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Museum object · Buildings and Structures

Brick from a cistern found at Florida A&M University

ca. 1890

Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida, United States, North and Central America

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Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A clay brick that was once part of a cistern found on the campus of Florida A&M University. The brick appears to have been a standard solid style brick previously, but now it has an irregular shape, perhaps cut into its current shape when it was removed from the cistern. The front of the brick is a rich, reddish brown color, with irregular cuts across the surface. The proper right and bottom sides are covered with gray-colored mortar. The top, proper left and back sides of the brick are flat and weathered, with the appearance of retaining their original shape from when the brick was fired. The top side has regular incisions cut into its surface. At the proper-right corner, there is a small segment of an adjoining brick still attached to the mortar. The mortar is 3/8 inch thick on the bottom side and 3/4 inch thick on the right side.

Sources & collection details

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture — original record ↗

Source collection ↗

Catalog metadata · CC0 · Source checked 2026-10-13

Catalog reference: 2013.179

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