Work

The tools, rules, and relationships of the workplace illustrate some of the enduring collaborations and conflicts in the everyday life of the nation. The Museum has more than 5,000 traditional American tools, chests, and simple machines for working wood, stone, metal, and leather. Materials on welding, riveting, and iron and steel construction tell a more industrial version of the story. Computers, industrial robots, and other artifacts represent work in the Information Age.

But work is more than just tools. The collections include a factory gate, the motion-study photographs of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, and more than 3,000 work incentive posters. The rise of the factory system is measured, in part, by time clocks in the collections. More than 9,000 items bring in the story of labor unions, strikes, and demonstrations over trade and economic issues.

The cap is has a stiff crown and flat circular top with a short visor. A black braid stretches across the visor and is attached to the hat by buttons on each side of the hat.
Description
The cap is has a stiff crown and flat circular top with a short visor. A black braid stretches across the visor and is attached to the hat by buttons on each side of the hat. It has a badge on the front with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad logo, L&N and the words TRIAN PORTER. On each side is a button with the initials L&N.
This particular porter's cap was owned by Mr. Henry Taylor, a porter for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad from the 1940s through the 1960s. Mr. Taylor worked aboard the L&N Railroad's coaches on overnight trains, assisting passengers. Sleeping cars assigned to L&N overnight trains were operated by Pullman, and so the porters on those cars worked for Pullman, not for the Louisvile and Nashville Railroad.
Location
Currently not on view
associated institution
Louisville and Nashville Railroad
maker
Becker Tailoring Co.
ID Number
1985.0552.01
accession number
1985.0552
catalog number
1985.0552.01
85.0552.01
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1904
ID Number
1982.0545.0644.1
catalog number
1982.0545.0644.1
accession number
1982.0545
One (1) NBC Universal Telemundo II intern badgeBlue badge with white with Telemundo "T" logo in blue on a white backgroundLori Montenegro's intern badge
Description (Brief)
One (1) NBC Universal Telemundo II intern badge
Blue badge with white with Telemundo "T" logo in blue on a white background
Lori Montenegro's intern badge
ID Number
2022.0267.01
accession number
2022.0267
catalog number
2022.0267.01
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1963-1964
associated date
1963?
related
Congress of Racial Equality
ID Number
PL.259949.13
catalog number
259949.13
These small metal badges, most often made of copper, were produced in Charleston, South Carolina between 1800 and the Civil War. They were worn by slaves working in the city; slaves living and working on the rural plantations were not required to wear them.
Description
These small metal badges, most often made of copper, were produced in Charleston, South Carolina between 1800 and the Civil War. They were worn by slaves working in the city; slaves living and working on the rural plantations were not required to wear them. The badges only identified the type of work they were permitted to do. Neither the slave owner nor the slave’s name were engraved into the badges. These three are marked for servant, porter, and mechanic. Other categories were fisher and fruiterer. Slave owners would purchase a badge from the City of Charleston. The wages earned by a hired-out slave belonged to their owners. However, evidence exists that wages earned in excess of what was owed to their owner could be retained by the slave, if the owner allowed it. The badges were typically sewn to clothing and gave the wearer more freedom of movement within the city than would be given to a slave working on a plantation. Badges were dated and were issued annually and became a source of tax revenue for the city. Cost for tags in 1865 ranged from $10 to $35 with the number peaking at about 5,000 in 1860. Ironically, slave badges which may be looked at as tagging a human as if property, may actually be evidence of relative freedom of movement within Charleston and a means of income for a slave and his or her family.
Date made
1833
ID Number
CL.309002.01
catalog number
309002.01
accession number
309002
This cap, ca. the 1950s, is characteristic of such caps seen at railroad stations throughout North America from the 1920s till about the 1980s.
Description
This cap, ca. the 1950s, is characteristic of such caps seen at railroad stations throughout North America from the 1920s till about the 1980s. The cloth appears to be silk, which gives a sheen to the cap's fabric; silk was not unusual for red caps.
