Clothing & Accessories

Women's Gown (cheong sam) ca. 1930

Work, play, fashion, economic class, religious faith, even politics—all these aspects of American life and more are woven into clothing. The Museum cares for one of the nation's foremost collections of men's, women's, and children's garments and accessories—from wedding gowns and military uniforms to Halloween costumes and bathing suits.

The collections include work uniforms, academic gowns, clothing of presidents and first ladies, T-shirts bearing protest slogans, and a clean-room "bunny suit" from a manufacturer of computer microchips. Beyond garments, the collections encompass jewelry, handbags, hair dryers, dress forms, hatboxes, suitcases, salesmen's samples, and thousands of fashion prints, photographs, and original illustrations. The more than 30,000 artifacts here represent the changing appearance of Americans from the 1700s to the present day.

Date: 1860s

fashion plate

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1860
ID Number
CS.033675.211
catalog number
033675.211

fashion plate

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1860
bequest of
James, Catalina Juliana Mason Myers
ID Number
CS.033675.015
catalog number
033675.015
accession number
70138

fashion plate

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1860
bequest of
James, Catalina Juliana Mason Myers
ID Number
CS.033675.008
catalog number
033675.008
accession number
70138

Fire Helmet, "1811"

The traditional American leather firefighter’s helmet with its distinctive long rear brim, frontpiece, and crest adornment was first developed around 1821-1836 in New York City. Henry T.
Description
The traditional American leather firefighter’s helmet with its distinctive long rear brim, frontpiece, and crest adornment was first developed around 1821-1836 in New York City. Henry T. Gratacap, a New York City luggage maker by trade, is often credited as the developer of this style of fire helmet. Gratacap created a specially treated leather helmet with a segmented “comb” design that led to unparalleled durability and strength. The elongated rear brim (also known as a duckbill or beavertail) and frontpiece were 19th century innovations that remain the most identifiable feature of firefighter’s helmets. The body of the helmet was primarily designed to deflect falling debris, the rear brim prevented water from running down firefighters’ backs, and their sturdy crowns could aid, if necessary, in breaking windows.
This leather helmet dates to the 19th century. The helmet is painted white, and has eight combs. The date “1811” is painted on the back brim of the helmet. This helmet’s frontpiece holder is in the form of a greyhound dog. The frontpiece is missing from this helmet, making an association with a particular company difficult.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
before 1868
ID Number
2005.0233.0199
accession number
2005.0233
catalog number
2005.0233.0199

Fire Helmet, "NIAGARA 5 / WE WILL TRY / NASHUA / O.M.F. 19"

The traditional American leather firefighter’s helmet with its distinctive long rear brim, frontpiece, and crest adornment was first developed around 1821-1836 in New York City. Henry T.
Description
The traditional American leather firefighter’s helmet with its distinctive long rear brim, frontpiece, and crest adornment was first developed around 1821-1836 in New York City. Henry T. Gratacap, a New York City luggage maker by trade, is often credited as the developer of this style of fire helmet. Gratacap created a specially treated leather helmet with a segmented “comb” design that led to unparalleled durability and strength. The elongated rear brim (also known as a duckbill or beavertail) and frontpiece were 19th century innovations that remain the most identifiable feature of firefighter’s helmets. The body of the helmet was primarily designed to deflect falling debris, the rear brim prevented water from running down firefighters’ backs, and their sturdy crowns could aid, if necessary, in breaking windows.
This leather fire helmet was made in the mid-19th century and used in Nashua, New Hampshire by the Niagara Fire Company No. 5. The helmet has a yellow-painted frontpiece that features Niagara’s company motto “We Will Try” over “Niagara 5” in gold. The helmet is painted black with gold scroll designs around the crown, and the text “NASHUA” painted in gold on the rear brim. The helmet’s eagle frontpiece holder is leather and runs from the front to back of the helmet’s crown.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1860
maker
unknown
ID Number
2005.0233.0177
accession number
2005.0233
catalog number
2005.0233.0177

fashion plate

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1861
bequest of
James, Catalina Juliana Mason Myers
ID Number
CS.033675.041
catalog number
033675.041
accession number
70138

