI 7-3600,” is stamped on the upper right-hand corner, confirming the dairy’s location in Midwood, Brooklyn, in the mid-1960s. In addition to the dairy’s name and location, the crate is stamped with the words “Deposit Box.” While the box would have been used to carry filled bottles of milk, it was also a deposit box or transport pack, into which consumers would place their empty milk bottles to be returned to the dairy for washing and reuse.
Giuseppe Pollio, founder of the Pollio Dairy Company, immigrated to America at age 19 and arrived at Ellis Island in 1879. He settled in the Coney Island area of Brooklyn, New York, a popular location for other immigrants from Italy. Pollio established his company in 1899, just four years after machines for the commercial pasteurization of milk were introduced to the U.S. dairy industry. Over the following two decades, as almost 3 million Italians emigrated to America, there was a substantial new audience for traditional Italian products such as fresh cheese. Pollio was the first entrepreneur to manufacture and distribute mozzarella and ricotta on a large scale in the United States. Although mozzarella and ricotta are considered the most important types of Italian cheese, having been enjoyed in Italy since the 15th century, such fresh cheeses were uncommon in America prior to the 20th century. Polly-O became a significant distributor and helped turn American palates toward the newly available cheese, and to Italian cuisine in general.
During the first boom of the dairy industry, from 1875-1940, milk was transported from farms to processing plants or industrial dairies, where it was bottled in glass containers and sealed with a paper cap seal. The filled bottles were packed into wooden crates to be stored over ice. Such crates generally withstood the moisture from melting ice, but dairies switched to hard plastic crates when they became widely available by the 1970s.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965-04
ID Number
2014.0210.01
accession number
2014.0210
catalog number
2014.0210.01
The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this Hubert Humphrey Presidential campaign pin in 1968. Scovill was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this Hubert Humphrey Presidential campaign pin in 1968. Scovill was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, medals, coins, and tokens.
The circular white button bears the logo of three interlocking blue “H”s and the text “Humphrey” in red. The button has a pin on the back, allowing it to be worn. Humphrey unsuccessfully ran for President on the Democratic ticket in 1968.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968
referenced
Humphrey, Hubert H.
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1300
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1300
The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this campaign pin around 1968. Scovill was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this campaign pin around 1968. Scovill was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, medals, coins, and pins.
This circular white button bears the text “NIXON’S THE ONE!” in red. The button has a pin on the back, allowing it to be worn. Richard Nixon successfully ran for President on the Republican ticket in 1968.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1968
referenced
Nixon, Richard M.
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1299
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1299
Pressure sensitive tape was pioneered by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (later renamed 3M). In the early 1920s 3M engineer Richard Drew saw automotive painters struggling to mask out areas as they did two tone paint jobs.
Description
Pressure sensitive tape was pioneered by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (later renamed 3M). In the early 1920s 3M engineer Richard Drew saw automotive painters struggling to mask out areas as they did two tone paint jobs. He told his bosses at 3M and was given permission to work on an adhesive tape that would hold well but release cleanly. The result was adhesive tape brought to market in 1925. Changing base film, Drew and 3M created cellulose tape in 1930, and later transparent tape. The iconic snail tape dispenser was introduced by 3M in the 1939, and has a serrated edge for easy dispensing.
The Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company was founded in 1902 as a mining operation, but soon began to use its minerals to make sandpaper. 3M is known for its culture of innovation which encourages employees of disparate background to work together. The company manufactures a wide variety of products focusing on films and coatings. Products range from masking tape and reflective sheeting to synthetic fabrics and sticky notes.
date made
1960s
ID Number
2014.0063.04
maker number
5/0 95
catalog number
2014.0063.04
accession number
2014.0063
The Buckeye State was built at Shousetown, Pa., south of Pittsburgh. In 1849 the hull was completed and hauled up the Ohio River to Pittsburgh to be finished. Under the supervision of David Holmes, the Buckeye State was completed in February 1850.
Description
The Buckeye State was built at Shousetown, Pa., south of Pittsburgh. In 1849 the hull was completed and hauled up the Ohio River to Pittsburgh to be finished. Under the supervision of David Holmes, the Buckeye State was completed in February 1850. It was owned and operated by the Pittsburgh & Cincinnati Packet Line, which ran it regularly on the Ohio River between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. The company owned six or seven steamers at a time, and ran daily departures between the two cities. By the mid-1840s the Pittsburgh & Cincinnati Packet Line was praised by a Pittsburgh newspaper editor as “the greatest convenience . . . ever afforded the citizens on the banks of the Upper Ohio.”
