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Your search found 326 records from National Museum of American History collection.
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- Description
- Fish processors, laboratory staff, inspectors, supervisors, and others who work in the factory aboard the Alaska Ocean wear royal blue coveralls like these when on duty. These polyester coveralls are worn over other clothing to maintain standards of hygiene in the factory. Some processors change their coveralls several times during their daily 12-hour shift, which can extend to kicker shifts of an additional three hours. Because clean coveralls are always in demand, the factory’s laundry crew keeps the industrial washers and dryers running continuously. The coveralls, with the words Alaska Ocean emblazoned across the back, zip up the front and are typically worn tucked into boots.
- date made
- 2006
- Associated Date
- 2007
- used
- McFarland, Thelma
- maker
- Fristads
- ID Number
- 2007.0178.20
- catalog number
- 2007.0178.20
- accession number
- 2007.0178
-
- date made
- 1952
- SS United States built and launched
- 1952
- naval architect of SS United States
- Gibbs, William Francis
- painter
- Wendell, Raymond John
- ID Number
- TR.336767.160
- catalog number
- 336767.160
- accession number
- 1978.2219
-
- Description
- This round aluminum-and-glass cocktail table was among the furnishings in the Duck Suite, the first-class luxury accommodations that included three upper-deck cabins aboard the ocean liner SS United States. Known as the most luxurious of the 14 first-class suites on the ship, these rooms were typically chosen by the United States’ most well-to-do passengers, from movie stars to British royalty. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, regular passengers on the rival ship Queen Mary, switched their loyalties to the United States during the mid-1950s and booked the Duck Suite, which was their favorite lodging at sea for a time.
- Like all of the furniture on this flagship of the United States Line, the table was crafted of flame-resistant metal. Launched in 1952, the ship was filled with aluminum furnishings. The ship’s architect, William Francis Gibbs, designed the vessel to be as fireproof as possible, and selected aluminum for its safety and aesthetic appeal. And while the massive amounts of aluminum did make the United States one of the safest ships ever launched, the metallic, modern décor also gave it a special feel unlike any other ocean liner. Most liners were decorated with opulent wood carvings and even had working fireplaces to make passengers feel as if they were sitting in their own living room or library. However, Gibbs put aside this notion of Victorian comfort with his new interior decorating style. The United States was the epitome of 1950s and 1960s design: sleek, modern, and practical.
- date made
- 1950s
- ID Number
- TR.336767.022
- accession number
- 1978.2219
- catalog number
- 336767.022
-
- Description
- Peter Kemp, Baltimore’s best known 19th-century shipbuilder, worked in the Fells Point area. He built the square topsail schooner Lynx in 1812 for just under $10,000. It measured 97 feet long and 25 tons, a bit larger than the swift pilot boats after which it was modeled. Pilot boats had to be fast, for the first one that reached a vessel offshore won the job to lead it through local waters into the port facilities.
- The Lynx was a letter of marque—a merchant vessel authorized to take prizes—rather than a privateer designed and built only to raid enemy shipping. Letters of marque were armed merchant vessels which were granted the authority to chase enemy merchantmen during the normal course of business, if an opportunity arose. Unlike privateers, letter of marque vessels paid their crews a regular wage, and their income did not depend on income from enemy ships. As a result, the Lynx carried only six guns and a 40-man crew instead of the many guns and big crews of privateers.
- Lynx served less than a year before it was captured by a British fleet of 17 vessels while trying to run a blockade off the Rappahannock River, Virginia. Renamed the Mosquidobit, it served in the British naval squadron blockading Chesapeake Bay. At the end of the War of 1812, it served against France. In recognition of its superior sailing characteristics, its hull shape was recorded by the Royal Navy. In 1820, it resumed service as a private merchant vessel.
- Date made
- 1964
- Associated Date
- 19th century
- shipbuilder
- Kemp, Peter
- ID Number
- TR.323263
- catalog number
- 323263
- accession number
- 249753
-
- Description
- Scotsman Alexander McDougall (1845-1924) was a ship captain on the Great Lakes when he patented the idea of a “whaleback” ship in the early 1880s. With low, rounded hulls, decks and deckhouses, his invention minimized water and wind resistance. Between 1887 and 1898, 44 whalebacks were produced: 23 were barges and 21 were steamships, including one passenger vessel.
