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.

Northstar developed from a computer store called "The Original Kentucky Fried Computer." It changed its name due to impending litigation by Kentucky Fried Chicken. The company's first product was a Floating Point Math Board for S-100 computers.
Description
Northstar developed from a computer store called "The Original Kentucky Fried Computer." It changed its name due to impending litigation by Kentucky Fried Chicken. The company's first product was a Floating Point Math Board for S-100 computers. They then developed an inexpensive floppy drive system. This led the way to the Horizon, one of the first computers with built in floppy drives.
Announced in November 1977, the Horizon was sold in a wooden cabinet, as opposed to the more usual metal or plastic. The initial price was $1,899 assembled and $1,599 unassembled. The Horizon ran on a Z-80 microprocessor that ran at 4 MHz. It contained 16 KB of RAM, which could be expanded to 64 KB and 1 KB of ROM. The operating system was both CP/M and Northstar DOS. The machine was among the first to offer floppy drives, and customers could order one or two 90 KB 5 ¼" drives. Northstar was also one of the first machines to offer a hard disk drive. This was called an HD-18, and had 18 megabytes on an 18" platter. The Northstar Horizon was suited for business, education, and software development applications.
This particular machine was donated to the Smithsonian by Peter A. McWilliams. He used it in writing The Word Processing Book: A Short Course in Computer Literacy (1982). When it sold well, McWilliams wrote The Personal Computer Book, (1983), which became a runaway bestseller. This was his first computer.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1977
maker
Northstar
ID Number
1989.0354.01
catalog number
1989.0354.01
accession number
1989.0354
This is an example of the first model of a scientific calculator marketed by Texas Instruments. The handheld electronic calculator has a black and ivory-colored plastic case with an array of twenty-three plastic keys.
Description
This is an example of the first model of a scientific calculator marketed by Texas Instruments. The handheld electronic calculator has a black and ivory-colored plastic case with an array of twenty-three plastic keys. Twenty-one of these are square, the 0 and the total keys are rectangular. In addition to ten digit keys, a decimal point key, a total key, and four arithmetic function keys, the calculator has a reciprocal key, a square key, a square root key, a change sign key, an enter exponent key, a clear key, and a clear display key. Text above the keyboard, just below the display and to the left, reads: SR10. Behind the keyboard is a 12-digit LED display. Numbers larger than eight digits are displayed in scientific notation. A mark behind the display reads: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS. An on/off switch is right and slightly above this.
The back edge of the calculator has a jack for a recharger/adapter. A sticker on the back gives extensive instructions. It also gives the serial number SR10 275812.
Unscrewing screws near the top and bottom of the back reveals the workings of the calculator. It has a total of five chips. The largest of these is marked TMS 0120 NC (/) C7333. This is a TMS0120 chip, manufactured in mid-1973. Also in the case is space for three AA nickel-cadmium batteries.
The leather zippered case has both a loop and a hook for attaching the calculator to a belt. It also holds an instruction pamphlet entitled Texas Instruments electronic slide rule calculator SR-10, copyrighted 1973. A warranty registration on the inside of the back page indicates these instructions were originally sold with an SR-10 calculator with serial number 170334, purchased on September 27, 1973.
Texas Instruments described the SR-10 as an “electronic slide rule calculator,” hence the “SR” in the name. The first version of the device, introduced in 1972, did not have the mark SR-10 on the keyboard. The second version (introduced 1973) and the third (introduced 1975) did. This is an example of the first version. According to Ball & Flamm, it initially sold for $149.95.
Compare 1986.0988.351, 1986.0988.354, and 1986.0988.356.
References:
Guy Ball and Bruce Flamm, The Complete Collector’s Guide to Pocket Calculators, Tustin, CA: Wilson/Barnett, 1997, p. 153.
The online Datamath Museum includes versions of the SR-10 from 1972, 1973, and 1975.
date made
1972
Date made
1973
maker
Texas Instruments
ID Number
1986.0988.354
catalog number
1986.0988.354
accession number
1986.0988
This button attacher kit was made by the Dennison Company in Framingham, Massachusetts, early 1970s. It is a Dennison Buttoneer Attacher Kit, in a black faux crocodile embossed case. The case contains a plastic handled attacher and assorted plastic filaments.
Description

This button attacher kit was made by the Dennison Company in Framingham, Massachusetts, early 1970s. It is a Dennison Buttoneer Attacher Kit, in a black faux crocodile embossed case. The case contains a plastic handled attacher and assorted plastic filaments. The case is embossed:

Dennison Buttoneer Kit

(with plastic letters)

ARB

This is a hand-held plastic device with a handle on one end and a needle on the other. It uses a strip of small plastic fasteners that are loaded into the handle chamber and inserted through a button and material, fastening them together without using a needle and thread.

This object features U.S. Patent #3470834, dated October 7, 1969, by Arnold R. Bone, for a fastener attaching device.

Arnold R. Bone (July 26, 1913 - August 9, 2001) was an engineer, inventor, gunsmith, string instrument bowmaker. He grew up in South Ryegate, Vermont, and graduated from Wentworth Institute in 1935. After graduation, Bone worked at Irwin Auger Bit Company in Wilmington, Ohio before returning to Wentworth to teach Navy machinist mates during World War II until 1944. The final part of his career, Bone worked at Dennison Mfg. Company in Framingham (now Avery Dennison) when he retired in 2000.

