Fire Engine Plate, "Hunneman & Company"
date: label: date made
content: 1872
name: label: maker
content: Hunneman and Company
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: At the core of any fire company is the apparatus used to fight fires and protect lives. This was particularly true of for the volunteer fire fighters in 19th century America. Often purchased with their own funds, their fire engines were the focus of their pride and affection, as well as their identities as fire fighters. Engine plates, often made of brass, would be prominently affixed to engines and inscribed with the company name, number, and founding date. Engine plates could pass from old engine to new, or be kept in the firehouse as a memorial to a departed apparatus.
label: Description (Brief)
content: This brass maker’s plate was originally attached to a fire engine built by Hunneman & Company of Boston, Massachusetts in 1872. The scalloped shield-shaped plate bears the inscribed text “No. 722/HUNNEMAN & CO./Builders/BOSTON/1872.” A plate has been attached over “Boston” that reads “State of / Massachusetts / 612.” The entire plate has been mounted onto a square wooden board. Hunneman & Company was originally founded in Boston in 1792 and was renowned for its hand-pumped apparatus. In 1866, the company built its first steam engine and continued to make a variety of fire engines until 1883.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Boston
topic: label: Subject
content: Fire Fighting
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Fire Fighting and Law Enforcement
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content: Cultures & Communities
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content: Work
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content: Firefighting Collection
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content: Fire Engine Plates
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: 2005.0233.0928
label: accession number
content: 2005.0233
label: catalog number
content: 2005.0233.0928
objectType: label: Object Name
content: plate, fire engine
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 6 1/4 in x 8 1/8 in; 15.875 cm x 20.6375 cm