- Frank Rockefeller was the 36th example of the type, built in 1896 at a cost of $181,573.38 at McDougall’s American Steel Barge Company in Superior, WI. One of the larger examples of the type, Rockefeller measured 380 feet in length, drew 26 feet of water depth and had a single propeller.
- Although it belonged to several different owners over its 73-year working life, the Rockefeller spent most of its early life transporting iron ore from mines in Lake Superior to steel mills along the shores of Lake Erie. In 1927, new owners put it in service as a sand dredge that hauled landfill sand for the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. From 1936-1942 the old ship saw service as a car carrier for another set of owners. In 1942 the ship wrecked in Lake Michigan, but wartime demand for shipping gave the old ship repairs, a new name (Meteor) and a new life as a tanker transporting petroleum products for more than 25 years. In 1969 Meteor ran aground off the Michigan coast, Instead of repairing the old ship, the owners sold it for a museum ship at Superior, WI. In poor condition today, Meteor is the last surviving example of McDougal’s whaleback or “pig boat”.
- Date made
- 1961
- date the Frank Rockefeller was built
- 1896
- patentee of whaleback ships
- McDougall, Alexander
- company that built the Frank Rockefeller
- American Steel Barge Company
- ID Number
- TR.318433
- catalog number
- 318433
- accession number
- 236171
-
- Description
- The extreme clipper ship Challenge was built at New York by the famous shipbuilder William H. Webb. At its launch in May 1851, the $150,000 Challenge was the largest merchant ship ever built, measuring 227 feet in length by 42 feet in beam and 2006 tons. The high length:beam ratio of 5.4:1 was what made the three-decker an extreme clipper, and it set a few speed records over the course of its working life.
- The Challenge was expected to set a record on its maiden voyage, and Capt. Robert H. Waterman was offered a $10,000 bonus if he could drive the ship to San Francisco in under 90 days. He pushed his 60-man crew hard, but poor weather and a mutiny by 50 crewmen off Rio slowed the Challenge to a 108-day trip. The mutiny and the unrelated death of seven crew on that maiden voyage gave the ship a bad reputation. Capt. Waterman was relieved of his command after reaching San Francisco, but the next master had to pay a signing bonus of $200 to lure new crewmen aboard for a China trip. Another mutiny on this second leg of the maiden voyage occurred as well—testament to how driven these men were to sail hard and fast.
- Over the next decade as a China clipper, an additional mutiny, widespread crew illnesses, frequent dismastings and leaks, and other events cemented the bad reputation of the vessel. It was sold to its captain for $9,350 in 1861. The Challenge changed hands a few more times before sinking off the Brittany coast in February 1877.
- Date made
- 1965
- ship launched
- 1851-05
- ship sold
- 1861
- ship sank
- 1877-02
- designer
- Webb, William H.
- captained the ship on its maiden voyage
- Waterman, Robert H.
- maker
- Arthur G. Henning Inc.
- ID Number
- TR.326530
- catalog number
- 326530
- accession number
- 255036
-
- Description
- This champagne bucket was made for use aboard the ocean liner SS United States, the largest and fastest transatlantic passenger liner ever built in the United States. Launched in 1952, the “Big U,” as the ship was affectionately called, was 990 feet long, about the length of five city blocks. On its maiden voyage, the ship broke the speed records for crossings in both directions and captured the Blue Riband trophy, an award for the ship making the fastest round trip passage on the North Atlantic. The time set by the United States on the westbound leg from New York to England was 3 days, 12 hours, and 12 minutes, with an average speed of 34.51 knots, a record that remains unbroken.
- Passengers traveled in one of three classes aboard the ship first, cabin, or tourist. Each class had its own dining room, lounge, smoking room, and theater. Storage of food and supplies was located in a central area on D Deck, where separate compartments were designated for dry stores, bulk stores, frozen food, and wines and spirits. A special cooler for champagne was located there as well.
