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 41 items.
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Orbit Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This tin lunch box was made by Thermos in 1963. It has a metal snap for a hinged lid and a collapsible red, plastic handle. The front side of the box shows a cross section of the Mercury manned space flight module, showing John Glenn operating the capsule. The reverse side shows the Atlas rocket launching from the space pad. These images were lifted from National Geographic, and Thermos received a cease and desist and stopped production. As such, these boxes are rather rare.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1963
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2001.3100.13.01
- nonaccession number
- 2001.3100
- catalog number
- 2001.3100.13.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Wags and Whiskers Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This tin lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1978. It has a yellow plastic snap for a hinged lid and a collapsible yellow, plastic handle. The lunch box features blue, white, yellow and green designs of colorful drawings of a dog and a cat playing together in cute ways.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1978
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2001.3100.15.01
- nonaccession number
- 2001.3100
- catalog number
- 2001.3100.15.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Corsage Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This tin lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1973. It has a white plastic snap for a hinged lid and a white collapsible, plastic handle. The box has a light blue background and white rim, and features of colorful drawings of flowers on the lid, back and sides.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1973
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2001.3101.01.01
- nonaccession number
- 2001.3101
- catalog number
- 2001.3101.01.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Bee Gees Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This metal lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1978. The lunch box depicts the three Bee Gees on front lid, Robin Gibb on the rear panel, and various song titles are written on the side. The Bee Gees mainly consisted of the brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb, and each one had their own lunch box. The Bee Gees first achieved international fame in the 1960s as a rock group, but the height of their success occurred in the late 1970s, with their soundtrack to the hit movie Saturday Night Fever becoming one of the best selling soundtracks of all time.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1978
- maker
- Aladdin Industries
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2001.3099.01
- nonaccession number
- 2001.3099
- catalog number
- 2001.3099.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Get Smart Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This tin lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1966. The box features artwork from the television series Get Smart on the lid, back and sides. Get Smart ran from 1965-1970, the first four years on NBC, and the last on CBS. It featured the adventures of Maxwell Smart as the bumbling Agent 86, and his female companion Agent 99. Created by Mel Brooks, Get Smart was a satiric take on the spy genre, poking fun at popular spy shows and movies like James Bond and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1966
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2001.3100.03.01
- nonaccession number
- 2001.3100
- catalog number
- 2001.3100.03.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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
Lawman Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This tin lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1961. It has a metal snap for a hinged lid and a collapsible red, plastic handle. The box features images from the television series Lawman, which ran from 1958-1962 on ABC. The show focused on the town of Laramie, Wyoming, and the action that happened around the Birdcage Saloon. Produced by Warner Brothers, Lawman had several crossover episode with other Warner Brother westerns like Maverick and Cheyenne.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1961
- depicted
- Russell, John
- Brown, Peter
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2001.3100.11.01
- nonaccession number
- 2001.3100
- catalog number
- 2001.3100.11.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This tin lunch box was made by Thermos in 1966. It has a metal snap for a hinged lid and a collapsible black, plastic handle. The box has a yellow and red design with colorful action drawings from the television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on the lid, sides and back. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ran from 1964-1968 on NBC, and focused on the espionage activities of two agents from the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1966
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2001.3100.12.01
- nonaccession number
- 2001.3100
- catalog number
- 2001.3100.12.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Battle Kit Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This tin lunch box was made by Thermos in 1965. It has a metal snap for a hinged lid and a collapsible, olive green plastic handle. The lunch box is entitled “BATTLE KIT” and shows action scenes of soldiers in a jungle setting on the front, back, and sides.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1965
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2001.3101.04.01
- nonaccession number
- 2001.3101
- catalog number
- 2001.3101.04.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Yellow Submarine Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This tin lunch box was made by Thermos in 1968. The box has a metal snap for a hinged lid and a collapsible, yellow plastic handle. The box has a pink and yellow background on the front and back, and an orange rim. The front and back of the lunch box has colorful drawings of the members of The Beatles from the animated feature, "Yellow Submarine.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1968
- depicted
- Beatles
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2001.3101.07
- nonaccession number
- 2001.3101
- catalog number
- 2001.3101.07
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center