BOTTOM ROW - Suitcase

Suitcase, 1920s-1930s

Donor: Hubbard Family, 2001

Anna Goodale Hubbard (1879-1957) used this suitcase from the Wilt Luggage Company for her travels. The pressed wood case, called “The Wiltshire case,” is covered with faux snakeskin and has a removable drawer and black clothes hangers. 

Around the World 

The stickers on the suitcase document Anna Goodale Hubbard's travels. The "Cunard White Star," "KTIESELS," Hotel Richmond in Copenhagen, and Hotel Regina in Stockholm and London are all remnants of her trips. 

Innovations 

Travel before 1900 usually meant lugging along a hefty trunk. Made with heavy iron latches and leather handles, these trunks were meant to be stowed away during travel on a swaying ship or a bumpy horse-drawn coach. With passenger trains came the earliest suitcases, which were lighter than trunks but still bulkier than what we think of today. 

By the 1950s, an expanding middle class could afford travel for recreation. This coupled with the growth of commercial airlines gave rise to innovations in suitcases, including making them smaller for overhead compartments and adding features that made them easier to lug around an airport. Wheeled suitcases became popular in the 1970s due to a patent from Bernard Sadow.