Receipt for Grover & Baker Portable Sewing Machine Purchased by Judge Nathan Crosby, October 22, 1858
THF706691 / Receipt for Grover & Baker Portable Sewing Machine Purchased by Judge Nathan Crosby, October 22, 1858
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Artifact Overview
Artifact Details
Artifact
Receipt (Financial record)
Date Made
22 October 1858
Subject Date
22 October 1858
Place of Creation
Location
Not on exhibit to the public.
Object ID
27.54.1.2
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford.
Material
Paper (Fiber product)
Technique
Printing (Process)
Handwriting
Color
Light blue
Black (Color)
Dimensions
Height: 5 in
Width: 7.125 in
Keywords |
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Related Artifacts
ArtifactGrover & Baker Portable Sewing Machine, Purchased by Judge Nathan Crosby of Lowell, Massachusetts, 1858
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.