Measuring & Mapping - Overview
Where, how far, and how much? People have invented an astonishing array of devices to answer seemingly simple questions like these. Measuring and mapping objects in the Museum's collections include the instruments of the famous—Thomas Jefferson's thermometer and a pocket compass used by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their expedition across the American West. A timing device was part of the pioneering motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge in the late 1800s. Time measurement is represented in clocks from simple sundials to precise chronometers for mapping, surveying, and finding longitude. Everyday objects tell part of the story, too, from tape measures and electrical meters to more than 300 scales to measure food and drink. Maps of many kinds fill out the collections, from railroad surveys to star charts.
"Measuring & Mapping - Overview" showing 3 items.
William Ellery model Pocketwatch
- Description
- During the Civil War Army physician Dr. G. D. O'Farrell received this watch as a gift from grateful patients.
- In the 1850s watchmakers at what would become the American Watch Company of Waltham, Massachusetts, developed the world's first machine-made watches. They completely redesigned the watch so that its movement could be assembled from interchangeable parts made on specialized machines invented just for that purpose. They also developed a highly organized factory-based work system to speed production and cut costs.
- In its first decade, the firm's work was largely experimental and the firm's finances were unsteady. The name of the company changed repeatedly as investors came and went. Operations moved from Roxbury to Waltham in 1854, and the Panic of 1857 brought bankruptcy and a new owner, Royal Robbins. Reorganization and recovery began, and output reached fourteen thousand watches in 1858.
- Renamed the American Watch Company the next year, the firm was on the brink of success from an unexpected quarter. During the Civil War, Waltham's watch factory designed and mass-produced a low-cost watch, the William Ellery model. Selling for an unbelievable $13.00, these watches became a fad with Union soldiers. Just as itinerant peddlers had aroused the desire for inexpensive clocks, roving merchants sold thousands of cheap watches to eager customers in wartime encampments. By 1865, the year the war ended, William Ellery movements represented almost 45 per cent of Waltham's unit sales.
- This William Ellery model watch was a gift to Army surgeon G. D. O'Farrell from his patients at White Hall, a Civil War hospital near Philadelphia. The inscription on the dust cover of O'Farrell's watch reads: "White Hall USA Gen'l Hospital, Feb. 15, 1865 Presented to Dr. G. D. O'Farrell, USA by the patients of Ward C as a token of regard & respect for his ability as a surgeon and unswerving integrity as a man."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1864
- presentation
- 1865
- maker
- American Waltham Watch Co.
- ID Number
- 1987.0853.01
- catalog number
- 1987.0853.01
- accession number
- 1987.0853
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Engraved printing plate "Ichthyology, Pl."
- Description
- William H. Dougal (1822–1895) of New York and Washington, D.C., (after 1844) engraved this copper printing plate depicting four species of fish documented by the U.S. Exploring Expedition. The illustrations were to be published in Volumes XXII and XXIII, Ichthyology, by Louis Agassiz. Dougal engraved 26 of the 28 plates for this volume which was never printed.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1849
- 1862
- publisher
- Wilkes, Charles
- original artist
- Drayton, Joseph
- graphic artist
- Dougal, William H.
- author
- Agassiz, Louis
- ID Number
- 1999.0145.435
- accession number
- 1999.0145
- catalog number
- 1999.0145.435
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Lithograph of "Cascades of the Columbia"
- Description
- The lithographic firm of Sarony, Major & Knapp (1857–1867) of New York printed this lithograph of “Cascades of the Columbia” originally drawn by John M. Stanley (1814–1872) of Detroit (1834–1840, 1864–1872) and Washington, D.C. (1850–1860). The illustration was printed as Plate XLV in the “General Report” of volume XII of Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, “Narrative Final Report of Explorations for a Route for a Pacific Railroad, near the Forty–Seventh and Forty–Ninth Parallels of North Latitude, St. Paul to Puget Sound”. The volume was printed in 1860 by Thomas H. Ford in Washington, D.C.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date of book publication
- 1860
- printer
- Sarony, Major, & Knapp
- original artist
- Stanley
- author
- Stevens, Isaac Ingalls
- printer
- Ford, Thomas H.
- graphic artist
- unknown
- publisher
- U.S. War Department
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Topographic Command
- ID Number
- GA*24834
- catalog number
- 24834
- accession number
- 1978.0612
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center