“The Great Historical Clock of America”: an object biography

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size

Acknowledgements

Sincerest thanks for their insights to Otto Mayr, Michael O’Malley, Harry Rubenstein, Grace Cohen Grossman, Kim Sajet, Heather Barnhart and Peter Wildgruber. Deepest appreciation to the clock’s conservators: Beth Richwine, Randall Cleaver, Richard Barden, Dawn Wallace, Sunae Park Evans, Shari Stout, Cathy Valentour, Christie Sweet, Diana Galante, Connie Stromberg, Diane Fullick, and Cathy Zarat.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 For an overview of the origins of thinking with things in literature, see Sarah Wasserman (2020).

2 Special thanks to Heather Barnhart for generously sharing her extensive newspaper research.

3 The clock’s museum accession file is 1981.0001.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carlene E. Stephens

Carlene E. Stephens is a curator in the Division of Work and Industry at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Her responsibilities include caring for the collections pertaining to time and timekeepers.