fashion plate

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1860
bequest of
James, Catalina Juliana Mason Myers
ID Number
CS.033675.011
catalog number
033675.011
accession number
70138

fashion plate

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1860
bequest of
James, Catalina Juliana Mason Myers
ID Number
CS.033675.012
catalog number
033675.012
accession number
70138

fashion plate

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1860
ID Number
CS.033675.209
catalog number
033675.209

fashion plate

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1860
bequest of
James, Catalina Juliana Mason Myers
ID Number
CS.033675.021
catalog number
033675.021
accession number
70138

fashion plate

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1860
bequest of
James, Catalina Juliana Mason Myers
ID Number
CS.033675.178
catalog number
033675.178
accession number
70138

fashion plate

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1860
bequest of
James, Catalina Juliana Mason Myers
ID Number
CS.033675.017
catalog number
033675.017
accession number
70138

Fire Helmet, "1819"

The traditional American leather firefighter’s helmet with its distinctive long rear brim, frontpiece, and crest adornment was first developed around 1821-1836 in New York City. Henry T.
Description
The traditional American leather firefighter’s helmet with its distinctive long rear brim, frontpiece, and crest adornment was first developed around 1821-1836 in New York City. Henry T. Gratacap, a New York City luggage maker by trade, is often credited as the developer of this style of fire helmet. Gratacap created a specially treated leather helmet with a segmented “comb” design that led to unparalleled durability and strength. The elongated rear brim (also known as a duckbill or beavertail) and frontpiece were 19th century innovations that remain the most identifiable feature of firefighter’s helmets. The body of the helmet was primarily designed to deflect falling debris, the rear brim prevented water from running down firefighters’ backs, and their sturdy crowns could aid, if necessary, in breaking windows.
This leather fire helmet was made by Henry T. Gratacap of New York, New York n the early 19th Century. The green hat has eight combs that are painted gold. The back of the hat has the text “FA” above the date “1819” on the rear brim. The FA likely refers to the Fire Association of Philadelphia, an insurance company founded by a group of eleven volunteer engine companies and five volunteer hose companies that incorporated in 1819. A metal eagle is mounted to the top of the helmet’s crown to serve as a frontpiece holder, but the frontpiece is missing from this helmet.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1850-1860
maker
Gratacap, Henry T.
ID Number
2005.0233.0211
accession number
2005.0233
catalog number
2005.0233.0211

The Black Valley Railroad by artist Emile Ackerman and lithographed by J. Mayer and Company

This black and white allegorical print depicts the course of destruction through drinking. A train with its engine labeled "Distillery" is stopped at "Drunkard's Curve Station".
Description
This black and white allegorical print depicts the course of destruction through drinking. A train with its engine labeled "Distillery" is stopped at "Drunkard's Curve Station". The train is leaving a tranquil valley and heading toward doom with skeletons and snakes in the background. The print has a considerable amount of descriptive and 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 Reverend Steadman Wright 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 Seaand 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 death at the St. John Street Congregational Church.
This print was produced by J. Mayer and Company. Julius Mayer was a lithographer in Boston from 1857-1872. He was associated with Prang & Mayer (1857-1860), Mayer & Stetfield (1861-1862), and J. Mayer & Co. (1863-1872). His prints included scenes of Boston and Portland, Maine.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1863
copyright holder
Hanks, S. W.
artist; engraver
Ackermann, Emil
lithographer
J. Mayer and Company
ID Number
DL.60.2890
catalog number
60.2890
accession number
228146

Union Prisoners at Salisbury, N.C.

