Ship's Medicine Chest
date: label: Date made
content: 19th Century
name: label: maker
content: Gray Telephone Pay Station Co.
notes: label: Description
content: Starting in 1790, American merchant ships larger than 150 tons and with more than 10 crew members were required to have medicine chests with contents assembled by an “apothecary of known reputation.” These had to be accompanied by instructions for the administration of each medicine. Most commonly, either the captain or first mate administered pharmaceutical products to any crew in need.
label: Description
content: This example has labels from the ports of Baltimore, Maryland; Mamaroneck, New York, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, indicating it was replenished more than once over its useful life.
place: label: ship docked at port
content: United States: New York, Mamaroneck
label: ship docked at port
content: Canada: Nova Scotian, Halifax
label: ship docked at port
content: United States: Maryland, Baltimore
topic: label: related event
content: Expansion and Reform
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Pharmacy
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content: Health & Medicine
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content: Cultures & Communities
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content: Work
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
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content: Natural Resources
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content: Transportation
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of The Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of the State of Maryland
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.302606.154
label: catalog number
content: 302606.154
label: accession number
content: 302606
objectType: label: Object Name
content: drug chest
label: Object Name
content: Medicine Chest
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 46.7 cm x 37 cm x 18.7 cm; 18 3/8 in x 14 9/16 in x 7 3/8 in