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.

Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by David Knox, text and positive by Alexander Gardner.This photograph represents one of the forges used by the army at Petersburg, and was taken during the intense heat of a summer day.
Description
Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by David Knox, text and positive by Alexander Gardner.
This photograph represents one of the forges used by the army at Petersburg, and was taken during the intense heat of a summer day. The trees in the distance are dimly seen through the tremulous air, and the pine twigs droop from the eaves of the but as if a fire had scorched them. The hoofs of the horse are buried in burning dust, and the boots of the men are loaded with powdered earth. By the tall pine in the back-ground, a little tent seems to be vainly seeking the shadow, while over all glares a hot sky, without a cloud to relieve the weary eyes. The parched ground and arid appearance of the landscape was characteristic of the country about Petersburg, where the constant movements of troops crushed out vegetation. Forests, houses, and fences were swept away, and the fields were transformed into vast commons, where the winds raised clouds of sand, and covered everything with the sacred soil. On these glaring deserts, with no covering but the shelter tent and withered brush, the army toiled and fought through many months, filling the valleys with graves, and sapping the vigor of men in the prime of life. Many are the dead that might now be living but for the poison of those torrid days, and all through the land are feeble veterans, who look back upon that campaign as does the pilgrim on his journeyings across the great Sahara.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1864-08
maker
Gardner, Alexander
ID Number
1986.0711.0283.27
accession number
1986.0711
catalog number
1986.0711.0283.27
Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by Timothy H.
Description
Text and photograph from Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, Vol. II. Negative by Timothy H. O'Sullivan, text and positive by Alexander Gardner.
In such rude manner did the lusty artificers of the corps carry on their needful trades, doing much good work under the scorching rays of the southern sun. At one time the majority of these hardy workmen were detailed from the ranks, with extra pay and allowances, but when every soldier was needed behind his musket, skilled men were hired for such duty, and some of the soldiers ordered back to their regiments. On the right of the view is the stocks, a neat contrivance, to facilitate the shoeing of mules, an operation which those self-willed animals had a decided objection to undergo. Time being precious, the farriers could not be expected to waste much in the exercise of their persuasive abilities. The refractory mule was led into the stocks, often by the seductive display of a peck of oats, suddenly to find himself suspended in air upon a huge belly-band. Four stout fellows seizing his feet, fastened them securely with thongs in the required position, and while impotent rage convulsed his frame, rapidly nailed on the shoes, finally releasing the hybrid in a state of wretched uncertainty as to the intents and purposes of his masters.
The tent fly, with its partial walls of loose bricks, covers the forge. Around it are the wheel and harness-makers, evidently resting, with pleasing expectations of forming a prominent feature of the photograph, while the contrabands have assumed positions of determined fixedness, worthy of the occasion.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1864-02
maker
Gardner, Alexander
ID Number
1986.0711.0283.20
accession number
1986.0711
catalog number
1986.0711.0283.20
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
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2013.0327.0959
catalog number
2013.0327.0959
accession number
2013.0327
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1940s
ID Number
2013.0327.0786
accession number
2013.0327
catalog number
2013.0327.0786
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Peale, Titian Ramsay
ID Number
PG.66.25A.82
catalog number
66.25A.82
accession number
263090
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1940s
ID Number
2013.0327.1069
accession number
2013.0327
catalog number
2013.0327.1069
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1936
maker
Associated Press
ID Number
2013.0327.0763
accession number
2013.0327
catalog number
2013.0327.0763
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1936
maker
Associated Press
ID Number
2013.0327.0758
catalog number
2013.0327.0758
accession number
2013.0327
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1940s
ID Number
2013.0327.0789
accession number
2013.0327
catalog number
2013.0327.0789
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
1989.0164.01
accession number
1989.0164
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
Occupational portrait; Tintype photograph of a man holding a small specialized hammer. The man is pictured sitting on a chair and leaning on his fist, wearing workingman's clothes and a light scarf or cravat and narrow-brimmed hat.
Description (Brief)
Occupational portrait; Tintype photograph of a man holding a small specialized hammer. The man is pictured sitting on a chair and leaning on his fist, wearing workingman's clothes and a light scarf or cravat and narrow-brimmed hat. The hammer, in his left hand, appears to be tinted
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca. 1860s-1870s
ID Number
1986.3048.0545
nonaccession number
1986.3048
catalog number
1986.3048.545
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
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1869
ID Number
1988.3071.0627
nonaccession number
1988.3071
catalog number
1988.3071.0627
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca. 1860s-1870s
ID Number
1987.0654.09
catalog number
1987.0654.09
accession number
1987.0654
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
Occupational portrait; Tintype photograph of a man holding a chisel and a mallet while sitting on a work bench. The appears to be taken outside, and is tinted green in grass and tree areas of the back and foreground.
Description (Brief)
Occupational portrait; Tintype photograph of a man holding a chisel and a mallet while sitting on a work bench. The appears to be taken outside, and is tinted green in grass and tree areas of the back and foreground. The man is wearing workingman's clothes, boots, and a hat with an upturned brim. A saw and a corner are resting against a tree trunk directly behind the bench.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca. 1860s-1870s
ID Number
1986.3048.0599
nonaccession number
1986.3048
catalog number
1986.3048.599
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
date made
1944-1961
maker
Ruohomaa, Kosti
ID Number
PG.007319
catalog number
7319
accession number
252971
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1944-1961
maker
Ruohomaa, Kosti
ID Number
PG.007339
catalog number
7339
accession number
252971
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1944-1961
maker
Ruohomaa, Kosti
ID Number
PG.007322
catalog number
7322
accession number
252971
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1960's
photographer
Uzzle, Burk
ID Number
PG.72.12.003
accession number
2003.0044
catalog number
72.12.3
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
PG.003168
catalog number
3168

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