Arnold R. Bone held numerous patents at Dennison, including several for the Swiftacher, the device for attaching tags to clothing with a nylon filament. His ubiquitous fasteners are still used today. Bone applied his engineering and master craftsman skills to making string instrument bows, and also became one of the world's most respected experts on repair and restoration of fine bows. His customers ranged from young students to members of professional ensembles such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and bows were shipped to him from all over the world.

Location
Currently not on view
date made
early 1970s
Associated Name
Bone, A. R.
maker
Dennison Manfacturing Company
ID Number
2002.0167.30
accession number
2002.0167
catalog number
2002.0167.30
The sternwheel river steamer Far West was built at Pittsburgh, Pa. in 1870. Measuring 190’ long and 33’ in beam, the West needed only 20” of water to navigate when unloaded.
Description
The sternwheel river steamer Far West was built at Pittsburgh, Pa. in 1870. Measuring 190’ long and 33’ in beam, the West needed only 20” of water to navigate when unloaded. In extreme shallow water, the two tall spars at the front of the boat could be lowered into the river bottom. With the aid of the capstan and engine power, the vessel could be lifted over sandbars or other obstructions, a bit or “hop” at a time. This practice was called “grasshoppering.”
The Far West spent much of its early career chartered to the U. S. Army supplying remote Army outposts in Montana and the Dakota Territory during the Indian campaigns. In June 1876, Capt. Grant Marsh transported Gen. George Custer’s forces to the Little Big Horn. On June 30, the steamer received news of the Indian victory over Custer. It loaded wounded soldiers from another action and travelled 710 miles down the Missouri in only 54 hours to bring the wounded soldiers and the news of Custer’s loss to Fort Lincoln, Dakota Territory. Nine days later, Capt. Marsh and the Far West steamed back to the Little Big Horn with horses and supplies for the soldiers there.
The Far West hit a snag on the Missouri River near St. Charles, Mo., in October 1883 and was lost.
date made
1977
collected
1977-02-28
maker
John L. Fryant & Co.
ID Number
TR.335811
catalog number
TR*335811
accession number
1977.0629
Longshoremen are the laborers who load and unload cargo ships.
Description
Longshoremen are the laborers who load and unload cargo ships. Since 1937, longshore work on the West Coast of the United States has been performed by members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU).
This white cotton cap with a visor was worn by its donor, Herb Mills, a member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 10, in San Francisco. Mills wore this hat for special union-related events, such as meetings and parades. The cap was made in Korea for “Dorfman Pacific, of Stockton, Califonia.”
Sometimes called the "West Coast Stetson," this type of white cap was worn by West Coast mariners, particularly longshoremen and sailors. Along with black "Frisco" jeans and a "hickory" (blue and white striped) shirt, the soft white cap was once a signature part of "the usual rig" that men wore in part to express their occupational identity. The white cap also served a safety function as they could be spotted even in the dark holds of ships by men on deck who were lifting and lowering heavy slingloads. By the early 1970s longshoremen were required to wear hardhats for safety when working aboard vessels and on the docks. They still wear the "West Coast Stetson," however, at special union meetings and events.
date made
ca 1960
1970s
used date
ca 1970-2001
ID Number
2001.0214.02
catalog number
2001.0214.02
accession number
2001.0214
The sternwheel steamer Valley Belle was built as a packet boat at Harmar, Ohio, in 1883. It measured 127.4’ long by 22.9’ in beam and a shallow 3.4’ in draft.
Description
The sternwheel steamer Valley Belle was built as a packet boat at Harmar, Ohio, in 1883. It measured 127.4’ long by 22.9’ in beam and a shallow 3.4’ in draft. As a packet delivering people, cargo and the mails, the Belle worked for decades along several rivers from the Ohio to the Kanawha in West Virginia. In 1891, the Belle transported 8,320 tons of cargo and 6,241 passengers along the Ohio River.
In 1917, the Valley Belle was operating along the Ohio River between Marietta and Middleport, Ohio. In March 1919 it was purchased by Billy Bryant of the famous showboating family. Bryant had just built a fancy new showboat and needed a larger towboat than they owned to tow it.
The Belle towed Bryant’s New Showboat for several years down the Kanawha, Ohio, Monongahela, Illinois, and Mississippi Rivers before being replaced by a smaller boat. Competition from movie theaters had shortened the range of the showboats, which were forced to go to ever-smaller and more remote towns for willing audiences. The Belle continued to tow on various rivers until 1943, when it sank in the Ohio River at Kanauga, Oh. Its career as a wooden-hulled river steamer in nearly continuous use for 60 years is unmatched.
Date made
1970
ID Number
TR.330213
catalog number
330213
accession number
288672
This tagging tool was made by the Dennison Company in Framingham, Massachusetts, late 1970s. It is a Dennison Mark III Swiftacher model, with a blue plastic grip tag case, and a metal needle inserter.
Description

This tagging tool was made by the Dennison Company in Framingham, Massachusetts, late 1970s. It is a Dennison Mark III Swiftacher model, with a blue plastic grip tag case, and a metal needle inserter. This object was used to attach this filament and tags through layers of material. The tagging tool is stamped:

USA Dennison TM

(and with a printed label):

MARK III
Electric Tool

This object features the following patents:

U.S. Patent #3103666, dated September 17, 1963, by Arnold R. Bone, assignor to Dennison Manufacturing Company, for a tag attaching apparatus.

