Transportation - Overview
Americans have always been a people on the move—on rails, roads, and waterways (for travel through the air, visit the National Air and Space Museum). In the transportation collections, railroad objects range from tools, tracks, and many train models to the massive 1401, a 280-ton locomotive built in 1926. Road vehicles include coaches, buggies, wagons, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, and automobiles—from the days before the Model T to modern race cars. The accessories of travel are part of the collections, too, from streetlights, gas pumps, and traffic signals to goggles and overcoats.
In the maritime collections, more than 7,000 design plans and scores of ship models show the evolution of sailing ships and other vessels. Other items range from scrimshaw, photographs, and marine paintings to life jackets from the Titanic.
"Transportation - Overview" showing 79 items.
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Half Model of the Pilot Schooner Hesper
- Description
- Hesper was a Boston pilot schooner, designed for speed in order to be the first to reach offshore merchant vessels and escort them through the treacherous harbor islands into the port. The fastest boat got to the client first, and Hesper had the reputation of being the fastest of the fast throughout her working career. Designed in 1884 by Boston naval architect Dennison J. Lawlor, the schooner measured 102 feet on deck by 23 feet in beam, with a 12-foot draft.
- Location
- Currently on loan
- designer
- Lawlor, Dennison J.
- ID Number
- TR*076037
- catalog number
- 76037
- accession number
- 15228
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Scrimshaw Candle Lantern
- Description
- Made of whalebone and copper, this candle lantern was designed to hold a single candle, the stub of which is still visible in the turned socket on the base. The base is pierced with four square holes to introduce a draft; the glass sides prevented the outside air from blowing out the candle. Each of the bone corner posts has shallow, faint wavy lines engraved into its sides, and the top is made of four curved and pierced sections of bone covered and pinned together by narrow strips of copper, like the ridge of a house. The little copper top is pierced to let the candle smoke out.
- All four roof panels are engraved differently. One side has an unidentified ship engraved into its surface; the panel to the right is engraved with the double-entendre “•HAPPY•IS•HE•WHO•FINDETH•LIGHT•” The panel opposite the ship is carved “+JOHN+DENTON+” and the last panel is engraved “*1859.*”
- Although there is a candle stub in the lantern, the absence of smoke inside the roof suggests that the lantern was too precious to its owner(s) to see much use.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 1978.0052.04
- accession number
- 1978.0052
- catalog number
- 1978.52.4
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Scrimshaw Sperm Whale’s Tooth, Mid-19th Century
- Description
- The pictures carved on whales’ teeth by scrimshaw artists commonly fall into a group of simple categories, like ships, whales, patriotic scenes, women, shorelines, and the like. Sometimes a tooth’s carving will tell a simple story about danger, loneliness, love or war. Other times, the tale that a tooth tells is lost in time, perhaps forever. This little tooth may be one of the latter. On the top of one side are two outlined flags: on the left is an American flag, and on the right is a flag with a large “M” on it. Both are waving in the wind. Below are the words “OUR COMPROMISE” in two lines. At the bottom is a small cannon on a truck, or carriage. The truck construction indicates that it is a land weapon rather than a ship armament. The depth of the gun etching is much deeper than the flags, perhaps indicating a different artist. Although it is polished and prepared for carving, the other side of the tooth is not decorated. The lack of a date or any other identifying factors makes it almost impossible to decipher the artist’s message to us from an earlier time. Was it a private message to a friend or lover, a political statement, a military event.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 1978.0052.39
- accession number
- 1978.0052
- catalog number
- 1978.52.39
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Lowrider "Dave's Dream", 1992
- Description
- Dave’s Dream, a modified 1969 Ford LTD, is a beloved example of Latino lowriders. Lowriding is a family and community activity with parades, trophies, and other events celebrating cars and paying homage to their power and beauty. Artistic paint schemes and custom upholstery make each lowrider unique. Hydraulic lifts enable lowriders to hop, making them seem alive and animated. David Jaramillo of Chimayo, New Mexico began customizing this car in the 1970s, but he was killed in an accident in another car. His family and local artisans completed the modifications that he had planned, and the car often won “first” or “best in show.”
