Corset and Whalebone Scrimshaw Busk
date: label: date made
content: mid-1800s
label: collected
content: 1951-06-29
label: fashion
content: 19th century
notes: label: Description
content: For much of the 19th century, ladies’ fashion required very small waists. The most common way to achieve this was to wear a tightly laced corset, which could be adjusted according to the specific dress it accompanied. Like this example, many corsets were handmade to fit an individual, although they were also available in shops.
label: Description
content: One of the most intimate pieces of scrimshaw a whaleman could produce was a bone or baleen busk, or corset stiffener. These were carved and given to a crewman’s loved one, who then inserted it into a matching sleeve on her corset as a unique memento of her beloved’s feelings.
label: Description
content: Each of these busks has a cityscape etched into one side. The other side of one has eight pictures, topped by a portrait of a beautiful young woman. The other has a plaintive love poem on the back.
topic: label: related event
content: Expansion and Reform
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
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content: Health & Medicine
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content: Cultures & Communities
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content: Clothing & Accessories
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content: Work
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
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content: Natural Resources
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content: Transportation
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content: On the Water exhibit
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content: Art
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Arthur M. Greenwood
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.388604
label: catalog number
content: TR*388604
label: accession number
content: 182022
objectType: label: Object Name
content: scrimshaw
label: Object Name
content: scrimshaw busk bone
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: bone (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 13 5/16 in x 1 3/4 in; 33.81375 cm x 4.445 cm