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 13 items.
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1936 Chinese American Baby Carrier
- Description (Brief)
- In America, Mrs. Lee made this decorated carrier for her granddaughter, Jade. Chinese women carried children on their back in carriers such as this. The child sat in the carrier with their feet around the mother’s waist; the four strips of fabric at each corner knotted at the parents’ front.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1936
- maker
- Lee Ng Shee
- ID Number
- 1992.0620.03
- catalog number
- 1992.0620.03
- accession number
- 1992.0620
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1900 Chinese Woman’s Slippers for Bound Feet
- Description
- Mrs. Lee had bound feet her entire life. Her daughter, Grace Mok, noted in an oral history that her limited mobility and difficulty in walking required her to be accompanied wherever she went. Though these are not Ng Shee Lee’s shoes, they are similar to those she wore.
- Foot binding in China may have originated as early as 900 AD. Though outlawed by the conquering Manchus in the 17th century, the Han Chinese retained the social practice into the 20th century.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1900
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- AG*A.2937
- accession number
- 1926.93542
- catalog number
- A.2937
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1906 Chinese Immigrant’s Lacquer Trunk
- Description (Brief)
- In 1906 Ng Shee Lee packed her clothes and belongings in this trunk and left China for America. It was a difficult trip. She slept next to the noisy engine room; arriving tired and sick in San Francisco she was met by the devastating 1906 earthquake. Ng Shee then made her way alone by train across Canada to New York where she rejoined her husband, Lee B. Lok.
- date made
- ca 1906
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1992.0620.01
- catalog number
- 1992.0620.01
- accession number
- 1992.0620
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1919 Chinese American Baby Bonnet
- Description (Brief)
- Mrs. Lee made this "dog head" bonnet for her only son, Peter. Chinese mothers traditionally dressed their one year old children in such bonnets to protect them from evil spirits. According to lore, if evil forces met the child they would pass by, thinking it were an animal, and of no value. Fur lines the bonnet's "dog's ears" and the padded wool of the hat lined Peter's head.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1919
- maker
- Lee Ng Shee
- ID Number
- 1992.0620.07
- catalog number
- 1992.0620.07
- accession number
- 1992.0620
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1900 - 1910 Chinese American Woman's Blouse
- Description (Brief)
- In America, Mrs. Lee wore this tunic-length satin blouse with side buttons made from 1890 Hong Kong coins. The generously cut blouse or sam, often reaching the calf, was worn over trousers.
- Mrs. Lee wore traditional Chinese clothes when she occasionally accompanied her children to the local movie houses. According to her daughter Grace, since she did not understand English she made up her own storyline to accompany the films’ images.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1905
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1992.0620.08
- catalog number
- 1992.0620.08
- accession number
- 1992.0620
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1915 - 1925 Chinese American Girl's Trousers
- Description (Brief)
- One of the Lee daughters wore this casual Chinese-style outfit on special occasions, for none of the children wore Chinese dress for every day wear. The trouser band or fu tau , translated as the “head of the trousers,” was folded over and secured with a belt or cord and covered by the vest.
- Lee B. Lok, his wife Ng Shee, and their seven children lived above the Quong Yuen Shing & Co. store in New York City's Chinatown. Though the children wore Western clothes and participated in the local Scout troop and other clubs, their parents required them to attend Chinese school each day, from 4-7 PM.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1920
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1992.0620.10
- catalog number
- 1992.0620.10
- accession number
- 1992.0620
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1915 - 1925 Chinese American Girl's Vest
- Description (Brief)
- One of the Lee daughters wore this casual Chinese-style outfit on special occasions, for none of the children wore Chinese dress for every day wear. The trouser band or fu tau , translated as the “head of the trousers,” was folded over and secured with a belt or cord and covered by the vest.
- Lee B. Lok, his wife Ng Shee, and their seven children lived above the Quong Yuen Shing & Co. store in New York City's Chinatown. Though the children wore Western clothes and participated in the local Scout troop and other clubs, their parents required them to attend Chinese school each day, from 4-7 PM.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1920
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1992.0620.11
- catalog number
- 1992.0620.11
- accession number
- 1992.0620
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Circa 1930 Women's Gown (cheong sam)
- Description
- The donor, Virginia Lee, posed in a similar cheong sam for a US World War II poster and for the "Miss China" contest in New York. Also known as a qu pao, the Chinese traditional loose dress shape was modified by Western designers in the 1920's to be more close-fitting to accentuate a woman's figure. The altered dress form became broadly popular in the United States as evening wear in the late 1950's and 1960's.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1930
- user
- Mead, Virginia Lee
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1992.0620.16
- catalog number
- 1992.0620.16
- accession number
- 1992.0620
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1895 - 1905 Chinese American Woman's Skirt
- Description (Brief)
- Ng Shee (1874 - ?) had this two paneled skirt as well as trousers made in Hong Kong at the time of her marriage to Mr. Lee B. Lok in China around 1900. After the marriage Ng Shee lived with her mother in law in China until she joined Mr. Lee in New York City in 1906.
- The pleated skirt was often worn with a rectangular apron or wei chu’u over a pair of matching trousers.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1900
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1992.0620.20
- accession number
- 1992.0620
- catalog number
- 1992.0620.20
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1895 - 1905 Chinese American Woman's Trousers
- Description (Brief)
- Ng Shee (1874 - ?) had this two paneled skirt as well as trousers made in Hong Kong at the time of her marriage to Mr. Lee B. Lok in China around 1900. After the marriage Ng Shee lived with her mother in law in China until she joined Mr. Lee in New York City in 1906.
- The pair of matching trousers was often worn under the pleated skirt with a rectangular apron or wei chu’u.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1900
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1992.0620.21
- catalog number
- 1992.0620.21
- accession number
- 1992.0620
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center