Natural Resources
The natural resources collections offer centuries of evidence about how Americans have used the bounty of the American continent and coastal waters. Artifacts related to flood control, dam construction, and irrigation illustrate the nation's attempts to manage the natural world. Oil-drilling, iron-mining, and steel-making artifacts show the connection between natural resources and industrial strength.
Forestry is represented by saws, axes, a smokejumper's suit, and many other objects. Hooks, nets, and other gear from New England fisheries of the late 1800s are among the fishing artifacts, as well as more recent acquisitions from the Pacific Northwest and Chesapeake Bay. Whaling artifacts include harpoons, lances, scrimshaw etchings in whalebone, and several paintings of a whaler's work at sea. The modern environmental movement has contributed buttons and other protest artifacts on issues from scenic rivers to biodiversity.
5,502
Page 1 of 276
-
Ornate Metal Slide Buckle
- Description
- This stamped yellowish metal buckle is formed into an oval shape composed of concentric rings attached by metal pieces.
- The Waterbury Collection tells the story of an important American manufacturer. As evidence of one company’s diverse output, the collection consists of several thousand metal objects and assemblies made in Waterbury, Connecticut, in the Naugatuck Valley from about 1890 to 1930. During the 19th Century, the Naugatuck Valley became a center of brass manufacturing, drawing heavily on the armory manufacturing practice of interchangeable parts.
- The Waterbury Button Company traces its beginning to the War of 1812, when Aaron Benedict began crafting uniform buttons. During the nineteenth century the company grew from a small village shop to a large national manufacturer. Its product line expanded to include machine produced brassware such as knobs, hinges, and buckles. The company also experimented with innovative materials such as celluloid in the 1870s and Bakelite in the 1920s. In the spirit of its founding, the company continued to supply uniform buttons and mobilized to meet wartime demands during major conflicts including the Civil War and World War I.
- This rich history of product innovation and machine assembly is captured in the more than 7,500 examples of military insignia, civilian emblems, belt plates, buckles, and machine components donated to the museum in 1975. Varying in size from a thumbtack to a soup can, the majority of these objects are composed of metal such as tin, nickel, brass, and other copper and iron alloys. They originally came to the museum mounted on cardboard display boards. At the National Museum of American History, the collection is divided between the Division of Work and Industry and the Division of Armed Forces History. Additional artifacts can be found at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Waterbury Button Company
- ID Number
- MC.314686.0627
- catalog number
- 314686.0627
- accession number
- 314686
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition Needle Lace Certificate
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1909
- Associated Date
- 1909
- ID Number
- 2003.0186.02
- accession number
- 2003.0186
- catalog number
- 2003.0186.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Ornate Metal Slide Buckle
- Description
- This white metal buckle is stamped into an oval frame with a multifaceted gemstone design and one decorative prong.
- The Waterbury Collection tells the story of an important American manufacturer. As evidence of one company’s diverse output, the collection consists of several thousand metal objects and assemblies made in Waterbury, Connecticut, in the Naugatuck Valley from about 1890 to 1930. During the 19th Century, the Naugatuck Valley became a center of brass manufacturing, drawing heavily on the armory manufacturing practice of interchangeable parts.
- The Waterbury Button Company traces its beginning to the War of 1812, when Aaron Benedict began crafting uniform buttons. During the nineteenth century the company grew from a small village shop to a large national manufacturer. Its product line expanded to include machine produced brassware such as knobs, hinges, and buckles. The company also experimented with innovative materials such as celluloid in the 1870s and Bakelite in the 1920s. In the spirit of its founding, the company continued to supply uniform buttons and mobilized to meet wartime demands during major conflicts including the Civil War and World War I.