On May 1, 1850 the Buckeye State left Cincinnati for Pittsburgh and completed the trip in a record 43 hours. Under Capt. Sam Dean, the steamer made 24 stops along the route, needing coal once and wood three times. One hundred years later, the Buckeye State still held the record for the fastest trip ever made by a steamboat between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.
In 1851, showman P. T. Barnum organized a race between the Buckeye State and the Messenger No. 2 as a publicity stunt to advertise Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind’s American tour. Steamboat racing was growing in popularity, and so a race was the perfect promotion. Although Lind and Barnum were aboard the Messenger No. 2, the Buckeye State won the race. The Buckeye State continued its service up and down the Ohio for six more years until it was retired and dismantled in 1857.
date made
1963
construction completed on Buckeye State
1850-02
Buckeye State retired
1857
participated in a steamboat race
1857
owned and operated by
Pittsburgh & Cincinnati Packet Line
supervised construction of Buckeye State
Holmes, David
captain of the Buckeye State
Dean, Sam
maker
Boucher-Lewis Precision Models, Inc.
ID Number
TR.322425
catalog number
322425
accession number
247839
Scotsman Alexander McDougall (1845-1924) was a ship captain on the Great Lakes when he patented the idea of a “whaleback” ship in the early 1880s. With low, rounded hulls, decks and deckhouses, his invention minimized water and wind resistance.
Description
Scotsman Alexander McDougall (1845-1924) was a ship captain on the Great Lakes when he patented the idea of a “whaleback” ship in the early 1880s. With low, rounded hulls, decks and deckhouses, his invention minimized water and wind resistance. Between 1887 and 1898, 44 whalebacks were produced: 23 were barges and 21 were steamships, including one passenger vessel.
Frank Rockefeller was the 36th example of the type, built in 1896 at a cost of $181,573.38 at McDougall’s American Steel Barge Company in Superior, WI. One of the larger examples of the type, Rockefeller measured 380 feet in length, drew 26 feet of water depth and had a single propeller.
Although it belonged to several different owners over its 73-year working life, the Rockefeller spent most of its early life transporting iron ore from mines in Lake Superior to steel mills along the shores of Lake Erie. In 1927, new owners put it in service as a sand dredge that hauled landfill sand for the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. From 1936-1942 the old ship saw service as a car carrier for another set of owners. In 1942 the ship wrecked in Lake Michigan, but wartime demand for shipping gave the old ship repairs, a new name (Meteor) and a new life as a tanker transporting petroleum products for more than 25 years. In 1969 Meteor ran aground off the Michigan coast, Instead of repairing the old ship, the owners sold it for a museum ship at Superior, WI. In poor condition today, Meteor is the last surviving example of McDougal’s whaleback or “pig boat”.
Date made
1961
date the Frank Rockefeller was built
1896
patentee of whaleback ships
McDougall, Alexander
company that built the Frank Rockefeller
American Steel Barge Company
ID Number
TR.318433
catalog number
318433
accession number
236171
In 1960, the Bucyrus-Erie Company of South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, presented this 14-inch-high, scale model of what was to become the world's largest stripping shovel to President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Description
In 1960, the Bucyrus-Erie Company of South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, presented this 14-inch-high, scale model of what was to become the world's largest stripping shovel to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Later that year, the President transferred this gift to the Smithsonian Institution. The Bucyrus-Erie Company had custom-designed this monster machine for the Peabody Coal Company. Bucyrus-Erie engineers anticipated that they would need two years to manufacture the behemoth, and an additional six months to assemble it at the site of the open-pit mine. (They planned to ship the machine's parts in over 250 railcars.) When finished, the shovel would weigh 7,000 tons, soar to the roofline of a 20-story building (some 220 feet high), and be able to extend its enormous 115-cubic-yard dipper over 460 feet, or about the length of an average city block. (The dipper's capacity would equal that of about six stand-sized dump trucks.) Fifty electric motors-ranging from 1/4 to 3,000 horsepower-would power the shovel, which was designed to be controlled by a single operator, perched in a cab five stories high. Publicists for Bucyrus-Erie called this the "largest self-powered mobile land vehicle ever built."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1960
recipient
Eisenhower, Dwight D.
maker
Bucyrus-Erie Company
ID Number
MC.317688
catalog number
317688
accession number
231557
Harold Albert Moore Latham (1899–1988) wore this badge during his work at the United Shoe Machinery Corporation (USMC) of Beverly, Massachusetts. Latham served as a machinist for the USMC during the 1920s and ’30s before becoming a superintendent in the 1940s.
