Bed Warmer
date: label: date made
content: ca 1774
label: associated date
content: 1774-10-25
notes: label: Description
content: Brass warming pan with a punched design in the cover featuring a sun, circles, and dots. Turned wooden handle fits into conical brass socket.
label: Description
content: See also the accompanying one-page handwritten invoice from Ebenezer Hancock to Joseph Robbins for household goods (DL.388591B)
label: Description
content: Ebenezer Hancock (1741-1819) was the younger brother of John Hancock (1737-1793), president of the Second Continental Congress, governor of Massachusetts, and signer of the Declaration of Independence. Aided by a sizeable inheritance from his uncle Thomas Hancock (1703-1764), Ebenezer opened his first retail hardware shop in 1764 in partnership with Edward Blanchard, but the business failed by 1768. With John's help, however, Ebenezer established another shop and was able to secure the position of Deputy Paymaster General for the Eastern Department of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. He inherited a third of John's estate in 1793, including the Beacon Hill mansion known as Hancock House. The Hancock Family Papers, Mss:766 1712-1854 H234, at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School, Harvard University, includes Series III. Ebenezer Hancock papers, 1739-1831 (bulk 1757-1815); Box 17, Folder 19, contains accounts of interest and accounts of sales of goods to Ebenezer Hancock including hardware and shoes, dated 1768-1783.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States
label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Boston
label: place purchased
content: United States: Massachusetts, Boston
topic: label: Subject
content: Bedroom
label: Subject
content: Heating
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
label: See more items in
content: Domestic Furnishings
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: DL.388591A
label: catalog number
content: 388591A
label: accession number
content: 182022
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Bedwarmer
label: Object Name
content: bed warmer
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (pan; lid; socket material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (handle material)