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.

date made
1952
SS United States built and launched
1952
naval architect of SS United States
Gibbs, William Francis
painter
Wendell, Raymond John
ID Number
TR.336767.162
catalog number
336767.162
accession number
1978.2219
date made
1952
SS United States built and launched
1952
naval architect of SS United States
Gibbs, William Francis
painter
Wendell, Raymond John
ID Number
TR.336767.161
catalog number
336767.161
accession number
1978.2219
date made
1952
SS United States built and launched
1952
naval architect of SS United States
Gibbs, William Francis
painter
Wendell, Raymond John
ID Number
TR.336767.157
catalog number
336767.157
accession number
1978.2219
In the center, the American clipper ship Coeur de Lion sails from left to right in the standard pose of the classic portrait of a ship entering port. The main and topsails are set, except for the mizzen mainsail, which is furled to air the spanker (for steerage).
Description
In the center, the American clipper ship Coeur de Lion sails from left to right in the standard pose of the classic portrait of a ship entering port. The main and topsails are set, except for the mizzen mainsail, which is furled to air the spanker (for steerage). At the ship’s head flies the inner jib; all other sails are either furled or being taken in. House, signal, and American flags fly from all three masts and the spanker gaff. Six crew are visible on deck; whimsically, one is waving to the artist (or viewer) from his post amidships. In the left foreground, a small, two-masted Chinese boat approaches Coeur de Lion; in the background is the port of Hong Kong. Numerous Western sailing vessels and steamships are anchored at port in the background.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
TR.309517
catalog number
309517
accession number
103202
date made
1952
SS United States built and launched
1952
naval architect of SS United States
Gibbs, William Francis
painter
Wendell, Raymond John
ID Number
TR.336767.155
catalog number
336767.155
accession number
1978.2219
"The Battle of the Sewing Machines" was composed and arranged by F. Hyde for the piano, and was published in 1874 by Wm. A. Pond & Co. of 547 Broadway, N.Y., N.Y. The lithograph by R. Teller of 120 Wooster St., N.Y., N.Y., illustrates a "battle" of sewing machines.
Description
"The Battle of the Sewing Machines" was composed and arranged by F. Hyde for the piano, and was published in 1874 by Wm. A. Pond & Co. of 547 Broadway, N.Y., N.Y. The lithograph by R. Teller of 120 Wooster St., N.Y., N.Y., illustrates a "battle" of sewing machines. The Remington "army" is marching towards the fleeing Singer, Howe, Succor, Weed, and Willcox & Gibbs sewing machines. The soldiers are riding the Remington treadle machines like horses and are carrying Remington rifles. The Remington No. 2 sewing machine had just come out to market in June 1874. The family treadle machine with a drop-leaf table and two drawers would have cost $75.00.
On the top left of the sheet music, a woman is pictured sewing on a Remington machine in the Remington office at Madison Square, New York. In the right box is featured the Remington Works of Ilion, N.Y. The music consists of 11 pages, with such subtitles as: "Howe the battle began"; "Advent of all the best machines"; "Song of the Sewing Machine Man: 'How Can I Leave Thee'"; "Triumph of the Remington Sewing Machine," and "Home Sweet Home."
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1874
referenced
Remington Sewing Machine Company
composer
Hyde, F.
publisher
William A. Pond & Co.
lithographer
Teller, R.
ID Number
1991.0130.01
catalog number
1991.0130.01
accession number
1991.0130
A masterpiece of craftsmanship, this ornate model was built by Leonard Roth, a Philadelphia shoemaker, and took ten years to complete.The house represents the French Second Empire style, which was popular in America from the 1860s to 1880s.
Description
A masterpiece of craftsmanship, this ornate model was built by Leonard Roth, a Philadelphia shoemaker, and took ten years to complete.
