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.

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
The Graphic Arts Collection of the National Museum of American History houses an extensive series of prints by archeologist and artist Jean Charlot (1898–1979), and prominent Los Angeles printer Lynton Kistler (1897–1993).
Description
The Graphic Arts Collection of the National Museum of American History houses an extensive series of prints by archeologist and artist Jean Charlot (1898–1979), and prominent Los Angeles printer Lynton Kistler (1897–1993). Charlot, the French-born artist of this print, spent his early career during the 1920s in Mexico City. As an assistant to the socialist painter Diego Rivera, he studied muralism, a Mexican artistic movement that was revived throughout Latino communities in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. This lithograph, titled Work and Rest contrasts the labor of an indigenous woman, grinding corn on a metate, with the slumber of her baby. Printed by Lynton Kistler in Los Angeles in 1956, it presents an image of a Mexican woman living outside the industrial age. This notion of "Old Mexico" unblemished by modernity appealed to many artists concerned in the early 20th century with the mechanization and materialism of American culture. It was also a vision that was packaged as an exotic getaway for many American tourists. It is worth contrasting the quaint appeal of an indigenous woman laboring over her tortillas with the actual industrialization of the tortilla industry. By 1956, this woman would likely have bought her tortillas in small stacks from the local tortillería, saving about six hours of processing, grinding, and cooking tortilla flour.
Description (Spanish)
La Colección de Artes Gráficas del Museo Nacional de Historia Americana alberga una extensa serie de grabados del arqueólogo y artista Jean Charlot (1898-1979), y del prominente grabador de Los Ángeles Lynton Kistler (1897-1993). Nacido en Francia, Chralot, autor original de esta ilustración, pasó los comienzos de su carrera durante la década de 1920, en la ciudad de México. Como asistente del pintor socialista Diego Rivera, estudió muralismo, un movimiento artístico mexicano que resurgió en las comunidades latinas de los Estados Unidos en las décadas de los '60 y '70. Esta litografía, titulada Trabajo y Descanso contrasta la labor de una mujer indígena moliendo maíz con un metate, con el letargo de su bebé. Impreso por Lynton Kistler en Los Ángeles en 1956, simboliza la imagen de una mujer mexicana con una vida al margen de la era industrial. Esta noción del "Viejo México" impoluto por la modernidad resultaba atractiva para los artistas de principios del siglo XX, preocupados por la mecanización y el materialismo de la cultura americana. También constituía una visión que se envasaba como un escape exótico para muchos turistas americanos. Vale la pena contrastar el pintoresco atractivo de una mujer indígena trabajando para hacer tortillas con la industrialización actual de la fabricación de tortillas. Ya hacia el año 1956 esta mujer probablemente hubiera comprado sus tortillas en pequeñas cantidades en la tortillería del barrio, ahorrándose las 6 horas de trabajo aproximadas que le hubiera llevado procesar, moler y cocinar la harina de maíz ella misma.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1956
graphic artist
Charlot, Jean
printer
Kistler, Lynton R.
ID Number
GA.23355.05
catalog number
23355.05
accession number
299563
The French-born artist Jean Charlot spent his early career during the 1920s in Mexico City. His 1948 lithograph depicts a scene from the domestic life of a Mexican indigenous woman, a favorite theme of the artist.
Description
The French-born artist Jean Charlot spent his early career during the 1920s in Mexico City. His 1948 lithograph depicts a scene from the domestic life of a Mexican indigenous woman, a favorite theme of the artist. Household work—without the aid of most, if any, electrical appliances—was a full-time job for many working-class and poor Mexican women, north and south of the border, well into the 20th century. Food preparation was especially labor-intensive. Corn had to be processed, wood gathered, and water fetched, in the midst of child rearing and other household duties. This was the daily fare of most women, who rarely worked outside the home after marriage. Mexican American women who found work in cities like El Paso in the early 20th century were either single or widowed. Many worked as domestic servants, others in industrial laundries or textile mills. Like today, some women turned to their kitchens to earn a living, making meager profits selling prepared food on the street to Mexican American workers and Mexican migrants.