- This rich history of product innovation and machine assembly is captured in the more than 7,500 examples of military insignia, civilian emblems, belt plates, buckles, and machine components donated to the museum in 1975. Varying in size from a thumbtack to a soup can, the majority of these objects are composed of metal such as tin, nickel, brass, and other copper and iron alloys. They originally came to the museum mounted on cardboard display boards. At the National Museum of American History, the collection is divided between the Division of Work and Industry and the Division of Armed Forces History. Additional artifacts can be found at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Waterbury Button Company
- ID Number
- MC.314686.0788
- catalog number
- 314686.0788
- accession number
- 314686
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Stevens Rocking Grate Bar, Patent Model
- Description
- This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to Francis B. Stevens, November 11, 1879, no. 221430.
- The model represents a grate surface formed of ordinary fish-bellied grate bars on each of the lower ends of which two journal bearings are formed to fit into and rest in two corresponding rounded socket bearings. The bar is made to rock in each of these bearings alternately to the right and left, so that the upper part of the grate overhangs the right-hand socket when rocked to the right, and the left-hand socket when rocked to the left. That the upper part of the grate bar will overhang the center on which it turns is the improvement claimed by the inventor.
- Reference:
- This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1879
- patent date
- 1879-11-11
- inventor
- Stevens, Francis B.
- ID Number
- MC.309217
- catalog number
- 309217
- accession number
- 89797
- patent number
- 221,430
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Alaska Ocean Coveralls
- 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
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Ornate Metal Buckle Frame
- Description
- This metal buckle is stamped into an oval frame featuring a textured striped pattern.
- The Waterbury Collection tells the story of an important American manufacturer. As evidence of one company’s diverse output, the collection consists of several thousand metal objects and assemblies made in Waterbury, Connecticut, in the Naugatuck Valley from about 1890 to 1930. During the 19th Century, the Naugatuck Valley became a center of brass manufacturing, drawing heavily on the armory manufacturing practice of interchangeable parts.
- The Waterbury Button Company traces its beginning to the War of 1812, when Aaron Benedict began crafting uniform buttons. During the nineteenth century the company grew from a small village shop to a large national manufacturer. Its product line expanded to include machine produced brassware such as knobs, hinges, and buckles. The company also experimented with innovative materials such as celluloid in the 1870s and Bakelite in the 1920s. In the spirit of its founding, the company continued to supply uniform buttons and mobilized to meet wartime demands during major conflicts including the Civil War and World War I.
- This rich history of product innovation and machine assembly is captured in the more than 7,500 examples of military insignia, civilian emblems, belt plates, buckles, and machine components donated to the museum in 1975. Varying in size from a thumbtack to a soup can, the majority of these objects are composed of metal such as tin, nickel, brass, and other copper and iron alloys. They originally came to the museum mounted on cardboard display boards. At the National Museum of American History, the collection is divided between the Division of Work and Industry and the Division of Armed Forces History. Additional artifacts can be found at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Waterbury Button Company
- ID Number
- MC.314686.0355
- catalog number
- 314686.0355
- accession number
- 314686
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Ornate Metal Button Face
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Waterbury Button Company
- ID Number
- MC.314686.1021
- accession number
- 314686
- catalog number
- 314686.1021
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Ornate Metal Hardware
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Waterbury Button Company
- ID Number
- MC.314686.0482
- catalog number
- 314686.0482
- accession number
- 314686
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Ornate Metal Buckle Frame
- Description
- This darkened metal buckle is stamped into an oval frame. The long sides of the frame have a scallop design while the short sides are decorated with half flowers featuring light blue petals.
- The Waterbury Collection tells the story of an important American manufacturer. As evidence of one company’s diverse output, the collection consists of several thousand metal objects and assemblies made in Waterbury, Connecticut, in the Naugatuck Valley from about 1890 to 1930. During the 19th Century, the Naugatuck Valley became a center of brass manufacturing, drawing heavily on the armory manufacturing practice of interchangeable parts.
