- Created by
- Unidentified
- Date
- ca. 1890-1930
- Medium
- glass with copper and iron
- Dimensions
- H x W x D (overall): 19 5/16 × 7 1/2 × 7 1/2 in. (49 × 19.1 × 19.1 cm)
- H x W x D (chimney 2019.4b): 8 7/8 × 3 15/16 × 2 3/4 in. (22.5 × 10 × 7 cm)
- H x W x D (lamp 2019.4a): 12 × 7 1/2 × 7 1/2 in. (30.5 × 19.1 × 19.1 cm)
- Caption
- As a young child, Virginia McLaurin remembers seeing and admiring this oil lamp in her grandparents’ home in Cheraw, South Carolina. Her grandparents lived in a log house which they built themselves on a two acre farm where they grew cotton, corn, peas, and butter or lima beans.
- Description
- A kerosene lamp with a cast iron filigree base and hand-painted glass body. The body of the lamp (2019.4a) features a green and white background with large pink roses. Numbers 346, in that order, are carved into the cast iron base, on the left and the right sides. The connector and burner are both copper alloy/brass and the glass chimney (2019.4b) is clear with a beaded rim. The lamp is missing its original glass shade.
- Classification
- Furnishings, Housewares, and Décor
- Type
- kerosene lamps
- Topic
- American South
- Domestic life
- Families
- Rural life
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Virginia McLaurin
- Object number
- 2019.4ab
- Restrictions & Rights
- No Known Copyright Restrictions
- Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.




