Whitall, Tatum and Company Paperweight
date: label: date made
content: ca 1900
name: label: maker
content: Whitall Tatum Company
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: In the 1700s, paperweights made from textured stone or bronze were part of the writer’s tool kit, which also included a quill pen and stand, inkpot, and blotter. By the mid-1800s, decorative paperweights produced by glassmakers in Europe and the United States became highly desired collectibles.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Decorative glass paperweights reflected the 19th-century taste for intricate, over-the-top designs. Until the spread of textiles colorized with synthetic dyes, ceramics and glass were among the few objects that added brilliant color to a 19th-century Victorian interior. The popularity of these paperweights in the 1800s testifies to the sustained cultural interest in hand craftsmanship during an age of rapid industrialization.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Whitall, Tatum & Company of Millville, New Jersey was formed in 1901 and employed first rate craftsmen who created outstanding paperweights.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Michael Kane at Whitall, Tatum and Company likely made this frit work (fusing powdered glass to create an image) paperweight, bearing an image of an American eagle and a flag shield. The barely legible initials “F.O.E” may indicate that this was made as a souvenir for the Fraternal Order of Eagles, a men’s organization founded in 1898.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New Jersey, Millville
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Ceramics and Glass
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content: Paperweights
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content: Art
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content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Aaron and Lillie Straus
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CE.60.140
label: catalog number
content: 60.140
label: accession number
content: 211475
objectType: label: Object Name
content: paperweight
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: glass, transparent (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 3/8 in x 3 1/2 in; 6.0325 cm x 8.89 cm