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.

Thomas Sinclair (ca 1805-1881) of Philadelphia produced this chromolithographic print of "Phalacrocorax brasilianus [GM]" or Neotropic cormorant, from an original illustration by William Dreser (ca 1820, fl. 1849-1860).
Description (Brief)
Thomas Sinclair (ca 1805-1881) of Philadelphia produced this chromolithographic print of "Phalacrocorax brasilianus [GM]" or Neotropic cormorant, from an original illustration by William Dreser (ca 1820, fl. 1849-1860). The image was published as Plate XXVIII in Volume 2, following page 204 of Appendix F (Zoology-Birds) by John Cassin (1813-1869) in the report describing "The U.S. Naval Astronomical Expedition to the Southern Hemisphere during the Years 1849, 1850, 1851, and 1852" by James M. Gillis (1811-1865). The volume was printed in 1855 by A. O. P. Nicholson (1808-1876) of Washington, D.C.
Location
Currently not on view
date of book publication
1855
graphic artist
Sinclair, Thomas
original artist
Dreser, William
publisher
United States Navy
printer
Nicholson, A. O. P.
author
Cassin, John
Gilliss, James Melville
ID Number
2008.0175.02
accession number
2008.0175
catalog number
2008.0175.02
Black and white print; half length portrait of a man (R. Walsh Jr.) with his head resting on his hand and his elbow resting on an open book.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white print; half length portrait of a man (R. Walsh Jr.) with his head resting on his hand and his elbow resting on an open book.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
Sully, Thomas
Childs, Cephas Grier
ID Number
DL.60.3135
catalog number
60.3135
accession number
228146
Color print of a large panoramic view of Philadelphia. The New Jersey shore is in the foreground. A key identifies aspects of the view. Three small vignettes, below the main image above the title, are of the State House, Old Courthouse and Friends Meeting House, and the prison.
Description (Brief)
Color print of a large panoramic view of Philadelphia. The New Jersey shore is in the foreground. A key identifies aspects of the view. Three small vignettes, below the main image above the title, are of the State House, Old Courthouse and Friends Meeting House, and the prison.
Date made
1875
maker
Wade, F. J.
ID Number
DL.60.3752
catalog number
60.3752
Color print of the steamship "New Jersey" in flames. Passengers are jumping off the ship and many are already in the water. The names of all on board are listed below the image in groupings: the dead {31}, the missing {30}, the saved {46}.
Description (Brief)
Color print of the steamship "New Jersey" in flames. Passengers are jumping off the ship and many are already in the water. The names of all on board are listed below the image in groupings: the dead {31}, the missing {30}, the saved {46}.
Date made
1856
maker
Pharazyn, A.
ID Number
DL.60.3301
catalog number
60.3301
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
maker
Macbeth-Evans Glass Company
ID Number
CE.888
catalog number
888
accession number
58571
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
maker
Macbeth-Evans Glass Company
ID Number
CE.903
catalog number
903
accession number
58571
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c. 1875-1900
c.1875-1900
maker
Gillinder & Sons
ID Number
1986.0446.0070
accession number
1986.0446
catalog number
1986.446.70
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
maker
Macbeth-Evans Glass Company
ID Number
CE.900
catalog number
900
accession number
58571
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
est. 1899
1914-1915
maker
Macbeth-Evans Glass Company
ID Number
CE.891
catalog number
891
accession number
58571
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
maker
Macbeth-Evans Glass Company
ID Number
CE.909
catalog number
909
accession number
58571
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1886
graphic artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.14453.01
accession number
94830
catalog number
14453.01
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
18th century
ID Number
CL.65.1158
accession number
256396
catalog number
65.1158
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1763
ID Number
CL.65.1142
catalog number
65.1142
accession number
256396
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1748
ID Number
CL.65.1139
accession number
256396
catalog number
65.1139
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
est. 1899
1914-1915
maker
Macbeth-Evans Glass Company
ID Number
CE.809
catalog number
809
accession number
58456
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1877
graphic artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.14427.01
accession number
94830
catalog number
14427.01
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1812
ID Number
CL.65.1157
accession number
256396
catalog number
65.1157
Black and white print; bust portrait of a man (William Bradford Reed). Facsimile of sitter's signature is below the image.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white print; bust portrait of a man (William Bradford Reed). Facsimile of sitter's signature is below the image.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1855
depicted
Reed, William Bradford
maker
Wagner & McGuigan
Traubel, Morris H.
ID Number
DL.60.3128
catalog number
60.3128
accession number
228146
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1914
est. 1899
ID Number
CE.240
catalog number
240
accession number
57114
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c. 1850-1870
c. 1860-70
ID Number
CE.383811
catalog number
383811
accession number
170852
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1831
depicted (sitter)
Marshall, John
designer
Newsam, Albert
original artist
Inman, Henry
ID Number
2014.0250.45
accession number
2014.0250
catalog number
2014.0250.45
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
maker
Macbeth-Evans Glass Company
ID Number
CE.915
catalog number
915
accession number
58571
This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image of "Pleiodus strigirostris" (now Didunculus strigirostris - Tooth-billed Pigeon or Samoan Pigeon) for the publication "United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842," Volume 8, Mammalo
Description (Brief)
This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image of "Pleiodus strigirostris" (now Didunculus strigirostris - Tooth-billed Pigeon or Samoan Pigeon) for the publication "United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842," Volume 8, Mammalogy and Ornithology, plate 34, in the edition Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1858. The engraving was produced by W. H. Dougal after T. R. Peale.
Description
William H. Dougal (1822–1895) of New York and Washington, D.C., (after 1844) engraved this copper printing plate after a drawing by Expedition Naturalist Titian Ramsey Peale. The image depicts the Pleiodus strigirostris (now Didunculus strigirostris, Tooth billed pigeon or Samoan Pigeon). The engraved illustration was published as Plate 34 in Volume VIII, Mammalogy and Ornithology, by John Cassin, 1858.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1858
publisher
Wilkes, Charles
original artist
Peale, Titian Ramsay
graphic artist
Dougal, William H.
printer
Sherman, Conger
author
Cassin, John
ID Number
1999.0145.414
catalog number
1999.0145.414
accession number
1999.0145
Beneath the image in the plate, left: "S J Ferris aquaforti 1879"; right, "J L Gerome Pinxt". In pencil, bottom right: "Earliest proof from plate J L G Fr" and "S J Ferris". There are three impressions in the collection. Printed on chine colle.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Beneath the image in the plate, left: "S J Ferris aquaforti 1879"; right, "J L Gerome Pinxt". In pencil, bottom right: "Earliest proof from plate J L G Fr" and "S J Ferris". There are three impressions in the collection. Printed on chine colle.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1879
original artist
Gerome, Jean Leon
graphic artist
Ferris, Stephen James
ID Number
GA.14517.03
catalog number
14517.03
accession number
94830

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