Communications

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.

Signed and dated watercolorCurrently not on view
Description (Brief)
Signed and dated watercolor
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1877
original artist
Blum, Robert Frederick
ID Number
GA.16637
catalog number
16637
accession number
119780
A signed pencil study which is similar to the drawing GA*16627Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
A signed pencil study which is similar to the drawing GA*16627
Location
Currently not on view
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16628
catalog number
16628
accession number
119780
Sallie Rayen made this poignant etching, showing a tearful young woman and her sympathetic companion, under the supervision of Stephen Ferris in March 1880. She dedicated it: “To Mr.
Description
Sallie Rayen made this poignant etching, showing a tearful young woman and her sympathetic companion, under the supervision of Stephen Ferris in March 1880. She dedicated it: “To Mr. Ferris with compliments of his pupil Sallie Rayen.” Ferris generously helped artists with their etching technique.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1880-03-25
1880
graphic artist
Rayen, Sallie
ID Number
GA.14931
catalog number
14931
accession number
94830
A drawing in pencil signed “C. Schuessele” in purplish ink with what might be a stampCurrently not on view
Description (Brief)
A drawing in pencil signed “C. Schuessele” in purplish ink with what might be a stamp
Location
Currently not on view
date made
19th century
original artist
Schussele, Christian
ID Number
GA.16631
catalog number
16631
accession number
119780
Unsigned sheet; Gerome Ferris explores in pencil a possibility for the central group in his painting, San Salvador, 1492. Here Columbus flourishes his sword above his head whereas in the painting he gestures forward with it.
Description (Brief)
Unsigned sheet; Gerome Ferris explores in pencil a possibility for the central group in his painting, San Salvador, 1492. Here Columbus flourishes his sword above his head whereas in the painting he gestures forward with it. There is also a preliminary study for the crossbowman at left front in the painting.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1920s
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
1985.0650.007
accession number
1985.0650
catalog number
85.0650.007
Unsigned sheet of pencil studies, showing swords and helmets, some of which can be linked to the figure of a crossbowman in Ferris’s painting in which Christopher Columbus takes possession of present-day San Salvador for Spain.Currently not on view
Description
Unsigned sheet of pencil studies, showing swords and helmets, some of which can be linked to the figure of a crossbowman in Ferris’s painting in which Christopher Columbus takes possession of present-day San Salvador for Spain.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1920s
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
1985.0650.005
accession number
1985.0650
catalog number
85.0650.005
A drawing in pencil on mauve paper, signed “C. Schuessele” in purplish ink with what might be a stampCurrently not on view
Description (Brief)
A drawing in pencil on mauve paper, signed “C. Schuessele” in purplish ink with what might be a stamp
Location
Currently not on view
date made
19th century
original artist
Schussele, Christian
ID Number
GA.16632
catalog number
16632
accession number
119780
On the unsigned sheet Gerome Ferris sketched a woman from a work by French artist Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) in pencil and noted: “A. Watteau Cap etc.
Description (Brief)
On the unsigned sheet Gerome Ferris sketched a woman from a work by French artist Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) in pencil and noted: “A. Watteau Cap etc. about 1725.” However, it is not known what use Ferris might have made of the information, nor the ax handle and the claw hammer also on the sheet.
Location
Currently not on view
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16562.09
catalog number
16562.09
accession number
119780
Gerome Ferris recorded his painting The Bonapartes, 1804 in detail in this ink drawing. We do not know whether he made the drawing before the painting as a guide or afterward as a record, and the current location of the painting is unknown.
Description
Gerome Ferris recorded his painting The Bonapartes, 1804 in detail in this ink drawing. We do not know whether he made the drawing before the painting as a guide or afterward as a record, and the current location of the painting is unknown. He researched the historic details in depth to ensure his picture was accurate. He took pride in his chosen calling, painter-historian, which he seriously pursued from about 1900.
The drawing shows Jerome Bonaparte, Napoleon Bonaparte’s youngest brother, and his American wife, Elizabeth Patterson of Baltimore, at an inn during their travels in the United States. Jerome Bonaparte had taken refuge here during the Napoleonic Wars and married during his stay in this country. A furious Napoleon rejected Jerome’s American wife, who returned to the United States. Jerome married again to support his brother’s dynastic ambition.
Location
Currently not on view
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16616
catalog number
16616
accession number
119780
Gerome Ferris initialed this pencil sketch showing Francis Fauquier, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia at the time of Washington’s marriage in 1759. Most of the sketches and notes associated with Ferris’s painting, Here Comes the Bride, 1759, were not signed.
Description (Brief)
Gerome Ferris initialed this pencil sketch showing Francis Fauquier, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia at the time of Washington’s marriage in 1759. Most of the sketches and notes associated with Ferris’s painting, Here Comes the Bride, 1759, were not signed. Fauquier appears in the foreground of the finished work.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
20th century
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16562.12
catalog number
16562.12
accession number
119780
Le Soldat et la Fillette Qui Rit is the only painting by Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) that Jules Jacquemart etched. His first attempt to etch a painting in 1861 was a failure, as apparently he had been unable to work directly from the subject.
