cash register

date made
1904
associated person
Burroughs, Nannie Helen
maker
National Cash Register Company
Description
This 1904 National Cash Register Company cash register has an ornate brass exterior with a marble plate above the cash drawer. In addition to the wooden cash drawer and pop-up indicators at the top, the machine had two rows of keys. Keys in the top row are marked NO (/) SALE, 50, 30, 20, and 10. Keys in the bottom row are labeled $1, 75, 40, 30, 25, and 15. Next to the lower row, slightly lower, is a key marked 5.
Inside a locked compartment above the keys are adding wheels for all eleven of the keys. When this compartment is closed, one can read a total indicator labeled: Amount (/) Purchased. A sticker on the bottom of the cash drawer indicates that it has serial number 387543 and was sold by the Louisville, Kentucky office. A mark on the front of the case reads: N. H. (/) Burroughs. A mark on the cash drawer reads: National.
Nannie Helen Burroughs, an African-American born in Virginia, attended high school in Washington, D.C. and then worked the National Baptist Convention. From 1909 until her death in 1961 she was the president of a business college for African-Americans in Washington. This cash register, marked with her name, was used teaching students at the school.
Reference:
Crandall, Robert L. and Sam Robins. The Incorruptible Cashier, vol. II, Vestal, N.Y.: The Vestal Press, 1990. This includes a listing of the date of manufacture of NCR cash registers by serial number.
place made
United States: Ohio, Dayton
associated place
United States: District of Columbia
subject
History, Women's, Equal Rights
African American History
See more items in
Political and Military History: Political History
Exhibition
My Computing Devices
Exhibition Location
National Museum of American History
Credit Line
Nannie Helen Burroughs School
National Museum of American History
ID Number
1978.0342.009
accession number
1978.0342
catalog number
1978.0342.009
Object Name
cash register
Physical Description
glass (overall, case, keystems, interior material)
wood (overall, drawer material)
marble (overall, drawer top material)
Measurements
overall: 31 in x 24 in x 17 in; 78.74 cm x 60.96 cm x 43.18 cm
3D Model
cash register, Nannie Helen Burroughs
cash register, Nannie Helen Burroughs