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.

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1937
maker
Kloss, Gene
ID Number
GA.19276
catalog number
19276
accession number
170056
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
nineteenth century
original artist
Allori, Cristofano
graphic artist
Lasinio, Giovanni Paolo
ID Number
GA.14233.29
accession number
94830
catalog number
14233.29
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1774
artist attribution
Velazquez, Diego Rodriguez de Silva y
engraver
Green, Valentine
delineator
Farington, George
ID Number
GA.20769
catalog number
20769
accession number
226630
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
nineteenth century
original artist
Veit, Philipp
graphic artist
Ludy, Friedrich August
ID Number
GA.14233.45
accession number
94830
catalog number
14233.45
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1867
graphic artist
Henriquel-Dupont, Louis Pierre
original artist
Correggio
publisher
Goupil & Cie.
ID Number
GA.15453
catalog number
15453
accession number
94830
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
nineteenth century
original artist
Le Sueur, Eustache
graphic artist
Morelli, Stanislao
ID Number
GA.14233.27
accession number
94830
catalog number
14233.27
Charcoal sketch on paper of German dugouts and shelters built on the side of a hill near Varennes, France. Shell-torn buildings are visible at the top of the hill at center. Railroad tracks run next to the hill at right.
Description
Charcoal sketch on paper of German dugouts and shelters built on the side of a hill near Varennes, France. Shell-torn buildings are visible at the top of the hill at center. Railroad tracks run next to the hill at right. On the left at the top of a set of stairs is apparently a makeshift cemetery with several crosses for gravestones. People can be seen walking among the various shelters and dugouts on the hill.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1918-10
associated date
1917 - 1918
associated person
War Department
Peixotto, Ernest Clifford
artist
Peixotto, Ernest Clifford
ID Number
AF.25834
catalog number
25834
accession number
64592
Mezzotint after painting by Rembrandt once in the Gallery at Houghton Hall, Norfolk, England. Now in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Print removed from George P. Marsh’s copy of The Houghton Gallery, vol. 2.
Description
Mezzotint after painting by Rembrandt once in the Gallery at Houghton Hall, Norfolk, England. Now in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Print removed from George P. Marsh’s copy of The Houghton Gallery, vol. 2. Marsh probably wrote the numeral 33 in pencil in the lower right margin. Notation on mounting sheet indicates the print was taken out for framing in 1894. SI Secretary's Library stamp embossed in lower left margin.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1781
original artist
Rembrandt van Rijn
publisher
Boydell, John
engraver
Murphy, John
ID Number
1978.0534.03.35
accession number
1978.0534
catalog number
1978.0534.03.35
Mezzotint after original painting by Giulio Cesare Procaccini (once attributed to his brother Camillo Procaccini), formerly at Houghton Hall, Norfolk,England. Current location of the original is State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Print tipped onto sheet bound in George P.
Description
Mezzotint after original painting by Giulio Cesare Procaccini (once attributed to his brother Camillo Procaccini), formerly at Houghton Hall, Norfolk,England. Current location of the original is State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Print tipped onto sheet bound in George P. Marsh's copy of The Houghton Gallery, vol. 1.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1775
artist attribution
Procaccini, Camillo
delineator
Boydell, Josiah
engraver
Green, Valentine
publisher
Boydell, John
original artist
Procaccini, Giulio Cesare
ID Number
1978.0534.02.36
catalog number
1978.0534.02.36
accession number
1978.0534
Weather forecasting, like air traffic controlling, can at times be an unnerving occupation.
Description
Weather forecasting, like air traffic controlling, can at times be an unnerving occupation. Dramatic changes in weather patterns have the potential to affect millions of people, as do warnings issued by the National Weather Service, an arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Robert Ricks, chief NWS forecaster on duty at the Slidell, Louisiana weather station the morning of August 28, studied the computer maps of Hurricane Katrina's movement across the Gulf of Mexico. At 10:11 that morning, he quickly composed an urgent and unambiguous weather alert, what became the most accurate prediction of Katrina's impact. "A MOST POWERFUL HURRICANE WITH UNPRECEDENTED STRENGTH . . ." it began. "MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS . . . PERHAPS LONGER . . . ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL . . . ALL WOOD-FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED . . . WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS . . . NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED . . . LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE KILLED . . . "
To comfort him during his forecasting assignment that day, and in the chaotic days immediately after, Ricks carried this Catholic rosary given to him by his grandmother. He later donated it to the Smithsonian as a symbol of his own perilous journey through the arms of Hurricane Katrina.
