Communications - Overview
Tools of communication have transformed American society time and again over the past two centuries. The Museum has preserved many instruments of these changes, from printing presses to personal digital assistants.
The collections include hundreds of artifacts from the printing trade and related fields, including papermaking equipment, wood and metal type collections, bookbinding tools, and typesetting machines. Benjamin Franklin is said to have used one of the printing presses in the collection in 1726.
More than 7,000 objects chart the evolution of electronic communications, including the original telegraph of Samuel Morse and Alexander Graham Bell's early telephones. Radios, televisions, tape recorders, and the tools of the computer age are part of the collections, along with wireless phones and a satellite tracking system.
"Communications - Overview" showing 8 items.
Indians discovery U.S. Cavalry
- Description
- Koba aka Wild Horse (Kiowa),
- drawn between 1875 and 1878 at Fort Marion, Florida
- "Indian Discovery of U.S. Cavalry"
- Collected by Richard Henry Pratt about 1878
- Colored pencil, ink, and watercolor
- The focus of this drawing by Koba is a Kiowa warrior coming down from his lookout hill. He carries a pair of field glasses (either a trade item or possibly taken from an enemy combatant) which assisted him in the discovery of the cavalry unit riding nearby. The Kiowa camp below is at rest; tribesmen welcome the scout's return and warning.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1875-1878
- original artist
- Koba
- ID Number
- 2008.0175.52
- catalog number
- 2008.0175.052
- accession number
- 2008.0175
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Buffalo Chase
- Description
- Wohaw, aka Beef, Wolf Robe, Gu hau de (Kiowa),
- drawn between 1875 and 1878 at Fort Marion, Florida
- "Buffalo Chase"
- Collected by Richard Henry Pratt about 1878
- Pencil, colored pencil, and watercolor
- Wohaw's drawing shows a party of Kiowa warriors participating in a buffalo hunt. The warriors ride tightly together behind the herd. One buffalo has been successfully killed.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1875-1878
- original artist
- Wohaw
- ID Number
- 2008.0175.53
- catalog number
- 2008.0175.053
- accession number
- 2008.0175
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Buffalo Chase and Encampment
- Description
- Bear's Heart, or Nock-ko-ist,
- drawn between 1875 and 1878 at Fort Marion, Florida
- "Buffalo Chase and Encampment"
- Collected by Richard Henry Pratt about 1878
- Colored pencil, ink, colored ink, and watercolor
- This drawing shows an encampment, and men and women courting outside their tipis. The men are dressed in black and the women in blue and green. Above them, in another level of the story drawing, are warriors on a buffalo hunt. Three riders prepare to kill the buffalo, with bows drawn and ready.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1875-1878
- original artist
- Bear's Heart
- ID Number
- 2008.0175.54
- catalog number
- 2008.0175.054
- accession number
- 2008.0175
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
In Pursuit of Game
- Description
- Shave Head, or O-uk-ste-uh (Cheyenne),
- drawn between 1875 and 1878 at Fort Marion, Florida
- “In Pursuit of Game”
- Collected by Richard Henry Pratt about 1878
- Pencil, colored pencil, ink and colored ink
- This drawing shows two Cheyenne warriors hiding and hunting in a wooded area. Buffalo, elk, a turkey, and a flying bird are present. One of the warriors points his rifle towards the elk and buffalo. The other warrior aims his arrow at the flying bird.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1875-1878
- original artist
- Shave Head
- ID Number
- 2008.0175.55
- accession number
- 2008.0175
- catalog number
- 2008.0175.055
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Council (or more properly, Sun Dance or Medicine Lodge)
- Description
- Bear's Heart, or Nock-ko-ist (Cheyenne),
- drawn between 1875 and 1878 at Fort Marion, Florida
- "Council" (or more properly, Sun Dance or Medicine Lodge)
- Collected by Richard Henry Pratt about 1878
- Colored pencil, ink, colored ink, and watercolor
- The drawing of a Sun Dance or Medicine Lodge gathering offers a partial view of one moment in the most sacred of Plains Indian ceremonies. The event is represented here by the Sun Dance lodge with its cloth and tree-branch offerings flying. The people stand outside to bear witness to the sacred offerings being made, while four painted Sun Dancers stand ready to make their sacrifices inside. Four men, probably warrior society officers, stand guard over the ceremony.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1875-1878
- original artist
- Bear's Heart
- ID Number
- 2008.0175.56
- accession number
- 2008.0175
- catalog number
- 2008.0175.056
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Hunting Buffalo
- Description
- Shave Head, or O-uk-ste-uh (Cheyenne),
- drawn between 1875 and 1878 at Fort Marion, Florida
- “Hunting Buffalo”
- Collected by Richard Henry Pratt about 1878
- Colored pencil and colored ink
- Shave Head uses a two-level drawing shows a buffalo hunt with four wounded animals, and a separate hunt and the wounding of an elk. The Cheyenne warriors wear full headdress and four of the five also wear their mountain lion bow and quiver, symbolically powerful pieces of hunting gear.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1875-1878
- original artist
- Shave Head
- ID Number
- 2008.0175.57
- accession number
- 2008.0175
- catalog number
- 2008.0175.057
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
On the Lookout for Game
- Description
- Koba, aka Wild Horse,
- drawn between 1875 and 1878 at Fort Marion, Florida
- "On the Lookout for Game"
- Collected by Richard Henry Pratt about 1878
- Colored pencil, ink, and watercolor
- This illustration by Koba shows a band of Kiowa traveling to the right. Both men and women carry various supplies, bow and quiver cases, rifles, and umbrellas (a popular trade item). The route of the band is imaged using dashes on the ground. A scout keeps a lookout on the highest hill. The Kiowa hunt on foot, in the old way, though they use both old and new weapons.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1875-1878
- original artist
- Koba
- ID Number
- 2008.0175.58
- accession number
- 2008.0175
- catalog number
- 2008.0175.058
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Buffalo Chase
- Description
- Shave Head, or O-uk-ste-uh,
- drawn between 1875 and 1878 at Fort Marion, Florida
- “Buffalo Chase”
- Collected by Richard Henry Pratt about 1878
- Pencil, colored pencil, and ink
- Cheyenne warriors participate in the challenge of the buffalo chase. Four warriors, bows drawn and ready, ride close to the buffalo in order to kill the buffalo with one well directed arrow.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1875-1878
- original artist
- Shave Head
- ID Number
- 2008.0175.59
- accession number
- 2008.0175
- catalog number
- 2008.0175.059
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center