The house represents the French Second Empire style, which was popular in America from the 1860s to 1880s. It features a double spiral staircase, elaborate gingerbread trim, and mansard roof. With meticulous attention to detail, Roth outfitted the house with windows, a doorbell, and gaslights that actually worked.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
DL.60.0281
catalog number
60.0281
accession number
226177
date made
1952
SS United States built and launched
1952
naval architect of SS United States
Gibbs, William Francis
painter
Wendell, Raymond John
ID Number
TR.336767.163
catalog number
336767.163
accession number
1978.2219
date made
1952
SS United States built and launched
1952
naval architect of SS United States
Gibbs, William Francis
painter
Wendell, Raymond John
ID Number
TR.336767.156
catalog number
336767.156
accession number
1978.2219
date made
1952
SS United States built and launched
1952
naval architect of SS United States
Gibbs, William Francis
painter
Wendell, Raymond John
ID Number
TR.336767.160
catalog number
336767.160
accession number
1978.2219
date made
1952
SS United States built and launched
1952
naval architect of SS United States
Gibbs, William Francis
painter
Wendell, Raymond John
ID Number
TR.336767.158
catalog number
336767.158
accession number
1978.2219
Thousands of homes were obliterated by the effects of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. One of those homes stood at 2005 Lizardi Street in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans.
Description
Thousands of homes were obliterated by the effects of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. One of those homes stood at 2005 Lizardi Street in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. This mailbox is all that remained, except for the front steps and a field of debris.
The hand-painted green flowers and butterflies on this mailbox, and the carefully lettered name and address of the Alexander family, evoke the domestic serenity that was shattered by Katrina's waters. Inside the mailbox a thick layer of dried mud recalled the wall of water that washed over this neighborhood August 29, 2005, when everything in its path was either submerged or destroyed.
The Lower Ninth Ward was a victim of the over-burdened Industrial Canal, whose concrete flood walls collapsed beneath the weight and force of the water. Further afield, a manmade navigation canal, the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet ("Mr. Go"), offered a short cut not only to ships leaving the Gulf headed for New Orleans but for storm water moving inland from the Gulf. It was this water that in large part flooded the Industrial Canal and devastated the Lower Ninth Ward.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
Associated Date
2005-08-2005-09
ID Number
2006.3059.01
nonaccession number
2006.3059
catalog number
2006.3059.01
Electricity pioneer Lewis Latimer drew this component of an arc lamp, an early type of electric light, for the U.S. Electric Lighting Company in 1880.The son of escaped slaves and a Civil War veteran at age sixteen, Latimer trained himself as a draftsman.
Description
Electricity pioneer Lewis Latimer drew this component of an arc lamp, an early type of electric light, for the U.S. Electric Lighting Company in 1880.
The son of escaped slaves and a Civil War veteran at age sixteen, Latimer trained himself as a draftsman. His technical and artistic skills earned him jobs with Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison, among others. An inventor in his own right, Latimer received numerous patents and was a renowned industry expert on incandescent lighting.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1880-07-25
maker
Latimer, Lewis H.
ID Number
1983.0458.21
accession number
1983.0458
catalog number
1983.0458.21
This lithograph is a bird's-eye view of the Wheeler & Wilson Manufacturing Company, circa 1880. The company maufactured sewing machines in Watertown, N. Y., from 1851 to 1856. In 1856, they relocated to Bridgeport, Conn., where they continued operations until 1905.
Description
This lithograph is a bird's-eye view of the Wheeler & Wilson Manufacturing Company, circa 1880. The company maufactured sewing machines in Watertown, N. Y., from 1851 to 1856. In 1856, they relocated to Bridgeport, Conn., where they continued operations until 1905. In the 1850s and 1860s, their sewing machines outsold all others, including Singer and Howe. Two separate factory buildings are illustrated. The caption under the building on the left notes: "Front 368 ft., Width 307 feet," and the dimensions for the building on the right are noted as "Front 526 ft., Width 219 feet." The lithographers were Worley and Bracher of 320 Chesnut Street in Philadelphia, Penn.
S.I. Photo Negative No.: 92-4215 for both B&W and color slide.
Date made
ca 1880
lithographer
Worley & Bracher
ID Number
1991.0134.01
catalog number
1991.0134.01
accession number
1991.0134
date made
1952
SS United States built and launched
1952
naval architect of SS United States
Gibbs, William Francis
painter
Wendell, Raymond John
ID Number
TR.336767.159
catalog number
336767.159
accession number
1978.2219
These ten painted aluminum panels comprised a wall mural aboard the ocean liner SS United States. Called “The Currents,” the mural depicts the Atlantic Ocean with the direction of the ocean’s currents rendered in stylized, dimensional arrows.
