Art

The National Museum of American History is not an art museum. But works of art fill its collections and testify to the vital place of art in everyday American life. The ceramics collections hold hundreds of examples of American and European art glass and pottery. Fashion sketches, illustrations, and prints are part of the costume collections. Donations from ethnic and cultural communities include many homemade religious ornaments, paintings, and figures. The Harry T Peters "America on Stone" collection alone comprises some 1,700 color prints of scenes from the 1800s. The National Quilt Collection is art on fabric. And the tools of artists and artisans are part of the Museum's collections, too, in the form of printing plates, woodblock tools, photographic equipment, and potters' stamps, kilns, and wheels.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in 1852, quickly becoming the nation’s bestselling book.
Description
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in 1852, quickly becoming the nation’s bestselling book. It features a spirited, religious-minded enslaved black man named Tom, who is sold downriver by his financially-strapped owner in Kentucky to a plantation in Louisiana. There, his Christian beliefs spread hope to his fellow slaves and enable him to endure the harsh beatings of his cruel master. He is ultimately whipped to death after refusing to reveal the location of two runaway slaves. Published after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, the novel targeted Northern audiences, arguing against the injustice of slavery and spurring the abolition movement into action.
Although the bestselling novel of the 19th century, many American were exposed to Uncle Tom’s Cabin through play adaptations known as Tom shows. The immense popularity of both the novel and plays transformed Uncle Tom into a cultural phenomenon in America and Europe, and manufacturers quickly capitalized on the production of “Tomitudes,” everyday commodities that referenced scenes and characters from the novel. These included card games, jigsaw puzzles, chinaware, jars and vases, snuffboxes, ceramic figurines, and decorative prints. Although some of these Tomitudes employed racial stereotypes and the imagery of blackface minstrelsy, most chose to depict the enslaved characters of Beecher’s novel in a sympathetic light, often carrying an anti-slavery message.
In the novel, Tom’s owner in Kentucky, Arthur Shelby decides to sell two of his slaves, Tom and the child Harry, the young son of another slave named Eliza. In order to keep her son, Eliza determines to escape into the North across the Ohio River. Depicting Eliza’s dramatic flight from Chapter 7 of the novel, this print around 1853 presents the slave woman crossing the River in the winter, desperately leaping across ice floes, her son clutched in her arms. As Eliza steps forward, she turns her head back in the direction of Mr. Shelby, who has pursued her to the river’s bank. After her escape, Eliza is joined by her husband George, who is also on the run, and with the aid of sympathetic Northern Quakers, the trio escapes into Canada. In the novel, Harry is described as a young child of mixed race at about 4 or 5 years of age. Strong depicts him more as a child of 2 or 3 being carried though perhaps that was a deliberate infernce that the child was small due to malnutrition?
Thomas W. Strong was a New York-based printer and wood engraver who began his career around 1840. His shop specialized in comic literature and he employed many talented cartoonists and draftsmen who would go on to work for Harper’s Weekly and Vanity Fair. This print was the first in a series by Strong of scenes from Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) rose to fame in 1851 with the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which highlighted the evils of slavery, angered the slaveholding South, and inspired pro-slavery copy-cat works in defense of the institution of slavery. Stowe’s father was the famed Congregational minister Lyman Beecher and her brother, Henry Ward Beecher, was also a famous preacher and reformer. In 1824, she attended her sister Catherine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary, which exposed young women to many of the same courses available in men’s academies. Stowe became a teacher, working from 1829 to 1832 at the Seminary.
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote numerous articles, some of which were published in the renowned women’s magazine of the times, Godey’s Lady’s Book. She also wrote 30 books, covering a wide range of topics from homemaking to religion, as well as several novels. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which legally compelled Northerners to return runaway slaves, infuriated Stowe, and many in the North. She subsequently authored her most famous work, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Originally serialized in the National Era, Stowe saw her tale as a call to arms for Northerners to defy the Fugitive Slave Act. It was released as a book in 1852 and later performed on stage and translated into dozens of languages. Stowe used her fame to petition to end slavery. She toured nationally and internationally, speaking about her book, and donating some of what she earned to help the antislavery cause.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1853
originator of scene
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
maker
Strong, Thomas W.
ID Number
DL.60.2373
catalog number
60.2373
accession number
228146
This undated print depicts a scene from Chapter 30 of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, “The Slave Warehouse,” in which the fifteen-year-old Emmeline is separated from her mother and sold to the villainous Simon Legree.
Description
This undated print depicts a scene from Chapter 30 of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, “The Slave Warehouse,” in which the fifteen-year-old Emmeline is separated from her mother and sold to the villainous Simon Legree. A group of white men are gathered in a circular inspecting a selection of slaves who are up for auction. On the left, a young boy is examined by a group of prospective buyers, while Emmeline stands on the auction block on the right. Her mother makes a pleading gesture towards Legree, who raises his hand to place the winning bid. A caption below the illustration, a caption reads, “The Hammer Falls…’he has got the girl body & soul unless God help her,’” revealing the man’s sexual desire towards the girl. In this illustration, Emmeline has been given distinctively white skin, to emphasize that she is a quadroon, one-fourth black, and thereby garner extra sympathy from white Northerners.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1855
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.60.2419
catalog number
60.2419
accession number
228146
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in 1852, quickly becoming the nation’s bestselling book.