One of the earliest images of baseball is this hand colored lithograph of Union prisoners at Salisbury Confederate Prison. It is part of the Harry T. Peters “America on Stone” Lithography Collection at the National Museum of American History.
Description
One of the earliest images of baseball is this hand colored lithograph of Union prisoners at Salisbury Confederate Prison. It is part of the Harry T. Peters “America on Stone” Lithography Collection at the National Museum of American History. Though various forms of baseball were played in England and America for over a century prior to the Civil War, modern rules of the game were not developed and employed until the 1850s. The evolving Knickerbocker Code or rules had its origins in metropolitan New York in 1845. Union soldiers, more familiar with the game, introduced others, including Southerners and Westerners to baseball throughout the Civil War, resulting in thousands of soldiers learning the game. Upon returning home, the game spread to friends and neighbors and soon the sport was played in every region of the country, solidifying its title as “The National Pastime."
The baseball game pictured in this print was played at Salisbury Confederate Prison in North Carolina. Between December 9, 1861 and February 17, 1865, the prison housed 10,000-15,000 Union prisoners of war and other assorted detainees. The compound was designed to temporarily hold Union officers until they could be exchanged for Confederate troops. The facility was constructed around an empty 20 year-old brick three story cotton factory on 16 acres of land near a railroad line and the town of Salisbury. For the first couple of years of its existence, the prison had wells of sweet water, adequate medical facilities and sufficient food.
Soldiers’ diaries document the detainees’ daily routines and pastimes. Prisoners from the first half of 1862 noted that baseball games were played nearly every day, weather permitting. For the first couple of years, prisoners were also permitted to whittle, read, write letters, attend lectures, perform “theatrics,” play cards such as poker, and go fishing. Prisoners also gambled as is evidenced by the dice game underway in the lower right corner of the print. Prisoners even published their own newspaper. Some prisoners were given town visitation privileges, so it was not uncommon for POWs to trade buttons and barter small personal items for fresh fruits and vegetables.
As the war continued, conditions began to deteriorate. After the summer of 1862, prisoner exchanges ceased. Records indicate that few Union prisoners were held in the prison in 1863 and early 1864, but the facility was used for Southern political prisoners, conscientious objectors, Confederate deserters and Southern civilians that ran afoul with the authorities. As the war dragged on, food and medicine became scarce for both prisoners and guards. By mid 1864, the prison filled up with Union POWs of every rank. Later that year, the camp exceeded its capacity and become overcrowded. Living conditions deteriorated further and life in Salisbury prison became as miserable as other prison camps. The mortality rate jumped from a low 2% to devastating 28%; an estimated four to five thousand men died. Finally, on February 17, 1865, the Confederate and Union governments announced a general POW exchange and more than five thousand prisoners left Salisbury.
The baseball game pictured in the print was played during the late spring or summer of 1862, before living conditions deteriorated and when prisoners still had a good chance of leaving through a prisoner exchange. The baseball players on both teams are POWs, possibly men previously held in New Orleans and Tuscaloosa, as they were known to have played at the camp during this time. Although guards occasionally joined in the games, it is not reflected in this print. Spectators included townspeople as well as guards and one seated figure with a cigar that looks suspiciously like Grant. Two guards (center and center far left) are pictured with guns. The town is depicted in the background beyond the stockade or wooden fence. A red, white and blue flag flying overhead in the center of the print is probably a Confederate regimental flag, though it could possibly be an error on the artist’s part with a reversal in the colors of the North Carolina Confederate flag. The prison compound included small cottages, a meat packing plant for the Confederate Army, a blacksmith shop and a small hospital.
The artist of the original watercolor sketch used for the lithograph was Otto Botticher or Boetticher (1811-1886). Botticher was a Prussian immigrant and held the rank of a Union captain when he was captured on March 29, 1862 around Manassas, Virginia. Prior to the war, Botticher had been a portrait painter in New York and New Jersey. He produced several paintings and lithographic plates of military subjects with the aid of early photography using daguerreotypes and ambrotypes. His work displays precision and excellent attention to detail, indicating he likely had formal draftsmanship training. Botticher may also have attended a military school and/or been a member of the army in Prussia, according to his biographer, Seward R. Osborne. He was known as Major Otto Botticher prior to the Civil War. In July 1861, Botticher joined the 68th New York Volunteer Infantry, known as the Cameron Rifles and was given the rank of captain. After his capture, he was sent first to Libby Prison near Richmond, where he sketched “Libby Prison- Union Prisoners at Richmond, Va.,” also produced by Sarony, Major & Knapp and Goupil, Co.. When he was transferred to Salisbury Prison, he produced the watercolor that was used to create this lithograph. He was released as a result of a prisoner exchange on September 30, 1862 at Aiken's Landing, Virginia, when he was exchanged for a Confederate captain from Virginia’s 7th army. Botticher rejoined his regiment, serving as captain of Company B at the Battle of Chancellorsville. He was wounded at Gettysburg while serving with his regiment in the 11th Army Corps, and was discharged in June 1864, but achieved a brevet rank of lieutenant colonel with the New York State Volunteers in September 1865. After the war, Botticher continued as an artist, illustrator, and lithographer. He also worked as a consulate agent for the North German Union before dying in 1886.
Botticher’s watercolor sketch of the Salisbury Confederate Prison baseball game was used to create the lithographic print in 1863. The lithographic firm was Sarony, Major & Knapp of 449 Broadway, New York City. The firm was founded by Napoleon Sarony and Henry B. Major in 1846; Joseph F. Knapp joined the firm in 1857. Sarony, Major & Knapp earned a solid reputation for lithography and the company was especially known for its fine art chromolithography. Unfortunately, by the 1870s, the firm shifted focus to the more profitable area of advertising. It also expanded to become the conglomerate known as the American Lithographic Company, successfully producing calendars, advertising cards, and posters. In 1930 they were bought out by Consolidated Graphics.
This print was produced and promoted 1863 by Goupil & Co. or Gouipil & Cie, a leading international publisher, printer, and fine art dealer. The company was founded in Paris by Jean Baptiste Michel Adolphe Goupil (1806-1893) and his wife Victorine Brincard. The Goupils widely promoted art and owned exclusive galleries as well as common sales rooms in New York, Paris, London, The Hague, Brussels, Berlin, and Vienna. Through various partners they had considerable resources and were able to capitalize on the interest in the newly popular American game. This ready-made market proved lucrative as the print sold well overseas. While the print does picture a pro-Southern view of leisure in a Confederate prison camp, it was also popular in the North for the images of Union officers and of course for the depiction of a baseball game in progress.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1863
maker
Sarony, Major, & Knapp
artist
Botticher, Otto
ID Number
DL.60.3741
catalog number
60.3741

