Museum Artifacts

This rare silk banner was probably carried in a public parade in Philadelphia in the mid to late 1790s. Its elaborate design suggests the importance of such festivals, which provided a place for many Americans, voters and non-voters, to express patriotic sentiments or partisan views on current ev

These ballet shoes were worn by dancer Misty Copeland at a January 2018 production of Black Swan, and have been pancaked (or colored) to match Copeland's skin color.

In the 1950s, the station wagon became a staple of America's new suburban landscape and a ubiquitous extension of the suburban home. This car reveals how one family adopted a mobile, active lifestyle and how station wagons shaped family life. Between the 1920s and 1940s, station wa

This buckskin coat was worn by Custer when he was Lieutenant Colonel with the 7th U. S. Cavalry in the Dakotas. It was one of several owned and worn by Custer, who prefered to dress like a frontiersman while out West. In 1912, Custer's widow, Elizabeth, donated this buckskin coat t

This beautiful daguerreotype by Boston-area photographer George K. Warren (1832–1884) is of the photographer's wife, Mary Ann Warren. The Photographic History Collection has a collection of letters, scrapbooks, daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, cartes-de-visites, cabinet cards, other paper prints, an

During the colonial period, cattle horns were used by woodsmen and by soldiers for storing gunpowder in a safe, dry place. The horns also became decorative objects as they were personalized by the owner. Makers carved names, initials, dates, flags, battles, and even full maps on the exterior of t

This large, hand-held drum, known in Puerto Rico as a pandereta, is an essential instrument in the musical genre known as plena. The plena was developed by agricultural workers at the end of the 19th century on the southern coast of the island, around the city of Ponce. Consider

WANN represents a significant moment in American cultural history-the rise of black-oriented broadcasting. Although blacks constituted 10 percent of the population, black interest in broadcasting on any scale, didn't begin until 1948. That year WDIA in Memphis became the first station to go to a

Invention rarely stops when the inventor introduces a new device. Thomas A. Edison and his team worked to improve his electric lighting system for some years after the initial introduction in 1880. This lamp shows the changes made after six years of labor aimed at lowering costs and increasing pr

The Quakers published this booklet titled "El Obrero y sus Derechos" in 1981. The 23-page Spanish language booklet uses cartoons to inform and instruct workers on their rights and where to go for help. It covers a wide variety of occupations (apparel, agriculture, construction, car washing, etc.) Th