Artifact Details

Title

Maillardet's Automaton - Exhibit

Catalog Number

102697999

Type

Still Image

Description

This is a color Polaroid image of the Maillardet's Automaton exhibit 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 completed poem is shown. A poster is beside the automaton.

Identifying Numbers

Other number 09003212530 Verso: embossed

Dimensions

overall: 4 in x 3 1/2 in

Category

Photograph

Credit

Courtesy of Gwen Bell

Lot Number

X7413.2015