- date made
- 1969-1992
- maker
- General Motors Corporation
- Citizens of Chimayo, NM
- ID Number
- 1990.0567.01
- accession number
- 1990.0567
- catalog number
- 1990.0567.01
- serial number
- 9J62N178692
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Plastic Scrimshaw Tooth (Fakeshaw), Late 20th Century
- Description
- This modern polymer tooth, or “fakeshaw”, was collected for comparative purposes. In recent years, authentic whale ivory and bone scrimshaw has become valuable on the folk art market. In the 1970s, companies began casting plastic replica scrimshaw teeth and other objects, usually with very elaborate scenes, dates and inscriptions. Many of these have made their way into antique shops and flea markets, where they are sold as authentic folk art instead of modern reproductions.
- On one side of this tooth, there is a vertical portrait of Napoleon, inscribed with his name on the bottom. On the other side is a horizontal scene of a three-man gun crew hauling a loaded cannon up to a gun port on a lower deck of a warship. This side has “1815” inscribed below the men.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 1998.0004.01
- catalog number
- 1998.0004.01
- accession number
- 1998.0004
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Ship Model, Susan Constant
- Description
- On April 26, 1607, three passenger ships reached the shores of modern-day Virginia. The largest, named the Susan Constant, carried 54 members of a 105-man colonization mission. Arriving thirteen years before the Pilgrims landed at what is now Plymouth, Mass., this group of Englishmen came in search of gold and glory in the New World under the direction of the Virginia Company. Their founding of Jamestown began a long and checkered chapter in American colonial history.
- Built in 1605 near London, and leased from Dapper, Wheatley, Colthurst and Partners, the Susan Constant was barely a year old when the Jamestown passengers spotted land near Cape Henry at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Under the command of Captain Christopher Newport, the journey from London to Virginia took approximately four and a half months. Following its departure on December 20, 1606, the Susan Constant spent six weeks floating idly in the English Channel, waiting for the right winds to carry the passengers to their new lives. Unlike the colonists, the Susan Constant did not stay in Virginia, but sailed back to England filled with timber.
- In the past, there has been some confusion over whether the ship’s name was Susan or Sarah Constant. According to a 1625 manuscript transcribed by Rev. Samuel Purchas, when discussing the journey of the Jamestown settlers, His Majesty King James I’s Council on Virginia referred to a ship named Sarah Constant. However, multiple accounts given by the original colonists, as well as the leasing companies, indentify the ship as Susan Constant or, more simply, Susan. No record of a Sarah Constant has ever been found in sources from the time period, and historians have since chalked the confusion up to a clerical error on the part of the Council.
- In 1991, the Commonwealth of Virginia financed a $2.14 million life-sized reproduction of the Susan Constant. The ship took a short tour of the Chesapeake Bay area in 2007 as part of Jamestown’s 400th Anniversary Celebration, and can now be seen in the Jamestown Settlement National Park.
- This model of the Susan Constant was given to the Smithsonian in 1998 as a gift from its builder, John W. Chapman.
- Date made
- 1998
- Susan Constant departed London
- 1606-12-20
- Susan Constant arrived in Jamestown
- 1607-04-26
- life-size reproduction was built
- 1991
- manuscript transcribed discussing ship and voyage
- 1625
- captained the ship
- Newport, Christopher
- leased the ship
- Dapper, Wheatley, Colthurst and Partners
- transcribed a manuscript
- Purchas, Samuel
- maker
- Chapman, John W.
