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Inside the Collections Care Project: A twenty-first century object surprises

Aug 23, 2014

As Historic New England’s collection services team continues to move more than 20,000 objects for the first phase of the Collections Care Project, the range of our artifact collection becomes clear. While taking inventory of ceramic tea sets and children’s mugs, we encountered this George Foreman Electric Grill, dating all the way back to 2002.

The grill was donated to Historic New England in its original box along with iconic scraping tools and drip tray. The instruction booklet, recipe guide, and instructional VHS cassette are included as well. The George Foreman grill was popular in 2002, and is still being used today. Do you own one in your home?

The technology and everyday objects we use today are becoming part of history all the time. Soon the objects you use every day may appear in a museum or as part of our collection. At Historic New England, we are actively collecting objects from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. For mass-produced objects, we require a strong story and photographic documentation of family use in New England.

Check back again next week for another exciting find. Support the preservation of Historic New England’s one-of-a-kind collection with a gift to the Collections and Conservation Fund.