Boxes - what's in them?

I’m packing today for my first workshop of the year - making carved oak boxes with six students at Pete Galbert’s....so all my efforts the past few days have been making lists, sorting stuff and trying to not forget anything. Around our house, these boxes hold a bit of this and that. A couple are filled with photos - some digital - stored on CDs - some printed. One has candles, batteries, chargers for things we don’t actually own anymore, postcards we don’t send and other stuff like that. Sometimes there’s one with scarves, mittens, etc - but I think those have been moved.

mittens and more

I know there’s at least two with ephemera - kids’ drawings, travel brochures and souvenirs, more photos - in books this time. So they’re like what my mother used to call the “junk drawer” only they’re stand-alone pieces. Often on top of chests.

But what were these boxes for in the 17th century? I only have a few clues. The main place we look for answers to questions like that is probate inventories. Upon a person’s death, an inventory is drawn up of their estate - often down to the smallest detail. It’s to aid in settling that estate - and often goes hand-in-hand with the will.

For years I studied these records and made notes about the furniture and tools listed in them. In 1633 Plymouth Colony, Peter Brown had “3 old chestes” appraised at 7 shillings and “1 boxe” worth 6 shillings. Then, a “Cradle” valued at 3 shillings. Doesn’t tell us much - and is typical. A few exceptions, never with much detail, follow.

In 1649 Matthew Day of Cambridge, Middlesex County, Mass Bay Colony mentioned in his will:

“I doe give unto my mother that Eight pound or there about which is due to me for printing, to pay for the house which is due at michelmas… I doe give my Ivory Inkhorne in my box with a whistle in it unto Jeremy Shepard…”

I’m assuming that whistle is in the box, not in the inkhorn. Also from Cambridge, 1651 Simon Crosbie had:

I[tem] one deale boxe 0‑ 1‑0
I[tem] 4 small painted boxes 0‑ 4‑0

“Deal” is a generic term for softwood. So - not an oak box. A bit earlier in Plymouth Colony, Richard Lanckford died in 1633. His inventory included:

1 smale box of trifles being 42 in number 6s, A box wth thried & points in it 1s, Another box wth ginger cloves & buttens 7d, A case wth smale Cisers & bodkin & penknife 6d, A case to put bullets in 6d, A smale box wth yellow nayles 6d, 1 old trunck 2s, 3 Iron wedges 3s, 3 shillings in one of the boxes 3s

So the trifles were too insignificant to describe, but they counted them. Another Plymouth inventory had a “Rownd box” worth 2 shillings 6 pence. Maybe more than a day’s wages for a tradesman then. Or right around there. Jumping ahead some - one from 1666 in Ipswich, Massachusetts for Thomas Emerson:

...bedsted...a lettell trunk...the great carved chest with nine payer of sheets, 3 tabel cloths, 4 pillow bears, peace of cloth £16-10 a carved box 6s 3 chests and a trunk £1-10 a tabel and chayers stoole glas case and what is in £3

First mention of a carved box, 6 shillings. A good rundown of the textiles in the chest before it. This next one, also from Ipswich, has more than just the boxes mentioned, but is worth a bit of a detour:

1666 Thomas Wells, Ipswich

will: "...unto Abigaile my wife...bedsteed we lye on...best chest and the inlayd boxe with T: W: upon the lidd...the best lowe chaire & her litle chaire & a good Cushen...unto my son Thomas Wells, all the bookes...and the litle chist & table (he made) that stands in the Hall chamber & my white boxe, and the chist planks to make him a chist on...my Daughters...every one of them a good chist..."

I’ll end up with enough chests for my children “every one of them”; that is, both of them. No problem. Then of course, there’s William Adams, Jr of Ipswich, died in 1658. He was a woodworker himself - all sorts of tools, furniture, iron work, etc.

one handsaw 4s one broad & narow chessell & goudge 4s two Addes 4s6d one croscut saw 5s fowre Augeers 7s five cheesells & goudges for turneing 5s6d a percer stock & bitts 4s a hollow shave 1s 4 planes 5s6d a sqare 2s6d a payre of pinsers 5d one beetle & 2 small wedges 4s 4 axes, broad & narrow 16s In nayles, dovetailes & other small things 12s a small hande vice 5s a plane alls & gimlett 1s3d one bedsted & cord 10s ...one bedsted... a chest and box without a lid 5s 2 spring locks, 2 cubbard locks, one box lock one stock lock & 2 paire of dovetailes 9s one box Iron 4s a joyne chest 6s8d one pine chest & 3 boxes & leaden diall 16s nyne chaires 12s stuffe for 2 joyne tables & 15 foote of board £1-6 6 cushens & 2 old cushens 13