Description
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in 1852, quickly becoming the nation’s bestselling book. It features a spirited, religious-minded enslaved black man named Tom, who is sold downriver by his financially-strapped owner in Kentucky to a plantation in Louisiana. There, his Christian beliefs spread hope to his fellow slaves and enable him to endure the harsh beatings of his cruel master. He is ultimately whipped to death after refusing to reveal the location of two runaway slaves. Published after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, the novel targeted Northern audiences, arguing against the injustice of slavery and spurring the abolition movement into action.
Although the bestselling novel of the 19th century, many American were exposed to Uncle Tom’s Cabin through play adaptations known as Tom shows. The immense popularity of both the novel and plays transformed Uncle Tom into a cultural phenomenon in America and Europe, and manufacturers quickly capitalized on the production of “Tomitudes,” everyday commodities that referenced scenes and characters from the novel. These included card games, jigsaw puzzles, chinaware, jars and vases, snuffboxes, ceramic figurines, and decorative prints. Although some of these Tomitudes employed racial stereotypes and the imagery of blackface minstrelsy, most chose to depict the enslaved characters of Beecher’s novel in a sympathetic light, often carrying an anti-slavery message.
The most popular depictions of Uncle Tom were those in which he was accompanied by the young white girl, Eva St. Clare. Representations of their companionship conveyed a message of racial bonding and celebrated the characters’ shared Christian faith. While riding aboard a Mississippi riverboat on his journey to be sold downriver, Tom would occupy his time sitting among cotton bales and reading from his Bible. After he introduces himself to the saintly Eva, the young girl decides to ask her father to buy Tom. This print, illustrating a scene from Chapter 14 of the novel, depicts the pair’s first meeting. Tom has one hand placed on his Bible, while his other, enchained by a manacle, motions towards Eva. With his confident pose and flowing robes, Tom looks more like a classical philosopher than a slave learning to read. Eva, reclining on a bale of cotton, appear almost doll-like. After Tom rescues Eva from her fall overboard into the waters of the Mississippi, her father agrees to buy him.
Thomas W. Strong was a New York-based printer and wood engraver who began his career around 1840. His shop specialized in comic literature and he employed many talented cartoonists and draftsmen who would go on to work for Harper’s Weekly and Vanity Fair. This print was published around 1853 as the second in a series by Strong of scenes from Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) rose to fame in 1851 with the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which highlighted the evils of slavery, angered the slaveholding South, and inspired pro-slavery copy-cat works in defense of the institution of slavery. Stowe’s father was the famed Congregational minister Lyman Beecher and her brother, Henry Ward Beecher, was also a famous preacher and reformer. In 1824, she attended her sister Catherine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary, which exposed young women to many of the same courses available in men’s academies. Stowe became a teacher, working from 1829 to 1832 at the Seminary.
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote numerous articles, some of which were published in the renowned women’s magazine of the times, Godey’s Lady’s Book. She also wrote 30 books, covering a wide range of topics from homemaking to religion, as well as several novels. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which legally compelled Northerners to return runaway slaves, infuriated Stowe, and many in the North. She subsequently authored her most famous work, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Originally serialized in the National Era, Stowe saw her tale as a call to arms for Northerners to defy the Fugitive Slave Act. It was released as a book in 1852 and later performed on stage and translated into dozens of languages. Stowe used her fame to petition to end slavery. She toured nationally and internationally, speaking about her book, and donating some of what she earned to help the antislavery cause.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1853
originator of scene
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
maker
Strong, Thomas W.
ID Number
DL.60.2374
catalog number
60.2374
accession number
228146
This print, designed by E.W. Clay, a Northern opponent of the anti-slavery movement plays upon antebellum fears of miscegenation, or interracial mixing, to satirize abolitionism.
Description
This print, designed by E.W. Clay, a Northern opponent of the anti-slavery movement plays upon antebellum fears of miscegenation, or interracial mixing, to satirize abolitionism. Part of series of miscegenation prints done by Clay during 1839, the print depicts a dance in an elegantly furnished ballroom. In the middle of the scene, fashionably dressed, interracial couples are shown dancing. Each consists of a black man and white woman. Along the right wall, several black men ask seated white women to dance. On the left, members of a mixed race couple clasp hands and prepare to kiss. Above these proceedings, music is performed by an orchestra composed solely of white musicians.
Edward Williams Clay was born in Philadelphia in 1799. He originally found employment as an attorney and became a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 1825, but he later abandoned law for a career in art. He moved to New York City in 1837 but shortly after was forced to end his artistic career when his eyesight began to fail.
The work’s publisher, John Childs, was a New York lithographer, artist, and print colorist active between the years 1836 to 1844. For a brief period, he published a quantity of political cartoons, especially in 1840, when he published 34, of which 26 were drawn by Clay.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1839
maker
Childs, John
artist
Clay, Edward Williams
ID Number
DL.60.3340
catalog number
60.3340
Date made
1947
depicted (sitter)
Carver, George Washington
maker
Heller, Helen West
ID Number
GA.20060
catalog number
20060
accession number
182887
Black and white print; political propoganda cartoon of a Black church meeting. Minister presiding over congregation seated in three pews. A parrot perched on top of an overturned top hat behind the last pew disrupts the meeting (See inscriptions).
Description (Brief)
Black and white print; political propoganda cartoon of a Black church meeting. Minister presiding over congregation seated in three pews. A parrot perched on top of an overturned top hat behind the last pew disrupts the meeting (See inscriptions). Costumes and facial features are stereotypes. This print is the second of two. The companion print, which is not in the collection, depicts the preacher saying 'Pull down your vest."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1845-1870
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.60.2398
catalog number
60.2398
accession number
228146
This colored print depicts twenty-five black performers in an outdoor arena or racetrack. They are dressed in tight pants with horseshoe designs that suggest a jockey motif. Some performers hold crops and wear caps and riding jackets.