- Although the ship was designed by William Francis Gibbs to be converted to a troop transport in time of war, the United States is remembered by thousands of travelers for the voyages that were enjoyed by celebrities and ordinary families alike. This champagne bucket, emblazoned with the United States Lines’ motifs of an eagle and stars, represents the luxury that passengers experienced aboard the ship.
- Date made
- 1950s
- maker
- International Silver Company
- ID Number
- TR.335566.11
- catalog number
- 335566.11
- accession number
- 1978.2219
-
- Description
- Unlike most of the half-hull models in the Smithsonian’s National Watercraft Collection, this one was not intended for use in shipbuilding. Instead, this half model of the fishing schooner Helen B. Thomas was made to show a radical design innovation to potential vessel owners. Its maker, Thomas F. McManus, a naval architect in Boston, adapted an idea from sailing yachts to the fishing schooners of New England. He eliminated the bowsprit, the spar projecting forward from the schooner’s bow, in an attempt to make the vessel safer for the fishermen working in treacherous conditions far offshore. In McManus’s new design, fishermen would not have to clamber out on the bowsprit to tend the jib (the vessel’s forward-most sail), a dangerous task especially in bad weather that, in McManus’s view, resulted too often in injury or death.
- McManus made this half-hull model and displayed it in his Boston office, hoping to attract a client. After nearly a year, Capt. William Thomas of Portland, Maine, decided to try the design and contracted with the Oxner & Story yard in Essex, Mass., to build the schooner. The Helen B. Thomas was launched in 1902 and measured 106’-7” overall, with a beam (width) of 21’-6” and 13’ deep. The vessel became a successful fishing schooner. While no other schooners were built to this exact design, many were built without the bowsprit, a schooner design that became known as the “knockabout.”
- date made
- 1901
- Associated Date
- early 20th century
- ship built from model design
- 1902
- Captain who contracted the design
- Thomas, William
- contractors who built the ship
- Oxner & Story
- maker
- McManus, Thomas F.
- ID Number
- TR.310888
- catalog number
- 310888
- accession number
- 131237
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- Description
- This champagne glass was among the 57,000 pieces of glassware furnished to the SS United States before its maiden voyage in 1952. Launched in 1952, the “Big U,” as the ship was affectionately called, was 990 feet long, about the length of five city blocks. On its maiden voyage, the ship broke the speed records for crossings in both directions and captured the Blue Riband trophy, an award for the ship making the fastest round trip passage on the North Atlantic. The time set by the United States on the westbound leg from New York to England was 3 days, 12 hours, and 12 minutes, with an average speed of 34.51 knots, a record that remains unbroken.
- The SS United States was built in Newport News Virginia, and was the largest and fastest transatlantic passenger liner ever built in the country. The ship had 695 staterooms located on eight of the liner’s 12 decks. It could accommodate 1,972 passengers in first, cabin, or tourist class. Some 1,011 crew were required to run the ship and serve the passengers.
- date made
- 1952
- ID Number
- TR.335564.02B
- accession number
- 1978.2219
- catalog number
- 335564.2b
-
- Description
- In 1845, Joseph Francis patented the use of stamped corrugated metal to make boats. Through collaboration with the Novelty Iron Works in New York, he began to manufacture lifeboats, military cutters, and coastal rescue craft, along with other marine safety gear. His sturdy products proved popular, and he sold many to commercial steamship operators, life-saving stations, and the United States Navy. By 1853, strong sales warranted the construction of a dedicated factory at Green Point, New York, where each hydraulic press could turn out parts for 40 boats a day. Francis continually experimented with new designs for his stamping process, and this patent model reflects changes to the shape of his boats’ corrugations that he developed in the late 1850s.
- Joseph Francis (1801-93) is best known today for designing an enclosed rescue craft called a life-car, which was extensively used in coastal life-saving stations in the second half of the 19th century. The first life-car he made was used to spectacular effect in the rescue of all but one of the passengers and crew of the immigrant vessel Ayrshire, which ran aground on the New Jersey shore in a storm in January 1850. The Smithsonian preserves that life-car in addition to numerous models and ephemera documenting Joseph Francis’s work.