Description (Spanish)
El artista francés Jean Charlot pasó los años 1920, a comienzos de su carrera, en la ciudad de México. Esta litografía suya de 1948 representa una escena de la vida doméstica de una mujer indígena, un tema favorito del artista. Las tareas domésticas—sin la ayuda de la mayor parte de los aparatos electrodomésticos—constituían un trabajo de todo el día para muchas mujeres pobres de la clase trabajadora de México, al norte y sur de la frontera, hasta bien entrado el siglo XX. La preparación de la comida era especialmente trabajosa. Debía procesarse el maíz, juntarse leña y acarrear el agua, sumados a la crianza de los hijos y otras obligaciones domésticas. Así era la vida diaria para la mayoría de las mujeres, quienes raramente trabajaban fuera del hogar una vez casadas. A principios del siglo XX, las mujeres mexicoamericanas que trabajaban, en ciudades como El Paso, eran solteras o viudas. Muchas se empleaban en el servicio doméstico, otras en lavanderías industriales o fábricas textiles. Al igual que en la actualidad, algunas mujeres convertían su cocina en un medio para ganarse la vida, obteniendo exiguas ganancias a través de la venta de comidas preparadas en la calle para trabajadores mexicoamericanos e inmigrantes mexicanos.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1948
graphic artist
Charlot, Jean
ID Number
GA.23377
catalog number
23377
accession number
299563
Cesar Estrada Chavez, the founder of the United Farm Workers of America, is one of the most recognized Latino civil rights leaders in the United States. A Mexican American born in Yuma, Arizona, his family lost their small farm in the Great Depression (1930s).
Description
Cesar Estrada Chavez, the founder of the United Farm Workers of America, is one of the most recognized Latino civil rights leaders in the United States. A Mexican American born in Yuma, Arizona, his family lost their small farm in the Great Depression (1930s). Like many Americans, they joined the migration to California and worked for low wages in its great agricultural fields. The agricultural industry in the West was a modern, market-driven phenomenon. In 1965, the United Farm Workers of America, led by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, began its five-year Delano grape strike against area grape growers for equal wages for foreign workers. Filipino and Mexican Americans who labored in California vineyards were suddenly visible in the eyes of American consumers. The movement to boycott table grapes mobilized students and educated consumers across America. The text on this poster, printed around 1970, describes Chavez's vision of political and economic emancipation for farm workers. La Causa, or The Cause, as it was known among Mexican Americans, was the political and artistic touchstone of the Chicano movement.
Description (Spanish)
César Estrada Chávez, fundador del Sindicato de los Trabajadores Agrícolas de América (UFW, por sus siglas en inglés) es uno de los líderes más reconocidos de los derechos civiles de los latinos en Estados Unidos. Mexicoamericano, nacido en Yuma, Arizona, la familia perdió su pequeña granja durante la Gran Depresión (década de 1930). Al igual que muchos americanos, emigró hacia California para trabajar en los grandes campos agrícolas por un sueldo mínimo. La industria agrícola en el oeste era un fenómeno moderno, regido por el mercado. En 1965, el Sindicato de Trabajadores Agrícolas, conducido por César Chávez y Dolores Huerta, inició la huelga de la uva de Delano, la cual se prolongó durante cinco años, contra los productores de uva en pro de los derechos de paga de los trabajadores migratorios. Como consecuencia, los filipinos y mexicanoamericanos que trabajaban en los viñedos de California adquirieron una repentina presencia ante los ojos de los consumidores americanos. El movimiento de boicot a la producción de uva fresca movilizó a estudiantes y consumidores en toda América. El texto que se observa en este póster, impreso alrededor de 1970, describe la visión política de Chávez acerca de la emancipación política y económica de los trabajadores agrícolas. La Causa, como se la conocía entre los mexicoamericanos, era el pedernal político y artístico del movimiento chicano.
Location
Currently not on view
depicted (sitter)
Chavez, Cesar
associated; direct
United Farm Workers
maker
Lithographers and Photoengravers International Union
ID Number
PL.296849.35
catalog number
296849.35
accession number
296849

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