Grover & Baker Portable Sewing Machine, Purchased by Rufus Reed of Newark, New York, 1857
Add to SetSummary
Seamstresses used this sewing machine to sew cotton cloth (a Southern agricultural commodity woven in Northern factories). The cast-iron mechanism in a rosewood case confirms connections between Amazonian forests and New England factories. Patented in 1856, this portable machine hit the American market while the fate of slavery divided the nation. Advertising in the American Farmer (1860) described it “for farm and plantation use,” implying that enslaved and free seamstresses may have used it.
Seamstresses used this sewing machine to sew cotton cloth (a Southern agricultural commodity woven in Northern factories). The cast-iron mechanism in a rosewood case confirms connections between Amazonian forests and New England factories. Patented in 1856, this portable machine hit the American market while the fate of slavery divided the nation. Advertising in the American Farmer (1860) described it “for farm and plantation use,” implying that enslaved and free seamstresses may have used it.
Artifact
Sewing machine (Equipment)
Date Made
1857
Location
Not on exhibit to the public.
Object ID
29.2385.1
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
Material
Cast Iron
Rosewood (Wood)
Wood (Plant Material)
Paper (Fiber product)
Color
Black (Color)
Gold (Color)
Silver (Color)
Green
Dimensions
Height: 10.675 in
Width: 13 in
Length: 9.5 in
Inscriptions
near end of base, under wheel: GROVER & BAKER S. M. CO.
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