Early American Nationality Room | Historic Pittsburgh

ca. 1938

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Title
Early American Nationality Room
Date
ca. 1938
Identifier
EACR01UA
Description
This kitchen-living room of the early colonists was chosen to portray the sturdy simplicity of life in America during the 1600s. The focus of the room is a nine-foot fireplace with "fixings" of a log hook, heavy iron kettles, a spider, gridiron, long handled waffle iron, bread shovel, skewers, ladles and forks. A small recess in the brick wall would have served to bake bread. Pine beams used in the seven-foot-high ceiling and fireplace were brought from Massachusetts. White pine is used for the seminar table, benches and chairs. Special light fixtures are made of pierced tin. The small closet between the blackboard and fireplace contains a secret panel. Once the concealed latch is discovered, its release causes the wall to swing open, revealing a hidden staircase to the upper loft, which is furnished as a 19th- century bedroom. The Early American Room was dedicated in 1938. This room, along with twenty five other Nationality Rooms all with different architectural styles, was conceived in the 1920s by sociologist Ruth Crawford Mitchell as a means of linking the university with the immigrant culture of the steel working families.
Type
still image
Genre
photographs
Subject
Rooms
Classrooms
Tables
Chairs
Cathedral of Learning (Pittsburgh, Pa.). Early American Room
Geographic Subjects
Oakland (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Source
University of Pittsburgh Historic Photographs, 1884-present
Contributor
University of Pittsburgh
Collection
University of Pittsburgh Historic Photographs
Rights Information
Copyright Not Evaluated. The copyright and related rights status of this Item has not been evaluated. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use.
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