Domestic Furnishings
Washboards, armchairs, lamps, and pots and pans may not seem to be museum pieces. But they are invaluable evidence of how most people lived day to day, last week or three centuries ago. The Museum's collections of domestic furnishings comprise more than 40,000 artifacts from American households. Large and small, they include four houses, roughly 800 pieces of furniture, fireplace equipment, spinning wheels, ceramics and glass, family portraits, and much more.
The Arthur and Edna Greenwood Collection contains more than 2,000 objects from New England households from colonial times to mid-1800s. From kitchens of the past, the collections hold some 3,300 artifacts, ranging from refrigerators to spatulas. The lighting devices alone number roughly 3,000 lamps, candleholders, and lanterns.
8,739
Page 1 of 437
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Bowl
- Description
- This transfer printed creamware bowl is decorated with an interior print of John Hancock and exterior prints of pastoral scenes. John Hancock is facing left in his portrait, on a ribbon below are the words “The Honourable John Hancock.”
- This bowl is part of the McCauley collection of American themed transfer print pottery. There is no mark on the bowl to tell us who made it, but it is characteristic of wares made in large volume for the American market in both Staffordshire and Liverpool between 1790 and 1820. Pitchers of this shape, with a cream colored glaze over a pale earthenware clay, known as Liverpool type, were the most common vessels to feature transfer prints with subjects commemorating events and significant figures in the early decades of United States’ history. Notwithstanding the tense relationship between Britain and America, Liverpool and Staffordshire printers and potters seized the commercial opportunity offered them in the production of transfer printed earthenwares celebrating the heroes, the military victories, and the virtues of the young republic, and frequently all of these things at once.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- CE.63.129
- catalog number
- 63.129
- accession number
- 248619
- collector/donor number
- 47-371
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Archimedes Style Mixer
- Description
- Archimedes style beater or whip. Fan-style mixing end, three blades, bent metal wire, which twists at top for shaft and forms loop at top for hanging. Turned knob, wooden, unpainted with metal cap at bottom, when moved up or down, creates mixing action by spinning whip. Metal cap with screw threads to attach at top to accompanying glass jar, clear glass. Jar is cylindrical, straight sides, with molded screw threads at top, molded band of embossed diamonds at top and bottom. Side of jar is embossed with measurements in ounces and pints. Bottom of jar is embossed: "#1133413/2108-3/PAT. MAR. 30TH 1915. U.S.A.", and with other mark: backwards "C" overlapping upside down "V".
- Related Patent: US 1133413 A, March 30, 1915, Turnet (or Turney) H. Stough, Jeannette, Pennsylvania, for "Kitchen utensil".
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1915-1925
- ID Number
- DL.322793.17
- accession number
- 322793
- catalog number
- 76-FT-01.1050
- collector/donor number
- 417
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Waffle Iron
- Description
- Circular waffle iron, plier form, with two, long, tapered handles, rectangular in section, the shorter one ending in a small loop with shaped locking ring that fits over the ball-and-acorn terminal on the other handle to secure closed. Both handles have arrow-shaped pads welded to plates. No marks.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1790-1840
- ID Number
- DL.388211
- catalog number
- 388211
- accession number
- 182022
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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chair, side
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1750
- ID Number
- DL.64.0010A
- catalog number
- 64.0010A
- accession number
- 249394
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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The Mammoth Grove. Plate V. The Three Graces.
- Description (Brief)
- Black and white print of three prominent evergreen trees with other trees in the background.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1862
- maker
- Vischer, Edward
- ID Number
- DL.60.3836
- catalog number
- 60.3836
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Pitcher
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- CE.62.1047
- catalog number
- 62.1047
- accession number
- 171126
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Perfume Flask
- Description
- Silver-mounted, conical, fluted, clear colorless glass bottle topped by a hinged ball or globular cap with an S clasp closure; interior cork stopper has a faceted ball finial. Seamed cap has chased C scrolls and bellflower festoons forming reserves, that on top containing a townscape by water, a horse at left and two naked figures at right, and that on bottom with putti, one carrying a rod with fish. Piercework band around body features three scenes of people drinking divided by trees. Cap neck is struck "STERLING" to left of clasp and with a figural mark on clasp; flat bottom of cap and bottle neck rim are both marked "XI"; and scalloped collar of stopper finial is struck with another very small figural mark.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1880
- ID Number
- DL.59.0602
- catalog number
- 59.0602
- accession number
- 219034
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
John Quincy Adams. 6th President of the United States
- Description (Brief)
- Color print, half length portrait of a man (John Quincy Adams) seated in a chair holding a book in his right hand with his arm resting on documents on a table beside him. A column with green drapery is behind him.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- n.d.