This cap was used by an employee of the Canadian National Railway, a fact that in no way detracts from the cap's relevance to U.S. railroad history or to African American history. U.S. and Canadian railroads in fact have operated as a seamless, interchangeable rail network from the late 1890s to the present day, and the Canadian National, in particular, historically owned rail lines operating in Michigan. The Canadian Pacific Railway historically owned lines across Maine. Employment conditions for "red caps" at Canadian terminals were identical to such conditions at U.S. depots.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
TR.335443
catalog number
335443
accession number
321737
One (1) press badgeWhite badge with red accents and black writingPRENSA PRESS PRENSA PRESS / CBS TELENOTICIAS / No. 111024 / CBS TELENOTICIAS 2470 West 8th. Ave. Hialeah, Fl. 33010 USA / Lori Montenegro / July 2007 /Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
One (1) press badge
White badge with red accents and black writing
PRENSA PRESS PRENSA PRESS / CBS TELENOTICIAS / No. 111024 / CBS TELENOTICIAS 2470 West 8th. Ave. Hialeah, Fl. 33010 USA / Lori Montenegro / July 2007 /
Location
Currently not on view
date made
2007
ID Number
2022.0267.09
accession number
2022.0267
catalog number
2022.0267.09
One (1) press badgeWhite badge with black writing and a red, orange, yellow, green and blue logo. White lanyard.CENTRO DE PRENSA INTERNACIONAL / CUBA / PRENSA EXTRANJERA / LORI MONTENEGROCurrently not on view
Description (Brief)
One (1) press badge
White badge with black writing and a red, orange, yellow, green and blue logo. White lanyard.
CENTRO DE PRENSA INTERNACIONAL / CUBA / PRENSA EXTRANJERA / LORI MONTENEGRO
Location
Currently not on view
date made
2016
ID Number
2022.0267.11
accession number
2022.0267
catalog number
2022.0267.11
One (1) press badgeRed badge with white and yellow writingPRESS/ PRENSA / LORI MONTENEGRO REPORTER / EXPIRES: 12-31-13 / NBC UNIVERSAL / TELEMUNDO
Description (Brief)
One (1) press badge
Red badge with white and yellow writing
PRESS/ PRENSA / LORI MONTENEGRO REPORTER / EXPIRES: 12-31-13 / NBC UNIVERSAL / TELEMUNDO
date made
2013
ID Number
2022.0267.10
accession number
2022.0267
catalog number
2022.0267.10
One (1) press badgeCuban and American flags in the background with black writing in the foreground.PRESS / Opening Ceremony of the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba / Washington, DC / Monday, 20 July 2015 / PRESSCurrently not on view
Description (Brief)
One (1) press badge
Cuban and American flags in the background with black writing in the foreground.
PRESS / Opening Ceremony of the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba / Washington, DC / Monday, 20 July 2015 / PRESS
Location
Currently not on view
date made
2015
ID Number
2022.0267.12
accession number
2022.0267
catalog number
2022.0267.12
hand colored stereograph; printed on verso "THE WHITE SLAVE. / Copyright / A.A.
Description (Brief)
hand colored stereograph; printed on verso "THE WHITE SLAVE. / Copyright / A.A. CHILDS & CO / Makers, / 127 Tremont St., / BOSTON"; African-American man standing in profile wearing yellow and black gingham pants, black coat with long tails, white button down shirt and vest with top hat and holding a silver handled cane; African-American man has his right foot raised on a low box and his shoe is being shined by a young, white (caucasian) boy; young white boy is kneeling on the ground in profile wearing black pants, white button down work shirt and a cap and is holding a brush to shine the shoe of the man; on the wall behind them are broadsides denouncing slavery and announcing a play (?) "The White Slave"; more broadsides saying "No Slavery / Freedom" and "Great Meeting / Negro Amancipation / Poor Slaves"
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1850s-1860s
ID Number
2012.3033.0388
nonaccession number
2012.3033
catalog number
2012.3033.0388
Hatters used hat block stands such as this one to hold and anchor hat blocks. Wooden pegs hold the stand together and also provide a way to secure a variety of blocks for different shaped hats.
