101 Objects That Made America

Last week was the Fall 2013 MARAC Meeting in Philadelphia.  Many of my colleagues (including Mrs. BA) work at the Smithsonian, which has just come out with a list of items in their holdings that tell the American Story.

See what you think.  Items 2-10 are grouped under "Wild America," items 11-20 are listed as "Discovery," 21-34 in "Voice," 35-48 under "Power," next is "Invention" for items 49-60, followed by "Community" for items 61-70, then items 71-79 are under "Happiness," then "America in the World" for items 80-91, and finally "Freedom" for items 91-101.

1. The Star-Spangled Banner
2. The American Buffalo
3. The Duck Decoy 
4. The Bald Eagle
5. Coast Redwood
6. Stegosaurus
7. Audubon Plate
8. Passenger Pigeon
9. Life Preserver (from a Westward Exploration journey)
10. Bierstadt Painting
11. Neil Armstrong's Space Suit (didn't he just die?)
12. Lewis and Clark's Compass 
13. Gold Nugget 
14. Polio Vaccine 
15. Dark Matter Spectrograph 
16. Scopes Trial Photograph 
17. Benjamin Franklin's Experiments 
18. Burgess Shale 
19. George Catlin Paintings
20. [James] Smithson's Will 
21. Walt Whitman Photograph
22. Bell's Telephone
23. Remington Typewriter
24. Marian Anderson's Fur Coat
25. FDR's Microphone 
26. Nat Turner's Bible
27. Langston Hughes' 'The Colored Soldier'
28. Middle Mississippian Mask 
29. Chavez's Jacket
30. Andy Warhol's Michael Jackson 
31. Louis Armstrong's Trumpet
32. Nam June Paik's Electronic Superhighway 
33. Justice O'Connor's Robe 
34. Telstar
35. Lincoln's Top Hat
36. Appomattox Table and Chairs 
37. Gordon Photograph (a runaway slave, whose picture showed the multiple scars of many lashes)
38. George Washington: The Lansdowne Portrait 
39. Susan B. Anthony's Gavel 
40. Red Horse's Drawings of Little Bighorn 
41. Greensboro Lunch Counter 
42. Predator Drone 
43. Bell UH-1H Iroquois Helicopter
44. Enola Gay 
45. Wright Flyer
46. Wonder Woman Comic 
47. Colt Revolver 
48. White House Timber
49. Clovis Points 
50. Singer Sewing Machine 
51. Cotton Gin 
52. Levi's Jeans 
53. Eames Chair 
54. Eniac computer 
55. Edison Light Bulb 
56. Kodak Camera 
57. Morse Telegraph 
58. John Bull Locomotive 
59. Model T
60. Space Shuttle Discovery
61. Ration Ticket 
62. Pueblo Jars 
63. "This Land Is Your Land" 
64. Suitcase From Japanese Internment 
65. AIDS Quilt 
66. Emergency Money
67. John Deere Plow 
68. Stagecoach 
69. Negro League Baseball 
70. Psychedelic Signboard 
71. Barbie
72. Chuck Berry's Guitar 
73. Irving Berlin's Piano
74. R2-D2 
75. Ruby Slippers 
76. Teddy Bear 
77. Ali's Gloves and Robe 
78. Jordan's Jersey 
79. Richard Petty's Stock Car 
80. Spirit of St. Louis
81. Novus Orbis Map
82. "M*A*S*H" Sign
83. Fallout Shelter
84. World Trade Center Sign
85. Gas Mask (from World War I)
86. Pocahontas Engravings 
87. Giant Panda
88. U.S. Olympic Hockey Jersey 
89. Vintage California Wines 
90. USS Maine Bugle (blown up in Havana harbor, sparking the Spanish-American War)
91. USS Oklahoma Stamp (sunk in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor)
92. Stained Glass Shards (from the church in Birmingham Alabama)
93. Geronimo
94. John Brown Daguerreotype 
95. LBJ's Pen
96. Thomas Jefferson's Desk 
97. Piece of Plymouth Rock
98. Harriet Tubman's Hymn book 
99. "Clipper Flying Cloud" 
100. Stamp Act Proof
101. The Pill