Peter Hill Tall Case Clock
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1800
name: label: maker
content: Hill, Peter
notes: label: Description
content: Peter Hill (1767-1820) is one of the few African American professional clockmakers known to have worked in antebellum America. A freed slave, he had a shop first in Burlington Township and then in Mount Holly, New Jersey--two small, predominantly Quaker communities near Philadelphia.
label: Description
content: Undoubtedly the Quaker commitment to educating and freeing slaves benefited Hill. While still a slave, he served a traditional apprenticeship with his master, Joseph Hollingshead, Jr., a clockmaker whose brother John and father Joseph, Sr., practiced the trade as well. Hill gained his freedom in 1795. He married, set up a workshop of his own, and purchased land in Burlington. He also may have continued to work for either or both of the Hollingshead brothers for a time. Hill never became rich, but his status as a skilled freedman in a Quaker community permitted him to live comfortably and work independently.
label: Description
content: Only a few clocks by Hill are known to survive. The movement of the Smithsonian example, which dates from about 1800, closely resembles English clocks of the period. The painted dial, marked "No. 30/ Peter Hill/ Burlington," is an English import. The clock's walnut case is attributed to the cabinetmaker George Deacon, whose shop was only a few doors from Hill's own home and workshop in Burlington.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: New Jersey, Burlington
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanisms
label: See more items in
content: Domestic Furnishings
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: ME.335538
label: catalog number
content: 335538
label: accession number
content: 323462
objectType: label: Object Name
content: clock
label: Object Name
content: clock, tall case
label: Other Terms
content: clock; Mechanical, Weight-Driven; Tall Case Clock
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: "brass" (movement material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (case material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 91 in x 22 in x 11 in; 231.14 cm x 55.88 cm x 27.94 cm
label: Measurements
content: hood: 30 1/4 in x 21 1/2 in x 10 3/4 in; 76.835 cm x 54.61 cm x 27.305 cm
label: Measurements
content: case: 83 in x 19 1/2 in x 10 in; 210.82 cm x 49.53 cm x 25.4 cm
label: Measurements
content: movement: 18 1/2 in x 14 3/4 in x 6 3/4 in; 46.99 cm x 37.465 cm x 17.145 cm
label: Measurements
content: weight #1: 8 1/2 in x 3 in; 21.59 cm x 7.62 cm
label: Measurements
content: weight #2: 8 in x 3 in; 20.32 cm x 7.62 cm
label: Measurements
content: case key #1: 1 1/2 in x 3/4 in x 5/32 in; 3.81 cm x 1.905 cm x .381 cm
label: Measurements
content: case key #2: 2 1/2 in x 13/16 in x 3/16 in; 6.35 cm x 2.032 cm x .508 cm
label: Measurements
content: pendulum: 43 in x 4 1/2 in x 1/2 in; 109.22 cm x 11.43 cm x 1.27 cm
label: Measurements
content: winding crank: 4 1/4 in x 4 in x 1 1/4 in; 10.795 cm x 10.16 cm x 3.175 cm