Museum Artifact: Triner Precision Postal Scale, 1910
Made By: Triner Scale & MFG Co., 2714 W. 21st St., Chicago, IL
It’s a rare treat that an artifact from the Made In Chicago Museum can actually introduce itself in its own words, but such is the case with our Triner “Precision” 4LB postal scale. When this design was first patented and sent to market in 1906,
Museum Artifact: Box of 3 “Violet” Perfumed Soaps, c. 1910s
Made By: James S. Kirk & Company, 320 East North Water Street, Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Box of Addition Flash Cards, c. 1940s
Made By: Ideal School Supply Company, 8316 S. Birkhoff Ave., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Marshall Field’s Frango Mints Box, c. 1950s
Made By: Marshall Field & Co., 111 N. State Street, Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Oldsmobile F36 Glove Box Clock 6V, 1936
Made By: Geo. W. Borg Corporation, 469 E. Ohio Street, Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Computer for Heat-Treated Hexagon Head Cap Screws, 1957
Made for: The Chicago Screw Company, div. of Standard Screw Co., Bellwood, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Lincoln Electric Clock, c. 1932
Made By: Electric Clock Corp. of America, 500 S. Throop St., Chicago, IL
What’s in a name? I suppose a 20th century Shakespeare might have said that an electric clock, under any brand name, would still tell the same time. To Henry T. Schiff, however, the name was the thing.
In the mid 1930s,
Museum Artifact: Fannie May “Kitchen Fresh Candies” box, c. 1950s
Made By: Fannie May Candy Co., 1137 W. Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Ludwig Universal Speed Master Bass Drum Pedal, 1960s
Made By: Ludwig Drum Co., 1728 N. Damen Ave., Chicago, IL
The night that famously marked a sea change in American pop culture—the Beatles’ 1964 performance on the Ed Sullivan Show—was also the dawning of a new golden age at a certain musical instrument factory in Wicker Park.
Before that night,
Museum Artifact: Ferrara’s Boston Baked Beans box, c. 1940s
Made By: Ferrara Candy Co., 2200 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Rock-Ola Hi-Fidelity 120 Wall Box, 1953
Made By: Rock-Ola Manufacturing Corp., 800 North Kedzie Avenue, Chicago, IL
It’s one of the quintessential brand names of American pop culture. Rock-Ola—a word that celebrates and encapsulates both the rock n’ roll explosion of the jukebox’s 1950s golden age and the historic roots of the classic “Victrola” talking machines.
Museum Artifact: Swanberg Mechanical Pencil, c. 1923
Made By: Swanberg MFG Co., 1516 W. Foster Ave., Chicago, IL
Once seemingly destined to take its place as mankind’s preferred writing stick, the mechanical pencil only ended up writing itself into a corner. No refinement, no reimagining from one generation to the next, could ever quite transition these utensils from the drafting room to the classroom;
Museum Artifact: Menthol Pill Bottle, c. 1910s
Made by: Abbott Labs / Abbott Alkaloidal Co., 4753 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago, IL
Established during the “Wild West” era of the pharmaceutical industry—when everybody and their brother seemed to have a cure-all potion to peddle—Chicago’s Abbott Alkaloidal Company managed to strike a unique, calculated balance between carnival-barker salesmanship and scientific legitimacy. As a result, even as hundreds of other early drug companies were vanquished during the quackery purges of the 20th century,
Museum Artifact: Universal Polish Mop, 1920s
Made By: Grossman MFG Co. / Western Steel & Chemical Co., Inc., 4000 S. Cottage Grove Ave., Chicago, IL
No it’s not a Polish mop as “in the style of Poland,” but ’tis instead a polish mop, as in to clean and polish one’s floors. Pre-treated cedar oil mops were routinely sold in tins like this one during the early 20th century,
Museum Artifact: Tiger-Ey No. 100-0 Plastic Truck Reflector, c. 1950s
Made by: Do-Ray Lamp Company, 1458 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Expando Grand Slam Baseball Cap, c. 1960s
Made By: Wilbac MFG Co., 913 W. Van Buren St., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Rexo Junior Camera, 1910s
Made By: Burke & James, Inc., 240-58 E. Ontario St., Chicago, IL
By 1915, New York’s Eastman Company had adopted a recurring tagline in most of its magazine advertisements: “If it’s not an Eastman, it’s not a Kodak.” This was a not-so-subtle way of reminding the American public that—while there were an increasing number of new,
Museum Artifact: Redington Counting Machine, c. 1920s
Made By: F.B. Redington Co., 112 S. Sangamon St., Chicago, IL
“Lazy Workmen Weeded Out,” read the tagline of a 1919 advertisement for the Redington Counting Machine—a device that’s still used in factories (in a digital format) nearly 100 years later.
“Find out the lazy workman operating your machines by checking your production.
Museum Artifact: Libby’s Canned Foods Store Display, 1923
Made By: Libby, McNeill & Libby, 13636 South Western Avenue, Blue Island, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Vagabond “120” Camera, c. 1951
Made By: United States Camera Co. / Pho-Tak Corporation, 17 N. Loomis St., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Liquisan Paint and Varnish Stripper, 1950s
Made By: J. F. Kerns Company, 350 W. Ontario Street, Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Edison Rotary Mimeograph No. 75, c. 1905
Made by: A.B. Dick Company, 163 / 738 W Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL
Thomas Edison’s reputation has taken a few stiff punches to the gut in recent years, as the once canonized “Wizard of Menlo Park” has slowly given way to a somewhat less admirable character—one skilled at the arts of patent poaching and monopoly-building at the occasional expense of scientific fellowship.
Museum Artifact: “Improved Own Make” Cornet, c. 1919
Made By: Lyon & Healy, 4100 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
