Fire Bucket, "N. K. Sargent"
date: label: date made
content: 1841
name: label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description
content: This fire bucket is identical to G45. Both are painted green and labeled with the name of the owner, N. K. Sargent, and the year, 1841. They are numbered No. 1 and No. 2 respectively. Buckets were painted bright colors and marked with the owner’s name so that, in the confusion following a fire, they would be easily recognizable. While inevitably some buckets would be lost or stolen after a fire had been extinguished, such labeling increased the likelihood that buckets would be retrieved and taken home by their proper owner. Sargent possessed two buckets, as was often required by local law; buckets would frequently be purchased in pairs. Numbering his buckets provided an obvious distinction between the two, which would have been useful should one have been lost or stolen during a fire.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: classified
content: Fire Fighting
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Fire Fighting and Law Enforcement
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of CIGNA Museum and Art Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2005.0233.0281
label: accession number
content: 2005.0233
label: catalog number
content: 2005.0233.0281
objectType: label: Object Name
content: bucket, fire
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: leather (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: width: 9 in; x 22.86 cm