U.S. Patent #3734375, dated May 22, 1973, by Arnold R. Bone and Ronald W. Krohn, assignors to Dennison Manufacturing Company, for a fastener inserting machine.

U.S. Patent #3880339, dated April 29, 1975, by Arnold R. Bone, for a fastener dispensing apparatus.

Arnold R. Bone (July 26, 1913 - August 9, 2001) was an engineer, inventor, gunsmith, string instrument bowmaker. He grew up in South Ryegate, Vermont, and graduated from Wentworth Institute in 1935. After graduation, Bone worked at Irwin Auger Bit Company in Wilmington, Ohio before returning to Wentworth to teach Navy machinist mates during World War II until 1944. The final part of his career, Bone worked at Dennison Mfg. Company in Framingham (now Avery Dennison) when he retired in 2000.

Arnold R. Bone held numerous patents at Dennison, including several for the Swiftacher, the device for attaching tags to clothing with a nylon filament. His ubiquitous fasteners are still used today. Bone applied his engineering and master craftsman skills to making string instrument bows, and also became one of the world's most respected experts on repair and restoration of fine bows. His customers ranged from young students to members of professional ensembles such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and bows were shipped to him from all over the world.

Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 1970s
maker
Dennison Manfacturing Company
ID Number
2002.0167.29
accession number
2002.0167
catalog number
2002.0167.29
This handmade object—a carved likeness of a miniature cod fish lying in a wooden coffin—was made by fisherman Dan Murphy of Dunville, Newfoundland. Made in response to Canada’s moratorium on cod fishing, Murphy sold these items at local flea markets and from his home.
Description
This handmade object—a carved likeness of a miniature cod fish lying in a wooden coffin—was made by fisherman Dan Murphy of Dunville, Newfoundland. Made in response to Canada’s moratorium on cod fishing, Murphy sold these items at local flea markets and from his home. This folk art cod-in-a-coffin, carved from wood and lined with fabric, represents the death of many Newfoundlanders’ livelihood. The fishing ban was declared on July 2, 1992, in an attempt to replenish the distressed levels of North Atlantic cod. Since then, over 40,000 fishers and workers at processing plants in Canada have lost their jobs.
The Canadian province of Newfoundland, like coastal New England in the United States, has a long history of cod fishing. When John Cabot first explored the region in 1497, he reported that cod off the rocky coast of Newfoundland were so plentiful that his crew could scoop up loads of the fish in buckets. Exploration and settlement of the area followed, and, over the course of the next four centuries, the North Atlantic fisheries became major industries that supported a significant number of families and communities in Atlantic Canada and along the New England coast.
In the 20th century, as new technology increased the efficiency of harvesting, the population of cod and other species in the North Atlantic began to decline. Before the 1960s, around 150,000 to 300,000 tons of cod were caught each year. But with the rise of diesel-powered factory trawlers, millions more fish could be hauled in and trawlers from all over the world converged in the productive waters of the North Atlantic. In 1977 foreign trawlers were banned, opening the door for the expansion of Canadian and American fishing fleets. But within a generation, the stocks of cod were depleted to the brink of collapse. The Canadian government reacted by banning cod fishing. The moratorium was extended indefinitely in 1993, giving jobless fishers little hope for a return to their way of life. According to a 2007 study, the North Atlantic cod population was estimated to be at one percent of its 1977 numbers.
date made
1994
date of fishing ban
1992-07-02
foreign trawlers banned
1977
maker
Murphy, Dan
ID Number
1999.0078.01
accession number
1999.0078
catalog number
1999.0078.01
This is an official identification card for Joe Razo of the California labor commission staff. The card was has his photo in upper right corner. Joe Razo was hired in 1978 and helped form the Concentrated Enforcement Program.
Description
This is an official identification card for Joe Razo of the California labor commission staff. The card was has his photo in upper right corner. Joe Razo was hired in 1978 and helped form the Concentrated Enforcement Program. The Department of Industrial Relations is responsible for enforcing State labor laws such as minimum wage.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1974
ID Number
1997.3113.02
nonaccession number
1997.3113
catalog number
1997.3113.02
This gold colored pin features a raised fist holding a cargo hook, the combination of symbols that became associated with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) in 1971.
Description
This gold colored pin features a raised fist holding a cargo hook, the combination of symbols that became associated with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) in 1971. The cargo hook is the traditional tool associated with longshoremen—the laborers who load and unload ships—and evokes the rough work of moving heavy cargoes prior to the mechanization of waterfront work. In a nod to their occupational roots, the ILWU longshoremen adopted the fist and cargo hook symbol when they voted to strike in 1971, a strike that centered on their opposition and resistance to elements of a labor contract regarding mechanization.
The 1971 strike grew out of the tumult of the 1960s, when both the ILWU and the shipping companies, represented by the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), recognized that new technologies would drastically cut the number of cargo-handling jobs. With the introduction of standardized shipping containers and innovations in global communications technologies, the need for gangs of longshoremen to handle individual bags, boxes, pallets, and crates was significantly reduced. While the shipping companies were anxious to adopt containerization with its intermodal capabilities—the same container could be carried by ship, rail, and tractor trailer—the longshoremen were wary of giving any ground on the basic requirement that only members of the ILWU could handle cargo in West Coast ports.
By 1971, general unrest boiled over into a strike that lasted 130 days and affected all commercial ports along the coast. One of the key issues proposed changes in work practices that would allow shipping companies to employ certain longshoremen trained as container crane operators on a permanent basis. Shipping companies had invested heavily in container ships, cranes, and other shoreside facilities, and they wanted to select and train the men who would operate the costly machines, essentially employing them regularly as “steady men.” From the union’s perspective, this proposal would create elite workers within the union, effectively blocking jobs from some members. Union members believed this special treatment violated a core value of the union, which had always stood for the strict rotation of all waterfront jobs among members.
This pin was worn by Local 10 (San Francisco) ILWU longshoreman Herb Mills, who was a strong supporter of the coastwide strike in 1971. The strike resulted in some gains for the shipping companies on the “steady man” issue, but upheld the requirement that all cargoes, including containers, would still be loaded and unloaded in West Coast ports by members of the ILWU.