Description
Hatters used hat block stands such as this one to hold and anchor hat blocks. Wooden pegs hold the stand together and also provide a way to secure a variety of blocks for different shaped hats. From the late-nineteenth century to to the mid-twentieth century, work attire required hats for men and women and most Americans had at one hat in their wardrobe. Daily wear meant hats got scuffed, dirty, and misshapen. Thrifty consumers did not throw away hats, but had them cleaned and reformed by hatters to extend the life of their purchases. As the fashion of wearing hats declined in the 1960s, hat blocking became a fast-receding craft.
Hatter and small businessman, Harold Cotton, Sr. used this block and others in this collection, in his shop in Greensboro, NC beginning in the mid-1950s. A black entrepreneur, Cotton used the income from his shop to move up the economic ladder and promote the welfare of the black community. Profits from the shop supported institutions within the black community, including St. Stephen’s United Church of Christ, the local black Boy Scout troop, and the NAACP.
For other blocks used by Cotton, see 2012. 0201. 01, 2012. 0201. 04, 2012. 0201. 03 and 2012. 0201. 05.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2012.0201.05
accession number
2012.0201
catalog number
2012.0201.05
In 1950, Harold Cotton, Sr. earned this diploma for completing a course in hat cleaning and blocking from the Chicago School of Shoe Repair.
Description
In 1950, Harold Cotton, Sr. earned this diploma for completing a course in hat cleaning and blocking from the Chicago School of Shoe Repair. The trade school advertised heavily to veterans in Popular Mechanics and Popular Science in the late 1940s, saying the practical courses were GI approved and allowed men to own their own businesses. The trade of hat blocking provided a stepping stone for Cotton, who would buy his own hat blocking and shoeshine shop in his hometown of Greensboro, NC in 1953. The shop, known as Bob’s Hatters for the previous owner Robert Taylor, was located at 108 McGee Street, across from a bustling hotel and in the middle ground between black and white Greensboro.
As an African-American small businessman, Cotton used the income from his shop to move up the economic ladder and promote the welfare of the black community. Profits from the shop supported institutions within the black community, including St. Stephen’s United Church of Christ, the local black Boy Scout troop, and the NAACP. In an era that bridged Jim Crow segregation and the postwar Civil Rights movement, Cotton’s shop served all races but the service remained segregated. Cotton desegregated his shop during the Greensboro sit-ins, allowing an African American marine to sit in one of the shoe-shine chairs, to the chagrin of Cotton’s white landlord.
Black businesses such as Cotton’s provided an economic foundation for African American communities that faced segregation, disenfranchisement, and violence. Black shops and storefronts provided shelter for the development of black public space in an otherwise hostile environment while the income from these business sustained a range of churches, schools and other community institutions. In many cases, the entrepreneurs who ran businesses, no matter how small, had the capital to fund political and social movements.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2013.0207.01
catalog number
2013.0207.01
accession number
2013.0207
Press print; gelatin silver print with white border; image of two African American World War II (WWII) era female nurses' aides working at a table wrapping bandages; both women are wearing a nurses uniform with apron and hat; cabinet with glass front housing more supplies in back
Description (Brief)
Press print; gelatin silver print with white border; image of two African American World War II (WWII) era female nurses' aides working at a table wrapping bandages; both women are wearing a nurses uniform with apron and hat; cabinet with glass front housing more supplies in background; woman on left is identified on verso as Mrs. Louis Lucas and woman on right is Miss Susie Freeman; photograph taken at Freedmen's Hospital in Washington, D.C. by Roger Smith working for the Office of War Information (OWI)
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1940-1945
ID Number
2019.0220.0001
accession number
2019.0220
catalog number
2019.0220.0001
Wooden hat blocks included pieces such as this, known as the flange. It held the brim of a hat while it was being shaped.
Description
Wooden hat blocks included pieces such as this, known as the flange. It held the brim of a hat while it was being shaped. From the late-nineteenth century to to the mid-twentieth century, work attire required hats for men and women and most Americans had at least one hat in their wardrobe. Daily wear meant hats got scuffed, dirty, and misshapen. Thrifty consumers did not throw away hats, but had them cleaned and reformed by hatters to extend the life of their purchases. As the fashion of wearing hats declined in the 1960s, hat blocking became a fast-receding craft.
