Maker(s): | Chillingworth, Felix | Culture: | American
| Title: | box
| Date Made: | 1810-1840
| Type: | Personal Gear; Container
| Materials: | wood, leather, base metal: iron, brass; paper, ink, textile, paint
| Place Made: | United States; Massachusetts; Greenfield
| Measurements: | overall: 4 3/4 in x 8 in x 5 1/8 in; 12.065 cm x 20.32 cm x 13.0175 cm
| Accession Number: | HD 85.006
| Credit Line: | Museum Purchase
| Museum Collection: | Historic Deerfield
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Description: Small, rectangular trunk or box for storing valuables, which has a paper label pasted inside the cover: "Felix Chillingworth / Manufacturer of and dealer in / MILITARY / Accoutrements and Equipments, Saddles, Harnesses, Blankets, Whips, Bells, & c & c. / Trunks, Traveling Bags, and Valises of Every Description./ Main Street / Merchants Row, Successor to C.K. Wilkinson, Greenfield, Mass." Thus far no record of this business has been found in contemporary Greenfield records. The exterior is covered with red cloth with a diamond-shaped lozenge of black cloth in the center top outlined by brass tacks; trimmed with leather on the edges outlined by brass tacks; and has a black-painted lock (key missing). There is a maroon leather carrying handle secured by iron tacks, a leather retaining strap inside, and leather hinges. The interior and bottom are lined with printed paper in a criss-cross varigated design. The EH Williams 1838 probate inventory lists: "4 Trunks .... 1.75" Chillingworth later moved to Springfield, where he had contracts with the Northern Army for weapon supplies. After the Civil War, Chillingworth later took out patents on bayonet designs.
Subjects: Textile fabrics; Brass; Leather Link to share this object record: https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+85.006 |