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 14 items.
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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
Vacuum
- Description
- Although the vacuum cleaner had been invented in the early 20th century, the mass production and sales of vacuum cleaners did not take off until the economic boom that followed the decade after the First World War (1914-1918). This Hoover vacuum model 700 was produced between 1926 and 1929 and was the first of its kind to feature an aluminum body, an on/off switch, and the agitator brushroll—an innovation that used metal beater strips to vibrate pieces of dirt from carpets. The vacuum was one of the many supposedly labor saving devices marketed in the 1920s that promised to liberate middle-class women, now managing their houses without live-in maids, from the drudgery of housework. Accordingly advertisements for the Hoover 700 depicted a chic flapper of the late 1920s using the vacuum. Although the vacuum did clean more thoroughly than the broom and dustpan, the popularization of such appliances created more exacting standards of cleanliness thus making the hope of simplified housework largely illusory.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1927
- maker
- Hoover Company
- ID Number
- 1990.3134.01
- catalog number
- 1990.3134.01
- nonaccession number
- 1990.3134
- catalog number
- 1990.3134.1 A,B
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
National Carbon Co. "Eveready" Radio Receiver With Speaker
- Description
- Radios, like this Eveready model 2, provided many families of the 1920s with a new form of home entertainment. Amateurs began making home radios to transmit and receive messages early in the 1900s. But using these radios called for engineering skills and a license. Early receivers, called "crystal detectors," while relatively easy to make, required some technical skill and were low in power.
- In 1916, David Sarnoff proposed that American Marconi Company sell broadcast transmitting equipment and "radio music boxes" that could receive the broadcast signals. After World War I, Sarnoff and his idea became part of the new Radio Corporation of America (RCA). A 1920 prototype radio designed by Alfred Goldsmith featured a few simple controls and needed no technical training to operate. RCA and other companies established AM (Amplitude Modulation) stations and began selling receivers. Stereo broadcasts were unknown, so radios needed only one speaker.
- Listeners were entranced by this new medium that delivered both local news and nationwide "network" programming. Since radios could operate on batteries, reception spread beyond cities. Unelectrified rural areas began tuning in, making farm life seem less isolated. Families began to gather around their radios in the evenings to hear music, sports, comedy, drama—and the commercials that paid for "free" programming. The voices of political leaders and entertainment celebrities reached millions of Americans.
- Elaborately styled cabinets, usually of wood, disguised technical components and allowed the radio to blend more easily with other home furnishings. This Eveready model is unusual. The cabinet is metal instead of wood, and can accept optional legs that permit the radio to be converted to a floor-standing model. Radio quickly became popular with Americans, so much so that statistics indicate only two electrical items sold well throughout the Great Depression: light bulbs and radios.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1928
- early developer of radio receivers
- Goldsmith, Alfred
- maker
- National Carbon Company
- ID Number
- 2002.0149.01
- catalog number
- 2002.0149.01
- accession number
- 2002.0149
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
sound recording: Graveyard Dream Blues; Weary Way Blues
- Description (Brief)
- Ida Cox. side 1: GRAVEYARD DREAM BLUES; side 2: WEARY WAY BLUES (Signature 907)
- 78 rpm
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1923
- recording artist
- Cox, Ida
- Lovie Austin and her Blues Serenaders
- maker
- Signature
- ID Number
- 1988.0698.0751
- catalog number
- 1988.0698.0751
- accession number
- 1988.0698
- catalog number
- 1988.698.0751
- maker number
- 907
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
sound recording: Warning To Boys, A; Warning To Girls, A
- Description (Brief)
- Mack Allen. side 1: A WARNING TO BOYS; side 2: A WARNING TO GIRLS (Harmony 729-H)
- 78 rpm
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1928
- recording artist
- Allen, Mack
- Dalhart, Vernon
- maker
- Harmony
- ID Number
- 1996.0320.10445
- collector/donor number
- 12912
- maker number
- 729-H
- accession number
- 1996.0320
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
sound recording: Christmas In Jail Ain't That a Pain; Prison Cell Blues
- Description (Brief)
- Leroy Carr. side 1: CHRISTMAS IN JAIL AIN'T THAT A PAIN; side 2: PRISON CELL BLUES (Vocalion 1432)
- 78 rpm
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1929
- recording artist
- Carr, Leroy
- maker
- Vocalion
- ID Number
- 1996.0320.13040
- collector/donor number
- 7828
- maker number
- 1432
- accession number
- 1996.0320
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
sound recording: Handful Of Keys; Viper's Drag
- Description (Brief)
- Fats Waller. side 1: HANDFUL OF KEYS; side 2: VIPER'S DRAG (RCA Victor 27768)
- 78 rpm
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1929
- 1934
- recording artist
- Waller, Fats
- maker
- RCA Victor
- ID Number
- 1978.0670.427
- maker number
- 27768
- catalog number
- 1978.0670.427
- accession number
- 1978.0670
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
sound recording: Ain't Misbehavin'; Exactly Like You
- Description (Brief)
- Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra. side 1: AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'; side 2: EXACTLY LIKE YOU (Vocalion 3040)
- 78 rpm
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1929
- 1930
- recording artist
- Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra
- maker
- Vocalion
- ID Number
- 1978.0670.446
- maker number
- 3040
- accession number
- 1978.0670
- catalog number
- 1978.0670.446
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
sound recording: 57 Varieties; I Ain't Got Nobody
- Description (Brief)
- Earl Hines. side 1: 57 VARIETIES; side 2: I AIN'T GOT NOBODY (Columbia 35875). from the album, "Hot Jazz Classics - Earl Hines" (Columbia C-41)
- 78 rpm
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1928
- recording artist
- Hines, Earl
- maker
- Columbia
- ID Number
- 1978.0670.495
- maker number
- 35875
- C-41
- accession number
- 1978.0670
- catalog number
- 1978.0670.495
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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