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.

Topic: Art

Charles

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 colored print is a full length 3/4 pose of young man standing in parlor. He is in formal dress:a long fitted coat, embroidered vest and shirt, bow tie, high silk hat in hand. The background includes an ornate sofa,a fireplace with painted seascape on the a firescreen, a framed picture of six masted sailing ship on the wall, a fringed throw rug and a patterned carpet. A vase with portrait image, bust length of a young woman contains a floral arrangement and sits on the mantle.
The print was produced by Sarony & Major. Napoleon Sarony (1821–1896) was born in Quebec and trained under several lithography firms including Currier & Ives and H.R. Robinson. Sarony was also known for his successful experiments in early photography, eventually developing a cabinet-sized camera. In 1846, Sarony partnered with another former apprentice of Nathaniel Currier, Henry B. Major and created Sarony & Major Lithography firm. 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.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1848
distributors
Sowle & Shaw
maker
Sarony & Major
ID Number
DL.60.2275
catalog number
60.2275
accession number
228146

First Meeting of Uncle Tom and Eva

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in 1852, quickly becoming the nation’s bestselling book.
Description
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in 1852, quickly becoming the nation’s bestselling book. It features a spirited, religious-minded enslaved black man named Tom, who is sold downriver by his financially-strapped owner in Kentucky to a plantation in Louisiana. There, his Christian beliefs spread hope to his fellow slaves and enable him to endure the harsh beatings of his cruel master. He is ultimately whipped to death after refusing to reveal the location of two runaway slaves. Published after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, the novel targeted Northern audiences, arguing against the injustice of slavery and spurring the abolition movement into action.
Although the bestselling novel of the 19th century, many American were exposed to Uncle Tom’s Cabin through play adaptations known as Tom shows. The immense popularity of both the novel and plays transformed Uncle Tom into a cultural phenomenon in America and Europe, and manufacturers quickly capitalized on the production of “Tomitudes,” everyday commodities that referenced scenes and characters from the novel. These included card games, jigsaw puzzles, chinaware, jars and vases, snuffboxes, ceramic figurines, and decorative prints. Although some of these Tomitudes employed racial stereotypes and the imagery of blackface minstrelsy, most chose to depict the enslaved characters of Beecher’s novel in a sympathetic light, often carrying an anti-slavery message.
The most popular depictions of Uncle Tom were those in which he was accompanied by the young white girl, Eva St. Clare. Representations of their companionship conveyed a message of racial bonding and celebrated the characters’ shared Christian faith. While riding aboard a Mississippi riverboat on his journey to be sold downriver, Tom would occupy his time sitting among cotton bales and reading from his Bible. After he introduces himself to the saintly Eva, the young girl decides to ask her father to buy Tom. This print, illustrating a scene from Chapter 14 of the novel, depicts the pair’s first meeting. Tom has one hand placed on his Bible, while his other, enchained by a manacle, motions towards Eva. With his confident pose and flowing robes, Tom looks more like a classical philosopher than a slave learning to read. Eva, reclining on a bale of cotton, appear almost doll-like. After Tom rescues Eva from her fall overboard into the waters of the Mississippi, her father agrees to buy him.
Thomas W. Strong was a New York-based printer and wood engraver who began his career around 1840. His shop specialized in comic literature and he employed many talented cartoonists and draftsmen who would go on to work for Harper’s Weekly and Vanity Fair. This print was published around 1853 as the second in a series by Strong of scenes from Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) rose to fame in 1851 with the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which highlighted the evils of slavery, angered the slaveholding South, and inspired pro-slavery copy-cat works in defense of the institution of slavery. Stowe’s father was the famed Congregational minister Lyman Beecher and her brother, Henry Ward Beecher, was also a famous preacher and reformer. In 1824, she attended her sister Catherine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary, which exposed young women to many of the same courses available in men’s academies. Stowe became a teacher, working from 1829 to 1832 at the Seminary.
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote numerous articles, some of which were published in the renowned women’s magazine of the times, Godey’s Lady’s Book. She also wrote 30 books, covering a wide range of topics from homemaking to religion, as well as several novels. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which legally compelled Northerners to return runaway slaves, infuriated Stowe, and many in the North. She subsequently authored her most famous work, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Originally serialized in the National Era, Stowe saw her tale as a call to arms for Northerners to defy the Fugitive Slave Act. It was released as a book in 1852 and later performed on stage and translated into dozens of languages. Stowe used her fame to petition to end slavery. She toured nationally and internationally, speaking about her book, and donating some of what she earned to help the antislavery cause.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1853
originator of scene
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
maker
Strong, Thomas W.
ID Number
DL.60.2374
catalog number
60.2374
accession number
228146

Oshkosh, Wis.