- The Waterbury Button Company traces its beginning to the War of 1812, when Aaron Benedict began crafting uniform buttons. During the nineteenth century the company grew from a small village shop to a large national manufacturer. Its product line expanded to include machine produced brassware such as knobs, hinges, and buckles. The company also experimented with innovative materials such as celluloid in the 1870s and Bakelite in the 1920s. In the spirit of its founding, the company continued to supply uniform buttons and mobilized to meet wartime demands during major conflicts including the Civil War and World War I.
- This rich history of product innovation and machine assembly is captured in the more than 7,500 examples of military insignia, civilian emblems, belt plates, buckles, and machine components donated to the museum in 1975. Varying in size from a thumbtack to a soup can, the majority of these objects are composed of metal such as tin, nickel, brass, and other copper and iron alloys. They originally came to the museum mounted on cardboard display boards. At the National Museum of American History, the collection is divided between the Division of Work and Industry and the Division of Armed Forces History. Additional artifacts can be found at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Waterbury Button Company
- ID Number
- MC.314686.0280
- catalog number
- 314686.0280
- accession number
- 314686
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Ornate Metal Hardware
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Waterbury Button Company
- ID Number
- MC.314686.1335
- accession number
- 314686
- catalog number
- 314686.1335
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Ornate Metal Slide Buckle
- Description
- This stamped yellowish metal buckle is formed into a rectangular shape with a border of raised half spheres.
- The Waterbury Collection tells the story of an important American manufacturer. As evidence of one company’s diverse output, the collection consists of several thousand metal objects and assemblies made in Waterbury, Connecticut, in the Naugatuck Valley from about 1890 to 1930. During the 19th Century, the Naugatuck Valley became a center of brass manufacturing, drawing heavily on the armory manufacturing practice of interchangeable parts.
- The Waterbury Button Company traces its beginning to the War of 1812, when Aaron Benedict began crafting uniform buttons. During the nineteenth century the company grew from a small village shop to a large national manufacturer. Its product line expanded to include machine produced brassware such as knobs, hinges, and buckles. The company also experimented with innovative materials such as celluloid in the 1870s and Bakelite in the 1920s. In the spirit of its founding, the company continued to supply uniform buttons and mobilized to meet wartime demands during major conflicts including the Civil War and World War I.
- This rich history of product innovation and machine assembly is captured in the more than 7,500 examples of military insignia, civilian emblems, belt plates, buckles, and machine components donated to the museum in 1975. Varying in size from a thumbtack to a soup can, the majority of these objects are composed of metal such as tin, nickel, brass, and other copper and iron alloys. They originally came to the museum mounted on cardboard display boards. At the National Museum of American History, the collection is divided between the Division of Work and Industry and the Division of Armed Forces History. Additional artifacts can be found at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Waterbury Button Company
- ID Number
- MC.314686.0664
- catalog number
- 314686.0664
- accession number
- 314686
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Ornate Metal Slide Buckle
- Description
- This metal buckle features a rectangular frame decorated with a multifaceted gemstone motif of flowers and ovals.
- The Waterbury Collection tells the story of an important American manufacturer. As evidence of one company’s diverse output, the collection consists of several thousand metal objects and assemblies made in Waterbury, Connecticut, in the Naugatuck Valley from about 1890 to 1930. During the 19th Century, the Naugatuck Valley became a center of brass manufacturing, drawing heavily on the armory manufacturing practice of interchangeable parts.
- The Waterbury Button Company traces its beginning to the War of 1812, when Aaron Benedict began crafting uniform buttons. During the nineteenth century the company grew from a small village shop to a large national manufacturer. Its product line expanded to include machine produced brassware such as knobs, hinges, and buckles. The company also experimented with innovative materials such as celluloid in the 1870s and Bakelite in the 1920s. In the spirit of its founding, the company continued to supply uniform buttons and mobilized to meet wartime demands during major conflicts including the Civil War and World War I.
