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Library Company Fire Buckets.
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Details
Title
Library Company Fire Buckets.
Date
Ca. 1797
Physical Description
Leather ; 13 1/2 inches (18 inches with handle); 9 1/2 inches (diameter).
Is referenced by
Talbott, Page, ed., Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World. New Haven and London: Yale University, 2005, p. 106.
Notes
Buckets were the first means of defense against a fire in the 18th century. Home owners and businesses purchased them from saddlers or bellow-makers and had their name painted on them (to distinguish them from the public or fire company buckets). They were kept hanging in a convenient location in the building at all times.
Six leather buckets inscribed, Library Company of Philadelphia, with a ornamental scroll above and a sunburst below.
LCP Minutes vol. 6., Feb. 7, 1797, p. 64: “The Librarian was instructed to purchase six good large leathern buckets, painted with the words “Library Company of Philadelphia,” to be kept in the Library-Hall.” Vol. 6, Apr. 6, 1797, p. 65 : “The Librarian produced an account, amounting to L7.17.6, for six fire buckets, procured by directions of the board, for which amount an order was drawn on the Treasurer in his favor.”
Purchased by the Library Company in 1797.
Exhibited in, Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World (2005-2007).
Subject
Library Company of Philadelphia.
Pails.
Genre
Fire Bucket.
Location
OBJ 516
Accession number
OBJ 516
In Collections
Art and Artifacts Collection
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