Antique Jewels

Jules Jacquemart reproduced these jewels in Bijoux Antiques (Musée Campana), working directly from the objects. He started by making detailed drawings or watercolors of the objects, but sometimes he etched them directly on the plate.
Description
Jules Jacquemart reproduced these jewels in Bijoux Antiques (Musée Campana), working directly from the objects. He started by making detailed drawings or watercolors of the objects, but sometimes he etched them directly on the plate. This print was considered a still life by Jacquemart’s contemporaries. One enthusiastic author even praised him as “the most marvellous etcher of still-life who ever existed in the world. In the power of imitating an object set before him he has distanced all past work and no living rival can approach him.” This etching originally appeared in 1863 in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, which first published one of his etchings in 1859. Of the almost 400 prints Jacquemart made, about two-thirds reproduce objects.
The Museo Campana housed the art collection of the Marchese Giovanni Pietro Campana in Rome. When the collection was disbursed in 1861, France acquired a large part of the jewelry, which comprised mainly Etruscan, Greek, and Roman pieces, as well as some 19th-century work. The jewels were exhibited in Paris from 1862 and helped start a fashion for archeological jewelry. They can be viewed today in the Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1863
graphic artist
Jacquemart, Jules
printer
Delâtre
publisher
Gazette des Beaux-Arts
ID Number
GA.14602.01
catalog number
14602.01
accession number
94830

The Confederacy in Petticoats.