date made
ca 1971
used date
ca 1971-2001
ID Number
2001.0214.04
catalog number
2001.0214.04
accession number
2001.0214
This is a 1/8-scale model of the tobacco ship Brilliant, a 250-ton vessel built in Virginia in 1775 for British owners.
Description
This is a 1/8-scale model of the tobacco ship Brilliant, a 250-ton vessel built in Virginia in 1775 for British owners. The Brilliant's first and probably only commercial venture from Virginia took place when it set sail for Liverpool, with a full hold of tobacco, in the summer of 1775. Typically the Brilliant would have returned with manufactured goods, but because of growing hostilities between Britain and the colonies, the ship remained in England. Records show that the Brilliant made one voyage to Jamaica and returned to London in 1776. Later that year, the Royal Navy purchased the vessel for just over £3,000 and converted it to a ship of war for service in the American Revolution.
The ship Brilliant had three masts and square-rigged sails. Its lower deck was 89'-3" long, its breadth was 27'-1/2", and the depth of the hold was 12'-2". The ship was built of oak, pine, and cedar. When purchased for war service, the Royal Navy assessed its hull, masts, and yards at £2,143. The cordage, including halyards, sheets, tack, and anchor cables, were assessed at £340. Brilliant's sails, 27 in all, were valued at £143. Five anchors were assessed at £58, while a long boat with a sailing rig and oars was estimated to be worth £45. Other items aboard the Brilliant were inventoried, including block and tackle, metal fittings, iron-bound water casks, hour and minute glasses, compasses, hammocks, an iron fire hearth, and 10 tons of coal.
After its conversion in 1776 as a ship of war in the Royal Navy, the Brilliant was commissioned as the HMS Druid. Its first voyage westbound across the Atlantic was as an escort for a convoy to the West Indies. The vessel served as the Druid until 1779, after which it became the fire ship Blast. In 1783, it was sold out of the service for £940 and, for the next 15 years, the former Virginia tobacco ship served as a whaler in Greenland. The vessel was lost in the Arctic in 1798.
This model was built by Charles and N. David Newcomb of Bolingbroke Marine in Trappe, Md. The model makers began their work in March 1975, scaling every timber to size and making everything out of the same type of wood as the original. They devised miniature rope-making equipment to manufacture the 5,000 feet of rigging and anchor cable required in 20 different sizes. Women from the Newcomb family and the surrounding community made the rigging and sails.
The model makers left the starboard side of the vessel unplanked to reveal the timbering and joinery of the hull and to permit a view of the vessel’s living accommodations in the stern and cargo stowage, complete with tobacco hogsheads.
Date made
1978
ship built
1775
voyage to Jamaica
1776
became a ship of war in Royal Navy
1776
ship lost at sea
1798
maker
Newcomb, Charles J.
Newcomb, N. David
ID Number
TR.335672
catalog number
335672
accession number
1978.0403
The James R. Barker was built in 1976 by the American Shipbuilding Co. at Lorain, OH for the Interlake Steamship Co. It was named after the head of the Moore-McCormack Steamship Company, which owned Interlake.
Description
The James R. Barker was built in 1976 by the American Shipbuilding Co. at Lorain, OH for the Interlake Steamship Co. It was named after the head of the Moore-McCormack Steamship Company, which owned Interlake. Costing over $43 million, Barker was the third 1000-footer to sail the Great Lakes, and the first built entirely on the Lakes. These big bulk coal and ore carriers were constructed to fit the largest locks connecting the Great Lakes.
Barker's two big 8,000-hp engines turn two 17-1/2-foot propellers, pushing the vessel at a speed of 15.75 knots (18 mph). The ship can transport 59,000 tons of iron ore pellets or 52,000 tons of coal. The self-unloading rig has a 250-foot-long boom that can unload 10,000 tons of ore or 6,000 net tons of coal per hour. By contrast, Interlake’s first bulk carrier, the 1874 wooden-hulled steamer V.H. Ketchum, could carry only 1,700 tons of ore and took nearly twelve days to unload using manual wheelbarrows.
The Barker was still in service in 2009.
Date made
1978
year the James R. Barker was built
1976
built James R. Barker
American Shipbuilding Co.
bought the James R. Barker
Interlake Steamship Co.
maker
Boucher-Lewis Precision Models, Inc.
ID Number
TR.336153
catalog number
336153
accession number
1978.0374
This 1979 tractor was owned by Gerald McCathern of Hereford, Tex., who used it in his fields for 700 hours before driving it 1,800 miles to Washington, D.C., to participate in the 1979 American Agriculture Movement demonstration.
Description
This 1979 tractor was owned by Gerald McCathern of Hereford, Tex., who used it in his fields for 700 hours before driving it 1,800 miles to Washington, D.C., to participate in the 1979 American Agriculture Movement demonstration. As wagon master, McCathern coordinated tractorcades that, while bringing the desperate situation facing American farmers to the attention of Congress, also substantially slowed rush-hour traffic. In the midst of the protest, a large snowstorm nearly paralyzed the city, and farmers used their tractors to pull cars out of snowbanks, earning the goodwill of many people.
The American Agriculture Movement bought the tractor and presented it to the Smithsonian in 1986. The IH 1486 is representative of the technology that typifies modern agriculture. It has sixteen forward and eight reverse speeds, power steering and brakes, diesel turbocharged engine, wide adjustable front end, detachable front weights, air-conditioning, AM-FM radio tape deck, hydraulic adjustable seat, and an adjustable steering wheel.
Date made
1979
user
McCathern, Gerald
maker
International Harvester
ID Number
1986.0179.01
catalog number
1986.0179.01
accession number
1986.0179
Herb Mills wore this shirt during his career as a member of ILWU Local 10, San Francisco. He joined the union in 1963 and retired in 1992 but is still active in union activities.Longshoremen are the laborers who load and unload cargo ships.
Description
Herb Mills wore this shirt during his career as a member of ILWU Local 10, San Francisco. He joined the union in 1963 and retired in 1992 but is still active in union activities.
Longshoremen are the laborers who load and unload cargo ships. Since 1937, longshore work on the West Coast of the United States has been performed by members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). The union was formed to end favoritism, bribery, low wages, and other abuses of power that had long plagued the management of work on the waterfront. It was also established as a body to represent longshoremen during negotiations with shipping companies over contracts, work rules, and related issues.
By the 1960s, both the ILWU and the shipping companies, represented by the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), recognized that new technologies would drastically cut the number of cargo-handling jobs. With the introduction of standardized shipping containers and innovations in global communications technologies, the need for gangs of longshoremen to handle individual bags, boxes, pallets, and crates was significantly reduced. While the shipping companies were anxious to adopt containerization with its intermodal capabilities—the same container could be carried by ship, rail, and tractor trailer—the longshoremen were wary of giving any ground on the basic requirement that only members of the ILWU could handle cargo in West Coast ports.