Description
This colored print depicts twenty-five black performers in an outdoor arena or racetrack. They are dressed in tight pants with horseshoe designs that suggest a jockey motif. Some performers hold crops and wear caps and riding jackets. The center figure is performing a gymnastic stunt.Below the illustration are the words “Haverly’s Theatre / 12 Nights and 6 Matinees, / Commencing Monday, Dec. 26.”
Entertainment entrepreneur J. H. (Jack) Haverly (1837-1901) was born Christopher Haverly near Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. He launched his show business career in 1864 in Toledo, Ohio, where he purchased a variety theater. Inspired by entrepreneurs like P. T. Barnum, Haverly went on to manage other theaters, and he created minstrel and comic performance groups on the East Coast and in the Middle West. In the late 1870s he consolidated his troupes into a single company called the United Mastodon Minstrels which included forty performers, along with a brass band and drum corps. The group continued to grow and at one point had more than a hundred members. Around the same time, Haverly took control of a black performing group called Charles Callender's Original Georgia Minstrels, or Callender's Colored Minstrels, a group of performers which he renamed Haverly’s Colored Minstrels. He promoted their performances as authentic depictions of black life, even creating a mock plantation with costumed actors portraying slaves and overseers. Haverly’s troupes toured the United States, usually appearing at his own theaters in cities like New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Francisco. They also traveled to England and Scotland. Featuring lavish stage sets and extravagant special effectsinspired by P. T. Barnum, his performers in blackface makeup and exotic costumes inspired the creation of smaller minstrel shows during the late nineteenth century.
This chromolithograph was produced by the Strobridge Lithographing Company. The Strobridge firm was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio about 1847 by lithographer Elijah C. Middleton. Middleton was known as one of the pioneers of chromolithography in the United States. By 1854 lithographer W. R. Wallace and bookseller Hines Strobridge (1823-1909) had joined the firm as partners. After the Civil War, Strobridge acquired sole ownership of the company and renamed it after himself. Strobridge and Company was well known for circus, theater, and movie posters. After leaving Strobridge and Company, Elijah Middleton became known as a portrait publisher, producing prints of George and Martha Washington, Daniel Webster, and other American historical figures.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1880
publisher
Strobridge Lithographing Company
maker
Strobridge Lithographing Company
ID Number
DL.60.2481
catalog number
60.2481
accession number
228146
This anti-English political cartoon highlights Northern concerns that Great Britain would abandon its anti-slavery values and instead give support to the Confederacy out of economic interests.
Description
This anti-English political cartoon highlights Northern concerns that Great Britain would abandon its anti-slavery values and instead give support to the Confederacy out of economic interests. In 1862 and 1863, the Northern blockade of the South resulted in a cotton shortage in England, and the textile industry there suffered. In the print, John Bull, the figural representation of Great Britain holds a clump of cotton that he had grasped from a bale. He remarks, “Well yes! it is certain that cotton is more useful to me than wool!!” as he strokes the hair, or “wool,” on the head of a slave kneeling at his feet. Two other black man stand in the back left and proceed to cry. In the back right, a goateed Southern man with a straw hat watches the scene with a joyful look upon his face. Despite Northern anxieties and Southern hopes, Great Britain had little interest in embroiling itself in the American war and maintained a policy of neutrality.
Nathaniel Currier (1813-1888) was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and after serving an apprenticeship in Boston, he moved to New York City in 1834. In New York, he briefly partnered with Adam Stodart, but their firm dissolved within a year, and Currier went into business on his own until 1857. James M. Ives (1824-1895) was a native New York lithographer who was hired as a bookkeeper by Currier in 1852. In 1857, the two men partnered, forming the famous lithography firm of Currier and Ives, which continued under their sons until 1907.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
date made
1861-1863
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.60.3368
catalog number
60.3368
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1837
maker
Robinson, Henry R.
artist
Clay, Edward Williams
ID Number
DL.60.2289
catalog number
60.2289
accession number
228146
This hand-colored print depicts a highly fictionalized account of a Republican campaign event dance that occurred at the Lincoln Central Campaign Club in New York Sept. 22, 1864. This was the second anniversary of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
Description
This hand-colored print depicts a highly fictionalized account of a Republican campaign event dance that occurred at the Lincoln Central Campaign Club in New York Sept. 22, 1864. This was the second anniversary of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. The caption at the bottom of the work swears that the event is accurately portrayed in the above illustration, and certifys " there were many of the accredited leaders of the Black Republican party. These high level Republican leaders, all "prominent men," are shown vigorously dancing, conversing, and fraternizing with fashionably dressed black women. Presumably the men peering in from the roof skylights are the reporters from the anti-Lincoln New York World. No white women are present in the scene and Lincoln supporters seated on the sides of the room are seen kissing and scandalously embracing black women. Northern Democrats opposed abolition by playing upon fears of widespread miscegenation, or racial mixing, that they argued would inevitably occur if Lincoln were re-elected to a second term which resulted in this propaganda print. A campaign banner reading, “Universal Freedom / One Constitution / One Destiny / Abraham Lincoln Pre..st” hangs above the proceedings. This banner and portrait of Lincoln on the wall suggested to viewers that his re-election and racial mixing went hand-in-hand.