- This rich history of product innovation and machine assembly is captured in the more than 7,500 examples of military insignia, civilian emblems, belt plates, buckles, and machine components donated to the museum in 1975. Varying in size from a thumbtack to a soup can, the majority of these objects are composed of metal such as tin, nickel, brass, and other copper and iron alloys. They originally came to the museum mounted on cardboard display boards. At the National Museum of American History, the collection is divided between the Division of Work and Industry and the Division of Armed Forces History. Additional artifacts can be found at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Waterbury Button Company
- ID Number
- MC.314686.0789
- catalog number
- 314686.0789
- accession number
- 314686
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Display of Edison experimental light bulb filament
- Date made
- 1881
- maker
- Hammer, William J.
- Edison, Thomas Alva
- ID Number
- EM.320526
- catalog number
- 320526
- accession number
- 241402
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Ornate Metal Lid
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Waterbury Button Company
- ID Number
- MC.314686.1046
- accession number
- 314686
- catalog number
- 314686.1046
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Ornate Metal Slide Buckle
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Waterbury Button Company
- ID Number
- MC.314686.0936
- accession number
- 314686
- catalog number
- 314686.0936
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Harrison Lubricator, Patent Model
- Description
- This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to A. L. Harrison, of Bristol, Connecticut, March 2, 1880, no. 225124.
- The model represents a steam-engine lubricator in which the oil is contained in a reservoir fitted with a balanced diaphragm upon both sides of which the steam pressure in the main acts. The unbalanced pressure required to force oil into the steam is atmospheric pressure obtained by the use of a vacuum chamber when the engine is operating condensing, or the hydrostatic pressure of a water column when the engine is operating noncondensing.
- The lubricator consists of an oval chamber divided by a flexible diaphragm. The space above the diaphragm contains the oil and is connected through a glycerine-filled sign glass to the steam chest or cylinder of the engine. The space below the diaphragm is connected to the steam pipe from the boiler, so that steam pressure acts on both sides of the diaphragm. A rod attached to the center of the diaphragm passes through suitable stuffing boxes to a piston in a cylinder below the diaphragm chamber. The space above the piston is connected to the condenser of the engine so that atmospheric pressure will exert an unbalanced force upon the under side of the piston, and through it upon the diaphragm, sufficient to force the oil out of the lubricator into the engine. When used with a noncondensing engine a water column in the steam pipe connecting to the under side of the diaphragm provides an unbalanced hydrostatic pressure on the diaphragm.
- Reference:
- This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1880
- patent date
- 1880-03-02
- inventor
- Harrison, Andrew L.
- ID Number
- MC.308704
- catalog number
- 308704
- accession number
- 89797
- patent number
- 225,124
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Metal Decorative Buckle
- Description
- This stamped yellowish metal buckle is formed into a pentagon and has one decorative prong.
- The Waterbury Collection tells the story of an important American manufacturer. As evidence of one company’s diverse output, the collection consists of several thousand metal objects and assemblies made in Waterbury, Connecticut, in the Naugatuck Valley from about 1890 to 1930. During the 19th Century, the Naugatuck Valley became a center of brass manufacturing, drawing heavily on the armory manufacturing practice of interchangeable parts.
- The Waterbury Button Company traces its beginning to the War of 1812, when Aaron Benedict began crafting uniform buttons. During the nineteenth century the company grew from a small village shop to a large national manufacturer. Its product line expanded to include machine produced brassware such as knobs, hinges, and buckles. The company also experimented with innovative materials such as celluloid in the 1870s and Bakelite in the 1920s. In the spirit of its founding, the company continued to supply uniform buttons and mobilized to meet wartime demands during major conflicts including the Civil War and World War I.
