Looney Tunes Lunch Box: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This metal lunch box was manufactured by Thermos in 1959. The front and back of the box is actually a styled as a television set, with Looney Tunes characters pictured inside the set. Looney Tunes were originally shorts that ran before feature films from 1930-1969, but have since been repackaged into a variety of television shows. Looney Tunes has given us some of cartoons most iconic characters, such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date made: 1959
• maker: King Seeley Thermos
• Object Name: lunch box
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Physical Description: plastic (handle material)
• Measurements: overall: 22 cm x 10 cm x 19 cm; 8 11/16 in x 3 15/16 in x 7 1/2 in
• general subject association: School Personal Equipment
• Subject: Television
• Subject: Movie
• general subject association: Television
• ID Number: 2004.3009.05.01
• nonaccession number: 2004.3009
• catalog number: 2004.3009.05.01
• Credit Line: Gift of Thermos L.L.C. (through T. H. Chang)
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.