The series of prints critical of potential miscegenation were initially published in a New York daily newspaper, The World. When the paper was established in 1860, it was religiously orientated, and supported Lincoln’s policies. After losing money, however, it was sold to a group of New York City Democrats, who openly attacked Lincoln after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Known for printing falsified information and accounts, the paper was temporarily shut down in 1864 and it's editor Manton Marble arrested after publishing a report that Lincoln planned to draft 500,000 to 400,000 more men for the Union armies through a forged presidential order
The print was the fourth, last, and largest in a series of anti-Lincoln prints by New York lithographers Kimmel & Forster, published by Bromley & Company. Christopher Kimmel was born in Germany around 1850 and after immigrating to the United States, was active in New York City from 1850 to 1876. He was part of Capewell & Kimmel from 1853 to 1860, and then partnered with Thomas Forster in 1865, forming the lithography firm of Kimmel & Forster, which was active until 1871. Although this print offers a harsh criticism of Lincoln, it was most likely produced as a commission, since the firm produced several prints and a series celebrating the President after his death.
The signature in the lower right corner of the illustration reveals that this scene was imagined by the artist Henry Atwell Thomas (1834-1904), who specialized in lithography of the American theatre, which accounts for the work’s dramatic imagery. In the lower left corner, the print includes an advertisement for publisher, copyright holder, and distributer, G.W. Bromley & Co.. Black and white copies were sold through the mail for 25 cents and hand colored copies cost 34 cents. Copies could be purchased at discount prices if purchasing multiples of 5, 50, or 100.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1864
copyright holder; distributor
Bromley & Co.
maker
Kimmel and Forster
artist
Thomas, Henry Atwell
ID Number
DL.60.3341
catalog number
60.3341
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in 1852, quickly becoming the nation’s bestselling book.
Description
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in 1852, quickly becoming the nation’s bestselling book. It features a spirited, religious-minded enslaved black man named Tom, who is sold downriver by his financially-strapped owner in Kentucky to a plantation in Louisiana. There, his Christian beliefs spread hope to his fellow slaves and enable him to endure the harsh beatings of his cruel master. He is ultimately whipped to death after refusing to reveal the location of two runaway slaves. Published after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, the novel targeted Northern audiences, arguing against the injustice of slavery and spurring the abolition movement into action.
Although the bestselling novel of the 19th century, many American were exposed to Uncle Tom’s Cabin through play adaptations known as Tom shows. The immense popularity of both the novel and plays transformed Uncle Tom into a cultural phenomenon in America and Europe, and manufacturers quickly capitalized on the production of “Tomitudes,” everyday commodities that referenced scenes and characters from the novel. These included card games, jigsaw puzzles, chinaware, jars and vases, snuffboxes, ceramic figurines, and decorative prints. Although some of these Tomitudes employed racial stereotypes and the imagery of blackface minstrelsy, most chose to depict the enslaved characters of Beecher’s novel in a sympathetic light, often carrying an anti-slavery message.
The most popular depictions of Uncle Tom were those in which he was accompanied by the young white girl, Eva St. Clare. Representations of their companionship conveyed a message of racial bonding and celebrated the characters’ shared Christian faith. This colored print around 1853 depicts a scene from Chapter 14 of the novel, in which Tom rescues Eva after she has fallen from the deck of a riverboat into the waters of the Mississippi. The artist has chosen to focus on Tom’s strength and ability, sacrificing the realism of other figures. Eva, held tightly in Tom’s grasp, appears doll-like, and one of the men standing on the boat has been drawn awkwardly miniscule to create an illusion of depth. Tom grasps a rope that has been lowered by a man aboard the riverboat. In return for saving his daughter, Eva’s father purchases Tom and the slave moves in with the St. Clare family in their New Orleans home. There, he begins driving the family’s coach, but he quickly earns their confidence, eventually managing their finances.
Thomas W. Strong was a New York-based printer and wood engraver who began his career around 1840. His shop specialized in comic literature and he employed many talented cartoonists and draftsmen who would go on to work for Harper’s Weekly and Vanity Fair. This print was the third in a series by Strong of scenes from Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) rose to fame in 1851 with the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which highlighted the evils of slavery, angered the slaveholding South, and inspired pro-slavery copy-cat works in defense of the institution of slavery. Stowe’s father was the famed Congregational minister Lyman Beecher and her brother, Henry Ward Beecher, was also a famous preacher and reformer. In 1824, she attended her sister Catherine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary, which exposed young women to many of the same courses available in men’s academies. Stowe became a teacher, working from 1829 to 1832 at the Seminary.
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote numerous articles, some of which were published in the renowned women’s magazine of the times, Godey’s Lady’s Book. She also wrote 30 books, covering a wide range of topics from homemaking to religion, as well as several novels. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which legally compelled Northerners to return runaway slaves, infuriated Stowe, and many in the North. She subsequently authored her most famous work, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Originally serialized in the National Era, Stowe saw her tale as a call to arms for Northerners to defy the Fugitive Slave Act. It was released as a book in 1852 and later performed on stage and translated into dozens of languages. Stowe used her fame to petition to end slavery. She toured nationally and internationally, speaking about her book, and donating some of what she earned to help the antislavery cause.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1853
originator of scene
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
maker
Strong, Thomas W.
ID Number
DL.60.2373A
catalog number
60.2373A
accession number
228146
After Lincoln’s assassination, Northern families often displayed in their homes lithographic prints of the man they believed to be the savior of their nation.
