For many years, I have walked by an object in collections storage that I’ve wondered about. Our records say that it is an Oriole baby stroller which had been donated to Hagley by Charles H. Rutledge. Mr. Rutledge worked for DuPont and was in charge of advertising and promotion in the Textile Fibers Department. We have his collection of more than 500 artifacts he used in talks illustrating older items that his mother might have used which were then compared to modern materials many of which had been made by DuPont.
Oriole Go-Basket; ca. 1910
(Museum Accession #71.28.28.1)
When I decided to feature children’s toys and related items in our upcoming 2016 Holidays at Hagley display at Eleutherian Mills, I knew this was the time to learn more about this object. I struck gold when I found out that our neighboring institution (Winterthur) has a trade catalog from the Withrow Manufacturing Co. in Cincinnati, Ohio which features this baby stroller. It is an “Oriole Go-Basket!”
From “The Oriole Go-Basket and Reed Specialties” trade catalog in the Winterthur collection. (1907)
Described in the trade catalog, the Oriole Go-Basket can be used as a stroller, carrying device, short-term baby bed and when put into a chair it can be used as a highchair. You could also attach it to a stand making it into a swing. Made of imported reed, the Oriole came in a variety of colors and lining materials. Weighing 7 ½ pounds, the Go-Basket was for children from six weeks to three years old.
The Withrow Company manufactured many items made out of reed with their featured product being the Go-Basket. They made bassinets, walkers, swings, chairs, porch swings, work baskets, clothes hampers and tables.
With our current focus on inventions, it looked to me as if it might have been patented. With some digging, I located two patents #700,397 for a Perambulator patented on May 29, 1902 and #1,155,855 a Baby Chair and Peramulator patented on Oct. 5, 1915 by Samuel P. Withrow. Both show features of the Oriole Go-Basket as seen below on the U. S. Patent drawing for #700,397.
Withrow’s description in the second patent describes improvements to “a baby chair, adapted to stand upright on its base, or to be converted into a perambulator.” He also clearly states that this is an improvement to his earlier patent.
Every artifact in Hagley’s collection tells a story. Sometimes they are unknown until we locate documentation such as the trade catalog and patents which help us understand exactly what these objects are and how they were supposed to be used. The mystery of this baby stroller has been solved!
You can see the Oriole Go-Basket on a tour of Eleutherian Mills Residence from November 25, 2016 to January 1, 2017.
Debra Hughes is Curator of Collections and Exhibits at Hagley Museum and Library.