Black and white print with blue tint of the business district of a city (Oshkosh). The view is of a central street leading to the river front. Multi-story buildings line the street, many of them have awnings, shop windows and signs.
Description (Brief)
Black and white print with blue tint of the business district of a city (Oshkosh). The view is of a central street leading to the river front. Multi-story buildings line the street, many of them have awnings, shop windows and signs. Wagons, carriages and carts fill the street and pedestrians walk on wooden sidewalks.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
artist
Kurz, Louis
lithographer
Kurz & Seifert
ID Number
DL.60.3770
catalog number
60.3770

An Amalgamation Waltz

This print, designed by E.W. Clay, a Northern opponent of the anti-slavery movement plays upon antebellum fears of miscegenation, or interracial mixing, to satirize abolitionism.
Description
This print, designed by E.W. Clay, a Northern opponent of the anti-slavery movement plays upon antebellum fears of miscegenation, or interracial mixing, to satirize abolitionism. Part of series of miscegenation prints done by Clay during 1839, the print depicts a dance in an elegantly furnished ballroom. In the middle of the scene, fashionably dressed, interracial couples are shown dancing. Each consists of a black man and white woman. Along the right wall, several black men ask seated white women to dance. On the left, members of a mixed race couple clasp hands and prepare to kiss. Above these proceedings, music is performed by an orchestra composed solely of white musicians.
Edward Williams Clay was born in Philadelphia in 1799. He originally found employment as an attorney and became a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 1825, but he later abandoned law for a career in art. He moved to New York City in 1837 but shortly after was forced to end his artistic career when his eyesight began to fail.
The work’s publisher, John Childs, was a New York lithographer, artist, and print colorist active between the years 1836 to 1844. For a brief period, he published a quantity of political cartoons, especially in 1840, when he published 34, of which 26 were drawn by Clay.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1839
maker
Childs, John
artist
Clay, Edward Williams
ID Number
DL.60.3340
catalog number
60.3340

The Widow

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 colored print is of a woman seated in an ornate chair before a portrait of her deceased husband. A child stands in front of her gazing at the picture. The woman wears a simple everyday dress, a large collar, a bonnet and dangle earrings. The child is in a simple dress and a necklace.
This print was produced by the lithographic firm of D.W. Kellogg & Co. Daniel Wright Kellogg (1807-1874) founded the company in 1830 Hartford, Connecticut. Before the opening of its first retail store in 1834, D.W. Kellogg & Co. lithography firm was well established and popular in United States, particularly in the South and the Southwest. As the founding member of the family company, Daniel Wright Kellogg established the initial growth and popularity of the firm. After he left the company it continued to flourish for decades under his younger brothers and other family members.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1833-1842
maker
D.W. Kellogg and Company
ID Number
DL.60.2318
catalog number
60.2318
accession number
228146

Killing Salmon

This print is one of fifteen chromolithographs that were included in the 1889-1890 folio "Sport or Fishing and Shooting" published by Bradlee Whidden of Boston and edited by A.C. Gould.
Description (Brief)
This print is one of fifteen chromolithographs that were included in the 1889-1890 folio "Sport or Fishing and Shooting" published by Bradlee Whidden of Boston and edited by A.C. Gould. These prints are based on watercolors that were commissioned for the publication, and illustrated by prominent American artists. Each folio illustration was accompanied by a single leaf of descriptive text followed by an account of the depicted sporting scene. The publication was advertised as having been reviewed for accuracy by a renowned group of anglers and hunters prior to printing.
This print was originally titled and numbered on the text page as 1. Killing Salmon. Henry Sandham. Two fishermen are depicted standing on a boulder beside a stream. They are bringing in a large salmon on a fishing line and a metal hook. A large fish lies behind them, already landed.
The artist was Henry Sandham (1842-1910), a Canadian born illustrator and artist of hunting and fishing scenes.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1889
publisher; copywriter
Bradlee Whidden
lithographer
Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company
artist
Sandham, Henry
ID Number
DL.60.2733
catalog number
60.2733
accession number
228146

