Industry & Manufacturing - Overview
The Museum's collections document centuries of remarkable changes in products, manufacturing processes, and the role of industry in American life. In the bargain, they preserve artifacts of great ingenuity, intricacy, and sometimes beauty.
The carding and spinning machinery built by Samuel Slater about 1790 helped establish the New England textile industry. Nylon-manufacturing machinery in the collections helped remake the same industry more than a century later. Machine tools from the 1850s are joined by a machine that produces computer chips. Thousands of patent models document the creativity of American innovators over more than 200 years.
The collections reach far beyond tools and machines. Some 460 episodes of the television series Industry on Parade celebrate American industry in the 1950s. Numerous photographic collections are a reminder of the scale and even the glamour of American industry.
"Industry & Manufacturing - Overview" showing 25 items.
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Ulysses S. Grant Campaign Badge
- Description (Brief)
- This presidential campaign badge was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1868. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including campaign badges.
- Obverse: Photograph of Ulysses S. Grant and Schuyler Colfax that is labeled, “GRANT and COLFAX.” The photo is in an ornate silver-colored frame featuring a spread-winged eagle at the top, two unfurling red, white and blue American flags, and a scroll that reads “E PLURIBUS UNUM.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- depicted
- Grant, Ulysses S.
- Colfax, Schuyler
- maker
- Scovill Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- 1981.0296.1168
- accession number
- 1981.0296
- catalog number
- 1981.0296.1168
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Schuyler Colfax Campaign Badge
- Description (Brief)
- This presidential campaign badge was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1868. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, and campaign badges.
- Obverse: Tintype photograph of Schuyler Colfax labeled: COLFAX.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- depicted
- Colfax, Schuyler
- maker
- Scovill Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- 1981.0296.1170
- accession number
- 1981.0296
- catalog number
- 1981.0296.1170
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Ulysses S. Grant Campaign Badge
- Description (Brief)
- This presidential campaign badge was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1868. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, and campaign badges.
- Obverse: Tintype photograph of Ulysses Grant and Schuyler Colfax set into a frame. Frame has image of United States shield, two flags crossed, and a spread winged eagle.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- depicted
- Grant, Ulysses S.
- Colfax, Schuyler
- maker
- Scovill Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- 1981.0296.1258
- accession number
- 1981.0296
- catalog number
- 1981.0296.1258
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Schuyler Colfax Campaign Medal
- Description (Brief)
- This campaign medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1868.The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, and campaign medals.
- Obverse: Bust of Schuyler Colfax facing left. The legend reads: SCHUYLER COLFAX.
- Reverse: The legend reads: LOYALTY SHALL GOVERN WHAT LOYALTY HAS PRESERVED.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- depicted
- Colfax, Schuyler
- maker
- Scovill Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- 1981.0296.1617
- accession number
- 1981.0296
- catalog number
- 1981.0296.1617
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Ulysses S. Grant Campaign Medal
- Description (Brief)
- This presidential campaign medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1868. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, and campaign badges.
- Obverse: Bust of Ulysses S. Grant and Schuyler Colfax facing left, the legend reads: GRANT & COLFAX 1868.
- Reverse: A wreath around the rim, with a legend that reads: “LET US HAVE PEACE."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- depicted
- Grant, Ulysses S.
- Colfax, Schuyler
- maker
- Scovill Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- 1981.0296.1086
- accession number
- 1981.0296
- catalog number
- 1981.0296.1086
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Ulysses S. Grant Campaign Badge
- Description (Brief)
- This presidential campaign badge was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1868. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, and campaign badges.
- Obverse: Tintype photograph of Ulysses S. Grant in brass housing, the legend around the rim reads: OUR CHOICE FOR PRESIDENT.
- Reverse: Tintype photograph of Schuyler Colfax in brass housing, the legend around the rim reads: FOR VICE PRESIDENT.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- depicted
- Grant, Ulysses S.
- Colfax, Schuyler
- maker
- Scovill Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- 1981.0296.1088
- accession number
- 1981.0296
- catalog number
- 1981.0296.1088
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Ulysses S. Grant Campaign Badge
- Description (Brief)
- This presidential campaign badge was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1868. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, and campaign badges.
- Obverse: Tintype photograph of Ulysses S. Grant in a brass frame. The legend around the rim reads: OUR CHOICE FOR PRESIDENT.
- Reverse: Tintype photograph of Schuyler Colfax in a brass frame. The legend around the rim reads: FOR VICE PRESIDENT.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- depicted
- Grant, Ulysses S.
- Colfax, Schuyler
- maker
- Scovill Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- 1981.0296.1089
- accession number
- 1981.0296
- catalog number
- 1981.0296.1089
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Ulysses S. Grant Campaign Badge
- Description (Brief)
- This presidential campaign badge was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1868. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, and campaign badges.
- This badge features a tintype photograph of both Ulysses S. Grant and Schuyler Colfax imbedded into a circular brass frame with blue coloring.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- depicted
- Grant, Ulysses S.
- Colfax, Schuyler
- maker
- Scovill Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- 1981.0296.1093
- accession number
- 1981.0296
- catalog number
- 1981.0296.1093
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Ulysses S. Grant Campaign Badge
- Description (Brief)
- This star-shaped badge was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1868. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, and campaign badges.
- This badge features a tintype photograph of Ulysses S. Grant set into a star-shaped brass badge. This badge likely would have originally had a pin on the back so it could be worn.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- depicted
- Grant, Ulysses S.
- Colfax, Schuyler
- maker
- Scovill Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- 1981.0296.1097
- accession number
- 1981.0296
- catalog number
- 1981.0296.1097
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Ulysses S. Grant Campaign Medal
- Description (Brief)
- This presidential campaign medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1868. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, and campaign medals.
- Obverse: Bust of Ulysses S. Grant facing right. Legend reads: GRANT.
- Reverse: Bust of Schuyler Colfax facing left. The legend reads: COLFAX.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- depicted
- Grant, Ulysses S.
- Colfax, Schuyler
- maker
- Scovill Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- 1981.0296.1111
- accession number
- 1981.0296
- catalog number
- 1981.0296.1111
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center