Hatter and small businessman, Harold Cotton, Sr. used this block and others in this collection, in his shop in Greensboro, NC beginning in the mid-1950s. A black entrepreneur, Cotton used the income from his shop to move up the economic ladder and promote the welfare of the black community. Profits from the shop supported institutions within the black community, including St. Stephen’s United Church of Christ, the local black Boy Scout troop, and the NAACP.
For other blocks used by Cotton, see 2012. 0201. 01, 2012. 0201. 04, 2012. 0201. 03 and 2012. 0201. 05.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2012.0201.03
accession number
2012.0201
catalog number
2012.0201.03
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2018.0166.0038
accession number
2018.0166
catalog number
2018.0166.0038
The National Cash Register Company refurbished this machine and resold it in 1950 to Harold Cotton, Sr. in Greensboro, NC. The register has a single drawer and 26 keys. The keys allowed for sales costing only a handful of change to higher dollar amounts.
Description
The National Cash Register Company refurbished this machine and resold it in 1950 to Harold Cotton, Sr. in Greensboro, NC. The register has a single drawer and 26 keys. The keys allowed for sales costing only a handful of change to higher dollar amounts. Common purchase prices of $1 to $5 dollars had their own keys, making it quicker for the cashier to execute a sale. Importantly, the register kept a record of sales and had a lock on the cash drawer. Shop owners had long used cash registers as a tool to control access to money and keep tabs on clerks.
This register tells a powerful story about black-owned, small business in the mid-twentieth century. The register served as the hub exchange in Cotton’s hat blocking shop and it was well-used. At this register both black and white customers paid for the services -- having a hat cleaned or their shoes shined. The profits held inside its drawer and recorded on the paper tape sustained Cotton’s family and the larger African American community.
As a small businessman, Cotton used the income from his shop to move up the economic ladder and promote the welfare of the black community. Profits from the shop supported institutions within the black community, including St. Stephen’s United Church of Christ, the local black Boy Scout troop, and the NAACP.
Black businesses such as Cotton’s, provided an economic foundation for African American communities that faced segregation, disenfranchisement, and violence. Black shops and storefronts provided shelter for the development of black public space in an otherwise hostile environment while the income from these business sustained a range of churches, schools and other community institutions. In many cases, the entrepreneurs who ran businesses, no matter how small, had the capital to fund political and social movements.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1950s
maker
National Cash Register Company
ID Number
2016.0045.01
catalog number
2016.0045.01
accession number
2016.0045
serial number
FR880600-RR
Wooden flange for a hat block that held the brim of a hat while it was being shaped. From the late-nineteenth century to to the mid-twentieth century, work attire required hats for men and women and most Americans had at least a couple of hats in their wardrobes.
Description
Wooden flange for a hat block that held the brim of a hat while it was being shaped. From the late-nineteenth century to to the mid-twentieth century, work attire required hats for men and women and most Americans had at least a couple of hats in their wardrobes. Daily wear meant hats got scuffed, dirty, and misshapen. Thrifty consumers did not throw away hats, but had them cleaned and reformed by hatters to extend the life of their purchases. As the fashion of wearing hats declined after the 1960s, hat blocking became a fast-receding craft.
Hatter and small businessman, Harold Cotton, Sr. used this block and others in this collection, in his shop in Greensboro, NC beginning in the mid-1950s. A black entrepreneur, Cotton used the income from his shop to move up the economic ladder and promote the welfare of the black community. Profits from the shop supported institutions within the black community, including St. Stephen’s United Church of Christ, the local black Boy Scout troop, and the NAACP.
For other blocks used by Cotton, see 2012. 0201. 01, 2012. 0201. 04, 2012. 0201. 03 and 2012. 0201. 05.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2012.0201.04
accession number
2012.0201
catalog number
2012.0201.04
This wooden hat block served as a versatile form for a variety of hats. The process of cleaning and blocking felt, fur, or straw hats involved heating or steaming the hat and placing it over a form such as this to return it to its original shape.
