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 6 items.
Drawing made by a Comanche Indian
- Description
- Unknown artist, about 1868
- “Drawing made by a Comanche Indian”
- [Title given by collector Dr. Edward Palmer]
- Media: Colored inks on paper
- This drawing of a Comanche warrior was likely prepared and collected in 1868 at the Kiowa and Comanche Agency in present-day Oklahoma. The artist’s representation of a warrior on horseback follows a tradition of pictographic imagery which presents the subject on one plane without the illusion of depth. Here both of the warrior’s legs and leg sashes are imaged on the viewer’s side of the horse.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1880
- ca 1869
- ca 1882
- original artist
- unknown
- ID Number
- 2008.0175.50
- catalog number
- 2008.0175.050
- accession number
- 2008.0175
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Cheyenne Pictures. Soldiers Charging on Sioux and Cheyennes.
- Description
- Unknown artist, about 1894
- “Cheyenne Pictures. Soldiers Charging on Sioux and Cheyennes.”
- Pencil and colored pencil
- This drawing of U.S. Army cavalry soldiers in a charge displays the uniformity of the colors, equipment, and methods of the military. The soldiers fire their rifles at the Sioux and Cheyenne targets ahead of them. Some of these drawings are so accurate that the specific unit uniforms and types of firearms can be identified.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1894
- original artist
- unknown
- ID Number
- GA*08109
- catalog number
- GA*08109
- accession number
- 1897.031963
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Cheyenne Pictures. Cheyennes Charging on U.S. Troops
- Description
- Unknown artist, about 1894
- “Cheyenne Pictures. Cheyennes Charging on U.S. Troops.”
- Pencil, colored pencil, ink and watercolor
- The Cheyenne Indians pictured in this drawing are displayed in identifiable warrior society clothing. The warriors ride at a gallop, the hoof marks indicating movement, while firing their rifles at the U.S. troops. Two riders lean low behind the necks of their trained war horses shielding themselves from the bullets flying in all directions.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1894
- original artist
- unknown
- ID Number
- GA*08110
- catalog number
- GA*08110
- accession number
- 1897.031963
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Warrior Killing a Soldier
- Description
- Unknown artist, about 1894
- “Cheyenne Picture. Warrior Killing a Soldier.”
- Ink and watercolor
- This drawing shows the victory of a Cheyenne warrior over a U.S. Army soldier. The artist depicts the warrior counting coup on his enemy by touching the fallen soldier with his riding whip (quirt). Counting coup - in this instance touching an adversary in battle - was considered an act of bravery that could gain war honors. This single event took place during a larger battle against many adversaries, as indicated by the large number of rifles at the left.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca 1875
- date made
- ca 1894
- original artist
- unknown
- ID Number
- GA*08111
- accession number
- 1897.031963
- catalog number
- GA*08111
- accession number
- 1897.31963
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Cheyenne Pictures. Warrior Killing a Soldier
- Description
- Unknown artist, about 1894
- “Cheyenne Pictures. Standing Elk’s Horse Killed in Fight with Troops.”
- Pencil, ink, and watercolor
- The central focus of this image is a wounded horse, bleeding from head and rump, being fired on by U.S. troops at the right. Standing Elk, with his name glyph above him, has dismounted and appears to be safe from the rifle shots. The suggestion of concern by the warrior indicates the high value placed on horses by Plains tribesmen.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1894
- original artist
- unknown
- ID Number
- GA*08112
- catalog number
- GA*08112
- accession number
- 1897.031963
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Cheyenne Pictures. 'High Wolf' kills a Shoshone or Snake Indian.
- Description
- Unknown artist, about 1894
- “Cheyenne Pictures. High Wolf Kills a Shoshonee or Snake Indian.”
- Pencil, colored pencil, ink and watercolor
- This drawing shows a mounted warrior with a name glyph - a symbol for the personal name “High Wolf” - riding victoriously over a fallen Snake (Shoshone) warrior, identified by his shield. The artist depicts High Wolf counting coup on his enemy by showing a riding whip (quirt) touching the shield of the fallen Shoshone warrior. Counting coup - in this instance touching an adversary in battle - was considered an act of bravery that could gain war honors.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1894
- original artist
- unknown
- ID Number
- GA*08113
- catalog number
- GA*08113
- accession number
- 1897.031963
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center