By 1971, general unrest boiled over into a strike that lasted 130 days and affected all commercial ports along the coast. One of the key issues was a proposal from the shipping companies to employ certain longshoremen trained as container crane operators on a permanent basis. Shipping companies had invested heavily in container ships, cranes, and other shoreside facilities, and they wanted to select and train the men who would operate the costly machines, essentially employing them regularly as “steady men.” From the union’s perspective, this proposal would create elite workers within the union, effectively blocking jobs from some members. Union members believed this special treatment violated a core value of the union, which had always stood for the strict rotation of all waterfront jobs among members.
date made
ca 1970
used date
ca 1970-2001
ID Number
2001.0214.01
accession number
2001.0214
catalog number
2001.0214.01
This round metal button measures 1-1/2" in diameter and has a pin and clasp on the back. The blue lettering: "I'M FOR A LONGSHORE VICTORY IN 1971" is set against a yellow background. The name of the manufacturer appears along the button’s edge: "BUTTON WORKS / 300 BROAD ST.
Description
This round metal button measures 1-1/2" in diameter and has a pin and clasp on the back. The blue lettering: "I'M FOR A LONGSHORE VICTORY IN 1971" is set against a yellow background. The name of the manufacturer appears along the button’s edge: "BUTTON WORKS / 300 BROAD ST. / NEVADA CITY, CA 95359."
Longshoremen are the laborers who load and unload cargo ships. Since 1937, longshore work on the West Coast of the United States has been performed by members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). The union was formed to end favoritism, bribery, low wages, and other abuses of power that had long plagued the management of work on the waterfront. It was also established as a body to represent longshoremen during negotiations with shipping companies over contracts, work rules, and related issues.
By the 1960s, both the ILWU and the shipping companies, represented by the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), recognized that new technologies would drastically cut the number of cargo-handling jobs. With the introduction of standardized shipping containers and innovations in global communications technologies, the need for gangs of longshoremen to handle individual bags, boxes, pallets, and crates was significantly reduced. While the shipping companies were anxious to adopt containerization with its intermodal capabilities—the same container could be carried by ship, rail, and tractor trailer—the longshoremen were wary of giving any ground on the basic requirement that only members of the ILWU could handle cargo in West Coast ports.
By 1971, general unrest boiled over into a strike that lasted 130 days and affected all commercial ports along the coast. One of the key issues was a proposal from the shipping companies to employ certain longshoremen trained as container crane operators on a permanent basis. Shipping companies had invested heavily in container ships, cranes, and other shoreside facilities, and they wanted to select and train the men who would operate the costly machines, essentially employing them regularly as “steady men.” From the union’s perspective, this proposal would create elite workers within the union, effectively blocking jobs from some members. Union members believed this special treatment violated a core value of the union, which had always stood for the strict rotation of all waterfront jobs among members.
This political button was worn by Local 10 (San Francisco) ILWU longshoreman Herb Mills, who was a strong supporter of the coastwide strike in 1971. The strike resulted in some gains for the shipping companies on the “steady man” issue, but upheld the requirement that all cargoes, including containers, would still be loaded and unloaded in West Coast ports by members of the ILWU.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1971
used date
1971
ID Number
2002.3003.01
nonaccession number
2002.3003
catalog number
2002.3003.01
The Mississippi River sidewheel steamboat J.M. White was built at Jeffersonville, Ind., in 1878 for the Greenville and New Orleans Packet Company. Measuring 321’ long and 91’ in beam across the paddlebox guards, the White only sat 10’-6” deep in the water when fully laden.
Description
The Mississippi River sidewheel steamboat J.M. White was built at Jeffersonville, Ind., in 1878 for the Greenville and New Orleans Packet Company. Measuring 321’ long and 91’ in beam across the paddlebox guards, the White only sat 10’-6” deep in the water when fully laden. The steamboat was designed for Mississippi River packet service between New Orleans, La., and Greenville, Miss.
The White was one of the largest, most expensive, luxurious, and most powerful river steamers ever built, with 2,800 horsepower and a capacity of 250 first-class passengers and 10,000 bales of cotton. Named after famous riverboat captain J. M. White (1823–1880), the “supreme triumph in cotton boat architecture” was a masterpiece of the gaudy, glamorous style known as “steamboat Gothic.” It had multiple bridal chambers; stained glass skylights and windows; rare wood veneers and gilded finishes; seven gilded “Egyptian-style” chandeliers; a sterling silver Tiffany water cooler in the 250’-long main cabin; monogrammed flatware and china; and a full concert grand piano.
The White spent most of its eight-year career in service on the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Vicksburg, Miss. Despite its economy of size, the White’s high initial $220,000 cost, a spotty economy, and the rapidly expanding railroad network made the steamboat unprofitable. It caught fire, blew up, and burned to the waterline at a Louisiana landing in December 1886, killing several aboard.
Date made
1974
built
1878
used date
late 19th century
ID Number
TR.334847
catalog number
334847
accession number
315419
The Regitel is an early point-of-sale (POS) electronic cash register.
Description
The Regitel is an early point-of-sale (POS) electronic cash register. Such terminals capture information about sales for computer processing.
The device was made by the American Regitel Corporation and installed as a part of a networked system in department stores across the nation. The networks communicated over telephone systems at 9600 baud, which was extremely fast for the time period.
A mark on the front reads: REGITEL. A mark on tape on the bottom of the machine reads: Theresa 3-22-71.
For related documentation, see 2002.0091.02 through 2002.0091.06.
American Regitel Corporation was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1968. The firm was acquired by Motorola in 1970.
References:
Accession file.
Auerbach Publishers, Snapshot of Point-of-Sale Systems, Pennsauken, N.J.: Auerbach Publishers, 1978, p. 11.
Creative Strategies Internaional, Retail Automation to 1983, San Jose: Creative Strategies International, 1980, esp. p. 109.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1970
maker
American Regitel Corporation
ID Number
2002.0091.01
accession number
2002.0091
catalog number
2002.0091.01
This pencil on paper drawing was made by Arnold R. Bone, dated March 9, 1970. It is a design for a U-shaped tool similar to horseshoe-shaped clamp (2002.0167.14). Bone would design and make custom tools for bow making and repair.Arnold R.
Description