Description
This wooden hat block served as a versatile form for a variety of hats. The process of cleaning and blocking felt, fur, or straw hats involved heating or steaming the hat and placing it over a form such as this to return it to its original shape. The oval shape of this form mimicked the general shape of the human head and made it easier to fit the hat to the person wearing it.
From the late-nineteenth century to to the mid-twentieth century, work attire required hats for men and women and most Americans had at least one hat in their wardrobe. Daily wear meant hats got scuffed, dirty, and misshapen. Thrifty consumers did not throw away hats, but had them cleaned and reformed by hatters to extend the life of their purchases. As the fashion of wearing hats declined in the 1960s, hat blocking became a fast-receding craft.
Hatter and small businessman, Harold Cotton, Sr. used this block and others in this collection in his shop in Greensboro, NC. A black entrepreneur, Cotton used the income from his shop to move up the economic ladder and promote the welfare of the black community. Profits from the shop supported institutions within the black community, including St. Stephen’s United Church of Christ, the local black Boy Scout troop, and the NAACP.
For other blocks used by Cotton, see 2012. 0201. 01, 2012. 0201. 04, 2012. 0201. 03 and 2012. 0201. 05.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2012.0201.02
accession number
2012.0201
catalog number
2012.0201.02
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2017.0037.0083
accession number
2017.0037
catalog number
2017.0037.0083
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1856
ID Number
1990.0410.02
accession number
1990.0410
catalog number
1990.0410.02
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
1971.295669.850
catalog number
295669.850
accession number
295669
Little squares of copper once hung around the necks of certain slaves in Charleston, South Carolina, indicating that those who wore them had the city's permission to accept work for hire.
Description
Little squares of copper once hung around the necks of certain slaves in Charleston, South Carolina, indicating that those who wore them had the city's permission to accept work for hire. Today, Charleston's slave-hire badges objectify a time when people who were not free were licensed with tags that gave them the right and the freedom to work.
From 1783 to 1790 and again from 1800 to 1865, Charleston responded to the concerns of skilled white workers and imposed regulations requiring slaves hired out by their masters to be identified with tags indicating that they not only had their owners' approval to work in the city, but that they were to receive wages significantly lower than those demanded by whites. The wages such a hired slave did receive were split between the master and the slave.
Each tag is stamped with the city name, the year of issue, the slave's occupation, and a license number. Charleston charged a fee for each tag issued, and maintained detailed badge records at the city treasury. The trades varied from porter and servant to mechanic, carpenter, fisherman, and fruiterer. Charleston slave hire badges also survive in private collections and at the Charleston Museum.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1836
ID Number
1993.0503.01
catalog number
1993.0503.01
accession number
1993.0503
The wooden hat block sports the distinctive indented crown characteristic of the popular fedora. Fedoras, first worn by gender-bending women, became a fashion staple of middle-class men in the mid-twentieth century.
Description
The wooden hat block sports the distinctive indented crown characteristic of the popular fedora. Fedoras, first worn by gender-bending women, became a fashion staple of middle-class men in the mid-twentieth century. The adaptable felt hats had brims that could be turned up or down and the creased or indented crown made it easy to hold and remove the hat with one hand.
From the late-nineteenth to to the mid-twentieth century, work attire required hats for men and women, and most Americans had at least one hat in their wardrobe. Daily wear meant hats got scuffed, dirty, and misshapen. Thrifty consumers did not throw away hats, but had them cleaned and reformed by hatters to extend the life of their purchases. As the fashion of wearing hats declined in the 1960s, hat blocking became a fast-receding craft.
Hatter and small businessman, Harold Cotton, Sr. used this block and others in this collection, in his shop in Greensboro, NC beginning in the mid-1950s. A black entrepreneur, Cotton used the income from his shop to move up the economic ladder and promote the welfare of the black community. Profits from the shop supported institutions within the black community, including St. Stephen’s United Church of Christ, the local black Boy Scout troop, and the NAACP.
For other blocks used by Cotton, see 2012. 0201. 01, 2012. 0201. 04, 2012. 0201. 03 and 2012. 0201. 05.
ID Number
2012.0201.01
accession number
2012.0201
catalog number
2012.0201.01

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