- Date made
- 1858
- patent date
- 1858-03-23
- patentee
- Francis, Joseph
- manufacturer
- Novelty Iron Works
- inventor
- Francis, Joseph
- ID Number
- TR.308546
- catalog number
- 308546
- accession number
- 89797
- patent number
- 19,693
-
- Description
- This simple object packs a lot of meaning for certain residents of the lower Columbia River near Astoria, Oregon. It is a cedar net float, made about 1955, for use on a gill net, the preferred gear of commercial salmon fishermen in the area. While this float was never used for that purpose, it remained in Astoria where, some fifty years later, it was fashioned into this object commemorating the fishery’s former significance.
- The original float was made at the Columbia Net Floats Mill, which operated in Astoria from 1952 to 1959. According to mill worker and fisherman Cecil Moberg, “There were three steps in the process to make floats. The bolts of cedar were cut into six inch blocks by a twenty-four inch cutoff saw. The next machine was a ram device, which pushed the blocks through a round die. A hole was drilled through the center of the block by a belt driven wood lathe. The blocks were then put on a high speed lathe and were hand turned in three motions: one sweep to the right, one to the left and one finishing sweep over the whole float, giving them a smooth finish.”
- Moberg estimated the mill produced about three million floats in seven years of operation. Considering that an average Columbia River gillnet was about 1500 feet long and had about 500 floats, it is not hard to imagine a need for millions of floats among local gill netters.
- By the time the mill closed, fishermen had begun using plastic floats. The surplus cedar floats were eventually given to the Columbia River Maritime Museum’s Auxiliary. Members of that group, including donor Frankye D. Thompson, were inspired to create souvenir items to call attention to Astoria’s past. They cut the floats in half and affixed the flat side with images from the fishery’s heyday. The photo on this float shows the fleet of sailing gill net boats around the turn of the 20th century. Called the “Butterfly Fleet” by Astorians, the small, sprit-rigged vessels are emblematic of the town’s fishing heritage. A piece of lead and lead line decorate the float, and historical information provided by Cecil Moberg is provided on a piece of paper rolled to fit inside the hole where the float would have been strung on the float line.
- Date made
- ca 1955
- mill worker and fisherman
- Moberg, Cecil
- display surplus cedar floats donated by Columbia Net Floats Mill
- Columbia River Maritime Museum
- maker
- Columbia Net Floats Mill
- ID Number
- 2005.0150.01
- accession number
- 2005.0150
- catalog number
- 2005.0150.01
-
- Description
- This salt-glazed, ovoid stoneware cooler was made by Eleazer Orcutt and Horace Humiston in Troy, New York. It has two large handles and features a classical figure with a lyre in relief surrounded by a series of impressed medallions highlighted in cobalt blue. The cooler was probably made for an individual or firm named A. Drown in Canaan, New York.
- The presence of nearby stoneware clays gave rise to the New York state salt-glazed stoneware tradition that, by the early 1800s, developed in villages and towns along the Hudson River. Shipped upriver, the clay returned downstream after being transformed into useful ceramic vessels. With the Erie Canal completion in 1825, stoneware production extended its range to meet the increased flow of perishable goods from the Great Lakes region.
- Stoneware clay, when fired to a temperature of about 2100 degrees F, vitrifies into highly durable ceramic material that holds liquids and keeps perishable contents cool. Stoneware potters in America, many of them immigrants from Germany and the Netherlands, maintained their European tradition of throwing coarse salt into the kiln. The salt melts in the heat and forms a pitted glassy surface on the vessels, which would otherwise be a dull grey.
- The production of these sturdy salt-glazed containers declined following improvements in tinning and canning perishable foodstuffs. In the late 1850s, the glass Mason canning jar entered the market, after which the potteries lost much of the demand for food storage containers that sustained so much of their production.
