Bucket, fire

Title:

Fire Bucket

Object Name:

Bucket, fire

Creator:

Unknown

Date:

1811

Material:

Leather, rope

Dimensions:

H-4.75 L-21 Dia-7 inches
Base diameter is given. The top is warped - diameter may have been 10".

Description:

Leather Fire Bucket marked: "J.T. Gilman / F. S. / 1811" . Leather covered rope handle is attached but broken in 4 places where the rope can be seen still intact. Bucket is painted black with "NO 1" painted in off-white lettering above an off-white painted banner with black letters spelling out J. T. Gilman. There may have benn more to the decoration - possibly a scroll motif framing the front - which has been lost due to paint flaking.

Provenance:

Laws often required residents of Colonial American towns to purchase and maintain fire buckets and to keep them maintained. These fire buckets, often made of leather, would have had the owners' names painted on them. "Bucket Brigades," which consisted of two lines of people stretching from the town well to the fire, was usually the method used in combating fires. People passed buckets of water to the fire, and empty buckets back to the well to be refilled.

Normally, fire buckets were hung on dedicated fire bucket stands and placed in prominent positions in certain rooms or corridors.

This bucket was owned by John Taylor Gilman, from Exeter, New Hampshire, who was the longest-serving governor of the state.

Subjects:

Fire, Fire Bucket, Bucket

People:

Gilman, J.T

Place of Origin:

United States

Collection Name:

Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Hampshire

Item Number:

1988.006

Accession Number:

1988.006

Type of Material:

Objects

Copyright Statement:

For information regarding copyright, permissions, and reproductions contact the American Independence Museum

Credit Line:

Gift of John Gardner Gilman

Participating Organization:

American Independence Museum