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 26 items.
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Ed Robert's Wheelchair
- Description
- Equipped with a sports-car seat, go-cart wheels, and a top speed of eight miles an hour, this wheelchair belonged to disability-rights pioneer Ed Roberts. Roberts was paralyzed by polio in 1953, at age fourteen. In 1962 he enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley, where he led efforts to establish a program for disabled students. He later founded the Independent Living Movement, a worldwide campaign to secure civil rights, equal access, and self-sufficiency for people with disabilities.
- Date made
- 1996
- associated dates
- 1966-1999-03
- referenced
- Independent Living Movement
- University of California, Berkeley
- user
- Roberts, Edward V.
- maker
- Stanford Rehab Engineering
- ID Number
- 1995.0179.01
- catalog number
- 1995.0179.01
- accession number
- 1995.0179
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Aladdin Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This hard plastic lunch box was made by Aladdin in 1993. It has a plastic snap for hinged lid and hinged plastic carrying handle. The box is a sparkling blue with an image of Aladdin first freeing the Genie from his lamp in the 1992 Disney movie Aladdin on the lid. Concerned mothers feared metal lunch boxes could be used as playground weapons, so metal boxes stopped being manufactured in 1985. As such, this box was made from plastic, and its image is papered on.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1993
- maker
- Aladdin
- ID Number
- 2003.3070.27.01
- nonaccession number
- 2003.3070
- catalog number
- 2003.3070.27.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Aladdin Thermos
- Description (Brief)
- This plastic thermos bottle was made by Aladdin in 1993. It has a screw-on dark blue cup lid with handle, and screw-on beige stopper. The thermos is blue and white with cartoon images of the Genie from Disney’s Aladdin.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1993
- maker
- Aladdin
- ID Number
- 2003.3070.27.02
- nonaccession number
- 2003.3070
- catalog number
- 2003.3070.27.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Urkel Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This hard red plastic lunch box was made by Aladdin in 1991. It has a hinged handle and closing snap for hinged lid. The lunch box features an image of Steve Urkel from the show Family Matters on lid. Family Matters ran from 1989-1997 on ABC and 1997-1998 on CBS, mainly part of ABC’s TGIF block of programming. With his catchphrase “Did I do that?” and distinctive laugh, Urkel became the breakout star of the show and is the star of this box.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1991
- maker
- Aladdin
- ID Number
- 2003.3070.28.01
- nonaccession number
- 2003.3070
- catalog number
- 2003.3070.28.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Urkel Thermos
- Description (Brief)
- This plastic thermos bottle was made by Aladdin in 1991. It has a screw-on red cup lid with handle and screw-on beige plastic stopper with hinged pouring spout. The bottle is a cream color with silhouettes of Steve Urkel in various poses on the exterior.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1991
- maker
- Aladdin
- ID Number
- 2003.3070.28.02
- nonaccession number
- 2003.3070
- catalog number
- 2003.3070.28.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Mulan Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This insulated soft fabric lunch box was made by Aladdin in 1998. The lunch box has two green fabric carrying handles and green zipper for lid. There is a cartoon image of the character Mulan from Disney’s film Mulan on lid.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1990s
- date made
- 1998
- maker
- Aladdin
- ID Number
- 2003.3070.29.01
- nonaccession number
- 2003.3070
- catalog number
- 2003.3070.29.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Mulan Thermos
- Description (Brief)
- This plastic thermos bottle was made by Aladdin in 1998. It has a screw-on purple cup lid with handle, and screw-on beige plastic stopper. The thermos has images from Disney’s Mulan, including the main character Mulan carrying a parasol.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1990s
- date made
- 1998
- maker
- Aladdin
- ID Number
- 2003.3070.29.02
- nonaccession number
- 2003.3070
- catalog number
- 2003.3070.29.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Pinky and the Brain Lunch Box
- Description (Brief)
- This insulated soft fabric lunch box was made by Aladdin in 1996. It has two red fabric carrying handles and red closing zipper for lid. The box has a purple background with colorful dots, and cartoon images of Pinky and the Brain. Pinky and the Brain was an animated cartoon that was originally part of Animaniacs on The WB, and it ran from 1995-2001. Because of the fear of kids using metal lunch boxes as weapons, many lunch boxes during the 90’s were made of insulated fabric like this box.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1996
- maker
- Aladdin
- ID Number
- 2003.3070.30.01
- nonaccession number
- 2003.3070
- catalog number
- 2003.3070.30.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Pinky and the Brain Thermos
- Description (Brief)
- This plastic thermos bottle was made by Aladdin in 1996. It has a screw-on red cup lid with handle and screw-on beige stopper. The bottle is white with cartoon images of Pinky and the Brain from the cartoon series Pinky and the Brain.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1996
- maker
- Aladdin
- ID Number
- 2003.3070.30.02
- nonaccession number
- 2003.3070
- catalog number
- 2003.3070.30.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
sound recording: Home Invasion
- Description (Brief)
- In original paper packaging with controversial color illustration of a kid listening to rap music with violent images in the background.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1993
- recording artist
- Ice-T
- maker
- Rhyme Syndicate
- ID Number
- 2006.0046.03
- accession number
- 2006.0046
- catalog number
- 2006.0046.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center