Fire Engine Plate, "John Agnew, Builder"
date: label: date made
content: 1850
name: label: maker
content: unknown
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 silver engine maker's plate features several engraved names of the manufacturers and decorators who contributed to the creation of the unknown engine to which this plate was originally affixed. The rectangular plate reads: “John Agnew, Builder 1850 / Edmund Young, Painter / John A. Woodside, Ornamentalist / Robert S. Smith, Carver / Milton F. Harrison, Engraver/ James R. Hatrick, Plater / Committee / Benj. A. Watkins, John J. Dallas / Wm. Felt, Sam'l Lenoir, Wm. H. Gibson.” John Agnew was a well-known maker of hand-pumped fire engines in Philadelphia during the middle of the 19th century, and painter John Woodside was acclaimed for his decorative paintings, especially those he executed on fire engine panels.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States
topic: label: Subject
content: Fire Fighting
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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: 2005.0233.0955
label: accession number
content: 2005.0233
label: catalog number
content: 2005.0233.0955
objectType: label: Object Name
content: plate, fire engine
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 in x 6 in; 7.62 cm x 15.24 cm