Description
After Lincoln’s assassination, Northern families often displayed in their homes lithographic prints of the man they believed to be the savior of their nation. Printmakers published numerous prints commemorating the late president in order to both illustrate and capitalize upon the nation’s woe. This graphic memorial to Lincoln, circa 1865, displays his profile upon a stone monument. Below his portrait, an inscription reads, “To Abraham Lincoln, The Best Beloved of the Nation.” Atop the memorial rests an urn draped with an American flag. Three owls sit around the urn, symbolizing wisdom. A weeping Columbia leans against the monument on the left, while a freed slave weeps to its right. At the base of the shrine rest a broken shackle, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the slain corpse of a dragon, representing rebellion and secession. Above, an angel with clasped hands looks down upon the memorial. In the background, a field strewn with the bodies of men and horses and the wreckage of cannons serves as a reminder of the destruction of the war.
Louis Nagel was born in Germany around 1817, and was working in New York as early as 1844. There he was involved in two partnerships, Nagel & Mayer (1846) and Nagel & Weingaertner (1849-1856). In 1857, he moved to San Francisco.
Charles Nahl was born in Germany around 1818, and emigrated to America in 1849. With his half-brother, he travelled to work in the California gold fields, before settling in San Francisco, where they worked as photographers and commercial artists from 1850 to 1867.
The lithograph was published for the subscribers of a West Coast magazine, the San Francisco Puck, by Pascal Loomis and James F. Swift, the periodical’s founders. Loomis was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1826, and worked from 1848 to 1859 as a wood engraver in New York. In 1860, he migrated to San Francisco, where he went into business with Swift. The duo first started a wood engraving firm, Loomis and Swift, but, by 1866, also began publishing the San Francisco Puck.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca. 1865
date made
ca 1865
copyright holder
Loomis, Pascal
Swift, James F.
depicted
Lincoln, Abraham
maker
Nagel, Louis
Nahl, Charles
ID Number
DL.60.2581
catalog number
60.2581
accession number
228146
This print depicts a white man in a Union uniform, standing in a path and holding a whip as he confronts a group of five black men and one black women who are sitting and standing on a patch of grass.
Description
This print depicts a white man in a Union uniform, standing in a path and holding a whip as he confronts a group of five black men and one black women who are sitting and standing on a patch of grass. This illustration was used in an 1868 book, entitled Scraps from the Prison Table: At Camp Chase and Johnson's Island, by John Barbière, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Confederate Army. He was imprisoned at Johnson’s Island during the war and as he was being transported home in the fall of 1862, the author witnessed a "brawny man" of the "Puritan race" brutally beating several "Negroes who were basking in the sunshine" with a horse whip. Barbière claimed in all his years travelling in the South, he had never seen such inhumane treatment, remarking that “the slave has merely changed masters.” The ex-Confederate employed episodes such as this to challenge notions of Northern righteousness. Barbière wanted to inform his readers of his exposure to mistreatment of Confederate prisoners in Union jails, accounts of which were often overshadowed by post-war reports of the horrors of Andersonville Prison. Scraps from the Prison Table was published by W.W.H. Davis, a printer and historian from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, who had previously served as a colonel in the Union Army with the 104th Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment. This print and Barbière’s book, along with Northern prints of Andersonville prison, reveal a selection of the atrocities committed by both sides during the war, which were also documented in in the letters and diaries of thousands of soldiers.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
date made
ca 1862-1868
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.60.3307
catalog number
60.3307
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1868
maker
Godfrey, Joseph
ID Number
DL.60.3394
catalog number
60.3394
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in 1852, quickly becoming the nation’s bestselling book.
Description
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in 1852, quickly becoming the nation’s bestselling book. It features a spirited, religious-minded enslaved black man named Tom, who is sold by his financially-strapped owner in Kentucky to a plantation in Louisiana. There, his Christian beliefs spread hope to his fellow slaves and enable him to endure the harsh beatings of his cruel master. He is ultimately whipped to death after refusing to reveal the location of two runaway slaves. Published after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, the novel targeted Northern audiences, arguing against the injustice of slavery and spurring the abolition movement into action. Although the bestselling novel of the 19th century, many American were exposed to Uncle Tom’s Cabin through play adaptations known as Tom shows. The immense popularity of both the novel and plays transformed Uncle Tom into a cultural phenomenon in America and Europe, and manufacturers quickly capitalized on the production of “Tomitudes,” everyday commodities that referenced scenes and characters from the novel. These included card games, jigsaw puzzles, chinaware, jars and vases, snuffboxes, ceramic figurines, and decorative prints. Although some of these Tomitudes employed racial stereotypes and the imagery of blackface minstrelsy, most chose to depict the enslaved characters of Beecher’s novel in a sympathetic light, often carrying an anti-slavery message.
After Tom had been sold from his Kentucky home to work in Louisiana, his wife, Chloe, convinced his former owners, the Shelby’s, to allow her to be hired out as a baker in Louisville. Her wages would then be saved and used to buy back Tom. Meanwhile, at Tom’s plantation in Louisiana, two slaves who have been sexually exploited by their owner, Simon Legree, decide to escape. When Tom does not reveal their location to his master, Legree has him whipped to the point of death. This colored print from around 1853 depicts the moment when George Shelby arrives to purchase Tom and finds the man about to die. Tom reclines against a pile of hay, although in the print, none of his injuries are visible and he appears frightened but healthy. George covers his face with one hand as he begins to cry and uses the other to clasp Tom’s outstretched hand. Behind George, stands a non-repentant looking Simon Legree, holding a whip, the instrument of Tom’s demise, in his right hand. Compared to the dominat and admirably-dressed figure of Shelby, Legree is depicted as a small, disheveled man.
