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 1941 items.
Page 5 of 195
Psychedelic Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This domed steel lunch box was manufactured by Aladdin Industries in 1969. This lunch box features a psychedelic pattern of swirling orange, red, pink and yellow. The wild design aesthetic is representative of the 1960’s ethos and evokes other sixties motifs like tie-dye and lava lamps.
- Date made
- 1969
- maker
- Aladdin
- ID Number
- 2003.3070.23.01
- nonaccession number
- 2003.3070
- catalog number
- 2003.3070.23.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Psychedelic Thermos
- Description (Brief)
- This plastic and glass thermos bottle was made by Aladdin Industries in 1960. The bottle has a screw-on yellow cup lid with handle and screw-on yellow stopper. The thermos has a psychedelic, undulating yellow and black checkerboard design.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1960
- maker
- Aladdin
- ID Number
- 2003.3070.23.02
- nonaccession number
- 2003.3070
- catalog number
- 2003.3070.23.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Op-Art Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This domed steel lunch box is a conceptual design by Aladdin Industries in 1968 that was never manufactured. It has two metal snaps for a hinged dome lid and collapsible yellow plastic handle. The box has an undulating orange, yellow and blue checkerboard pattern that is made of vinyl and taped to bread loaf lunch box (see 2001.3101.16).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1968
- maker
- Aladdin
- ID Number
- 2003.3070.24
- nonaccession number
- 2003.3070
- catalog number
- 2003.3070.24
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Hy-Lo Thermos
- Description (Brief)
- This plain worker's metal and glass thermos bottle was made by Aladdin in 1949. It has a screw-on dark brown plastic cup, a cork stopper, and is painted dark green. The label reads “HY-LO Hot or Cold, The ‘All American’ Vacuum Bottle.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1949
- maker
- Aladdin
- ID Number
- 2003.3070.32
- nonaccession number
- 2003.3070
- catalog number
- 2003.3070.32
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Blue Box Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This metal lunch box was made by Thermos in 1927. It was painted blue in a faux leather pattern with a gold finished interior. The box has a leather handle, a single metal snap and vent holes.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1927
- maker
- American Thermos Bottle Company
- ID Number
- 2004.3009.15.01
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3009
- catalog number
- 2004.3009.15.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Blue Box Thermos
- Description (Brief)
- This metal thermos bottle was made by Thermos in 1927. It is half pint size with a blue finish and a red plastic, screw-on cup lid and cork stopper.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1927
- maker
- American Thermos Bottle Company
- ID Number
- 2004.3009.15.02
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3009
- catalog number
- 2004.3009.15.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Automat Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This black wooden lunch box was made by Thermos in 1916. It has a hinged lid with two metal snaps and a leather handle. There are two silver, metal lunch trays mounted on hinged extenders inside.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1916
- maker
- American Thermos Bottle Company
- ID Number
- 2004.3009.16.01
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3009
- catalog number
- 2004.3009.16.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Automat Thermos
- Description (Brief)
- This silver-plated, glass lined, half-pint thermos bottle with was made by Thermos in 1917. It has a screw-on cup lid with a folding wire handle, and a cork stopper.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1916
- maker
- American Thermos Bottle Company
- ID Number
- 2004.3009.16.02
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3009
- catalog number
- 2004.3009.16.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Green Dome Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This metal dome lunch box is painted green and has a collapsible hinged metal handle. The box was made by Thermos in 1941. A five pointed star is molded into each end of the dome lid. A wire bail for the thermos bottle is located inside the lid. The green painting of this metal lunch box is a departure from the plain metal boxes in earlier years, but still a step away from the licensed images that made lunchboxes a hot selling item.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1941
- maker
- American Thermos Bottle Company
- ID Number
- 2004.3009.17.01
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3009
- catalog number
- 2004.3009.17.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Green Dome Thermos
- Description (Brief)
- This plastic thermos bottle was made by Thermos in 1941. The bottle is red, black, and tan and is a half- pint size with a red, plastic screw-on cup lid, cork stopper and glass liner. The tag reads “The only Thermos, the Finest Vacuum Ware, ‘Thermos’ is a coined word, the name of a brand of vacuum ware made by The American Thermos Bottle Company, and by no one else. Do not accept a substitute.” This was an attempt to protect the Thermos brand but the trademark soon passed into generic usage.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1941
- maker
- American Thermos Bottle Company
- ID Number
- 2004.3009.17.02
- nonaccession number
- 2004.3009
- catalog number
- 2004.3009.17.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center