- depicted
- Adams, John Quincy
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- DL.60.3183
- catalog number
- 60.3183
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Gunpowder Tin
- Description
- Screw-top, flattened oval container with a milled-edge, flat cap, two raised pointed shields on its rounded shoulders and small D ring soft-soldered to side of body at its vertical lapped seam. Shoulder and flat bottom have soft-soldered folded edges. Threaded opening is soldered in place. No marks.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1840 - 1870
- ID Number
- DL.257491.0053
- catalog number
- 257491.0053
- accession number
- 257491
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Artificial Berry
- Description
- Life-size, pale yellow berry, probably a strawberry; truncated cone shape with dimpled top surface and rough underside.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1864 - 1865
- ID Number
- DL.60.0252.15
- catalog number
- 60.0252.15
- accession number
- 67038
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Teapot
- Description
- Oblong, boat-shaped teapot with flared shoulder having applied pendant gadrooning and triple-tiered upper body on four cast, 7-lobed, concave shell feet. Inset, rectangular, tiered and hinged lid is topped by a rectangular, black-painted wood knop. Matching, spurred, C-curve handle is pinned into conical sockets. Bellied gooseneck or shallow S-curve spout with elongated V-shaped lip, serpentine face and rounded belly; body perforated at spout. Underside of rounded-edge, rectangular bottom is struck incuse at center "SHA[W]" and "6".
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1815 - 1835
- ID Number
- DL.59.2229
- catalog number
- 59.2229
- accession number
- 220211
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Trunk
- Description
- Japanned, dome-top box with scrolled hasp lock on front, circular wire ring handle on top and two hinges at back. Box front is painted with a right-leaning sprig of three, fan-shaped, red flowers and pairs of buds, all overpainted with shaded or fingered-off blue-to-white; white-veined, serrated-edge, green leaf at center surrounded by green, yellow, and translucent white leaflets. Box sides have a four-arm, red-and-green, X-shaped pinwheel. Lid top has a yellow leafy wreath around handle and is bordered by thin yellow and thick green bands; a red line is on the lid front and sides. Three-piece lid has a wire-rolled rim. Three-piece box has a folded top edge with wire bead below and a flat bottom. Tinned interior. No marks.
- Attributed to the New York Filley Tinshop, started by Augustus Filley (1789-1945), of Lansingburgh, NY, circa 1814-1870.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1814 - 1870
- ID Number
- 1979.1143.04
- accession number
- 1979.1143
- catalog number
- 1979.1143.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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"Irish Castle" flax spinning wheel
- Description (Brief)
- "Irish Castle" flax spinning wheel. The name of the spinning wheel is derived from its vertical shape. The position of the wheel inside the stout tripod framework gives the Castle wheel a rigidity very desirable in a spinning implement.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- TE.T11478.000
- catalog number
- T11478.000
- accession number
- 212397
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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bowl, soup
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- CE.75.130N
- catalog number
- 75.130N
- accession number
- 317832
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Death of Uncle Tom
- Description
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in 1852, quickly becoming the nation’s bestselling book. It features a spirited, religious-minded enslaved black man named Tom, who is sold by his financially-strapped owner in Kentucky to a plantation in Louisiana. There, his Christian beliefs spread hope to his fellow slaves and enable him to endure the harsh beatings of his cruel master. He is ultimately whipped to death after refusing to reveal the location of two runaway slaves. Published after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, the novel targeted Northern audiences, arguing against the injustice of slavery and spurring the abolition movement into action. Although the bestselling novel of the 19th century, many American were exposed to Uncle Tom’s Cabin through play adaptations known as Tom shows. The immense popularity of both the novel and plays transformed Uncle Tom into a cultural phenomenon in America and Europe, and manufacturers quickly capitalized on the production of “Tomitudes,” everyday commodities that referenced scenes and characters from the novel. These included card games, jigsaw puzzles, chinaware, jars and vases, snuffboxes, ceramic figurines, and decorative prints. Although some of these Tomitudes employed racial stereotypes and the imagery of blackface minstrelsy, most chose to depict the enslaved characters of Beecher’s novel in a sympathetic light, often carrying an anti-slavery message.
