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.

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1910
maker
Hine, Lewis
ID Number
1997.0258.01
catalog number
1997.0258.01
accession number
1997.0258
This framed photograph captures what was surely a familiar sight in 1911 at 1700 North Gay Street in Baltimore, Maryland. It shows a line of horse-drawn beer wagons with teamsters at the reins in front of the John F. Wiessner & Sons Brewery.
Description
This framed photograph captures what was surely a familiar sight in 1911 at 1700 North Gay Street in Baltimore, Maryland. It shows a line of horse-drawn beer wagons with teamsters at the reins in front of the John F. Wiessner & Sons Brewery. Portions of the large and ornate brewery building are visible in the photograph and, along with the long line of horses and wagons, suggest the success of the Wiessner family’s enterprise at the time.
John Frederick Wiessner, born in Bavaria, immigrated to Baltimore and established his brewery in 1863 on North Gay Street. In 1877, he had a new building constructed at the site and the upgraded brewery flourished, producing around 20,000 barrels per year by the 1880s. Wiessner died in 1904, and his sons continued to operate the brewery until 1920, when the enactment of the Eighteenth Amendment, prohibiting the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages, forced the brewery to close. In 1931, the American Malt Company purchased the historic building and began modernizing the plant. At the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, the company began producing beer under the American Brewery, Inc. label. The American Brewery operated at the site until 1973.
This photograph of the horse-drawn beer wagons in front of the J.F. Wiessner & Sons Brewery is part of a large collection of brewing material donated to the museum in 1967 by former brewmaster Walter Voigt, of Ruxton, Maryland, near Baltimore. Voigt’s collection consists of objects and archival materials reflecting the history of brewing in the mid-Atlantic region between 1870 and the beginnings of consolidation and large-scale, industrial production in the 1960s. His correspondence reveals an interest in preserving the history of brewing in America before brewmasters were “replaced by chemical engineers and highly trained chemists in modern laboratories.” Voigt’s papers are housed in the museum’s Archives Center, Collection #ACNMAH 1195, “Walter H. Voigt Brewing Industry Collection, 1935-1967.”
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
AG.MHI-M-9491C
catalog number
MHI-M-9491C
accession number
276730
This photograph shows thirty-nine men posing for the camera outside the Eigenbrot Brewery in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1888.
Description
This photograph shows thirty-nine men posing for the camera outside the Eigenbrot Brewery in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1888. The men are not identified, but their clothing and various positions—some seated and others standing on top of barrels—indicates a mixed group of perhaps owners, managers, and workers at the Eigenbrot Brewery. The men seated in front wearing coats, ties, and more formal hats are also holding beer steins. Looming behind them are six huge beer casks, one of which includes the six point brewers’ star (Brauerstern) on its end.
German immigrants made a significant impact on brewing history in Baltimore. In the mid-nineteenth century, individuals established their own companies or formed partnerships to build breweries for small-scale, local production. These early efforts grew quickly with the adoption of new technologies and transportation systems as well as the rapid expansion of markets. Although Henry Eigenbrot was American-born, he benefitted from the business successes of these German immigrants, particularly Ferdinand Joh, his father-in-law. Joh had established a brewery with another immigrant, Philip Odenwald, in 1862, and after Odenwald’s death a decade later, Joh went into business for himself. After Joh’s death, Eigenbrot inherited the brewery in 1876, at which time the company already had its own bottling plant. By 1891, Eigenbrot was producing 14,000 barrels annually and, with a new partner and plant expansions, production increased to 45,000 barrels per year by 1895. At the turn of the twentieth century, the brewery was producing 100,000 barrels per year. The Eigenbrot brewery remained in business until the start of Prohibition in 1920.
This photograph is part of a large collection of brewing material donated to the museum in 1967 by former brewmaster Walter Voigt, of Ruxton, Maryland, near Baltimore. Voigt’s collection consists of objects and archival materials reflecting the history of brewing in the mid-Atlantic region between 1870 and the beginnings of consolidation and large-scale, industrial production in the 1960s. His correspondence reveals an interest in preserving the history of brewing in America before brewmasters were “replaced by chemical engineers and highly trained chemists in modern laboratories.” Voigt’s papers are housed in the museum’s Archives Center, Collection #ACNMAH 1195, “Walter H. Voigt Brewing Industry Collection, 1935-1967.”
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
AG.MHI-M-9491A
catalog number
MHI-M-9491A
accession number
276730
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 1850s
ID Number
1984.0318.01
catalog number
1984.0318.01
accession number
1984.0318
Tintype portrait of a bearded man seated on a stool and displaying cobbler's tools as he works on a shoe.The NMAH Photo History Collection (PHC) has over 3000 tintype photographs dating from the beginnings of the process in 1856 to the present.
