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 73 items.
Page 1 of 8
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
Orbit Thermos
- Description (Brief)
- This tin, plastic and glass thermos bottle was manufactured by Thermos in 1963, and is the companion bottle to lunch box object number 2001.3100.13.01. It has a screw-on, red plastic cup lid and a red and tan, screw-on plastic stopper. The bottle features scenes of the Mercury space mission, with the rockets blast-off, orbit, and atmospheric re-entry.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1963
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2001.3100.13.02
- nonaccession number
- 2001.3100
- catalog number
- 2001.3100.13.02
- 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
Wags and Whiskers Thermos
- Description (Brief)
- This square plastic thermos bottle was made by Thermos in 1978, and is the companion bottle to the lunch box with object number 2001.3100.15.01. The bottle has a screw-on, white plastic cup lid and a white and red plastic stopper. The bottle is blue and has a picture of a dog and a cat nuzzling on the front of the thermos.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1978
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2001.3100.15.02
- nonaccession number
- 2001.3100
- catalog number
- 2001.3100.15.02
- 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
Corsage Thermos
- Description (Brief)
- This plastic, tin and glass thermos bottle was made by Thermos in 1973. It has a blue, screw-on plastic cup lid and a beige and red screw-on plastic stopper. The bottle is light blue and has colorful drawings of flowers on the sides. It is the companion bottle to lunch box #2001.3101.01.01.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1973
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2001.3101.01.02
- nonaccession number
- 2001.3101
- catalog number
- 2001.3101.01.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Plaid Thermos
- Description (Brief)
- This metal and plastic thermos bottle was made by Thermos in the 1960s. The box has a glass liner and a red plastic screw-on cup lid with handle and a red and beige plastic, screw-on stopper. The bottle has a red plaid design.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1960s
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2004.3009.32
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3009
- catalog number
- 2004.3009.32
- 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
Get Smart Thermos
- Description (Brief)
- This thermos was manufactured by Thermos in 1966, as the companion to lunch box object number 2001.3100.03.02. The box features artwork from the television series Get Smart, and is a repetition of the image on the back of the lunch box. 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.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1966
- maker
- King Seeley Thermos
- ID Number
- 2001.3100.03.02
- nonaccession number
- 2001.3100
- catalog number
- 2001.3100.03.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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