Titanic Gold Medal
date: label: date made
content: ca 1912
name: label: maker
content: Flanagan, John
notes: label: Description
content: Founded in 1904 by wealthy financier Andrew Carnegie in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission (CHFC) exists to honor acts of individual civilian heroism in the United States and Canada. It is still active today; recipients include both the living, the dead, and persons directly affected by the loss of a heroic relative.
label: Description
content: The emotional impact on the general public of the April 1912 loss of the ocean liner <i>Titanic</i> was astonishing, and the continually updated story lasted for months in the contemporary newspapers. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Commission felt inspired to honor all the heroes who had risked their lives in the rescue of the 700 passengers, so at their April 26, 1912 meeting they authorized a nine-oz. 22-k gold medal to be struck, mounted in an elaborate bronze base, inscribed and presented to the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian accepted the gift and displayed it before adding it to the National Numismatic Collection in the National Museum of American History.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Connecticut, Bridgeport
label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection
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content: Coins, Currency and Medals
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content: Transportation
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content: Titanic
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Carnegie Hero Fund Commission
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: NU.13650
label: accession number
content: 54893
label: catalog number
content: 13650
objectType: label: Object Name
content: medal
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: bronze (overall; frame material)
label: Physical Description
content: gold (overall: medal material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall; frame inscritption area material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 15 in x 13 in x 3 1/2 in; 38.1 cm x 33.02 cm x 8.89 cm