Description (Brief)
Tintype portrait of a bearded man seated on a stool and displaying cobbler's tools as he works on a shoe.
Description
The NMAH Photo History Collection (PHC) has over 3000 tintype photographs dating from the beginnings of the process in 1856 to the present. ‘Tintype’ was coined and became the favored name.
Tintypes in the PHC are found in albums, the Kaynor Union Case collection and as individual photographs. The original tintype process patent was assigned to William and Peter Neff in 1856. William Neff died a short time later, but his son Peter, who named the process Melainotype, continued on with his work. The earliest tintypes in the PHC are a group of more than thirty Peter Neff Melainotypes, some of which date back to 1856 and contain notes written by Peter Neff. Shortly after the Melainotype, Victor Griswold introduced a very similar process on thinner, lighter iron plates and called them Ferrotypes. The PHC has tintypes ranging from rare large images between 5”x7” and 10”x12”down to small images cut to 6mm diameter to fit jewelry. The Melainotypes are between 1/6 plate and 4”x5” in size and many have indistinct images. There are also unexposed Melainotype plates including a pack of 1/6 plates and large whole-plates with four decorated oval borders that were designed to be cut into smaller quarter plates after exposure.
The great majority of tintype photographs are studio portraits, including the very popular ‘Gem’ size (about ¾” x 1”). Almost every gem tintype in the PHC is an individual head and shoulders portraits, the only exceptions seen being a full length portrait and a head and shoulders portrait of a couple. Most of these gem portraits are in small gem albums designed to hold two to six gems per page. However, several gems are mounted on cartes-de-visite (CDV) size cards and set in specifically designed album pages. Some of these CDV mounted gems are in elaborate miniature frames attached to the card. The tintypes larger than gem size show a greater variety of subject matter, but still with a main focus on individual portraits, this is especially true of the smaller 1/16 and 1/9 plate images. Outdoor tintypes are rare. Of the few in the PHC, the most common outdoor subjects noted are people standing in front of their homes and photographs of people proudly standing with, or sitting on, their horse or horses and buggy. One of the largest tintypes is a 9”x 7” outdoor view of a row of townhouses with a couple standing on one of the balconies. There is also an outdoor tintype of men fishing along with another of their days catch.
One common subject in tintype photography, as noted in text books, is the civil war soldier. The durability of the tintype meant that photographs taken in the field could be sent home. However, this category of tintype is not well represented in the PHC, with less than thirty noted due to the fact that the majority of the Smithsonian’s Civil War tintypes are located mainly in the Military History Collection. Most of the PHC examples of Civil War tintypes are in the Kaynor collection of cased images.
A few of the tintypes in the PHC are hand colored. This coloring varies from light tinting of faces and hands to heavy overpainting that obscures the underlying tintype image. A number of the tintypes (about 30) depict people with the apparatus of their occupations. Some are posed studio shots and others appear to be photographs of people at their place of work. Among the occupational views are images of a doctor, grocery deliveryman, weavers, fireman, ice delivery man, craftsman, cobbler, shoe shiners, mail carrier, surveyor, pipe liners and other tintypes of people wearing work clothes and posing with tools. These include a unique full-length gem tintype of a man in work apron with a saw.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
1982.0522.02
accession number
1982.0522
catalog number
1982.0522.02
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1860s
maker
Peale, Titian Ramsay
ID Number
PG.66.25A.64
catalog number
66.25A.64
accession number
263090
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
PG.68.93
catalog number
68.93
accession number
277275
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1924
maker
Keene, Minna
ID Number
PG.003774B
accession number
86959
catalog number
3774B
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
PG.68.91
catalog number
68.91
accession number
277275
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1860s
maker
Peale, Titian Ramsay
ID Number
PG.66.25A.63
catalog number
66.25A.63
accession number
263090
The United States entered World War I in April 1917. Within days, the federal government created the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to construct a fleet of merchant ships.
Description
The United States entered World War I in April 1917. Within days, the federal government created the Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) to construct a fleet of merchant ships. The EFC hired the American International Shipbuilding Corporation to build and operate the largest shipyard in the world: Hog Island, near Philadelphia.
Hog Island’s 50 shipways stretched a mile and a quarter along the Delaware River near Philadelphia. It abutted 846 acres with 250 buildings and 28 outfitting docks, on what is now the site of the Philadelphia International Airport. At its peak, the yard employed around 30,000 workers. Most were men, but some 650 women worked in the yard. Many of the workers had no factory experience, so they were trained on the job.