This pencil on paper drawing was made by Arnold R. Bone, dated March 9, 1970. It is a design for a U-shaped tool similar to horseshoe-shaped clamp (2002.0167.14). Bone would design and make custom tools for bow making and repair.

Arnold R. Bone (July 26, 1913 - August 9, 2001) was an engineer, inventor, gunsmith, string instrument bowmaker. He grew up in South Ryegate, Vermont, and graduated from Wentworth Institute in 1935. After graduation, Bone worked at Irwin Auger Bit Company in Wilmington, Ohio before returning to Wentworth to teach Navy machinist mates during World War II until 1944. The final part of his career, Bone worked at Dennison Mfg. Company in Framingham (now Avery Dennison) when he retired in 2000.

Arnold R. Bone held numerous patents at Dennison, including several for the Swiftacher, the device for attaching tags to clothing with a nylon filament. His ubiquitous fasteners are still used today. Bone applied his engineering and master craftsman skills to making string instrument bows, and also became one of the world's most respected experts on repair and restoration of fine bows. His customers ranged from young students to members of professional ensembles such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and bows were shipped to him from all over the world.

Location
Currently not on view
date made
1970
designer
Bone, A. R.
ID Number
2002.0167.32.03
catalog number
2002.0167.32.03
accession number
2002.0167
As the United States expanded westward in the 1800s, the Great Lakes and inland rivers provided a route for transportation, commerce, and communication. Before railroads, waterways were a primary means of transporting bulk cargoes and heavy loads.
Description
As the United States expanded westward in the 1800s, the Great Lakes and inland rivers provided a route for transportation, commerce, and communication. Before railroads, waterways were a primary means of transporting bulk cargoes and heavy loads. Indeed, the first locomotive used in Chicago was shipped there by a Great Lakes schooner in 1837. Stretching from Buffalo, New York, to Duluth, Minnesota, and spotted along the way with port cities such as Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee, the Great Lakes brought thousands of people into the Midwest and in turn carried out the crops, lumber, and raw minerals produced in the region.
Schooners like the Ed McWilliams dominated the Great Lakes trade for much of the 19th century. Designed with a shallow hull for operating in small, inland harbors, Lakes schooners like the Ed McWilliams were also built with a long middle section to accommodate large loads of cargo.
Constructed in 1893 at West Bay City, Michigan, the Ed McWilliams was managed by John A. Francombe. Like most of his crew, Francombe immigrated to the United States in the middle of the century, he from England and the crew more likely from Scandinavia, Germany, or Ireland. The Ed McWilliams was one of thousands of vessels sailing on the Great Lakes in the 1800s, carrying cargoes of wheat, corn, iron ore, coal, and timber.
Date made
1978
date Ed McWilliams was built
1893
managed the Ed McWilliams
Francombe, John A.
ID Number
TR.336150
catalog number
336150
accession number
1978.0383
In the 70's, the margarita surpassed the martini as the most popular American cocktail and salsa surpassed ketchup as the most-used American condiment.
Description
In the 70's, the margarita surpassed the martini as the most popular American cocktail and salsa surpassed ketchup as the most-used American condiment. Today, Mexican cuisine, in all its modified, regionalized, commercialized, and even highly processed varieties, has become as American as apple pie. Mariano Martinez, a young Texas entrepreneur, and his frozen margarita machine were at the crossroads of that revolution. The margarita was first made on the California-Mexican border, and became associated with the service of Mexican food, particularly, with one of its variants, Tex-Mex, a regional cuisine that became popular all across the United States. In 1971, Martinez adapted a soft serve ice cream machine to create the world's first frozen margarita machine for his new Dallas restaurant, Mariano's Mexican Cuisine. With their blenders hard-pressed to produce a consistent mix for the newly popular drink they made from Mariano's father's recipe, his bartenders were in rebellion. Then came inspiration in the form of a Slurpee machine at a 7-Eleven, a machine invented in Dallas in 1960 to make carbonated beverages slushy enough to drink through a straw. The soft-serve ice cream machine that Martinez adapted to serve his special drink was such a success that, according to Martinez, "it brought bars in Tex-Mex restaurants front and center. People came to Mariano's for that frozen margarita out of the machine." Never patented, many versions of the frozen margarita machine subsequently came into the market. After 34 years of blending lime juice, tequila, ice, and sugar for enthusiastic customers, the world's first frozen margarita machine was retired to the Smithsonian.
Description (Spanish)
