A Massachusetts Shelf Clock, Aaron Willard, about 1820
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1820
name: label: maker
content: Willard, Aaron
notes: label: Description
content: Certain factors peculiar to the American colonies guided the inventive activities of colonial clockmakers. Brass, the customary material for clock movements, was expensive. The market for large, complex, and costly clocks was small; people wanted inexpensive, reliable timekeepers. American clockmakers responded by substituting wood for brass, designing radically new case styles, and introducing mass production.
label: Description
content: The shelf clock, a distinctly American design, fitted conditions in the colonies perfectly. The Massachusetts shelf clock, or half clock, was developed in the 1770s, with the Boston area's Willard brothers playing leading roles. Massachusetts clockmakers continued to produce it for about half a century thereafter. It was in essence a tall case clock with the trunk left out, consisting only of a hood and base about three feet tall. Its brass movement resembled the traditional tall case movement, only simplified and much reduced in size.
label: Description
content: The specimen shown is marked "Aaron Willard/Boston." Like his older brothers Benjamin and Simon, Aaron Willard (1757-1844) moved from the family homestead in Grafton, Massachusetts, to Boston around 1780, where he became a prolific and prosperous clockmaker. He retired in 1823 and turned his business over to his son Aaron, Jr. The clock is of a design that Aaron produced late in his career and apparently in considerable numbers. The clock is an eight-day "timepiece," that is, a timekeeper without the means to strike the hours. Instead it has an alarm mechanism that creates a rousing noise by rapping the inside of the wooden case.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Boston
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanisms
label: See more items in
content: Domestic Furnishings
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: ME.318993
label: catalog number
content: 318993
label: accession number
content: 236079
objectType: label: Object Name
content: clock
label: Other Terms
content: clock; Mechanical, Weight-Driven; Shelf Clock
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: "brass" (movement material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (case material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 35 1/2 in x 12 3/4 in x 6 1/4 in; 90.17 cm x 32.385 cm x 15.875 cm
label: Measurements
content: base: 15 in; 38.1 cm
label: Measurements
content: face: 5 in; 12.7 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 34 1/4 in x 12 3/4 in x 6 1/2 in; 86.995 cm x 32.385 cm x 16.51 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: container: 17 in x 12 in x 1/4 in; 43.18 cm x 30.48 cm x .635 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: weight: 4 1/4 in x 6 11/16 in x 2 in; 10.795 cm x 16.98625 cm x 5.08 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: cr7130: 65 in x 66 in x 33 in; 165.1 cm x 167.64 cm x 83.82 cm