Domestic Furnishings - Overview Washboards, armchairs, lamps,
and pots and pans may not seem to be museum pieces. But they are
invaluable evidence of how most people lived day to day, last
week or three centuries ago. The Museum's collections of
domestic furnishings comprise more than 40,000 artifacts from
American households. Large and small, they include four houses,
roughly 800 pieces of furniture, fireplace equipment, spinning
wheels, ceramics and glass, family portraits, and much more. The
Arthur and Edna Greenwood Collection contains more than 2,000
objects from New England households from colonial times to
mid-1800s. From kitchens of the past, the collections hold some
3,300 artifacts, ranging from refrigerators to spatulas. The
lighting devices alone number roughly 3,000 lamps,
candleholders, and lanterns.