Industry & Manufacturing - Overview
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.
"Industry & Manufacturing - Overview" showing 7 items.
Stoneware jar
- Description
- David Morgan worked for New York City potter John Crolius Jr., beginning in 1795. In 1798 he temporarily took over Thomas H. Commeraw’s kiln on Cherry Street near Corlear’s Hook in Manhattan. The mark “CORLEARS HOOK” can be found on many of the well-formed jars, jugs and pitchers attributed to Morgan.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1795-1803
- maker
- Morgan, David
- ID Number
- 1977.0803.108
- accession number
- 1977.0803
- catalog number
- 1977.0803.108
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Stoneware jar
- Description
- While this jar is unmarked, it may be one of several in the Museum's collection made by Thomas Commeraw, a free black potter. Thomas Commeraw established his pottery in the Corlears Hook neighborhood of lower Manhattan in 1797, successfully competing with well known stoneware makers from the Crolious and Remmey families.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1797-1819
- maker
- Commeraw, Thomas
- ID Number
- 1977.0803.115
- accession number
- 1977.0803
- catalog number
- 1977.0803.115
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Stoneware butter jar
- Description
- This salt-glazed stoneware butter jar is decorated with hand applied cobalt, and is one of the earliest pieces made at the Athens, New York pottery established in 1805 by Nathan Clark and his brother-in-law, Thomas Howe. Howe died in 1813 leaving Clark to run and expand the company. He established subsidiaries in Kingston, Lyons, Rochester and Mt. Morris, New York between 1813 and 1838. The firm prospered until the end of the 1800s.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1805-1813
- maker
- Clark, Nathan
- Howe, Thomas
- ID Number
- 1977.0803.53
- accession number
- 1977.0803
- catalog number
- 1977.0803.53
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Stoneware jar
- Description
- John William Crolius immigrated to Manhattan from Germany in 1728 and established a successful pottery dynasty. This piece was probably made by Clarkson Crolius Jr., John William’s grandson. The last potter to work in the family business, Clarkson closed the pottery in 1849. This jar is glazed with Albany slip clay which was discovered in the Hudson Valley region about 1830 and soon became a preferred glaze for stoneware vessels.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1835-1849
- maker
- Crolius, Jr., Clarkson
- ID Number
- 1977.0855.1
- accession number
- 1977.0855
- catalog number
- 1977.0855.1
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Stoneware jar
- Description
- The Remmey and Crolius families dominated the New York stoneware industry from the early 1700s through the early 1800s. Both families emigrated from Germany, bringing with them the stoneware traditions of their homeland. Sometimes business associates, the two families also inter-married. Remmey family members went on to establish stoneware factories in Philadelphia and Baltimore, as well.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1795-1830
- maker
- Remmey III, John
- ID Number
- 1980.0614.363
- accession number
- 1980.0614
- catalog number
- 1980.0614.363
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Stoneware jar
- Description
- Floral, bird, and animal motifs were commonly used to decorate 19th century stoneware in the United States. This jar, made by John Remmey III, features an incised and cobalt decorated fish.
- Remmey pottery is often marked “Manhattan-Wells” referring to the firm’s location near the municipal water supply.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1791-ca 1831
- maker
- Remmey III, John
- ID Number
- CE*300894.007
- accession number
- 300894
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Stoneware Crock
- Description
- John Burger managed Nathan Clark’s Rochester, New York pottery beginning in 1841, before Clark sold his share of the business to Burger and Thompson Harrington in the early 1850s. Burger’s salt-glazed stoneware is similar to Clark’s work; both are known for their cobalt flower designs with strongly accentuated leaf patterns and generous use of color. The shape of this jar reflects the shift around the 1860’s towards straight-sided rather than ovoid pots.
- date made
- 1854-1867
- maker
- Burger, John
- ID Number
- CE*319884.161
- catalog number
- 319884.161
- accession number
- 319884
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center