Component, Timepiece

Description

Hand-drawn clock face on paper glued onto a wooden base. Roman numerals mark the hours, and outside the hours, numbers are marked in increments of five, denoting minutes (5-60). 60 dots are marked out to denote minutes, in between the Roman numerals, and the numbers 5-60.

Notes

While currently there is much known about the clock making by Isaac Newton Youngs (1793-1865) of Mount Lebanon and Benjamin Seth Youngs (1774-1855) of Watervliet, little has surfaced on the products and abilities of Amos Jewett (1753-1834), a second clock-maker in the Mount Lebanon community. This clock face represents the earliest dated clock component in a public collection. Dated 1789, the face also exhibits "No. 12," implying that Jewett was more than a sporadic maker of clocks. Meals, meetings, prayer, rising times, and other daily occurrences were strictly regulated. Clocks were instrumental in keeping Shaker communities synchronized throughout the day. The mechanical parts to this clock may have been either wooden or metal.