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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Miner’s Electric Cap Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- This electric cap lamp was made by the Concordia Electric Co. The lamp was powered by a battery enclosed in a self-locking steel case worn on the miner’s belt. A flexible cord, protected by a steel spring where it comes out of the battery, connected the battery to the cap lamp. This lamp is marked as permissible by the U.S. Bureau of Mines, and has an added cord for plugging into an electric outlet. This picture show the lamp attached to the miner’s cap.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- AG.MHI-MT-2683 [dup1]
- accession number
- 115674
- catalog number
- MHI-MT-2683
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Oil-Wick Miner’s Lamp Patent Model
- Description (Brief)
- This oil-wick lamp is a patent model constructed by George W. Trimble of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania that received patent number 75,603 on March 17, 1868. The patent claims as its invention “providing the tube or spout of the lamp with a simple and novel device for feeding the wick to the flame, instead of pushing it out of the tube by striking the bottom of the lamp on something.” The invention can be seen in the spout of lamp.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- patentee
- Trimble, George W.
- ID Number
- AG.MHI-MN-9754
- catalog number
- MHI-MN-9754
- accession number
- 88881
- patent number
- 075603
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Miner's Electric Cap Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- This Model "K" lamp was manufactured in 1931 by the Edison Storage Battery Company. The Edison Cap Lamp consisted of a battery encased in a self-locking steel case worn on the miner’s belt. A flexible cord traveled to the cap lamp, and its entrance into the battery was protected by a flexible steel cover. The battery could power the six-candlepower lamps for 12 hours and was recharged at the end of a miner’s shift. This lamp is stamped number 16.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- AG.MHI-MN-8947
- catalog number
- MHI-MN-8947
- accession number
- 236603
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Miner’s Electric Cap Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- This electric cap lamp was made by the Concordia Electric Company. The lamp was powered by a battery enclosed in a self-locking steel case worn on the miner’s belt. A flexible cord, protected by a steel spring where it comes out of the battery, connected the battery to the cap lamp. This lamp is marked as permissible by the U.S. Bureau of Mines.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- AG.MHI-MT-2683
- accession number
- 115674
- catalog number
- MHI-MT-2683
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Hanging Open Mining Lamp
- Description (Brief)
- This lamp was made by an unknown maker around middle of the 19th century. This open hanging lamp is one of the earliest examples of American mine lighting. The lamp is relatively unrefined, simply a reservoir of oil with a wick that produced a large amount of smoke, heat, and oil drippings.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- AG.MHI-MT-310685
- accession number
- 125257
- catalog number
- MHI-MT-310685
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