- After Tom had been sold from his Kentucky home to work in Louisiana, his wife, Chloe, convinced his former owners, the Shelby’s, to allow her to be hired out as a baker in Louisville. Her wages would then be saved and used to buy back Tom. Meanwhile, at Tom’s plantation in Louisiana, two slaves who have been sexually exploited by their owner, Simon Legree, decide to escape. When Tom does not reveal their location to his master, Legree has him whipped to the point of death. This colored print from around 1853 depicts the moment when George Shelby arrives to purchase Tom and finds the man about to die. Tom reclines against a pile of hay, although in the print, none of his injuries are visible and he appears frightened but healthy. George covers his face with one hand as he begins to cry and uses the other to clasp Tom’s outstretched hand. Behind George, stands a non-repentant looking Simon Legree, holding a whip, the instrument of Tom’s demise, in his right hand. Compared to the dominat and admirably-dressed figure of Shelby, Legree is depicted as a small, disheveled man.
- Thomas W. Strong was a New York-based printer and wood engraver who began his career around 1840. His shop specialized in comic literature and he employed many talented cartoonists and draftsmen who would go on to work for Harper’s Weekly and Vanity Fair. This print was the fourth in a series by Strong of scenes from Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
- Abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) rose to fame in 1851 with the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which highlighted the evils of slavery, angered the slaveholding South, and inspired pro-slavery copy-cat works in defense of the institution of slavery. Stowe’s father was the famed Congregational minister Lyman Beecher and her brother, Henry Ward Beecher, was also a famous preacher and reformer. In 1824, she attended her sister Catherine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary, which exposed young women to many of the same courses available in men’s academies. Stowe became a teacher, working from 1829 to 1832 at the Seminary.
- Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote numerous articles, some of which were published in the renowned women’s magazine of the times, Godey’s Lady’s Book. She also wrote 30 books, covering a wide range of topics from homemaking to religion, as well as several novels. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which legally compelled Northerners to return runaway slaves, infuriated Stowe, and many in the North. She subsequently authored her most famous work, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Originally serialized in the National Era, Stowe saw her tale as a call to arms for Northerners to defy the Fugitive Slave Act. It was released as a book in 1852 and later performed on stage and translated into dozens of languages. Stowe used her fame to petition to end slavery. She toured nationally and internationally, speaking about her book, and donating some of what she earned to help the antislavery cause.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca 1853
- originator of scene
- Stowe, Harriet Beecher
- maker
- Strong, Thomas W.
- ID Number
- DL.60.2375
- catalog number
- 60.2375
- accession number
- 228146
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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1887 Mehitable Ware's Crazy-patch Parlor Throw
- Description
- “Commenced Jan 12th 1887. San Rafael . . . Finished March 12th 1887. . . M. M. Ware” is embroidered on this parlor throw composed of nine 21 ½-inch crazy-patch blocks. Many satin and velvet ribbons with California references are found among typical motifs such as a horseshoe, a fan, flowers, owls, bicycles, etc. A variety of embroidery stitches in many colors of silk thread decorate the throw. A red velvet 7-inch border and a red cotton lining complete it.
- Mehitable (Mettie) Babcock was born in Vermont in 1816. She taught school from the age of 14 until she married Preserved Ware (1811-1885) in 1836. They had eight children and from 1868 they lived in California, where Mehitable Ware died in 1897.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1887
- maker
- Ware, Mettie Mehitable Babcock
- ID Number
- TE.T16134
- accession number
- 298792
- catalog number
- T16134
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Foot Warmer
- Description
- Square, wooden frame with turned, swelled-center column supports encloses a perforated tin box with hinged door containing a square, single-piece, cut and folded brazier or pan with tab handle for holding heat source. Frame constructed with doweled bridle joints at corners. Box top has three bands of piercings, while sides feature two large concentric punchwork circles and five small concentric punchwork diamonds. Wire bail handle hooked through loops on top of frame; wire loop pull tied to hinged door with string. No marks.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1800 - 1850
- ID Number
- DL.289456
- catalog number
- 289456
- accession number
- 59128
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Deacon Crankett
- Description
- This colored print depicts a table with the words "Things that the Deacon swears by" printed on the side of a red tablecloth. The objects on the table include a Bible, a pitcher labeled "Cold Water," and a straw hat. A chair is drawn up to the table. In addition to the title “Deacon Crankett by John Habberton,” the poster contains the additional words “Author of Helen’s Babies” at the top. Across the bottom is a daybill or label containing the date and location of the performance. This one proclaims “Park Theatre / Two Nights Only / Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 1 & 2.”
