Grover & Baker Portable Sewing Machine, Purchased by Judge Nathan Crosby of Lowell, Massachusetts, 1858
01
Artifact Overview
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 Details
Artifact
Sewing machine (Equipment)
Date Made
1858
Place of Creation
Location
Not on exhibit to the public.
Object ID
27.54.1
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
Material
Rosewood (Wood)
Wood (Plant Material)
Metal
Paper (Fiber product)
Color
Brown
Black (Color)
Gold (Color)
Silver (Color)
Dimensions
Height: 11.5 in
Width: 15.75 in
Length: 9.25 in
Inscriptions
on needle plate:
PATENTED / 15221 / FEBY.11.1851 / JUNE.22.1852 / FEBY.22.1853 / MAY.27.1856 / HOWE'S PATENT / SEPT.10.1846
at end of base:
Grover & Baker S.M. Co. / Boston
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