1840 - 1880 Foot Tub
date: label: date made
content: 1840 - 1880
name: label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description
content: According to 19th–century physician John Bell, pains of the head, teeth and eyes would yield to the foot bath.* Cold water and constant rubbing of the feet while in the bath helped to dispel illnesses as well. The Boston–based Dover Stamping Company's catalog of tinwares advertised foot tubs that matched toilet wares such as toilet jars, carriers, and pails.
label: Description
content: The tubs came in extra finish, gold band, paneled (painted decoration with flowers, grape leaves, or cherries), plain, or marbleized painted oak or walnut. This brass and tin foot bath with decorative handles of bearded faces and a reeded edge was more elaborate than any of those advertised.
label: Description
content: For more information on bathing and bathtubs in the 19th and early 20th centuries, please see the introduction to this online exhibition.
label: Description
content: *John Bell, <I>A Treatise on Baths</I>, (Philadelphia: Lindsay and Blakiston, 1859): 298.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England
topic: label: used
content: Bathing
label: referenced
content: Portable Bathtubs
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
label: See more items in
content: Bathtubs
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content: Family & Social Life
label: See more items in
content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Estate of Admiral DeWitt Clinton Ramsey and Juanita Ramsey
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.67.899
label: catalog number
content: 67.899
label: accession number
content: 269842
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Tub, Foot
label: Object Name
content: tub, foot
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: tin (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: twine (part: ribbon material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 3/4 in x 25 in x 18 in; 27.305 cm x 63.5 cm x 45.72 cm