Catharine

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 half length hand colored portrait is of a dark haired young woman seated with her hands folded on a book resting on the arm of the chair. The portrait is in a rectangular frame with decorative oval cartouche featuring flowers in four corners. The woman is wearing a simple red dress, two necklaces and a bracelet.
This print was produced by James S Baillie, who was active in New York from 1838 to 1855. James Baillie started as a framer in 1838, and then became an artist and lithographer in 1843 or 1844. He discovered how to color lithographs while working as an independent contractor for Currier & Ives in the mid 1840’s. A prolific lithographer and colorist for Currier & Ives; his prints were extremely popular with a wide distribution. J. Baillie spent his later years concentrating on painting instead of lithography.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1846
maker
Baillie, James S.
ID Number
DL.60.2498
catalog number
60.2498
accession number
228146

Untitled (Girl with butterfly net)

Black and white print of a little girl carrying a butterfly net. A small dog stands at her feet. A butterfly rests on a flower at right.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white print of a little girl carrying a butterfly net. A small dog stands at her feet. A butterfly rests on a flower at right.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1870
maker
Schile, Henry
ID Number
DL.60.2460
catalog number
60.2460
accession number
228146

The Albanian

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 half length hand colored portrait print depicts a young woman with upswept dark hair adorned with a large bow. She is wearing a pink patterned dress with a yellow belt and gold earrings.
The graphic artist was Austin Hall (1815 – 1886), a lithographic draftsman who worked for the Kellogg family lithography firm from 1833 until his death in1886. One of his sons, Charles H. Hall was also an artist. This print was produced by the lithographic firm of D.W. Kellogg & Co. Daniel Wright Kellogg (1807-1874) founded the company in 1830 Hartford, Connecticut. Before the opening of its first retail store in 1834, D.W. Kellogg & Co. lithography firm was well established and popular in United States, particularly in the South and the Southwest. As the founding member of the family company, Daniel Wright Kellogg established the initial growth and popularity of the firm. After he left the company it continued to flourish for decades under his younger brothers and other family members.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1836
lithographer; publisher
D.W. Kellogg and Company
ID Number
DL.60.2505
catalog number
60.2505
accession number
228146

Out for a Days Shooting "On a Scent."

Colored print of two lovers who have been discovered by a hound and hunters.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Colored print of two lovers who have been discovered by a hound and hunters.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
n.d.
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.60.2688
catalog number
60.2688
accession number
228146

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

Jenny Lind by Nagel & Weingaertner and C. G. Crehenafter the daguerreotype by M.A. & S. Root,1850.