At its peak, Hog Island launched a vessel every 5½ days, and its workers built 122 cargo and troop transport ships in four years. Although none saw service before the end of the war, the United States learned how to build large ships quickly on a grand scale from prefabricated parts. This valuable experience would expedite the Liberty and Victory ship building programs of World War II.
date made
1919
ID Number
TR.335550.2
catalog number
335550.2
accession number
1977.0003
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2017.0281.0013
accession number
2017.0281
catalog number
2017.0281.0013
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2012.0058.01
catalog number
2012.0058.01
accession number
2012.0058
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
2006
photographer
Watts, Susan C.
ID Number
2006.0217.01
accession number
2006.0217
catalog number
2006.0217.01
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Zalesky, Roy Joseph
ID Number
2017.0306.0052
catalog number
2017.0306.0052
accession number
2017.0306
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Underwood & Underwood Illustration Studios
ID Number
2006.0142.20
accession number
2006.0142
catalog number
2006.0142.20
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Zalesky, Roy Joseph
ID Number
2017.0306.0084
catalog number
2017.0306.0084
accession number
2017.0306
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2015.0076.0049
catalog number
2015.0076.0049
accession number
2015.0076
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2017.0037.0083
accession number
2017.0037
catalog number
2017.0037.0083
This original artwork in pencil, ink, and wash was created for a printed piece advertising the services of Chicago wood engraver Nicholas J. Quirk about 1900.
Description
This original artwork in pencil, ink, and wash was created for a printed piece advertising the services of Chicago wood engraver Nicholas J. Quirk about 1900. The design, including a wood block, engraving tools, and a woodpecker as a symbol of the trade, was modified for use as a logo by the Brotherhood of Engravers in 1902.
The Quirk Collection represents a significant body of work by N. J. Quirk (1863–1940) and his son Nicholas Paul Quirk (1898–1983), together with numerous business cards and specimen sheets from their fellow wood engravers and printing concerns, mostly in the midwestern United States, but also from Canada and Japan. Engraved wood blocks, electrotype plates, photographs, original artwork, proofs, prints, brochures, catalogs and other examples of commercial illustration and wood engraving, plus associated reference material, are included. Subjects represented include portraits (including six Presidents, Joseph Conrad, and Charles Lindbergh), machinery, jewelry, maritime and military work, holiday offerings, and printing trade and union-related items. Most of the 454 catalogued items date from the 1880s up through the 1970s.
Evidence in the collection suggests that Nicholas J. Quirk worked as superintendent of the wood-engraving department of Henderson-Achert Lithography Company in Cincinnati and had his own business there as Quirk & Co., before moving to Chicago in the 1890s. He had his own business at several Chicago addresses and worked for the Globe Engraving and Electrotype Company and the Hawtin Engraving Company. Around 1900 he styled himself as a "marine illustrator." Nicholas Paul Quirk spent his entire working life in Chicago, first with his father and later at the Zacher Engraving Company, where wood engraver Judith Jaidinger Szesko also worked during the 1960s. Mrs Szesko donated the Quirk Collection to NMAH in 1996.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1900
graphic artist
Quirk, Nicholas J.
ID Number
1996.0197.031
catalog number
1996.0197.031
accession number
1996.0197
Photograph: An agent from the Texas growers association selects braceros for distribution among his association members in Hidalgo, Texas.Currently not on view
Description
Photograph: An agent from the Texas growers association selects braceros for distribution among his association members in Hidalgo, Texas.
Location
Currently not on view
date photographed
1956
photographer
Nadel, Leonard
ID Number
2004.0138.14.14
accession number
2004.0138
catalog number
2004.0138.14.14
Photograph: A bracero places heads of lettuce in a Toro lettuce box in a field in the Salinas Valley, California.Currently not on view
Description
Photograph: A bracero places heads of lettuce in a Toro lettuce box in a field in the Salinas Valley, California.
Location
Currently not on view
date photographed
1956
photographer
Nadel, Leonard
ID Number
2004.0138.34.15
accession number
2004.0138
catalog number
2004.0138.34.15
Photograph: A vendor offers a liquid to the braceros who stand around him at a camp in the Salinas Valley, California.
Description
Photograph: A vendor offers a liquid to the braceros who stand around him at a camp in the Salinas Valley, California.
date photographed
1956
photographer
Nadel, Leonard
ID Number
2004.0138.24.34
accession number
2004.0138
catalog number
2004.0138.24.34
Photograph: A bracero family sits in their home in San Mateo, Mexico.Currently not on view
Description
Photograph: A bracero family sits in their home in San Mateo, Mexico.
Location
Currently not on view
date photographed
1956
photographer
Nadel, Leonard
ID Number
2004.0138.08.01
accession number
2004.0138
catalog number
2004.0138.08.01

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