En la década de 1970 la margarita superó al martini como el cóctel más popular de América, y la salsa aventajó al ketchup como el condimento más usado por los americanos. En la actualidad, la cocina mexicana, en toda su diversidad, regionalismos, comercialización y hasta variedades altamente procesadas, se ha vuelto tan americana como el pastel de manzanas. Mariano Martínez, un joven empresario tejano, y su máquina de margaritas heladas se hallaron en la encrucijada de tal revolución. La margarita tuvo su origen en la frontera entre México y California, y empezó a asociarse en particular con el consumo de la comida mexicana y una de sus variantes, la tex-mex, una cocina regional que se popularizó en todo Estados Unidos. En 1971, Martínez adaptó una máquina de helados para crear la primer máquina de margaritas heladas en el mundo en su nuevo restaurante de Dallas, Mariano's Mexican Cuisine. Bajo la presión de tener que producir una mezcla de calidad uniforme de esta popular bebida sustentada en la receta del padre de Mariano, los barman se hallaban sublevados. Así fue como surgió la inspiración a partir de una máquina que usaba el 7-Eleven para hacer Slurpees, inventada en Dallas en 1960 para elaborar bebidas carbonadas congeladas lo suficientemente derretidas como para beber con pajita. La máquina de helados que adaptó Martínez para servir este cóctel especial tuvo tanto éxito que, según Martínez, "trajo los bares de los restaurantes Tex-Mex a la primera plana. La gente venía a lo de Mariano para beber la margarita helada de la máquina". La máquina nunca fue patentada y surgieron en el mercado numerosas versiones de la máquina de margaritas heladas. Luego de 34 años de mezclar jugo de lima, tequila, hielo y azúcar para sus entusiastas consumidores, la primera máquina en el mundo de hacer margaritas heladas se jubiló en el Smithsonian.
Date made
ca 1970
maker
Sani-Serv
ID Number
2005.0226.01
catalog number
2005.0226.01
accession number
2005.0226
Bryant’s New Showboat was built at Point Pleasant, W. Va., in 1917. Launched in 1918, it could seat around 880 people in its theater.
Description
Bryant’s New Showboat was built at Point Pleasant, W. Va., in 1917. Launched in 1918, it could seat around 880 people in its theater. Most of the shows put on for Bryant’s patrons in small towns along the Kanawha, Ohio, Monongahela, Illinois, and Mississippi Rivers were vaudeville or follies productions.
The ornate stage of Bryant’s New Showboat was home to dozens of plays like Hamlet and Little Nell of the Ozarks, and even the antics of a trained bucking mule named January. Owner Billy Bryant offered $10 to anyone who could stay on the animal’s back, but he had to retract that offer in mining towns, as the miners were strong enough to stay on.
The vessel was sold to new owners in 1945, at the end of World War II. Movie theaters, personal automobiles and other developments had gradually ended the colorful showboat era on America’s rivers.
Date made
1976
ID Number
TR.335568
catalog number
335568
accession number
1977.0630
This self-inking lever press was made by the Kelsey Press Company of Meriden, Connecticut in about 1970.
Description (Brief)
This self-inking lever press was made by the Kelsey Press Company of Meriden, Connecticut in about 1970. The press has a height of 14 inches a width of 9 inches and a length of 17 inches; its chase measures 3 inches by 5 inches.
This press was acquired from the manufacturer in about 1973 by the Museum Docents for public demonstration on a hand cart.
Transferred from the Museum Docents Program, 1995.
Citation: Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
about 1970
circa 1970
date made
ca 1970
maker
Kelsey Press Company
ID Number
1995.0283.01
catalog number
1995.0283.01
accession number
1995.0283
This faded yellow hardhat is made of plastic and includes a canvas chinstrap. A sticker depicting the logo of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) is affixed to the front and two additional stickers—black horizontal bars—are affixed to each side of the hat.
Description
This faded yellow hardhat is made of plastic and includes a canvas chinstrap. A sticker depicting the logo of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) is affixed to the front and two additional stickers—black horizontal bars—are affixed to each side of the hat. The name “MILLS” is lettered by hand on the chinstrap.
Local 10 longshoreman Herb Mills wore this hardhat while loading and unloading ships at the Port of San Francisco, home of the ILWU. He credits the hardhat with saving him from serious injury in a 1979 accident when he was discharging mobile cranes from the hold of a ship. He wore the hat while working on the waterfront until about 1992.
Longshoremen are the laborers who load and unload cargo ships. Since 1937, longshore work on the West Coast of the United States has been performed by members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU).
Longshoring is dangerous work and was one of the occupations covered in the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) of 1971. The Act's Longshoring Standard required employers to provide employees with protective hardhats to wear when working aboard vessels. The employers' group on the West Coast, the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), implemented the program and began supplying longshoremen with yellow hardhats in 1972. The new policy was not readily embraced by all longshoremen, as noted in the PMA's 1973 Annual Report: "Although the West Coast has adopted a mandatory hard hat position, its enforcement is difficult. There is opposition to the requirement of wearing a hard hat in all environments of longshore operation." By 1977 the PMA was offering special awards to longshoremen who avoided head injuries by wearing their hardhats. The hardhat is now part of the longshoremen's occupational attire and is worn when working aboard vessels and in marine terminal jobs.
date made
ca 1971
used date
ca 1971-1992
ID Number
2001.0214.03
accession number
2001.0214
catalog number
2001.0214.03
This metal container with metal lid contains hide glue pellets used in violin making. It is a repurposed tin for cigars. Accessioned with original Chicago Music Instrument Co. receipt.This object was used by Albert Moglie (b. December 16, 1890, Rome; d.
Description