This black and white lithograph is a 3/4 length portrait of Jenny Lind wearing a formal gown with a lace shawl and holding a handkerchief in her lap. Her signature serves as the title. This print is modeled after a well-known daguerreotype by M. A. and S.
Description
This black and white lithograph is a 3/4 length portrait of Jenny Lind wearing a formal gown with a lace shawl and holding a handkerchief in her lap. Her signature serves as the title. This print is modeled after a well-known daguerreotype by M. A. and S. Root and is on thin, white paper which has been pasted to heavier cream-colored paper.
Jenny Lind (1820-1887) was an opera singer often described as “The Swedish Nightingale” for the range, purity, and melodiousness of her soprano voice. Born Johanna Maria Lind in Stockholm, Lind trained at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, began performing in her teens, and was soon creating a sensation on tours throughout Europe. When she made her London debut in 1847, frenzied theatergoers set off a stampede as they entered the theater. Queen Victoria was among those who attended that opening night performance. The Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen is said to have fallen in love with Lind and to have written fairy tales with her in mind, including “The Nightingale.” She also won the admiration of composers like Robert Schumann, Hector Berlioz, and Felix Mendelssohn, who became a close friend. In addition to Lind’s vocal gifts, she was greatly admired as a model of piety, simplicity, and generosity. In 1849, although only 29 years old, she announced her retirement from opera and turned to performing Romantic and Swedish folk songs. She resumed her operatic career in 1850, when she launched an American tour under the management of the showman P. T. Barnum. He promoted her arrival with such fanfare that she was greeted by a crowd numbering in the thousands when she sailed into New York’s harbor. She traveled across the United States and to Cuba and Canada in the year that followed, often donating her profits to the endowment of free schools in Sweden and other charitable causes. Lind and Barnum ended their partnership in 1851, but she continued to tour on her own for another year.
In 1852, Jenny Lind married her accompanist, Otto Goldschmidt, and continued to appear in occasional European concerts as Jenny Lind Goldschmidt. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 67. Although critics have debated whether her talent measured up to her reputation, her legendary popularity lives on in memorials and monuments around the world. She has inspired books, films, and a series of Swedish banknotes, while schools, streets, parks, hospitals, pies, clothing, and cigars all carry her name. Even a clipper ship, the USS Nightingale, and the Gold Rush town of Jenny Lind, California have been named in her honor.
This lithograph was produced by Nagel & Weingaertner and C. G. Crehen. Louis Nagel was born in Germany ca. 1817 and began working in New York as early as 1844. There he was involved in two partnerships, Nagel & Mayer (1846) and Nagel & Weingaertner (1849-1856). In 1857, he moved to San Francisco. Charles G. Crehen (1829-ca 1891) was a portrait painter, lithographer, and printer in New York.
Marcus Aurelius Root (1808-1888) was a photographer and daguerreotypist born in Granville, Ohio. He studied painting and penmanship before turning to daguerreotyping and became one of the early practitioners of the new art. He worked in Mobile, Alabama; New Orleans, Louisiana; St. Louis, Missouri; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and then in 1849 established a gallery in New York with his brother Samuel. The Root brothers were the first to produce daguerreotypes of Jenny Lind. After being disabled in a train accident, Marcus Root devoted himself to writing about photographic history and aesthetics. His book The Camera and The Pencil: Or the Heliographic Art, published in 1864, argued that photographers should be as highly esteemed as artists, and that much more was involved in photography than simply operating a camera. In recognition of his pioneering achievements, Root's daguerreotypes of famous people were included in an exhibition at the 1876 American centennial celebration in Philadelphia.
Samuel Root (ca. 1819-1889) was a daguerreotypist born in Granville, Ohio. He learned the art of daguerreotyping from his brother Marcus and the two opened a gallery in New York in 1849. Samuel Root later moved to Dubuque, Iowa, where he opened another daguerreotype business. He also published photographic books on Dubuque residences and businesses.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1850
copyright holder; publisher
Schaus, William
depicted
Lind, Jenny
maker
Nagel & Weingaertner
Crehen, C.G.
original artist
M.A. & S. Root
maker
Crehen, C.G.
ID Number
DL.60.3066
catalog number
60.3066
accession number
228146

Clarissa

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 three-quarter length hand colored portrait is of a young woman on a balcony reading a book and holding a handkerchief. She is standing in front of a railing and flowers. In the background a river flows along side of a willow tree.
This print was produced by James S Baillie, who was active in New York from 1838 to 1855. James Baillie started as a framer in 1838, and then became an artist and lithographer in 1843 or 1844. He discovered how to color lithographs while working as an independent contractor for Currier & Ives in the mid 1840’s. A prolific lithographer and colorist for Currier & Ives; his prints were extremely popular with a wide distribution. J. Baillie spent his later years concentrating on painting instead of lithography.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1848
maker
Baillie, James S.
ID Number
DL.60.2494
catalog number
60.2494
accession number
228146

Will You Love Me Then, as Now, Darling ?

