Browse Items (24 total)

Inspired by the cautionary tale “Fair Charlotte,” in which a young woman froze to death after refusing her mother's advice to dress warmly for a sleigh ride, this German-made china doll was created as a bathing toy for young children in the late…

Both men and women enjoyed the sweet flavors and the soothing properties of tobacco through white ball clay pipes. Clay smoking pipes are some of the first mass-produced items. Because of this mass production, clay pipes served as an affordable…

The “Willow” pattern of this teaware piece imitates the designs used on Chinese porcelain that became popular imports in the nineteenth century. A number of American firms utilized the pattern or a variation of it in their designs.

The “Willow” pattern of this teaware piece imitates the designs used on Chinese porcelain that became popular imports in the nineteenth century. A number of American firms utilized the pattern or a variation of it in their designs.

This bottle was used to sell and distribute beer by Charles Joly, a bottler at 9 Seventh Street in Philadelphia. Consumers paid for the beer, but not the bottle. Beer drinkers would return the bottles to the brewer or take the bottles back to get…

The painted features of this porcelain doll face point to the work of firms in the Thuringia area of Germany. Thuringia’s natural clay deposits made it the center of the German doll industry. This doll likely once included glass enamel eyes and a…

Students, almshouse residents, and homemakers all crafted buttons out of cleaned cow bones. The carving required few tools and little skill. The incomplete button blank on the center of this board still shows a fragment of the larger bone from which…

Three Charles Joly beer bottles were uncovered during the Cooper Street dig. The bottle not only represents the growth of beer production in the United States, it also shows how the nation was expanding with new innovations that allowed for the…

Straight pins filled a number of needs in the nineteenth-century household. Women used them to sew clothes and fasten baby diapers, and men used them to fasten documents before the invention of the staple. The thimble protected the pointer finger…

This jar likely held cosmetics, such as a cold cream or powder. Despite missing its lid, this container still reveals details about Cooper Street’s residents. The existence of cosmetics at home suggests the means to purchase a luxury and the leisure…