Description
These ten painted aluminum panels comprised a wall mural aboard the ocean liner SS United States. Called “The Currents,” the mural depicts the Atlantic Ocean with the direction of the ocean’s currents rendered in stylized, dimensional arrows. The continents are applied to the panels in gold leaf, while the ocean is painted in various shades of blue and green. Aboard the ship this mural was located on the starboard side of the first class observation lounge. “The Currents” and a companion mural called “The Winds” were painted by artist Raymond John Wendell.
Designed by naval architect William Francis Gibbs, the SS United States was created out of an unusually close connection to the federal government. During the Second World War, the U.S. Navy recognized that converted ocean liners were effective transports for conveying troops to far-flung war zones. After the war ended, the government pursued the building of a technologically advanced passenger vessel that could be converted to carry troops in the event of another global conflict. With significant federal funding and support, the SS United States was built and launched in 1952. Although it was never converted for wartime use, many of its design details remained classified into the 1970s.
One of the most unusual features of the ship was the tremendous amount of aluminum and the lack of wood Gibbs specified for its construction. Determined to build a ship that was not only fast, but ultra-safe, Gibbs was especially concerned with fire prevention after several wartime catastrophes. One that haunted him was the story of the luxury liner RMS Empress of Britain that was attacked by a German bomber while transporting hundreds of soldiers on October 26, 1940. Sixty-four troops were killed in the resulting blaze, which was fueled by the ship’s lavish wood carvings, staircases, and paneled rooms.
Two thousand tons of aluminum were used in the construction and outfitting of the SS United States, making the ship lighter and more fire-resistant than any vessel afloat. The furniture and artwork, including these panels, were all made of aluminum. Publicists for the ship claimed that the only wood on board was to be found in the galley’s chopping blocks and in the piano. Gibbs even tried to reduce this miniscule amount of wood, but Steinway & Sons allegedly refused to build an aluminum piano. To this day, the SS United States is considered the fastest and one of the safest ships ever put to sea.
date made
1952
SS United States built and launched
1952
naval architect of SS United States
Gibbs, William Francis
painter
Wendell, Raymond John
ID Number
TR.336767.154
catalog number
336767.154
accession number
1978.2219
Black and white print depicting four views of life in the California mining business: "Going into it" shows two miners with prospecting gear; "Making Something" shows them discovering gold in a pan; "Making Nothing" depicts them beside a large empty hole; "Going out of it" depict
Description (Brief)
Black and white print depicting four views of life in the California mining business: "Going into it" shows two miners with prospecting gear; "Making Something" shows them discovering gold in a pan; "Making Nothing" depicts them beside a large empty hole; "Going out of it" depicts them walking toward town.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
Britton & Rey
ID Number
DL.60.3878
catalog number
60.3878
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca. 1860
maker
Hart, Charles
publisher
Charles Brothers
ID Number
DL.60.2638
catalog number
60.2638
accession number
228146
Black and white print of a two-story house sit off from the street by an iron fence.
Description (Brief)
Black and white print of a two-story house sit off from the street by an iron fence. There is a fountain in the large front yard, a pump in a lattice enclosure on the side of the house, and a structure (the glassworks?) with a large chimney belching smoke in the backyard.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
Associated Name
Agnew, John
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.60.3711
catalog number
60.3711
This hand-colored allegorical print depicts the course of destruction through drinking in a series of symbols.
Description
This hand-colored allegorical print depicts the course of destruction through drinking in a series of symbols. A train labeled "Alcohol" is stopped at "Drunkard's Curve Station." It has left a tranquil valley and is heading toward doom in a land of evil serpents (as in Eden), skeletons, a vampire bat, and what appears to be a dangerous route to destruction, with fictional station names like "Horrorland," "Maniacville", "Prisonton" and “Woeland." The train runs on grain alcohol with the piston working in a decanter. Numerous travelers who can no longer pay the fare are lying abandoned, sick or passed out along the side of the tracks, while others appear to be looking for ways to escape. Station names bear a cautionary tale of scriptural citations along the left and right borders and below the image is a considerable amount of interpretive text.