Black and white comic print, profile view of an old woman with no teeth, spectacles, and a bonnet. She is seated in a chair holding a posies in one hand and a folded umbrella in the other.
Description (Brief)
Black and white comic print, profile view of an old woman with no teeth, spectacles, and a bonnet. She is seated in a chair holding a posies in one hand and a folded umbrella in the other. This is one of over 100 in a series of comic parodies of popular songs.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1875
maker
Vance, Fred T.
Vance, Parsloe and Company
ID Number
DL.60.2836
catalog number
60.2836
accession number
228146

Untitled (Portrait of William Henry Harrison and a log cabin)

Black and white print with two vignettes. The left of a bust length portrait of William Henry Harrison wearing a coat with a heavy fur collar. The right of a log cabin with a barrel of hard cider beside the door. Two soldiers and frontiersmen relax beside a log and the barrel.
Description (Brief)
Black and white print with two vignettes. The left of a bust length portrait of William Henry Harrison wearing a coat with a heavy fur collar. The right of a log cabin with a barrel of hard cider beside the door. Two soldiers and frontiersmen relax beside a log and the barrel. Two mules are hitched to a plow on the left of side of the log cabin. Both images are encircled by an elaborate border of apples, wheat and corn.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1840-11-07
depicted
Harrison, William Henry
maker
Narine & Co.
ID Number
DL.60.3862A
catalog number
60.3862A

I Will Not Ask to Press That Cheek.

Black and white comic print of a woman strolling along with a parasol in her hand. Her right cheek is extremely swollen. A bar of music appears below the title. This is one of over 100 in a series of comic parodies of popular songs.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white comic print of a woman strolling along with a parasol in her hand. Her right cheek is extremely swollen. A bar of music appears below the title. This is one of over 100 in a series of comic parodies of popular songs.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1875
maker
Vance, Fred T.
Vance, Parsloe and Company
ID Number
DL.60.2883C
catalog number
60.2883C
accession number
228146

A View of Fairmount and the Water-Works

Color print of men and women on a veranda in the foreground viewing a covered bridge over a river (Schuylkill) and the buildings of a waterworks. The grounds of a park are in the background.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Color print of men and women on a veranda in the foreground viewing a covered bridge over a river (Schuylkill) and the buildings of a waterworks. The grounds of a park are in the background.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
Bowen, John T.
ID Number
DL.60.3775
catalog number
60.3775

Granny Harrison Delivering the Country of the Executive Federalist

This undated print most likely is in reference to the Election of 1840 between incumbent Democratic president, Martin Van Buren and his Whig opponent, William Henry Harrison.
Description (Brief)
This undated print most likely is in reference to the Election of 1840 between incumbent Democratic president, Martin Van Buren and his Whig opponent, William Henry Harrison. Van Buren is depicted seated, clutching the arm of a chair labeled “US,” while wearing an ermine cape and crown as an allusion to his predecessor, Andrew Jackson. To Van Buren’s left, Harrison dressed as a woman, is pulling at Van Buren’s head with a pair of obstetrical forceps saying, “you must come my baby, if you stay here much longer you will kill your Mammy.” Portraying Harrison as a midwife plays to the metaphor of him removing or “delivering” the country of what the Whigs saw as an “executive Federalist.” Van Buren is struggling against Harrison, and “can’t hold on much longer.” Four men, South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun, “Globe” editor, Francis P. Blair, Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton, and favored Democratic advisor, Amos Kendall, cling to Van Buren, holding his leg and cape in order to keep him on the throne. The men beg “Granny” Harrison to keep Van Buren in the throne until “his incubation be more complete,” but Democrats were unsuccessful, and Harrison easily won the election.
The publisher of this print is Henry R. Robinson (1827-1877). Robinson worked in New York, and had a store to sell his prints. In 1842, he was arrested for selling obscene pictures and books leading to the September 28, 1842 court case, People vs H. R. Robinson found in the District Attorney Indictment Papers, Municipal Archives. He was politically affiliated with the anti-Jackson Whig party which was made obvious by the wig silhouette used in 1838 as an advertising logo for his shop.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
depicted
Van Buren, Martin
Calhoun, John Caldwell
Blair, Francis Preston
possibly depicted
Kendall, Amos
depicted
Benton, Thomas Hart
artist attribution
Ames, Daniel Fletcher
maker
Robinson, Henry R.
ID Number
DL.60.3371
catalog number
60.3371

The Belle of Ohio

Colored print; three-quarter length of a young woman dressed in a simple gown and coat.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Colored print; three-quarter length of a young woman dressed in a simple gown and coat.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1835
maker
Risso & Browne
ID Number
DL.60.2454
catalog number
60.2454
accession number
228146

