Collections record Beta

Collection Record Detail

Object Name

Clock

Object Number

2013-152-1

Description

Papier mache wall clock manufactured by the Litchfield Manufacturing Company. This eight day "Navy Marine" design clock features a large central face under glass. Case made of wood and covered in black lacquer. Papier mache decorations around face feature painted and mother-of-pearl inlay images of canons, American flags, shells, and other nautically themed images. Remnants of a Litchfield Manufacturing Company label remain pasted to the back.

Provenance

The Litchfield Manufacturing Company was founded in 1850 by Dr. Josiah G. Beckwith, a local physician and druggist who operated a medical practice and pharmacy on South Street in the building currently occupied by the Post Office. After founding the company Beckwith acquired the property on South Street along the Bantam River that a decade earlier had been used first by Wadsworth, Lounsbury, and Turner, and later by Julius Peck & Co., to manufacture shelf clocks. At the time Beckwith acquired the building it measured 80 feet by 50 feet and was three stories high. In 1851 the Litchfield Manufacturing Company was incorporated and several investors, including circus owner P.T. Barnum, joined the Board of Directors. The company manufactured papier-mache goods such as small tables, card cases, fire screens, portfolios, small boxes, vases and clock cases as well as metal nails, ornamental hinges and clasps for everything from trunks to daguerreotype cases. Trained papier-mache workers from England and Germany were brought to Litchfield to work for the Company and train local men and women in the technique. At its peak, the factory employed over 50 people. The success was short lived however. In 1854, P.T. Barnum persuaded the board to move the factory to East Bridgeport. A year later, due to financial difficulties, the factory closed.

Comment

This clock design is featured in an 1851 advertisements for the Litchfield Manufacturing Company. The ad indicates that wall clocks would have originally been supplied with straps to hang the clock, or it could have been bolted directly to the wall. The Litchfield Historical Society has a copy of this advertisement in the archival collection.