Singer treadle sewing machine cabinet table from the Rock Rest Tourist Home: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A Singer treadle sewing machine cabinet table from the Rock Rest Tourist Home. The cabinet table has a cast iron base that supports a wooden worktable with seven drawers. The base features a large cross brace at the back with casted iron text at the center that reads [SINGER]. The brace is attached to legs on either side with small metal rollers at the bottom. The legs feature a lattice pattern and a double oval at the center of the legs that frames the Singer shuttle, needle, and thread logo. Molded text on the interior ovals read [THE SINGER MANFG. CO.] along the top half with a molded laurel wreath on the bottom half. At the base is a lattice ornamented treadle, which is connected to the band wheel with a pitman that turns the band wheel when the treadle is pressed. The base supports the cabinet’s reddish brown tabletop. The table with has three drawers on each side, a wide center drawer, and a hinged cover. The side drawers are narrow and plain with plain round pulls. The center drawer is also plain and is missing its pull. It tilts down across the front of the cabinet and has three sections with dividers inside. The cover is held in place with two hinges and folds out towards the proper left side, extending the length of the table. At the center of the tabletop, below the cover, is a rectangular slot with rounded corners and a metal bracket that holds the sewing machine in place. The front of the slot is also hinged and folds upwards giving access to the metal pan below.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: early 20th century
• Manufactured by: Singer Corporation, American, founded 1851
• Owned by: Clayton Sinclair, American
• Owned by: Hazel Sinclair, American
• Subject of: Rock Rest Tourist Home, American, 1948 - 1976
• Type: work tables
• Medium: varnish on wood with cast iron
• Dimensions: H x W x D: 30 5/16 × 36 5/8 × 17 in. (77 × 93 × 43.2 cm)
• Place collected: Kittery, York County, Maine, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Black Enterprise
• Topic: Black interiors
• Topic: Business
• Topic: Recreation
• Topic: Segregation
• Topic: Travel
• Object number: 2011.12.18.2.1
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail, Inc.
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.