Wooden chest papered with Circus Articles: Museum Object and Cultural History
Wooden chest papered with Circus Articles: Date made: 1874. maker: Waterman Brown. Object Name: Trunk.
The object in the museum catalogue
This trunk is believed to be the property of Waterman Brown, (1818-1900) a long-time employee of the Boston and Lowell and Boston and Maine railroads. Formerly an engineer, the Woburn, MA resident transitioned to gatekeeper after losing his arm in a railway accident.
The well-read railman was an enthusiast of elephants and the circus, befriending showman PT Barnum, who provided Brown with tickets to his show whenever visiting Massachussetts.
The wooden, wheeled trunk is marked "Waterman Brown, Woburn MASS, 1874." Newspaper clippings related to the circus and animals are pasted to the interior.
Materials, dates and provenance
- Date made: 1874
- maker: Waterman Brown
- Object Name: Trunk
- Object Name: trunk
- Physical Description: wood (overall material)
- Physical Description: hide (overall material)
- Physical Description: metal (overall material)
- Physical Description: paper (overall material)
- Physical Description: ink (overall material)
- Measurements: overall: 50 cm x 35 cm x 30 cm; 19 11/16 in x 13 3/4 in x 11 13/16 in
- Subject: Circus
- Subject: Music
- ID Number: 1986.0596.01
- accession number: 1986.0596
- catalog number: 1986.0596.01
- Credit Line: Gift of Elaine Greening Ames Weed
- 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.
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