- This rich history of product innovation and machine assembly is captured in the more than 7,500 examples of military insignia, civilian emblems, belt plates, buckles, and machine components donated to the museum in 1975. Varying in size from a thumbtack to a soup can, the majority of these objects are composed of metal such as tin, nickel, brass, and other copper and iron alloys. They originally came to the museum mounted on cardboard display boards. At the National Museum of American History, the collection is divided between the Division of Work and Industry and the Division of Armed Forces History. Additional artifacts can be found at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Waterbury Button Company
- ID Number
- MC.314686.0719
- catalog number
- 314686.0719
- accession number
- 314686
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Ornate Metal Clasp Buckle
- Description
- This white metal buckle features an arrow-shaped frame composed of two rectangles decorated with a leaf pattern.
- The Waterbury Collection tells the story of an important American manufacturer. As evidence of one company’s diverse output, the collection consists of several thousand metal objects and assemblies made in Waterbury, Connecticut, in the Naugatuck Valley from about 1890 to 1930. During the 19th Century, the Naugatuck Valley became a center of brass manufacturing, drawing heavily on the armory manufacturing practice of interchangeable parts.
- The Waterbury Button Company traces its beginning to the War of 1812, when Aaron Benedict began crafting uniform buttons. During the nineteenth century the company grew from a small village shop to a large national manufacturer. Its product line expanded to include machine produced brassware such as knobs, hinges, and buckles. The company also experimented with innovative materials such as celluloid in the 1870s and Bakelite in the 1920s. In the spirit of its founding, the company continued to supply uniform buttons and mobilized to meet wartime demands during major conflicts including the Civil War and World War I.
- This rich history of product innovation and machine assembly is captured in the more than 7,500 examples of military insignia, civilian emblems, belt plates, buckles, and machine components donated to the museum in 1975. Varying in size from a thumbtack to a soup can, the majority of these objects are composed of metal such as tin, nickel, brass, and other copper and iron alloys. They originally came to the museum mounted on cardboard display boards. At the National Museum of American History, the collection is divided between the Division of Work and Industry and the Division of Armed Forces History. Additional artifacts can be found at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Waterbury Button Company
- ID Number
- MC.314686.0910
- catalog number
- 314686.0910
- accession number
- 314686
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Ornate Metal Decorative Hardware
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Waterbury Button Company
- ID Number
- MC.314686.1073
- accession number
- 314686
- catalog number
- 314686.1073
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Gill Net Float
- 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
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
Pages
Filter Your Results
Click to remove a filter:
- data source
-
topic
- Industrialization 5502
- Waterbury Button Company Collection 4864
- Architecture 200
- Engineering 200
- Scovill Manufacturing Collection 173
- Bulletin 173 114
- Furnishings 74
- Transportation 73
- Clothing and dress 62
- Dress accessories 62
- Government 55
- Politics 55
- Social reformers 55
- Art 54
- Family 42
- Social life and customs 42
- Hurricane Katrina, 2005 40
- America Builds on the National Mall 39
- Ecology 33
-
object type
- Hardware (components) 1976
- buckle, slide 497
- hardware, decorative 399
- Fasteners 359
- Buckles (strap accessories) 263
- Tokens 163
- buckle, one prong 155
- buckle frame 149
- Models 130
- Patents 118
- Pins (fasteners) 62
- button 62
- medal, political 53
- buckle, clasp 43
- shade pull 43
- tag 40
- eye hook 39
- cufflink 38
- Lids 26
- buckle, two prongs 26
- date
- place
- culture
-
set name
- Work and Industry: Manufacturing 4865
- Waterbury Button Company Collection 4864
- Work 273
- Engineering, Building, and Architecture 200
- Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering 194
- Work and Industry: Production and Manufacturing 181
- Scovill Manufacturing Collection 173
- Bulletin 173 114
- National Museum of American History 98
- Domestic Furnishings 74
- Transportation 73
- Cultures & Communities 71
- Home and Community Life: Ceramics and Glass 67
- Clothing & Accessories 62
- Government, Politics, and Reform 55
- Art 52
- Family & Social Life 42
- On the Water 42
- Natural Resources 33