Description
Le Soldat et la Fillette Qui Rit is the only painting by Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) that Jules Jacquemart etched. His first attempt to etch a painting in 1861 was a failure, as apparently he had been unable to work directly from the subject. Not until five years later in 1866 did he make a second attempt at etching a painting, this print after Vermeer. It was considered to be one of the best reproductive etchings of the time. The Vermeer painting now hangs in the Frick Collection, New York. But when Jacquemart etched it for the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, it was in the collection of Léopold Double, a French artillery officer, bibliophile, and art collector.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1866
original artist
Vermeer, Jan
graphic artist
Jacquemart, Jules
printer
Delâtre
publisher
Gazette des Beaux-Arts
ID Number
GA.14601
catalog number
14601
accession number
94830
Red chalk study of a nude male model. Studies like this one are sometimes called “academy figures” or simply “academies” because such subjects were required exercises in art schools or academies.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Red chalk study of a nude male model. Studies like this one are sometimes called “academy figures” or simply “academies” because such subjects were required exercises in art schools or academies.
Location
Currently not on view
original artist
unknown
ID Number
GA.14358
accession number
94830
catalog number
14358
Sixteen-year-old Gerome Ferris etched this print in 1879 after his own painting of the dying Christopher Columbus, 1506 Last Days of C. Columbus at Vallodolid.
Description
Sixteen-year-old Gerome Ferris etched this print in 1879 after his own painting of the dying Christopher Columbus, 1506 Last Days of C. Columbus at Vallodolid. The current location of the painting is unknown, but the choice of topic anticipates Gerome’s future as a history painter, focusing on American narrative subjects.
After death, Christopher Columbus’s journeys were not over. His remains traveled from Vallodolid to Seville and in 1542 were taken to the island of Hispaniola, now Haiti and the Dominican Republic, colonized by Columbus after 1492. After a move to Havana, Cuba, they returned to Seville cathedral in 1898 where they are today.
The etching was printed on chine-collé, a very thin sheet of paper that accepts the image in passing through the press with a heavier sheet of backing paper to which is it glued during the printing.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1879
graphic artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.14450
accession number
94830
catalog number
14450
Unsigned sheet of pencil drawings listing names of men who accompanied Christopher Columbus on his first expedition to the New World and shows some armor they might have worn.
Description
Unsigned sheet of pencil drawings listing names of men who accompanied Christopher Columbus on his first expedition to the New World and shows some armor they might have worn. About 1930 Gerome Ferris painted San Salvador, 1492 in which Columbus claims the island of present-day San Salvador for Spain.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1920s
maker
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
1985.0650.004
accession number
1985.0650
catalog number
85.0650.004
The signed ink drawing was made after Mariano Fortuny’s painting El Musico Arab.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
The signed ink drawing was made after Mariano Fortuny’s painting El Musico Arab.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1879
graphic artist
Ferris, Stephen James
original artist
Fortuny y Carbo, Mariano
ID Number
GA.16617
catalog number
16617
accession number
119780
An initialed pencil drawing made in 1876Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
An initialed pencil drawing made in 1876
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1876
original artist
Ferris, Stephen James
ID Number
GA.16670
catalog number
16670
accession number
119780
A signed and dated ink drawing made on January 8, 1876, which took 40 minutes to complete. There is a sketch of a horse's legs on the verso with notes on the anatomy.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
A signed and dated ink drawing made on January 8, 1876, which took 40 minutes to complete. There is a sketch of a horse's legs on the verso with notes on the anatomy.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1876-01-08
original artist
Ferris, Stephen James
ID Number
GA.16697
catalog number
16697
accession number
119780
The signed 1893 pen and ink drawing of a seated cavalier in large hat with plume and high boots, suggests seventeenth-century France, especially the era of the swashbuckling heroes known as three musketeers, created by Alexander Dumas, père.
Description (Brief)
The signed 1893 pen and ink drawing of a seated cavalier in large hat with plume and high boots, suggests seventeenth-century France, especially the era of the swashbuckling heroes known as three musketeers, created by Alexander Dumas, père. The cavalier is accompanying himself on a lute in what might be a tavern scene. A wine glass and carafe are lightly sketched at center left in pencil. Ferris also made a print of this subject.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1893
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16620
catalog number
16620
accession number
119780
Gerome Ferris titled the initialed pencil drawing of a seated young woman playing an instrument, Zayda/Three Princesses." Zayda is a character from "Legend of the Three Beautiful Princesses" in Washington Irving’s book, Tales of the Alhambra, first published in 1832.Currently not
Description (Brief)
Gerome Ferris titled the initialed pencil drawing of a seated young woman playing an instrument, Zayda/Three Princesses." Zayda is a character from "Legend of the Three Beautiful Princesses" in Washington Irving’s book, Tales of the Alhambra, first published in 1832.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1851
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16629
catalog number
16629
accession number
119780
Unsigned and undated pencil studyCurrently not on view
Description (Brief)
Unsigned and undated pencil study
Location
Currently not on view
original artist
Ferris, Stephen James
ID Number
GA.16695
catalog number
16695
accession number
119780
Camille Piton made this etching to illustrate a catalog for an auction of works from the collection of J. C. Runkle, which was held in New York on March 8, 1883. Samuel P. Avery, art dealer and himself a collector, organized the sale and the catalog.
Description
Camille Piton made this etching to illustrate a catalog for an auction of works from the collection of J. C. Runkle, which was held in New York on March 8, 1883. