These objects may have been prepared for a woman’s dowry.

This chest belonged to Magdalena Leabelsperger of Berks County, Pennsylvania. As she assembled items to set up her future married home, including textiles and other household goods, the chest would have been considered her property. Once she married, the chest, its contents, and everything she brought to the marriage became the property of her husband. Chests like this have a long history of being passed down through matrilineal lines.

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Purchased with the Thomas Skelton Harrison Fund, the Fiske Kimball Fund, and the Joseph E. Temple Fund, 1982

This chest belonged to Magdalena Leabelsperger of Berks County, Pennsylvania. As she assembled items to set up her future married home, including textiles and other household goods, the chest would have been considered her property. Once she married, the chest, its contents, and everything she brought to the marriage became the property of her husband. Chests like this have a long history of being passed down through matrilineal lines.

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Purchased with the Thomas Skelton Harrison Fund, the Fiske Kimball Fund, and the Joseph E. Temple Fund, 1982

This saltbox belonged to Mary Letterman of Bedminster Township, Pennsylvania. Because salt was such a valuable commodity in this period, young women were often gifted salt boxes prior to marriage, as a part of their dowry.

From the Collection of the Mercer Museum Library of the Bucks County Historical Society.

Prepared for her dowry, this kast, or chest, was made for Catherine Kip of Bergen County, New Jersey, around 1798. While chests like this one would have been considered the property of the husband, they have a long history of being passed down by the mother, suggesting female ownership. Furniture pieces like this chest present the possibility that women did maintain ownership of movable property under marriage.

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Gift of Katharine Bejnar.