In the spring of 1865, the Union Army increased its efforts to capture the Confederate President Jefferson Davis after the surrender of Lee and assassination of Lincoln. Suspecting him to be complicit in Lincoln’s murder, the U.S.
Description
In the spring of 1865, the Union Army increased its efforts to capture the Confederate President Jefferson Davis after the surrender of Lee and assassination of Lincoln. Suspecting him to be complicit in Lincoln’s murder, the U.S. War Department issued a $100,000 reward for the capture of Davis and his aides. Without his capture or surrender, many in the Union War Department would not recognize the war as officially ended. After fleeing Richmond, Davis was caught by members of Michigan and Wisconsin cavalry units at his camp outside Irwinville, Georgia, on May 10, 1865. As Davis tried to flee from the Union soldiers, he had grabbed his wife Varina’s overcoat instead of his own, resulting in a widespread Northern rumor that Davis had attempted to escape disguised as a woman. Shortly after the incident images of Davis appeared in Northern publications, picturing him dressed in petticoats, a hoop skirt, and a bonnet. This cowardly depiction of Davis’ flight further demoralized the Southern cause and shattered its president’s aristocratic reputation.
In this print, a disguised Jefferson Davis attempts to leap over a fence, but a Union soldiers grabs ahold of his petticoats and aims a pistol at him. Another soldier arrives on the scene carrying his sword and a torch. Davis has dropped a piece of luggage, labeled “Davis / Mexico,” in reference to his presumed destination. The Confederate president looks back wielding a knife, exclaiming that he thought the Union was “too Magnanimous to hunt down “Women and Children.” To the right of Davis, his wife Varina remarks, “Don’t irritate the ‘President’ he might hurt somebody.” The soldier gripping Davis mocks, “Hold on old Jeff! The ‘last Ditch’ is not on that side of the Fence.” Dialogue bubble such as these are typical of political satirical cartoons. The lithographer and publisher of this satirical print are unknown.
Location
Currently not on view
date published
ca 1865
depicted
Davis, Jefferson
Davis, Varina Anne Howell
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.60.3487
catalog number
60.3487

The Famous Roan Horse Capt Mc Gowan as He Appeared in His 20th Mile

Color print of a trotting horse (Capt. McGowan) pulling a sulky on a racetrack. A white picket fence borders the track. The caption indicates that this is River Side Park, Brighton, Mass. on Oct.
Description (Brief)
Color print of a trotting horse (Capt. McGowan) pulling a sulky on a racetrack. A white picket fence borders the track. The caption indicates that this is River Side Park, Brighton, Mass. on Oct. 31, 1865.
Description
A color print of a brown horse attached by a light harness to a sulky with a driver who is intent on holding the reins. The driver wears a heavy red sweater and beaked cap. The sulky is red and highly polished. A picket fence borders the track. Pretentious country homes are in the wooded area beyond the park. It is a scene of River Side Park, Brighton, Mass. on Oct. 31, 1865.
Captain McGowan was bred in 1857 by Sovereign and Sally Miller, but his pedigree is debated. It is believed that he was born in Kentucky and owned by Samuel Emerson of Boston. He set a record in 1865 of trotting 20 miles in one hour (56 minutes, 25 seconds).
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1865
maker
J. H. Bufford and Sons
ID Number
DL.60.3595
catalog number
60.3595

Genl Tom Thumb & Wife, Com. Nutt & Minnie Warren at their marriage at Grace Church, N.Y., Feb. 10, 1863 by Currier & Ives

Color print, central image depicts General Tom Thumb and his bride, Lavinia Warren, flanked by Commodore Nutt and Minnie Warren, at their marriage at Grace Church, N.Y., Feb. 10, 1863.
Description (Brief)
Color print, central image depicts General Tom Thumb and his bride, Lavinia Warren, flanked by Commodore Nutt and Minnie Warren, at their marriage at Grace Church, N.Y., Feb. 10, 1863. This image is surrounded by small views of the midgets in a variety of costumes and roles with the largest of them being a view beneath the central image of a coach and horses labeled "Splendid Equipage of Genl. Tom Thumb & Suite, Cost over $2000."
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1863
depicted
Thumb, Tom
Warren, Lavinia
Warren, Minnie
Nutt, Commodore George Washington Morrison
maker
Currier & Ives
ID Number
DL.60.3492
catalog number
60.3492