Thomas W. Strong was a New York-based printer and wood engraver who began his career around 1840. His shop specialized in comic literature and he employed many talented cartoonists and draftsmen who would go on to work for Harper’s Weekly and Vanity Fair. This print was the fourth in a series by Strong of scenes from Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) rose to fame in 1851 with the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which highlighted the evils of slavery, angered the slaveholding South, and inspired pro-slavery copy-cat works in defense of the institution of slavery. Stowe’s father was the famed Congregational minister Lyman Beecher and her brother, Henry Ward Beecher, was also a famous preacher and reformer. In 1824, she attended her sister Catherine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary, which exposed young women to many of the same courses available in men’s academies. Stowe became a teacher, working from 1829 to 1832 at the Seminary.
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote numerous articles, some of which were published in the renowned women’s magazine of the times, Godey’s Lady’s Book. She also wrote 30 books, covering a wide range of topics from homemaking to religion, as well as several novels. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which legally compelled Northerners to return runaway slaves, infuriated Stowe, and many in the North. She subsequently authored her most famous work, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Originally serialized in the National Era, Stowe saw her tale as a call to arms for Northerners to defy the Fugitive Slave Act. It was released as a book in 1852 and later performed on stage and translated into dozens of languages. Stowe used her fame to petition to end slavery. She toured nationally and internationally, speaking about her book, and donating some of what she earned to help the antislavery cause.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1853
originator of scene
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
maker
Strong, Thomas W.
ID Number
DL.60.2375
catalog number
60.2375
accession number
228146
Black & white print; full length portrait of a black woman standing in elaborate gown and crown, standing in front of a throne. (The Empress Adelina of Haiti).Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black & white print; full length portrait of a black woman standing in elaborate gown and crown, standing in front of a throne. (The Empress Adelina of Haiti).
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1852
maker
Grozelier, Leopold
Lacombe, Theodore
original artist
Hartmann, Adam
ID Number
DL.60.3120
catalog number
60.3120
accession number
228146
This commemorative print celebrates the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. The central panel depicts the parade in Baltimore on May 19, 1870, the largest celebration honoring the amendment's passage.
Description
This commemorative print celebrates the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. The central panel depicts the parade in Baltimore on May 19, 1870, the largest celebration honoring the amendment's passage. The parade lasted more than five hours, was over a mile in length, and had more than 20,000 spectators. Note the Baltimore Washington Monument in the background, the troop of Zouave drummers, and the African American men wearing Masonic sashes. The central image is surrounded by sixteen small vignettes containing portraits of individuals and events that were influential in securing voting rights for all American males regardless of race. These include four white men: Abraham Lincoln, in upper left President Ulysses S. Grant, a bust of abolitionist John Brown, abolitionist, orator, and Grant’s Vice President Schuyler S. Colfax. The African American leaders in the center are D.C. US Marshall Frederick Douglas, Mississippi Senator Hiram Rhodes Revels depicted sitting in Congress, and Martin Robison Delany, author and 1st African American major in US Army. The surrounding scenes optimistically depict the of expected benefits of the amendment such as a African American wedding ceremony presuming freedom to marry without impediment, a African American man voting, scenes depicting African Americans at worship and in school, and an image of former slaves tilling their own fields.
The brightly colored chromolithograph was created by graphic artist James Carter Beard and published/ issued by the Irish immigrant lithographer Thomas Kelly. It was published in New York. Two sizes of this print were produced; this is the larger version. Thomas Kelly learned the craft of lithography in Philadelphia from his father. He moved to New York, where he established a print and frame dealership and continued to publish picturesque scenes of American life. He is possibly the same Thomas Kelly who printed Catholic Bibles and prayer-books in New York, winning an award for these at the 1876 Centennial Exposition.
For more detailed information about the vignettes in this print see: http://americanhistory.si.edu/Brown/resources/pdfs/unit1/2-15th-amendment-print.pdf
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1870
date of depicted image
1870-05-19
depicted
Delany, Martin Robinson
Lincoln, Abraham
Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson)
Douglass, Frederick
Brown, John
Colfax, Schuyler
Revels, Hiram Rhodes
maker
Kelly, Thomas
artist
Beard, James Carter
ID Number
DL.60.2611
catalog number
60.2611
accession number
228146
Felix Darley made this 1864 sheet of signed pencil sketches of African Americans in Norfolk, Virginia, during the Civil War. The city was held by the Union Army from 1862 and became a haven for thousands of escaped slaves.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Felix Darley made this 1864 sheet of signed pencil sketches of African Americans in Norfolk, Virginia, during the Civil War. The city was held by the Union Army from 1862 and became a haven for thousands of escaped slaves.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1864
original artist
Darley, Felix Octavius Carr
ID Number
GA.16635
catalog number
16635
accession number
119780
This 1852 satirical print employs 19th century skepticism surrounding mesmerism, or animal magnetism, an early form of hypnosis, to attack women abolitionists and miscegenation – interracial coupling.
Description
This 1852 satirical print employs 19th century skepticism surrounding mesmerism, or animal magnetism, an early form of hypnosis, to attack women abolitionists and miscegenation – interracial coupling. A seated female abolitionist is mesmerized by the black Professor Pompey figure, who touches her breast and face, asking how she feels. Her answer reveals that she has begun to fall under his sexual control during the exercise: “Oh, I seem to be carried away into a dark wood where I inhale a perfume much like that of a skunk.” This print uses her dream to propose that whites should naturally find black people repugnant, yet the women abolitionists do not. The piece therefore presents a satirical depiction of women belonging to the abolitionist cause, suggesting their true motive to be interracial mixing. Other formally dressed black characters offer sexually suggestive commentary. A white minister standing behind Professor Pompey laments, “These are the days foretold by the prophet.” This is most likely an allusion to Acts 2:16-17: “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” This Biblical passage not only speaks directly to the activity of mesmerism, but its reference to “the last days” mockingly adds apocalyptic undertones to the print and the prospect of abolition.
