Conversation Cards: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This is a collection of conversation cards owned by the Copp family of Stonington, Connecticut during the 18th century. The cards were meant to provoke conversation with their witty aphorisms after dinner during time in the parlor.

The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Object Name: game
• Other Terms: Game; Toys
• Measurements: overall, each: 4 3/4 in x 1 3/8 in; 12.065 cm x 3.4925 cm
• ID Number: DL.006539.02
• catalog number: 006539.02
• accession number: 28810
• Credit Line: Gift of John Brenton Copp
• 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. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation.