Medal box made from wood carried on the Seneca Chief at the opening of the Erie Canal, New York, New York
date: label: date made
content: ca 1825
notes: label: Description
content: The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 linked the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean in a continuous water route via the Hudson River to New York City. To salute the event, commemorative medals and medal boxes, badges, and tickets were distributed among local, state, and national officials, including current and former presidents of the United States. The Seneca Chief, the first boat to travel the length of the canal, was stocked with a supply of “curious woods” from “western forests.” Arriving in New York, the wood was finished into souvenir medal boxes by artisans Daniel Karr and Duncan Phyfe.
label: Description
content: This box, made from curled maple, is believed to be the gift of historian Henry Adams of Harvard University, the great-grandson and grandson of medal recipients John Adams and John Quincy Adams.
label: Description
content: Gift of Henry Adams, circa 1890
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: associated place
content: United States: New York, New York
label: associated place
content: United States: New York, Erie Canal
setName: label: See more items in
content: Political History: Political History, General History Collection
label: See more items in
content: Government, Politics, and Reform
label: See more items in
content: Souvenir Nation
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2011.0036.07
label: accession number
content: 2011.0036
label: catalog number
content: 2011.0036.07
objectType: label: Object Name
content: box
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (labels (2) material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (disjoint section material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1/2 in x 2 in; 1.27 cm x 5.08 cm