Location
Currently not on view
Associated Date
August - September 2005
user
Ricks, Robert
referenced
National Weather Service
ID Number
2006.0220.01
accession number
2006.0220
catalog number
2006.0220.01
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
GA.15745.06
catalog number
15745.06
accession number
94830
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
engraver
Rembrandt van Rijn
ID Number
GA.01459
catalog number
01459
accession number
20802
Title attribution from the British Museum online catalogue. Signed in the plate " DvB in." [invenit]. Vinckboons's original drawing is in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg.Currently not on view
Description
Title attribution from the British Museum online catalogue. Signed in the plate " DvB in." [invenit]. Vinckboons's original drawing is in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
17th century
graphic artist
Visscher, Nicolaes Jansz
original artist
Vinckboons, David
ID Number
1978.0534.05
accession number
1978.0534
catalog number
1978.0534.05
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
original artist
unknown
graphic artist
unknown
ID Number
GA.14233.30
accession number
94830
catalog number
14233.30
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
nineteenth century
original artist
Overbeck, Johann Friedrich
publisher
Dopter
graphic artist
unknown
ID Number
GA.14233.16
accession number
94830
catalog number
14233.16
Engraving after painting formerly attributed to Eustache Le Sueur once in the Salon at Houghton Hall, Norfolk, England. Now in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, attributed provisionally to Thomas Gousse. Print removed from George P.
Description
Engraving after painting formerly attributed to Eustache Le Sueur once in the Salon at Houghton Hall, Norfolk, England. Now in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, attributed provisionally to Thomas Gousse. Print removed from George P. Marsh’s copy of The Houghton Gallery, vol. 2.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1773
maker
A. B. & W. Transit Company
artist attribution
Le Sueur, Eustache
publisher
Boydell, John
engraver
Aliamet, Francois Germain
ID Number
1978.0534.03.40
accession number
1978.0534
catalog number
1978.0534.03.40
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1924
Artist
Miller, Benjamin
Associated Name
Bernard, Allen W.
maker
Miller, Benjamin
ID Number
2016.0084.014
accession number
2016.0084
catalog number
2016.0084.014
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
GA.01146
catalog number
01146
accession number
20593
Line engraving from original painting by Salvator Rosa once in the Gallery at Houghton, now in State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Print tipped onto sheet bound in George P. Marsh’s copy of The Houghton Gallery, vol.
Description
Line engraving from original painting by Salvator Rosa once in the Gallery at Houghton, now in State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Print tipped onto sheet bound in George P. Marsh’s copy of The Houghton Gallery, vol. 1.This is the smaller of two engravings after Rosa's painting included in the Houghton Gallery set; it was delineated by Richard Earlom and engraved by J. B. Michel.
Claiming that this print in volume one was “too small for such a capital picture,” the publisher introduced another larger version for volume two, also delineated by Earlom but engraved by Simon Ravenet. It had first appeared in Boydell’s series, A Collection of Prints Engraved after the Most Capital Paintings in England, begun in 1769.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1775
publisher
Boydell, John
delineator
Earlom, Richard
engraver
Michel, Jean Baptiste
original artist
Rosa, Salvator
ID Number
1978.0534.02.39
accession number
1978.0534
catalog number
1978.0534.02.39
"David Crane", drawn by Creig Flessel (1912-2008) from 1960 to 1971, is a comic strip about a young minister, David Crane, and the small town in which he lives. In this comic strip, Jinny thinks Jamie found a way to befriend the neighbor Mr. McAllister.Currently not on view
Description
"David Crane", drawn by Creig Flessel (1912-2008) from 1960 to 1971, is a comic strip about a young minister, David Crane, and the small town in which he lives. In this comic strip, Jinny thinks Jamie found a way to befriend the neighbor Mr. McAllister.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
08/09/unknown year
graphic artist
Flessel, Creig
publisher
Hall Syndicate, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22458
catalog number
22458
accession number
277502
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
GA.15745.12
catalog number
15745.12
accession number
94830
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
nineteenth century
original artist
Overbeck, Johann Friedrich
publisher
Verein zur Verbreitung religioser Bilder in Dusseldorf
graphic artist
Rittinghaus, E.
maker
Verein zur Verbreitung religioser Bilder in Dusseldorf
Rittinghaus, E.
ID Number
GA.14233.50b
accession number
94830
catalog number
14233.50b
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884
publisher
Kaufmann, Ernst
ID Number
2012.0093.28
accession number
2012.0093
catalog number
2012.0093.28
Engraved wood block. Possibly from a 15th-century Dutch work used for reading Gospels during Mass. One of a group of 38 blocks now dispersed among public and private collections. See John Buchanan-Brown, "A Forged Series of Woodcuts?", The Library, 29:2 (June 1974), pp.
Description (Brief)
Engraved wood block. Possibly from a 15th-century Dutch work used for reading Gospels during Mass. One of a group of 38 blocks now dispersed among public and private collections. See John Buchanan-Brown, "A Forged Series of Woodcuts?", The Library, 29:2 (June 1974), pp. 165-196.
Proof made in Museum ca1963 is GA*21735B
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca1500?
ID Number
GA.21735A
catalog number
21735A
accession number
257804

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