This print was created by the artist Emil F. Ackermann, who was born in Dresden, Germany in 1840 and came to the United States in 1848. Ackermann eventually went to work for the lithography firm of J.H. Bufford and Sons, which produced the lithograph in the 1860s. It was issued by the Massachusetts Temperance Alliance and published by S.W. Hanks in his book The Crystal River Turned Upon the Black Valley Railroad and Black Valley Country -- A Temperance Allegory (also known as The Black Valley: The Railroad and the Country). Hanks called the print "probably the most successful temperance lecture in the country." Stedman Wright Hanks (1811-1889) was a Congregational minister in Lowell, Massachusetts, as well as an author, artist, and fervent supporter of both the temperance and anti-slavery movements. Hanks spoke to audiences around the United States about the evils of overindulging in alcohol. In addition to his book about the Black Valley Railroad, his published works included Sailor Boys, or, Light on the Sea and Mutineers of the "Bounty and compiled a temperance song book and served as a representative in the Massachusetts General Court. He is also noted for performing the sermon commemorating John Quincy Adams deathat the St. John Street Congregational Church.
John H. Bufford (1810-1870) started his career in 1835 in New York, working for George Endicott and Nathaniel Currier. In 1840 he moved back to Boston and started his own lithography company. His sons decided to follow their father into the lithography business, and in 1858 John Bufford Jr. (1841-1893) and Frank Gale Bufford (1837-1912) partnered with their father to form the J.H. Bufford & Sons lithography firm. After John H. Bufford's death in 1870 his two sons continued to operate the family firm and changed the name to Bufford Sons.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1863
date made
ca. 1863
copyright holder
Hanks, S. W.
maker
J. H. Bufford and Sons
ID Number
DL.60.2891
catalog number
60.2891
accession number
228146
Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater w
Description
Sentimental genre prints documented the social image of Victorian virtue through domestic scenes of courtship, family, home life, and images of the “genteel female.” Children are depicted studying nature or caring for their obedient pets as they learn their place in the greater world. Romantic scenes picture devoted husbands with their contented, dutiful wives. In these prints, young women educated in reading, music, needlework, the arts, the language of flowers, basic math and science are subjugated to their family’s needs.
These prints became popular as lithography was introduced to 19th Century Americans. As a new art form, it was affordable for the masses and provided a means to share visual information by crossing the barriers of race, class and language. Sentimental prints encouraged the artistic endeavors of schoolgirls and promoted the ambitions of amateur artists, while serving as both moral instruction and home or business decoration. They are a pictorial record of our romanticized past.
This hand colored print is a full length portrait of a young woman leaning on an oar. She is wearing a blue sash with fringe, blue slippers, a chain and anchor around her waist, a net on her hair and an apron with a striped underskirt. In the background is the shoreline with a boat, trees and a house with gothic windows.
Kellogg & Bulkeley was the lithography firm formed from the partnership between Elijah Chapman Kellogg, Edmund Burke Kellogg and William Henry Bulkeley. The firm was formed in 1867, and shortly after both Elijah Chapman Kellogg and his brother Edmund Burke Chapman retired. After their retirement the only Kellogg remaining in the business was Edmund’s son Charles Kellogg. By1871 the partnership between the Kellogg family and Bulkeley had been reorganized as an incorporated stock company. The company came to an end when is merged with Case, Lockwood, & Brainard to become Connecticut Printers in 1947. Connecticut Printers remained open until 1990 when the Kellogg lithography firm finally ended after 160 years.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1860
maker
Kellogg & Bulkeley
ID Number
DL.60.2255
catalog number
60.2255
accession number
228146
Capitalizing on the success of Civil War-related artwork during the 1880s and 90s, the Chicago-based printmakers Louis Kurz and Alexander Allison published a series of 36 battle scenes commemorating famous engagements of the war.
Description
Capitalizing on the success of Civil War-related artwork during the 1880s and 90s, the Chicago-based printmakers Louis Kurz and Alexander Allison published a series of 36 battle scenes commemorating famous engagements of the war. All displayed idealized, panoramic representations of the battles with statistics of the killed and wounded below each image. Kurz and Allison did not consult photography or Civil War historians when designing their prints, instead relying on Kurz’s own first-hand experience as a soldier during the conflict. They included historical inaccuracies and eschewed aesthetic realism to remain true to earlier, pre-photographic lithographic traditions, which preferred bold graphics, black outlines, and figures performing grand, exaggerated gestures.
