Artifact Details

Title

Maillardet's Automaton - Head

Catalog Number

102697996

Type

Still Image

Description

This is a color image Head of Maillardet's Automaton in the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia. Maillardet was a Swiss clock maker working in London in the early 1800s. P.T. Barnum may have brought the Automaton to Philadelphia. In 1851 the Automaton was damaged in a fire and was eventually donated to the Institute in 1928 where it was renovated . It wrote a poem on paper and used cams for it's memory. The "person" is dressed in a red silken blouse with a red hat.

Dimensions

overall: 4 in x 6 in

Category

Photograph

Credit

Courtesy of Gwen Bell

Lot Number

X7413.2015