Artist/Maker

Unknown

Place Made

Date Made

1800-1850

Medium

wallpaper-covered

Dimensions

HOA 12 1/2; WOA 17 1/2

Accession Number

3084.3

Description

Wallpaper covered bandbox with lid. Paper decorated with green trees and vines with yellow flowers, green and yellow birds in the trees, and two boys and woman dressed in green and yellow all on a blue ground. Interior of box is lined with newspapers. The papers that line the bottom and sides of box are printed in English and possibly Pennsylvania papers. The papers lining the lid are in German.

History

HISTORY: Bandboxes originated in England and were used to store linen neckbands and lace bands worn by gentlmen. “These bandboxes enjoyed a peculiarly American popularity during the second quarter of the nineteenth century…By the period of their greatest popularity -between 1820 and 1845-[bandbox] had come to have a slightly different meaning in America: a large pasteboard or lightweight wooden box, oval or round in plan, usually twelve to fourteen inches tall, and covered with colorful decorated paper. The boxes served as the great catch-all for America’s overflowing paraphernalia of travel, for closet storage at home, and probably for the occasional storage of the collar bands from which their name derived.” (Lynn, p.292) They were also used for shopping. Manufacturers would produce these boxes and cover them with wallpaper as a form of advertisement – much like the bags used in stores today.

Credit Line

Old Salem Collection