This 1888 chromolithograph commemorates the 25th anniversary of the surrender of Vicksburg, which took place on July 4, 1863 after a 47-day siege by Union forces commanded by General Grant. Vicksburg was the last major Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, and its capture gave the Union control over the waterway, splitting the Confederacy in two. The Union victory at Vicksburg and General Lee’s surrender at Gettysburg on the same day are often considered the two most important turning points of the war. In this print, Union soldiers are stationed behind barricades at the base of a hill, looking up at entrenched Confederate troops. Artillery fire from ships commanded by Admiral Porter fall upon the Confederate positions. The Admiral’s ships are visible in the background on the right, sailing down the Mississippi. Grant, in the lower right, uses a telescope to survey the battle. An officer to his left guides his attention to a clump of trees, from which a group of Confederate soldiers are emerging, waving a white flag of surrender.
Louis Kurz was a mural and scene painter before the Civil War, explaining the mural-like format of the images. His illustrations also appear to have been inspired by cycloramas, which were popular at the time, such as Paul Philippoteaux’s Gettysburg Cyclorama. Kurz was an Austrian immigrant who settled in Chicago during the 1850s, where he formed a partnership with Henry Seifert of Milwaukee. He later fought for the Union Army during the Civil War. After the conflict, he co-founded the Chicago Lithographic Company. When the company’s assets were destroyed during the Chicago Fire of 1871, Kurz started a new business with his partner, financial backer, and business manager, Alexander Allison.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1888
depicted
Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson)
maker
Kurz & Allison-Art Studio
ID Number
DL.60.2625
catalog number
60.2625
accession number
228146
Color print of eleven uniformed firemen pulling a fire pumper out of a garage, while another holds the door open. Two push the engine while a fourth runs to join them. A man with a torch leads them. The firemen are volunteers belonging to the Excelsior Company No.
Description (Brief)
Color print of eleven uniformed firemen pulling a fire pumper out of a garage, while another holds the door open. Two push the engine while a fourth runs to join them. A man with a torch leads them. The firemen are volunteers belonging to the Excelsior Company No. 2 on Henry Street, New York City. Among the firemen pictured are Nathaniel Currier, James M. Ives, George B. Ives, and Daniel Logan. The print was the first of four in the series "The Life of a Fireman" produced by Currier & Ives staff artist Louis Maurer.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1854
depicted
Currier, Nathaniel
Ives, James Merritt
Ives, George B.
Logan, Daniel
maker
Currier, Nathaniel
lithographer
Maurer, Louis
ID Number
DL.60.3237
catalog number
60.3237
In 19th-century New York City, rising rent rates often led families to search out more economically suitable dwellings.
Description
In 19th-century New York City, rising rent rates often led families to search out more economically suitable dwellings. All leases across the city expired simultaneously on May 1st, so on that day, thousands of people would chaotically scramble across town to their new residences with all of their belongings. This 1865 print from the New-York-based Kimmel and Forster satirizes this New York City Moving Day tradition to poke fun at Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, who are depicted leaving Richmond, Virginia after the defeat of the Confederacy. Lee holds several swords and a rifle as he stands next to a cart marked “C.S.A.,” hitched to two emaciated dogs. Davis walks out from a run-down house, struggling towards the cart with boxes labeled with the names of the Confederate States, which ultimately fall from his grip. Another dog near the cart urinates on a crate branded “C.S.A. Treasury.” A new label placed on the crate, however, describes these worthless bills as “Waste Paper” as the Confederate government at that point was supposedly bankrupt. Two white men and a boy watch these events. Two black men stand next to the house look on as well, one making a mocking gesture by putting his thumb up against his nose. In reality, Davis, fearing capture by Union forces, had already fled Richmond in early April.
In a copy of the print housed at the Library of Congress, the white man in the lower right hand corner is identified as General Stonewall Jackson, as the man’s right arm is not visible and Jackson’s was amputated after he was mistakenly fired upon by friendly troops. Jackson lost his left arm, however, and died shortly after the amputation in May 1863, two years before the alleged moving day.
The print was produced by the lithography firm of Kimmel & Forster. 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 Kimmel & Forster, which was active until 1871.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1865
copyright holder; publisher
H & W Voight
depicted (sitter)
Davis, Jefferson
Lee, Robert E.
maker
Kimmel and Forster
ID Number
DL.60.3463
catalog number
60.3463

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