- date made
- about 1832
- maker
- Orcutt, Eleazer
- Humiston, Horace
- ID Number
- CE.300894.017
- catalog number
- 300894.17
- accession number
- 300894
-
- Description
- Sugar was a very expensive item when first exported across the Atlantic from the Caribbean plantations in the 1600s. Only the wealthiest members of European society could afford to use it to sweeten the equally exotic and expensive commodities such as coffee, tea, and chocolate. By the late 18th century, when this tea service was made at the Worcester Porcelain manufactory in England, the increasingly well-to-do middle class could afford to buy English porcelain, and the lower cost of tea and sugar made these desirable commodities accessible to many people. These pieces from a tea set represent this social and economic transition. The service, made of fluted porcelain with a gilt scalloped pattern and bordered in royal blue with gold banding, is not characteristic of Worcester’s most refined output of hand-painted tea wares.
- The tea set also represents the truly international nature of new tastes and new trades. Although made in England, the porcelain tea service is rooted in the Chinese culture of tea drinking, but with adaptations to suit European tastes. The Chinese did not take tea with sugar or milk, so a milk jug, covered sugar bowl, and sugar tongs were European additions in response to the Atlantic sugar trade. The uncovered bowl in the set was used for “slops,” where waste tea was disposed of before a fresh cup was poured from the teapot.
- date made
- 1775-1800
- ID Number
- ZZ.RSN81774L33
- accession number
- 225282
- catalog number
- P883b
-
- Description
- The RMS Mauretania was a British ocean liner owned by the Cunard Steamship Company. Designed to be fast and luxurious, the vessel was launched in 1907, and began its first transatlantic voyage on November 16. Carrying a total of 2,165 passengers and 812 crew members, the Mauretania set a world record in 1907, arriving in New York from Europe in five days, five hours, and ten minutes.
- The Mauretania burned 850 to 1000 tons of coal per day depending upon its traveling speed. When running at full speed, the liner boasted the equivalent of 70,000 horsepower. In June 1909 it made the Atlantic crossing in four days, 17 hours, and 21 minutes. This was the fastest time ever recorded, and the Mauretania was awarded the Blue Riband prize. This record stood for 20 years.
- British architect and landscaper Harold A. Peto designed the Mauretania’s interior spaces. Peto created elaborate and luxurious rooms, drawing inspiration from French chateaux and the Italian Renaissance style. It took 300 woodworkers two years to carve the Mauretania’s interior decorations.
- Like other ocean liners, the Mauretania could be converted for military use during times of war. During World War I, the British Admiralty called on the Mauretania to serve as an armed cruiser and hospital ship. The liner was re-painted in dazzle paint, a quilted camouflage technique used to distort the ship’s silhouette and confuse enemy U-boats. The Mauretania carried 33,610 American soldiers across the Atlantic on seven separate voyages. In May 1919 the liner retired from government services.
- That same year, the Mauretania was converted to run on oil. It continued work as a passenger liner until 1934, steaming back and forth across the Atlantic. During its tenure, the Mauretania sailed enough miles to circle the globe sixty times. In April 1935, the Mauretania was sold and broken apart.
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt had a special fondness for the Mauretania and donated this model of the ship to the Smithsonian in 1935.
- date made
- 1907
- ship launched
- 1907
- broke a time record for transatlantic voyage
- 1909
- served as a passenger liner
- 1919-1934
- sold and broken apart
- 1935-04
- ocean liner owner
- Cunard Steamship Company
- architect and designer for interior of ocean liner
- Peto, Harold A.
- ID Number
- TR.311006
- accession number
- 134437
- catalog number
- 311006
-
- Description
- This 9-inch square board with 32 holes was made for playing Fox and Geese, a game of strategy between two players. The 19 pegs representing geese and a single longer peg for the fox are long gone from this particular board made in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Fox and Geese was among the games played by fishermen during idle times on sailing schooners working in the North Atlantic fisheries. This board was part of a display on “Habits of Fishermen,” at the International Fisheries Exhibition in London in 1883. Other games in the display, all from Gloucester, included cards, a checkerboard, backgammon, and a diamond puzzle.
- The rules of play for Fox and Geese are simple: one player controls the fox, while the other controls the geese. The fox can move in a straight line in any direction and, as it jumps over geese, the geese are removed from the board. To win, the fox must break through the entire line of geese. The geese are only allowed to move forward or sideways. To win, they must corner the fox so it cannot move.