Description
Harold Albert Moore Latham (1899–1988) wore this badge during his work at the United Shoe Machinery Corporation (USMC) of Beverly, Massachusetts. Latham served as a machinist for the USMC during the 1920s and ’30s before becoming a superintendent in the 1940s. His father, Albert Latham (1856–1924), worked for the USMC as well, and holds many patents related to shoe-making machinery. The expansion of the scale of industry often meant that managers did not know every employee by sight, which created the need for employee identification in large plants.
date made
1920 - 1960
ID Number
1989.0259.001
accession number
1989.0259
catalog number
89.0259.001
Introduced in the early 19th century, snag boats were designed to clear trees, stumps, and other obstructions from navigable rivers and channels.
Description
Introduced in the early 19th century, snag boats were designed to clear trees, stumps, and other obstructions from navigable rivers and channels. Most were in the form of a catamaran, with two parallel hulls between which trees were hauled in, cut up, and disposed of on land.
Designed by the Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency responsible for maintaining the national waterways, Charles H. West was built at Nashville, Tenn., in 1933-34 by the Nashville Bridge Co. at a cost of $227,260.48. It measured 170’ in length and 38’ in beam but only drew 4’-6” of water. Instead of a catamaran design, the West had a normal, shallow sternwheeler hull. At the flat or scow bow, two A-frames hauled snags up a ramp for disposal. It cleared snags along the lower Mississippi River for many years.
In 1969, the West was sold to a private party and converted to the restaurant boat Lt. Robert E. Lee in St. Louis, Mo. the following year. The name was fitting. Although best known as a Confederate general, in the late 1830s, Lee had been an officer in the Corps of Engineers. His work installing pilings and wing dams had helped the Mississippi currents to clear silt and keep open the main St. Louis landing.
Moored on the Mississippi near the St. Louis Arch, the Lee was a successful restaurant until a 1993 flood devastated the waterfront. After several failed attempts to reopen, the vessel was auctioned on December 19, 2008, for $200,000. Its new owners plan to renovate and reopen the famous ship once again as a restaurant and nightclub in St. Louis.
Date made
1966
ID Number
TR.326538
catalog number
326538
accession number
265606
The 102-foot three-masted scow schooner Milton was built by Ellsworth & Davidson at Milwaukee, Wis., in 1867.
Description
The 102-foot three-masted scow schooner Milton was built by Ellsworth & Davidson at Milwaukee, Wis., in 1867. It spent 20 years hauling lumber on Lake Michigan, along with hundreds of other small boats nicknamed the “mosquito fleet.” Built to carry as much cargo as possible, many of these flat-bottom boats did not sail very well.
The Milton collided with the ship W.H. Hinsdale at Milwaukee in December 1867, causing about $100 in damage to each vessel. It also ran aground twice during its career.
On 8 September 1885, while transporting a cargo of cedar posts and cordwood, the Milton sank off Two Rivers, Wis., during an autumn storm. The entire crew of five men was lost—three of them brothers.
Date made
1962
Milton built
1867
ID Number
TR.321529
catalog number
321529
accession number
246222
“Straight edges” or rulers were used aboard ships as writing guides on the unlined pages of letters, journals and logbooks.
Description
“Straight edges” or rulers were used aboard ships as writing guides on the unlined pages of letters, journals and logbooks. The back side of this long stick is marked in 2-1/4, 4-1/2 and 9-inch sections, indicating another usage, probably by the ship’s cooper to measure the level of liquid (water, wine, beer or whale oil) in his wooden casks.
date made
1800s
collected
1960-07-26
ID Number
DL.61.0049
catalog number
61.49
accession number
231930
catalog number
61.0049
The packet ship Ohio was built at Philadelphia, PA in 1825 and measured 105’-6” on deck and 352 tons. Its ownership changed several times, beginning with C. Price & Morgan’s Philadelphia–New Orleans route in 1825.
