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 36 items.
Page 2 of 4
Stoneware jug
- Description
- The conclusion of the War of 1812 devastated many American potteries as the importation of less expensive, foreign-made wares resumed, mostly from Great Britain and Holland. While a number of potteries went out of business, the Clark and Howe pottery in Athens, New York employed more men than any other pottery in the state, and even expanded into northwestern New York. The firm was in part responsible for sustaining the local economy, paying $1,750 in wages in 1812 (equal to over $22,000 today).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1805-1813
- maker
- Clark, Nathan
- Howe, Thomas
- ID Number
- 1977.0803.66
- accession number
- 1977.0803
- catalog number
- 1977.0803.66
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Stoneware jug
- Description
- Stoneware containers were useful for storing many goods into the 1900s. Before the development of canning and refrigeration, stoneware forms were staples in most homes, used to hold salted or pickled food as well as beverages and dairy products. This jug, probably meant to hold water, ale, whiskey or beer, features an incised design. By the time this piece was made, most potters had turned to glaze painting, which was faster and easier to produce.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1866-1885
- maker
- Hart, Nahum
- Hart, Charles
- ID Number
- 1977.0803.77
- accession number
- 1977.0803
- catalog number
- 1977.0803.77
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Stoneware cooler
- Description
- Thompson Harrington took over management of Nathan Clark’s Lyons, New York stoneware manufactory in 1852 when Clark left to establish new potteries elsewhere in western New York. Located along the Erie Canal, the Lyons pottery flourished under Harrington and subsequent ownership until it closed in 1902.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1852-1872
- maker
- Harrington, Thompson
- ID Number
- 1977.0803.81
- accession number
- 1977.0803
- catalog number
- 1977.0803.81
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Stoneware flask
- Description
- Early in their partnership, Nathan Clark and Ethan S. Fox produced both earthenware and stoneware. They stopped making earthenware in the 1830s to focus on stoneware forms such as molasses jugs, beer bottles and spittoons, all considered innovative shapes. This elaborately decorated flask may have been designed to compete with glass flasks being made at the time.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1829-1838
- maker
- Clark, Nathan
- Fox, Ethan
- ID Number
- 1977.0803.90
- accession number
- 1977.0803
- catalog number
- 1977.0803.90
- 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 jug
- Description
- This jug was probably made by William Lundy and Nathan Church, Jr. at Israel Seymour’s Troy, New York pottery. The potters achieved the distinctive decoration on this piece by using both cobalt and manganese oxides to fill in the incised floral motif.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1819-1824
- maker
- Lundy, William
- Church, Jr., Nathan
- ID Number
- 1979.0577.08
- accession number
- 1979.0577
- catalog number
- 1979.577.8
- 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
Spencer Microscope
- Description
- Until Charles A. Spencer began making microscopes in Canastota, New York, in 1838, the only high-quality microscopes available in the United States were imported from Europe. Spencer gained fame among American scientists for his fine objective lenses, which provided stronger magnification and sharper resolution than many European models. This brass monocular microscope, equipped with a mirror to reflect light through the slide, could be used with either a compound or a simple lens.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1849-1859
- associated dates
- 1990-04-10
- maker
- C. A. & H. Spencer
- ID Number
- 1990.0183.01
- catalog number
- 1990.0183.01
- accession number
- 1990.0183
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Stoneware stein
- Description
- The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 contributed to the establishment of numerous stoneware factories in towns such as Utica, New York. The White family first began making utilitarian pottery in Utica in 1834, and started using molds and steam-powered pottery wheels in the 1870s, expanding the types of wares they could produce. By the late 1800s, they were known for their relief molded wares, such as this stein.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1890-1907
- maker
- White's Pottery
- ID Number
- 1992.0278.03
- catalog number
- 1992.0278.03
- accession number
- 1992.0278
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Stoneware jug
- Description
- The salt-glazed stoneware tradition in America was brought to this country by immigrants from Central Europe. Potters in the New World used decorating techniques developed in Germany and other European countries, such as pictorial incising and cobalt painting, as seen the incised bird on this jug made by John Remmey III.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1791-1820
- maker
- Remmey III, John
- ID Number
- 1994.0310.01
- catalog number
- 1994.0310.01
- accession number
- 1994.0310
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center