- The Park Theater was built in 1798 on Park Row in Manhattan and was New York City’s premiere performance space in the early 19th Century. It attracted a diverse audience with various groups of people sitting in distinct sections of the theater. Working class men sat in the pit; members of the upper class and women in the boxes; and the least affluent sat or stood in the balcony. This included immigrants, people of color, and prostitutes.
- Deacon Crankett was a successful play described as both a “domestic drama” and “comic amusement.” The reviews in the New York Times mentioned it was a simplistic presentation “of weak morality and absurd situations.” The original name of the play was Joe Thatcher’s Revenge and Joe, the main character was first played at Haverly’s Fourteenth Steet Theater in the fall of 1880 by James O’Neill with Harry Lee as the understudy. It supposedly was performed over 500 times between 1880-1892.
- The play was the creation of by American dramatist, novelist, and literary critic John Habberton (1842-1921). Habberton was born in New York and grew up in Illinois. After serving in the Civil War, he worked for the publisher Harper & Brothers. He later became the literary editor of the Christian Union and then a literary critic for the New York Herald. He was best known for his 1876 novel Helen's Babies, which was part of the Ruby Books series for boys and girls. The book's comic account of a bachelor salesman babysitting two small children was popular with readers of all ages, including Rudyard Kipling. A silent film version of Helen's Babies was released in 1924. John Habberton also wrote a series of stories about early California life, many of which were collected in his 1880 book, Romance of California Life: Illustrated by Pacific Slope Stories, Thrilling, Pathetic and Humorous.
- There is no information available about the producer of this lithograph.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- n.d.
- date made
- 1880-1900
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- DL.60.3026
- catalog number
- 60.3026
- accession number
- 228146
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
The Bottle: Plate 4. The Father and Mother are Become Habitual Drunkards...by an unknown lithographer
- Description
- This black and white tinted print depicts the fourth of eight scenes based on George Cruikshank's The Bottle. The series shows the progressive degeneration of a family due to the evils of drinking. This print is an outdoor scene of a mother, father, and older daughter standing near a storefront while the son begs for alms in the street. The mother holds an ailing toddler while the father pockets a bottle of liquor.
- This series of prints is by the English artist George Cruikshank (1792-1878). Cruikshank’s father, Isaac Cruikshank, was an artist who specialized in song sheets and caricatures and trained George and his brother Robert Cruikshank in these arts. George started as a caricaturist for magazines and children’s books. His most famous works included The Bottle and The Drunkard’s Children, designed and etched by Cruikshank to show the wickedness of alcohol. Cruikshank's father and brother were both alcoholics and he himself drank heavily until he took a vow of abstinence in 1847. These prints were published by David Bogue, who published most of Cruikshank’s other works in the 1850s. David Bogue, (1807–1856) was born in Scotland and moved to London in 1836. Bogue began working in Charles Tilt's bookshop as a publisher and bookseller in 1836 and became Tilt's partner in 1840. Bogue bought the shop in 1843. He was the principle publisher of Cruikshank’s short-lived periodicals, brief illustrated stories, and the Comic Almanack 1835-53. David Bogue published The Bottle series in 1847. Bogue suffered from heart disease and died in 1856 at the age of 48. There is no information available about the lithographer of this series however the inscription on the print reads COPYRIGHTED BY M. MARQUES, 1885.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1885
- copyright holder
- Marques, M.
- maker
- unknown
- original artist
- Cruikshank, George
- ID Number
- DL.60.2388
- catalog number
- 60.2388
- accession number
- 228146
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Child's Cup
- Description
- Spun cylindrical child's cup with wide, low-relief band applied at midbody depicting a parade of children playing instruments in a forest. Engraved "Arthur Wallace Dunn Jr. / From, J.B.M." in script above and below the band on front, opposite an ear-shaped "caterpillar" handle. Applied molded rim and flared foot ring. Gold washed interior. Rounded bottom struck with a full set of incuse marks on underside for "TIFFANY & C\o" above date letter "M" between pattern and order numbers "5470" and "1902", and "STERLING"; additional numbers scratched next to maker's name.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1891
- maker
- Tiffany & Co.
- ID Number
- DL.307672.0009
- catalog number
- 307672.0009
- accession number
- 307672
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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