Alms Box (Collection Box)
date: label: date made
content: 1800-1840
notes: label: Description
content: <p>Rectangular box with built-in coin slot at center of the flat lid; scrolled hasp lock on front and two hinges at back. Lid is made of one piece with wire-rolled rim. Box is made of five pieces with soft-soldered, folded edges; top edge of front and sides are folded down with a wire bead below. Traces of flaking black paint on exterior. Tinned interior. No marks. Box and padlock DL*245425.0078-.0079 were used together.</p>
label: Description
content: <p>Collection boxes have been used for centuries to solicit money for religious institutions and charities. Even those with little to spare might contribute coins anonymously to a strategically placed box. Unfamiliar in some American communities in the 1700s, these boxes became more commonly used in the United States in the 1800s.</p>
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States
topic: label: Subject
content: Philanthropy
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
label: See more items in
content: Giving in America
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Kenneth E. Jewett
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.245425.0078
label: catalog number
content: 245425.0078
label: accession number
content: 245425
objectType: label: Object Name
content: box, alms
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: iron (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: tin (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paint (exterior material)
label: Physical Description
content: wire, iron (rims material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 3/4 in x 5 1/8 in x 3 5/8 in; 6.985 cm x 13.0175 cm x 9.2075 cm