Family & Social Life - Overview
Donations to the Museum have preserved irreplaceable evidence about generations of ordinary Americans. Objects from the Copp household of Stonington, Connecticut, include many items used by a single family from 1740 to 1850. Other donations have brought treasured family artifacts from jewelry to prom gowns. These gifts and many others are all part of the Museum's family and social life collections.
Children's books and Sunday school lessons, tea sets and family portraits also mark the connections between members of a family and between families and the larger society. Prints, advertisements, and artifacts offer nostalgic or idealized images of family life and society in times past. And the collections include a few modern conveniences that have had profound effects on American families and social life, such as televisions, video games, and personal computers.
"Family & Social Life - Overview" showing 9 items.
Disco Fever Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This tin lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1980. It features a blue plastic snap for a hinged lid and a collapsible blue plastic handle. The box is titled “Disco Fever” and is red and blue overall, and features images of disco dancers dancing in a dance hall on the front side, and the back side is dancers dancing in a dance hall wearing roller skates.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1980
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2001.3100.05.01
- nonaccession number
- 2001.3100
- catalog number
- 2001.3100.05.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Disco Fever Thermos
- Description (Brief)
- This square plastic thermos bottle has a screw-on, blue plastic cup lid and a screw-on, white plastic stopper with movable yellow pouring spout. The bottle is the companion piece to object number 2001.3100.05.01, and features an image of the couple dancing and the text “Disco Fever.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1980
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2001.3100.05.02
- nonaccession number
- 2001.3100
- catalog number
- 2001.3100.05.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
The A-Team Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This tin lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1983. This lunch box features the characters from the television series, The A-Team on the exterior. The A-Team ran from 1983-1987 on NBC, and the box shows some of the explosive action that The A-Team was known for.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1983
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2004.3009.01
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3009
- catalog number
- 2004.3009.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Peanuts Thermos
- Description (Brief)
- This yellow plastic thermos bottle was made by Thermos in 1985. It has a beige screw-on plastic cup lid with handle, and a screw-on plastic stopper with a yellow hinged pouring spout. The thermos features is a colorful cartoon image of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and Woodstock of the Peanuts comic strip on the front.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1985
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2004.3009.02.02
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3009
- catalog number
- 2004.3009.02.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Thermos
- Description (Brief)
- This red plastic thermos bottle was made by Thermos in 1983. It has a white screw-on cup lid with handle and a white screw-on stopper with a yellow hinged pouring spout. Star Wars: Return of the Jedi is printed in white above the image of an Ewok, a cute and cuddly new addition to the Star Wars universe in the final film who helped take down the evil Empire.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1983
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2004.3009.10.02
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3009
- catalog number
- 2004.3009.10.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Indiana Jones Thermos
- Description (Brief)
- This red plastic thermos bottle was made by Thermos in 1985. The bottle has a white plastic, screw-on cup lid with handle and a white screw-on stopper with a yellow hinged pouring spout. The front of the thermos is decorated with a colorful cartoon image of Indiana Jones posing in his trademark hat and whip.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1984
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2004.3009.14.02
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3009
- catalog number
- 2004.3009.14.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Mork & Mindy Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This metal lunch box was made by Thermos in 1980. It has a yellow plastic snap for a hinged lid and a collapsible, yellow plastic handle. The box is decorated with colorful animated scenes of the television show Mork & Mindy. Mork & Mindy was a spinoff of Happy Days and helped launch Robin Williams to stardom. It ran from 1978-1982 on ABC and featured the adventures of the alien Mork living alongside a human companion Mindy, trying to learn the ways of humans.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1980
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2004.3009.29
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3009
- catalog number
- 2004.3009.29
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Peanuts Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This metal lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1985. The box features Charlie Brown and Snoopy of the Peanuts comic strip on the front and back of the lunch box. The sides of the box feature panels from the strip, with Snoopy in his Red Baron regalia. Peanuts ran from 1950-2000, published almost 18,00 strips, and was featured in numerous TV shows, specials, musicals, and feature films.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1985
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2004.3009.02.01
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3009
- catalog number
- 2004.3009.02.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Return of the Jedi
- Description (Brief)
- This metal lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1983. The lunch box has a blue rim and animated scenes from the movie Star Wars: Return of the Jedi on all sides. Star Wars: Return of the Jedi was released in 1983 as the final film in the original Star Wars trilogy. The box features images of the half-constructed Death Star, a Star Destroyer, and Darth Vader’s face on one side, while the reverse side has a picture of Luke Skywalker and a Gamorrean guard.
- Date made
- 1983
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2004.3009.10.01
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3009
- catalog number
- 2004.3009.10.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center