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
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
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
1877
graphic artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.14427.01
accession number
94830
catalog number
14427.01
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
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
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
Joseph H. Brightly (about 1818–about 1858) of Philadelphia and New York City engraved this printing block after the drawing Kasanji, a native of Kasanji, by Expedition Artist Alfred T. Agate. The wood engraving illustration was published on page 63 of Volume I of the U.S.
Description
Joseph H. Brightly (about 1818–about 1858) of Philadelphia and New York City engraved this printing block after the drawing Kasanji, a native of Kasanji, by Expedition Artist Alfred T. Agate. The wood engraving illustration was published on page 63 of Volume I of the U.S. Exploring Expedition Narrative by Charles Wilkes, 1844.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1844
ca 1844
publisher
Wilkes, Charles
printer
Sherman, Conger
author
Wilkes, Charles
original artist
Agate, A. T.
graphic artist
Brightly, Joseph H.
ID Number
1999.0145.038
accession number
1999.0145
catalog number
1999.0145.038
accession number
1999.0145
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c. 1874
graphic artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
original artist
Fortuny y Carbo, Mariano
ID Number
GA.14429
accession number
94830
catalog number
14429
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
=1886
1886
graphic artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
original artist
Ferris, Stephen James
ID Number
GA.14461
accession number
94830
catalog number
14461
Joseph H. Brightly (about 1818–about 1858) of Philadelphia and New York City engraved this printing block after a drawing of Patagonians by Expedition Artist Alfred T. Agate. The wood engraving illustration was published on page 118 of Volume I of the U.S.
Description
Joseph H. Brightly (about 1818–about 1858) of Philadelphia and New York City engraved this printing block after a drawing of Patagonians by Expedition Artist Alfred T. Agate. The wood engraving illustration was published on page 118 of Volume I of the U.S. Exploring Expedition Narrative by Charles Wilkes, 1844.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1844
ca 1844
publisher
Wilkes, Charles
printer
Sherman, Conger
author
Wilkes, Charles
original artist
Agate, A. T.
graphic artist
Brightly, Joseph H.
Manning, J. H.
ID Number
1999.0145.055
accession number
1999.0145
catalog number
1999.0145.055
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1880
graphic artist
Ferris, Stephen James
ID Number
GA.14467.01
accession number
94830
catalog number
14467.01
Color print of three men seated around a campfire while a fourth man tends donkeys. Rocky hill formations in the background. Plate from "U.S.P.R.R. Exp. & Surveys, 35th Parellel."Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Color print of three men seated around a campfire while a fourth man tends donkeys. Rocky hill formations in the background. Plate from "U.S.P.R.R. Exp. & Surveys, 35th Parellel."
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
Sinclair, Thomas
artist
Tidball, J. C.
ID Number
DL.60.3868
catalog number
60.3868
Sixteen-year-old Gerome Ferris etched this print in 1879 after his own painting of the dying Christopher Columbus, 1506 Last Days of C. Columbus at Vallodolid.
Description
Sixteen-year-old Gerome Ferris etched this print in 1879 after his own painting of the dying Christopher Columbus, 1506 Last Days of C. Columbus at Vallodolid. The current location of the painting is unknown, but the choice of topic anticipates Gerome’s future as a history painter, focusing on American narrative subjects.
After death, Christopher Columbus’s journeys were not over. His remains traveled from Vallodolid to Seville and in 1542 were taken to the island of Hispaniola, now Haiti and the Dominican Republic, colonized by Columbus after 1492. After a move to Havana, Cuba, they returned to Seville cathedral in 1898 where they are today.
The etching was printed on chine-collé, a very thin sheet of paper that accepts the image in passing through the press with a heavier sheet of backing paper to which is it glued during the printing.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1879
graphic artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.14450
accession number
94830
catalog number
14450
This engraved wood block was used to print an image in the publication "Narrative of the U.S. Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842," 1844, Volume 2, page 196. The image was drawn by A. T. Agate. It was engraved by R. H.
Description (Brief)
This engraved wood block was used to print an image in the publication "Narrative of the U.S. Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842," 1844, Volume 2, page 196. The image was drawn by A. T. Agate. It was engraved by R. H. Pease, and originally printed by C. Sherman of Philadelphia in 1844.
Description
Richard H. Pease (1813–1869) engraved this printing block after a drawing, Native of Australia, by Expedition Artist Alfred T. Agate. The wood engraving illustration was published on page 196 of Volume II of the U.S. Exploring Expedition Narrative by Charles Wilkes, 1844.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1844
ca 1844
publisher
Wilkes, Charles
graphic artist
Pease, Richard H.
original artist
Agate, A. T.
printer
Sherman, Conger
author
Wilkes, Charles
ID Number
1999.0145.113
accession number
1999.0145
catalog number
1999.0145.113
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1903
graphic artist
Ferris, Stephen James
ID Number
GA.14409.01
catalog number
14409.01
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1870
1879
graphic artist
Ferris, Stephen James
ID Number
GA.14399.01
accession number
94830
catalog number
14399.01
This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image of "Scolopax meridionalis, Zapornia umbrina" (now Galinago shicklandii - Cordilleran snipe and Porzana porzana - Spotted Crake) for the publication "United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840,
Description (Brief)
This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image of "Scolopax meridionalis, Zapornia umbrina" (now Galinago shicklandii - Cordilleran snipe and Porzana porzana - Spotted Crake) for the publication "United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842," Volume 8, Mammalogy and Ornithology, plate 35, in the edition Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1858. The engraving was produced by W. H. Dougal after W. E. Hitchcock.
Description
William H. Dougal (1822–1895) of New York and Washington, D.C. (after 1844) engraved this copper printing plate after drawings by William E. Hitchcock. The image depicts the Scolopax meridionalis (now Galinago shicklandii, or Cordilleran snipe) and Zapornia umbrina (now Porzana porzana, or Spotted Crake). The engraved illustration was published as Plate 35 in Volume VIII, Mammalogy and Ornithology, by John Cassin, 1858.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1858
publisher
Wilkes, Charles
original artist
Hitchcock, W. E.
graphic artist
Dougal, William H.
printer
Sherman, Conger
author
Cassin, John
maker
Peale, Titian Ramsay
ID Number
1999.0145.415
catalog number
1999.0145.415
accession number
1999.0145
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
last quarter 1800s
graphic artist
Ferris, Stephen James
original artist
Meissonier, Jean Louis Ernest
ID Number
GA.14486
accession number
94830
catalog number
14486
The signed ink drawing was made after Mariano Fortuny’s painting El Musico Arab.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
The signed ink drawing was made after Mariano Fortuny’s painting El Musico Arab.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1879
graphic artist
Ferris, Stephen James
original artist
Fortuny y Carbo, Mariano
ID Number
GA.16617
catalog number
16617
accession number
119780

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