Fashions. Fall & Winter. 1852-3 S. A. & A. F. Ward...Philadelphia

Color print, two horizontal panels depicting twenty one figures: twelve men, two women, and six children in fashions from 1852-53.
Description (Brief)
Color print, two horizontal panels depicting twenty one figures: twelve men, two women, and six children in fashions from 1852-53. The upper panel depicts an outdoor scene with a park overlooking a town in the background; the bottom panel depicts an outdoor scene with a lake in the background. Numbers below the figures are keyed to a separately printed descriptive text.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1852
maker
Sinclair, Thomas
ID Number
DL.60.3072
catalog number
60.3072
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 Mother's Grave

Colored memorial print of two children and a dog beside a gravestone which is inscribed "Sacred to the memory of an affectionate mother" and followed by a verse.
Description (Brief)
Colored memorial print of two children and a dog beside a gravestone which is inscribed "Sacred to the memory of an affectionate mother" and followed by a verse. A weeping willow tree is behind the gravestone and a spire of a church is in the distant background.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1848
maker
Baillie, James S.
ID Number
DL.60.2979
catalog number
60.2979
accession number
228146

One of the Fancies

Colored print; full length caricature of a gambler leaning on a stone post and smoking a cigar. He wears a high silk hat, long fitted coat, broad flashy tie, patterned vest, tight-fitting plaid pants, watch fob. Park setting and iron fence in background.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Colored print; full length caricature of a gambler leaning on a stone post and smoking a cigar. He wears a high silk hat, long fitted coat, broad flashy tie, patterned vest, tight-fitting plaid pants, watch fob. Park setting and iron fence in background.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1846
maker
Sarony & Major
publisher
Strong, Thomas W.
ID Number
DL.60.2293
catalog number
60.2293
accession number
228146

Mr. Gus Williams the American Star Comique by Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company

This black and white print is a three-quarter length portrait of Gus Williams wearing a dress coat and hat and carrying a walking stick. Beneath the portrait are the words “American Star Comique.” The left side of the poster appears to have been cut off.
Description
This black and white print is a three-quarter length portrait of Gus Williams wearing a dress coat and hat and carrying a walking stick. Beneath the portrait are the words “American Star Comique.” The left side of the poster appears to have been cut off. A portion of the title (the letter "S") and the edge of another image are still visible. The Opera House performance dates are advertised on an affixed datebill that is pasted on the bottom margin. A torn fragment of a small oval portrait of Williams is affixed to the upper right corner.
Gus Williams (1848-1915) was an American comedian and songwriter. He was born Gustave Wilhelm Leweck, Jr., in New York City, the son of a German American furrier. Leweck set out for the American West in his early teens but got only as far as Indiana, where he went to work as a farmhand. In 1862, Leweck joined Union troops fighting the Civil War as part of the 48th Indiana Infantry. He apparently got his start as an entertainer putting on shows as a drummer boy for his fellow soldiers. He first appeared on stage in 1864 during the Union Army’s occupation of Huntsville, Alabama, where he performed in The Pirate’s Legacy: The Wrecker’s Fate by Charles H. Saunders. After the war, Leweck toured with Tony Pastor's vaudeville group and became known for singing and performing comic skits with a German accent. He appeared in a number of German farce comedies, including Our German Senator and One of the Finest . He was known for writing his own songs, both comic and sentimental. In 1885 Leweck took the stage name Gus Williams. He also worked to secure better wages for vaudeville performers and was said to have been the first to earn 500 dollars a week for doing stage monologues. Williams committed suicide in his sixties, possibly because of health concerns and his declining career.
This lithograph was produced by Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company. The Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company was founded by William H. Forbes (ca 1836-1915), who immigrated to the United States from Liverpool, England in 1848. Forbes became an apprentice in the lithography business while still a boy and established William H. Forbes and Company in Boston in 1861. The firm expanded to become Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company in 1875 with hundreds of employees and offices in Boston, New York, Chicago, and London. During World War II, the company became a major printer of allied military currency but went out of business later in the 20th Century.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
depicted
Williams, Gus
maker
Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company
ID Number
DL.60.3059
catalog number
60.3059
accession number
228146

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