Collapsible Drinking Cup

The purpose of Hot Springs National Park is to protect its unique geothermal spring water and associated lands for public health, wellness, and enjoyment. The park is the only unit of the National Park Service that is mandated to provide its primary natural resource to the general public in an unaltered state. Over the years, health-seeking visitors used a wide assortment of metal, glass, or paper containers to drink the spring water as they hiked the park trails or bathed in the various bathhouses. This ornate silver-plated collapsible drinking cup was purchased about 1910 by Daniel DeYoung (1872-1958) and used to drink from the thermal water fountains during his many trips to Hot Springs. Some park visitors carried similar "traveling cups" in their pockets, although most were not this decorative. This object was donated to the park in 1990 by his family.

This drinking cup represents the park's museum collection because it elegantly symbolizes the primary reason Hot Springs National Park was created and continues to exist: so people can take in the pristine thermal water. In the early years, a trip to Hot Springs was usually not a resort vacation, but rather a medical odyssey to try to cure a personal affliction. Today, thousands still trek to the park to enjoy the water. This remarkable artifact speaks eloquently from the park 's past about one person's attempt to improve his life by partaking of our water.