- The Oxford English Dictionary cites a 1633 reference to the game from a play called Fine Companion by Shackerley Marmion: “Let him sit in the shop . . . and let him play at fox and geese with the foreman.” The game was played in colonial America and, with minor variations, well into the 19th and 20th centuries.
- This game board was one of several items donated to the Smithsonian by Capt. George Merchant Jr., of Gloucester.
- Location
- Currently not on view (Pegs from gameboard)
- Date made
- 1883
- ID Number
- AG.057950
- catalog number
- 057950
- accession number
- 12158
-
- Description
- This model represents the U.S. Lighthouse Tender Joseph Henry, a side-wheeled steamer built by Howard & Company in Jeffersonville, Indiana, in 1880. This 180-foot-long vessel was built for service along the nation’s inland waterways. Lighthouse tenders served both coastal and inland areas by delivering supplies, fuel, news, and relief and maintenance crew to lighthouses and lightships. They also maintained aids to navigation, including markers identifying channels, shoals, and obstructions. Based out of Memphis, the Joseph Henry worked along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers until 1904.
- The vessel’s namesake, Joseph Henry, was America’s foremost scientist in the 19th century. His expertise was in the field of electromagnetism. Henry was a professor at the College of New Jersey (Princeton) when he was named the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, a position he held from 1846 until his death in 1878. He also served on the U.S. Lighthouse Board (1852-78), and implemented various improvements in lighting and signaling during his tenure. This lighthouse tender was named in his honor at its launching two years after his death.
- Date made
- 1880
- 1962
- used
- late 19th century
- ID Number
- TR.321486
- catalog number
- 321486
- accession number
- 245714
-
- Description
- The most dangerous act in the dangerous business of whaling was “spading flukes.” The whaleboat drew up close alongside a desperate, unpredictable whale on the water surface, and a crewman used a boat spade or fluke lance to sever the whale’s tail tendons. This effectively immobilized the prey, for the whale couldn’t swim without its tail.
- According to James Temple Brown, who wrote the 1883 catalog of the Smithsonian’s whaling collection, the fluke lance was exceedingly rare and was regarded as “a monstrosity by all the fraternity”. This rare inscribed example was used aboard the starboard whaleboat of the bark Sea Fox.
- Date made
- ca 1880-1889
- authored whaling reference material
- Brown, James Temple
- maker
- Driggs, James D.
- ID Number
- TR.056358
- catalog number
- 056358
- accession number
- 012298
-
- ID Number
- TR.072829
- catalog number
- 072829
- accession number
- 2009.??
-
- date made
- 1952
- SS United States built and launched
- 1952
- naval architect of SS United States
- Gibbs, William Francis
- painter
- Wendell, Raymond John
- ID Number
- TR.336767.158
- catalog number
- 336767.158
- accession number
- 1978.2219
-
- Description
- Sugar was a very expensive item when first exported across the Atlantic from the Caribbean plantations in the 1600s. Only the wealthiest members of European society could afford to use it to sweeten the equally exotic and expensive commodities such as coffee, tea, and chocolate. By the late 18th century, when this tea service was made at the Worcester Porcelain manufactory in England, the increasingly well-to-do middle class could afford to buy English porcelain, and the lower cost of tea and sugar made these desirable commodities accessible to many people. These pieces from a tea set represent this social and economic transition. The service, made of fluted porcelain with a gilt scalloped pattern and bordered in royal blue with gold banding, is not characteristic of Worcester’s most refined output of hand-painted tea wares.
- The tea set also represents the truly international nature of new tastes and new trades. Although made in England, the porcelain tea service is rooted in the Chinese culture of tea drinking, but with adaptations to suit European tastes. The Chinese did not take tea with sugar or milk, so a milk jug, covered sugar bowl, and sugar tongs were European additions in response to the Atlantic sugar trade. The uncovered bowl in the set was used for “slops,” where waste tea was disposed of before a fresh cup was poured from the teapot.
- date made
- 1775-1800
- ID Number
- ZZ.RSN81775L17
- accession number
- 225282
- catalog number
- P883d
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