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.
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Abraham Lincoln Medal
- Description (Brief)
- This medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut in 1861. 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. The medal has a hole in its top so that it could be worn on an article of clothing.
- Obverse: Bust of Abraham Lincoln facing right. Legend that reads: ABRAHAM LINCOLN PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. /WAR OF 1861.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1861
- depicted
- Lincoln, Abraham
- maker
- Scovill Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- 1981.0296.1131
- accession number
- 1981.0296
- catalog number
- 1981.0296.1131
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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George McClellan Medal
- Description (Brief)
- This medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1864. 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. There is a hole at the top so the medal could be worn on an article of clothing.
- Obverse: Bust of George McClellan facing left. The legend reads: MAJOR GENERAL G.B. McCLELLAN WAR OF 1861.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1864
- depicted
- McClellan, George B.
- maker
- Scovill Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- 1981.0296.1158
- accession number
- 1981.0296
- catalog number
- 1981.0296.1158
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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George B. McClellan Campaign Medal
- Description (Brief)
- This presidential campaign medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1864. 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 George B. McClellan facing left, two branches underneath the bust. Legend: MAJOR GENERAL GEO B McCLELLAN.
- Reverse: Shield with legend: YORKSTOWN/WILLIAMSBURG/FAIR OAKS/SEVEN PINES/MALVERN HILL. Ribbon reads “ANTIETAM.” Shield is surrounded by four flags with eagle perched above.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1864
- depicted
- McClellan, George B.
- maker
- Scovill Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- 1981.0296.1207
- accession number
- 1981.0296
- catalog number
- 1981.0296.1207
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Jefferson Davis Death to Traitors Medal
- Description (Brief)
- This medal was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut around 1861. 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 medals. This medal was struck in reaction to the secession of the Confederacy and the election of its President, Jefferson Davis.
- Obverse: Image of a man being hanged on a gallows. The legend reads: JEFFERSON DAVIS 1861.
- Reverse: Legend reads: DEATH TO TRAITORS.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1861
- referenced
- Davis, Jefferson
- maker
- Scovill Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- 1981.0296.1128
- accession number
- 1981.0296
- catalog number
- 1981.0296.1128
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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