Thomas W. Strong was a New York-based printer and wood engraver who began his career around 1840. His shop specialized in comic literature and he employed many talented cartoonists and draftsmen who would go on to work for Harper’s Weekly and Vanity Fair.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1852
maker
Strong, Thomas W.
ID Number
DL.60.2290
catalog number
60.2290
accession number
228146
This print, designed by E.W. Clay, a Northern opponent of the abolition and anti-slavery movement plays upon antebellum fears of miscegenation, or interracial mixing, to satirize abolitionism.
Description
This print, designed by E.W. Clay, a Northern opponent of the abolition and anti-slavery movement plays upon antebellum fears of miscegenation, or interracial mixing, to satirize abolitionism. Part of series of miscegenation prints done by Clay during 1839, the print depicts a formal dinner party during which the black host of the party addresses his guests - six interracial couples who are seated on either side of the table. The host’s white wife sits across from him. Above the host’s head hang portraits of himself and his wife, and to the far right, one of their multiracial children. From the head of the table, the host toasts “De Union ob colors,” which “gibs a wholesome odour to fashionable siety.” Meanwhile, six white servants attend to the guests and serve drinks.
Edward Williams Clay was born in Philadelphia in 1799. He originally found employment as an attorney and became a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 1825, but he later abandoned law for a career in art. He moved to New York City in 1837 but shortly after was forced to end his artistic career when his eyesight began to fail.
The work’s publisher, John Childs, was a New York lithographer, artist, and print colorist active between the years 1836 to 1844. For a brief period, he published a quantity of political cartoons, especially in 1840, when he published 34, of which 26 were drawn by Clay.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1839
maker
Childs, John
artist
Clay, Edward Williams
ID Number
DL.60.3337
catalog number
60.3337
Black and white print of a black man and woman who carry burlap bags of trash? lean across a trash barrel to kiss. Their clothes are in tatters. Two little boys observe from a doorway. This is one of over 100 in a series of comic parodies of popular songs.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white print of a black man and woman who carry burlap bags of trash? lean across a trash barrel to kiss. Their clothes are in tatters. Two little boys observe from a doorway. This is one of over 100 in a series of comic parodies of popular songs.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1875
maker
Vance, Parsloe and Company
ID Number
DL.60.3437
catalog number
60.3437
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in 1852, quickly becoming the nation’s bestselling book.
Description
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in 1852, quickly becoming the nation’s bestselling book. It features a spirited, religious-minded enslaved man named Tom, who is sold downriver by his financially-strapped owner in Kentucky to a plantation in Louisiana. There, his Christian beliefs spread hope to his fellow slaves and enable him to endure the harsh beatings of his cruel master. He is ultimately whipped to death after refusing to reveal the location of two runaway slaves. Published after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, the novel targeted Northern audiences, arguing against the injustice of slavery and spurring the abolition movement into action. Although the bestselling novel of the 19th century, many American were exposed to Uncle Tom’s Cabin through play adaptations known as Tom shows. The immense popularity of both the novel and plays transformed Uncle Tom into a cultural phenomenon in America and Europe, and manufacturers quickly capitalized on the production of “Tomitudes,” everyday commodities that referenced scenes and characters from the novel. These included card games, jigsaw puzzles, chinaware, jars and vases, snuffboxes, ceramic figurines, and decorative prints. Although some of these Tomitudes employed racial stereotypes and the imagery of blackface minstrelsy, most chose to depict the enslaved characters of Beecher’s novel in a sympathetic light, often carrying an anti-slavery message.
The most popular depictions of Uncle Tom were those in which he was accompanied by the young white girl, Eva St. Clare. Representations of their companionship conveyed a message of racial bonding, and celebrated the characters’ shared Christian faith, though undoubtly grabbed the attention of Victorian audiences viewing a very young white girl alone in the company of a mature black man. This print around 1853 depicts Tom sitting with Eva, whom he had had previously saved from drowning when she fell off the deck of a riverboat on the Mississippi. In return for saving his daughter, Eva’s father had purchases the enslaved Tom, and he moves with the St. Clare family into their New Orleans home as a house slave. In this illustration, from Chapter 22 of the novel, Eva reads to Tom from her Bible. Eva sits on a rock under an arbor and supposedly first points to the Bible in her lap, and then as depicted, she points up to the sky. Tom follows her gesture upwards with his eyes. They are having a conversation about Heaven, foreshadowing the untimely death of the terminally ill girl. Although Tom had gained much responsibility in the St. Clare household, even handling the family’s finances, he is portrayed in this print wearing the outfit of a field hand. In the 1852 illustrated Jon P. Jewett and Company edition of the book, with engravings by Hammett Billings, Eva is in a similar position with her hand pointing to the sky, but in that black and white engraving Uncle Tom is demicted in fancier attire of a house slave.
The lithograph was created by firm of E.C. Kellogg & Company, established in 1850, by Elijah Chapman Kellogg (1811–1881), after the dissolution of Kelloggs & Comstock. The business operated until Elijah again partnered with his brother, Edmund Burke Kellogg (1809-1872), changing the company name back to E.B. & E.C. Kellogg. The work was co-published by Thayer & Company, a lithography firm operated by Horace Thayer, who was born in 1811, in Hartwick, New York. Between 1846 and 1847, he was a partner in Kelloggs & Thayer in New York City. The partnership dissolved in 1847 and Thayer moved to Buffalo, New York, and became a map publisher. In Buffalo, he was involved in a variety of partnerships, most of which co-published Kelloggs prints. By 1859, he returned to New York City, remaining there until 1864, when he moved back to upstate New York.
Abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) rose to fame in 1851 with the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which highlighted the evils of slavery, angered the slaveholding South, and inspired pro-slavery copy-cat works in defense of the institution of slavery. Stowe’s father was the famed Congregational minister Lyman Beecher and her brother, Henry Ward Beecher, was also a famous preacher and reformer. In 1824, she attended her sister Catherine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary, which exposed young women to many of the same courses available in men’s academies. Stowe became a teacher, working from 1829 to 1832 at the Seminary.
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote numerous articles, some of which were published in the renowned women’s magazine of the times, Godey’s Lady’s Book. She also wrote 30 books, covering a wide range of topics from homemaking to religion, as well as several novels. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which legally compelled Northerners to return runaway slaves, infuriated Stowe, and many in the North. She subsequently authored her most famous work, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Originally serialized in the National Era, Stowe saw her tale as a call to arms for Northerners to defy the Fugitive Slave Act. It was released as a book in 1852 and later performed on stage and translated into dozens of languages. Stowe used her fame to petition to end slavery. She toured nationally and internationally, speaking about her book, and donating some of what she earned to help the antislavery cause.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1852-1856
date made
1852
distributor
Horace Thayer & Co.
originator of scene
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
maker
E.C. Kellogg and Company
ID Number
DL.60.2332
catalog number
60.2332
accession number
228146
Black & white print; full length portrait of a black man in elaborate robes and crown, standing in front of a throne. (Faustin 1st, Emperor of Haiti).Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black & white print; full length portrait of a black man in elaborate robes and crown, standing in front of a throne. (Faustin 1st, Emperor of Haiti).
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1852
depicted
Soulouque, Faustin-Elie
maker
Lacombe, Theodore
Grozelier, Leopold
original artist
Hartmann, Adam
ID Number
DL.60.3119
catalog number
60.3119
accession number
228146
Black and white print of five men (Martin and John Van Buren, Zachary Taylor, Louis Cass, and Edwin Croswell) and the "Goddess of Liberty" (with her Liberty cap on a pole) standing around a coffin in graveyard eulogising Silas Wright.
Description (Brief)
Black and white print of five men (Martin and John Van Buren, Zachary Taylor, Louis Cass, and Edwin Croswell) and the "Goddess of Liberty" (with her Liberty cap on a pole) standing around a coffin in graveyard eulogising Silas Wright. Martin Van Buren is leaning on a tombstone incribed dates and with his name as well as that of Washington, Jefferson, and Jackson. In the middle of the scene is a large sow with head of a black woman labeled "Federal Pap" and four piglets with human heads identified below the image as "Propaganda, Corning {Erastus Corning}, Dickinson {Daniel S. Dickinson}, and Foster {Henry A. Foster.}" The last three were all prominent Hunkers and in the dialog they are planning the defeat of Wright and Van Buren. In the background is a wolf. Additional dialog and phrases appear on the print. While the print is untitled, below the image is a three line quotation from an antislavery speech given by Daniel Washburn in Utica, New York on June 22, 1848 following the nomination of Lewis M. Cass by the Democratic National Canvention in Baltimore on May 22.
This print is in reference to the Election of 1848. Prior to the election, prominent Democratic politician, Silas Wright, who was thought to be a prime candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, unexpectedly passed away after losing his bid for reelection in the New York gubernatorial election. In this print, five men, Martin and John Van Buren, Zachery Taylor, Louis, Cass, and Edwin Caswell, and the “Goddess of Liberty” (with her liberty cap on a pole) are standing around Wright’s coffin eulogizing him. . Martin Van Buren is leaning on a tombstone inscribed dates and with his name as well as that of Washington, Jefferson, and Jackson. In the middle of the scene is a large sow with head of a black woman labeled "Federal Pap," and four piglets with human heads identified below the image as "Corning {Erastus Corning}, Dickinson {Daniel S. Dickinson}, and Foster {Henry A. Foster.}" Those men were all prominent Hunkers, and in the dialog they speak to how they plan to defeat Wright and Van Buren. Wright was part of the radical Barnburner faction of the Democratic Party, and his loss of the governorship was attributed to the lack of support amongst the conservative Hunker faction of the party. While the print is untitled, below the image is a three line quotation from an antislavery speech given by Daniel Washburn in Utica, New York on June 22, 1848 following the nomination of Lewis M. Cass at the Democratic National Convention in Baltimore.
The artist of this print is Peter Smith, who according to Harry T. Peters, is most likely a pseudonym for Nathaniel Currier (1813-1888). Currier was a well-known lithographer and one half of the iconic printmaking firm, Currier and Ives that operated in New York City from 1835 to 1907. This firm was very successful, and known for their cheap and colorful prints that were easily accessible to common people Currier likely used this pseudonym to publish his opinionated political prints to distance them from his business and guarantee that profits would not be impacted by his political stance.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1848
depicted
Van Buren, Martin
Taylor, Zachary
Van Buren, John
Cass, Lewis
Croswell, Edwin
depicted (in caricature)
Corning, Erastus
Dickinson, Daniel Stevens
Foster, Henry A.
maker
Smith, Peter
ID Number
DL.60.3354
catalog number
60.3354

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