President Lincoln and His Family

In the years following Lincoln’s assassination, lithographic prints depicting the Lincoln family became popular among the Northern American public, often produced as commemoratives during anniversary celebrations.
Description
In the years following Lincoln’s assassination, lithographic prints depicting the Lincoln family became popular among the Northern American public, often produced as commemoratives during anniversary celebrations. Since the family never sat for a formal portrait, artists relied on earlier photographs of its members to create their compositions, portraying the family members as they would have appeared at the start of Lincoln’s presidency. This black and white print from the late 1860s depicts the family members as they would have appeared at the start of Lincoln’s presidency. At center, President Lincoln sits cross-legged at a table, holding a book on his lap, as he looks up to Mary Todd at his right. Willie, leans against a table, gazing in the direction of his father. At the lower left, Tad marches into the scene, holding a toy drum. At the right, Robert Lincoln, dressed in his military uniform, looks out towards the viewer. Abraham Lincoln was not the only deceased family member at the time of this print’s creation. Willie had died from typhoid fever in 1862, sometime before the publication of this print. The print is “Respectfully Dedicated to the People of the United States.”
Joseph Hoover was the most prominent Philadelphia publisher of chromolithographed parlor prints during the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1856, he established a woodturning and frame-making shop and began selling prints by 1865. Around 1868, he began supervising the lithography production at the firms of Duval & Hunter and James Queen, eventually founding his own printing plants in the mid-1870s. His chromolithographs won a medal of excellence at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. In 1893, he partnered with his son, Henry, and their firm produced between 600,000 and 700,000 chromolithographs per year.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
before 1869
depicted
Lincoln, Abraham
Lincoln, Robert Todd
Lincoln, Thomas
Lincoln, William Wallace
Lincoln, Mary Todd
maker
Hoover, Joseph
ID Number
DL.60.2575
catalog number
60.2575
accession number
228146

Close up in the Rear

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 full length colored print is a rear view of a young woman lifting her skirt as she climbs into a coach. She wears a long dress and shawl. Her petticoat and hoop are both visible beneath her dress. A small dog watches her climb into the coach. The coach driver carries a crop and wears a top hat.
This lithograph was printed by John Henry Bufford (1810-1870), from Portsmouth, Massachusetts. Prior to moving to New York in 1835, Bufford apprenticed under William S. Pendleton. In New York, he worked for George Endicott and later Nathaniel Currier. In 1840, Bufford moved back to Boston and started work for another lithography firm. By 1844 the firm and shop name had changed to J.H. Bufford & Co. In 1867, Bufford became the manager of the New England Steam Lithographic Printing Company. He died three years later Boston.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1856-1864
maker
Bufford, John Henry
ID Number
DL.60.2288
catalog number
60.2288
accession number
228146

"The Shed"

Color print of the yard in front of a carriage shed. Two horses hitched to sulkies stand on either side of a large carriage pulled by two horse. A dog and three men on horseback are in the right foreground.
Description (Brief)
Color print of the yard in front of a carriage shed. Two horses hitched to sulkies stand on either side of a large carriage pulled by two horse. A dog and three men on horseback are in the right foreground. Advertisement for Brewster & Co., manufacturer of carriages.
Description
A color print of yard in front of a white shed with sign: “Hiram Woodruff.” There is a stir of activity as horses are hitched to sulkies. Men ride up on horseback, and two men in formal attire ride out of yard in open buggy with a high dashboard and low wheels, drawn by two horses. Dogs are underfoot. A black stable boy tends a horse. A portion of a white frame farmhouse seen to the right, with trees and grass in the distance.
Known as one of the leading lithography firms of the mid-19th Century, Endicott and Company was formed in 1852 as the successor to William Endicott and Company following the death of George Endicott in 1848 and William Endicott in 1852. The original partners of Endicott and Company were Sarah Endicott (William’s widow) and Charles mills. However, in 1853 the senior partner was Sarah and William’s son Frances Endicott. The company often did work for Currier and Ives and employed the well-known artist Charles Pearson. In 1856 the company was awarded a diploma for the best specimen of lithography at the 28th Annual Fair of the American Institute.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1862
publisher
Brewster & Co.
maker
Endicott and Company
artist
Oertel, Johannes Adam Simon
ID Number
DL.60.3563
catalog number
60.3563

The Unexpected Meeting

Colored print of a man on horseback and a bull confronting each other from opposite sides of a jump. In the background are four other men on horses.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Colored print of a man on horseback and a bull confronting each other from opposite sides of a jump. In the background are four other men on horses.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1860
distributor
Phelps & Watson
maker
E.B. and E.C. Kellogg
ID Number
DL.60.2673
catalog number
60.2673
accession number
228146

John Bull Makes a Discovery.

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

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