- ID Number
- 1998.0227.01
- accession number
- 1998.0227
- catalog number
- 1998.0227.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Scrimshaw Sperm Whale Pan Bone Plaque, Mid-19th Century
- Description
- This section of oval bone was sliced from a large sperm whale’s pan or jaw bone, then shaved thin, smoothed, and polished. It is extremely unusual, in that the carved scene details a specific event with names and a date. An engraved three-line inscription across the top of the plaque reads:
- Joachn Pereiz July 20th 1839,
- Fast to a whale got a foul line which took the boat down
- American ship Averick in sight
- Below the inscription the large whaler Averick sails with four whaleboats in the foreground. The boat on the right is halfway underwater. On the left, smaller, more distant whaleship sails in the background behind a pod of five whales. The inscription describes a common mishap aboard whaleboats sent out from the mother ship to dart and kill a whale. After a whale was hooked with a harpoon, it would commonly sound, or dive deep, to get away from the whaleboat. Aboard the whaleboat, the harpoon line had to run free as long as the whale was active. In this incident, the line fouled and the sounding whale dragged the boat underwater. Since few whalemen knew how to swim in the 19thcentury, this sort of accident meant almost certain drowning. However, the proximity of the Averick and the other whaleboats, along with the existence of the plaque commemorating the incident, suggest a happier ending for the story. In the absence of other information, Joachn Pereiz is presumed to be a boat crew of the Averick in the center of the picture. The Averick belonged to John Avery Parker & Son of New Bedford, MA and is best known for transporting the Fifth Company of Boston Protestant missionaries to Hawaii in June 1832. It was sold into the Chilean whaling fleet in 1845.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- DL*385967
- catalog number
- 385967
- accession number
- 177718
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Engraved Porpoise Tooth, mid-19th century
- Description
- The short length and slender proportions of this carved tooth indicate that it came from the mouth of a porpoise rather than a sperm whale. Its rough, dark and mottled surface was badly prepared for the craftsman’s sharpened tool, rendering the details of the carving difficult to see clearly.
- The obverse depicts a man standing inside a circular rope motif; his costume is reminiscent of a Near Eastern or Asian warrior, with padded pants and low hanging blouse and hair in a bun. The surface of the tooth above the figure has horizontal striations, almost like a metal file was applied. On the reverse is another man surrounded by an oval rope motif; he wears a more traditional Western waistcoat and holds a cane in his right hand. Atop his head is a tightly-wrapped turban.
- The pinprick method for preparing the line infill is evident, suggesting that the original drawings from which these were derived was in a periodical of the period. Perhaps one day the source for these enigmatic figures will be identified.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- DL*388606
- catalog number
- 388606
- accession number
- 182022
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Scrimshaw Sperm Whale’s Tooth, Mid-19th Century
- Description
- Shoreside scenes were popular subjects for scrimshaw artists, lonely for their homes, families and friends. On one side of this tooth, two large merchant ships clear harbor, possibly embarking on long whaling voyages. To the right, a local coastal schooner sails around the point of land separating a town from the sea. Its simple rig would have been very old-fashioned by the mid-nineteenth century or later, when this piece was probably carved. The other side appears to derive from a print, for the engraving is much deeper and more shaded. Two warships sail to the left. The one on the right is flying an American flag. The flag on the stern of the left-hand ship—and the bow of the American vessel—are obscured by an immense explosion between the two fighting ships. Unfortunately, neither ship is identified, although such sea battle images between American frigates and English warships were popular subjects beginning around the time of the War of 1812.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- DL*65.1129
- catalog number
- 65.1129
- accession number
- 256396
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Scrimshaw Sperm Whale’s Tooth, Mid-19th Century
- Description
- Danger was never far away for the crew of a whale ship out in the middle of the ocean. One side of this large tooth is engraved with a ship in the middle of a storm. The waves are high, and most of the ship’s sails have been taken in. Many of the sails that are left out are tattered and torn, and the rigging lines are slack, indicating strong winds.
- The other side of the tooth has a whale on the surface of the ocean with two harpoons sticking out of its back. It has just knocked a whaleboat out of the water and into the air, breaking it in half. Two hapless crew are about to land in the water to swim or drown. In the distant background sails the mother ship, too far away to rescue the whaleboat’s crew.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- DL*65.1130
- catalog number
- 65.1130
- accession number
- 256396
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center