Description
The packet ship Ohio was built at Philadelphia, PA in 1825 and measured 105’-6” on deck and 352 tons. Its ownership changed several times, beginning with C. Price & Morgan’s Philadelphia–New Orleans route in 1825. In 1830, the Russell Line bought the vessel, running it from New York to New Orleans. Eight years later, Hand’s Line purchased the Ohio and resumed its original Philadelphia–New Orleans route. Its later career is unknown.
Packet ships derive their name from their original cargo—packets of mail. Unlike independent merchant vessels, packet companies maintained set schedules and routes, making it easier for merchants and industries to know when supplies would arrive and depart. The packet lines also received government subsidies for transporting the mails.
Cotton production in the United States coincided with the upswing in coastal packet lines. By the mid-1800s, the United States was the world’s largest cotton producer. Most raw cotton came from the South, sailing out of New Orleans. During cotton’s off-season, the Ohio probably carried goods like lead, molasses, tobacco, flaxseed, and furs.
Date made
1961
ID Number
TR.319025
catalog number
319025
accession number
236167
The three-masted wooden propeller Edward Smith was built in 1890 by F.W. Wheeler & Co. at West Bay City, Michigan. The 201-foot bulk freighter is best known for rescuing crew from the old wooden steamer Annie Young on 20 October 1890 in Lake Huron.
Description
The three-masted wooden propeller Edward Smith was built in 1890 by F.W. Wheeler & Co. at West Bay City, Michigan. The 201-foot bulk freighter is best known for rescuing crew from the old wooden steamer Annie Young on 20 October 1890 in Lake Huron. The Young was transporting a cargo of coal from Buffalo to Gladstone, MI when a fire began somewhere in the vicinity of the boiler.
Upbound from Marine City, Smith’s Captain Mitchell saw the Young on fire, dropped the two barges he was towing and began circling the burning ship, rescuing 13 crew and the captain. Nine men were lost when their lifeboat swamped and sank. Capt. Mitchell was awarded a lifesaving medal for his efforts; Annie Young had been insured for $55,000.
In 1900, the Smith was renamed Zillah, when transferred at Port Huron, MI to new owners. On 29 August 1926, Zillah was transporting a cargo of heavy limestone when it sailed into a summer storm in Whitefish Bay, Lake Superior. The old steamer began to take on water, and the crew removed their belongings while Zillah coasted in a circle. The crew was rescued without loss by the steamer William B. Schiller, with assistance from the Coast Guard. Shortly afterwards, the ship rolled over and sank. The Zillah’s wreck was located in 1975.
Date made
1966
ship transferred to Michigan
1900
ship sank
1926-08-29
ship wreckage located
1975
built ship, Edward Smith
F. W. Wheeler & Co.
ID Number
TR.326655
catalog number
326655
accession number
265603
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1962
associated date
1862
affiliated union
United Auto Workers
maker
United Auto Workers
ID Number
1988.0701.07
catalog number
1988.0701.07
accession number
1988.0701
A tin matchbox cover with a printed celluloid covering. The front has the New Zealand emblem or coat of arms.
Description (Brief)
A tin matchbox cover with a printed celluloid covering. The front has the New Zealand emblem or coat of arms. The back has images of the flags of some Commonwealth nations (Canada, India, Union Jack, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia), with the slogan "There'll always be an England" underneath. "There'll Always Be an England" was a popular patriotic song in Britain during WWII. One side has an image of a Maori fertility god and the phrase "Kia Ora," which is used in the same way as "G'day" or "Hi."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1926-1961
ID Number
2006.0098.1610
catalog number
2006.0098.1610
accession number
2006.0098
Pin commemorating the New York World's Fair, held in Queens, 1963-1964. It reads " have seen the Future, General Motors Futurama."Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Pin commemorating the New York World's Fair, held in Queens, 1963-1964. It reads " have seen the Future, General Motors Futurama."
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1939-1940
date made
1964
ID Number
1990.0542.1674
accession number
1990.0542
catalog number
1990.0542.1674

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