This metal container with metal lid contains hide glue pellets used in violin making. It is a repurposed tin for cigars. Accessioned with original Chicago Music Instrument Co. receipt.

This object was used by Albert Moglie (b. December 16, 1890, Rome; d. June 9, 1988, Washington DC), instrument maker and restorer, and proprietor of a violin shop in Washington DC for 65 years from 1922 until 1987. At the age of twelve he was apprenticed to Antonio Sgarbi and subsequently worked under Luigi Enbergher, Giuseppe Rossi and Rodolfo Fredi, all of Rome. Following these apprenticeships, Moglie was a student of Hippolyte Sylvestre in Paris and Leandro Bisiach in Milan.

Albert Moglie came to America at the age of 24 to work for the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, first in Cincinnati and then New York City in 1916. By 1917 he had established his own shop in New York at 1431 Broadway. He moved to Washington DC in 1922.

Moglie enjoyed a fine reputation in Washington as a violin restorer and is especially remembered as the caretaker of the Gertrude Clark Whittall Stradivari quartet of instruments at the Library of Congress, an association that began in the 1930s and lasted more than 50 years.

The Smithsonian, National Museum of American History, Archives Center houses additional materials on the life and career of Albert F. Moglie:

https://sova.si.edu/record/NMAH.AC.0283

Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1972
user
Moglie, Albert F.
ID Number
1987.0501.017
catalog number
1987.0501.017
accession number
1987.0501

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