University of Illinois CONTENTdm Collection : Item Viewer

add to favorites : reference url

back to results : previous : next

Lamp, Oil

Lamp, Oil


Title	Lamp, Oil
Coverage / Year	1850 to 1900
Description	A four part "street" lamp. Four lamps which fit together. Each reservoir part is one quarter of a circle. The lamps have single wick spouts which arise from the inside corner of the section. Each quarter section has a handle at the center point of the semicircular outer edge.
Interpretation	This lamp may have been for use with whale oil, or could have been used with camphene, vegetable oil or other lamp fuels. Whale oil was highly prized from 1750 to 1850 as the best lamp oil fuel. It burned at a very steady rate, very brightly and with little smoke. Oil from the skull cavity of the spermaceti whale was the finest quality and was a major reason the whaling industry was so profitable. This lamp was probably a ceremonial lamp used by the Freemasons or some other secret society.
Lesson Plans / Themes	American Communities in History; Communities and Geography; How we learn about communities; Whaling Slide Show; Inventions Multimedia Time Line; School Museum; Introduction of artifacts as a primary source; What's That Relic?; Settling in the Midwest;
Learning Standards	16 History; 18 Social Systems; 13 Science, Technology and Society;
Author or Creator	Unknown
Subject / Keywords	Whale; Whales; Oil lamp; Whale oil; United States; Light; Lighting device; Freemason; Ceremonial lamp
Collection Publisher	Early American Museum
Further Information	For any further information related to this record, please contact the Collection Publisher. See http://images.library.uiuc.edu/projects/tdc for more information about this project.
Rights Management Statement	http://images.library.uiuc.edu/projects/tdc/conditions.htm
Resource Identifier	1968.001.1161
CONTENTdm file name	15618192422004_68.1.1161.jpg

powered by CONTENTdm ® | University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign Homepage