Memorial Hall Kitchen

From the collections of PVMA • Digital image © Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Assoc. • Image use information

About this item

Begun in 1880 around an outsized fireplace in an oversized room is a clutter of what eventually grew to more than 800 items related to domestic life with the message that “here this progressive age can come and ponder over and wonder at the various utensils used in the domestic economy of 100 years ago.” The colonial kitchen at Memorial Hall in Deerfield, Massachusetts, represents a view of pioneer domesticity seen through the eyes of 19th century antiquarians. The room is a very early, perhaps the first, use of the period room concept in an American museum, and borrowed inspiration from the Sanitary Fairs of the Civil War era and the Philadelphia Centennial of 1876.

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Details

Item typeDocumentary Photograph
PhotographerAllen, Frances and Mary
Datebefore 1891
PlaceDeerfield, Massachusetts
EraRise of Industrial America, 1878–1899
MaterialPaper
Process/FormatPlatinum; Photography
Dimension details.01: 4.5″ x 7.25″ .02: 5″ x 7.75″with a border .03: 4.875″ x 7.875″ with a border .04: 4.5″ x 7.5″ .05: 5″ x 7.5″ with a border
Catalog #1996.14.0550.01-.05
View this item in our curatorial database →
Allen, Frances and Mary, photographer. Memorial Hall Kitchen. Photograph. before 1891. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/1996-14-0550-01-05/. Accessed on December 5, 2024.

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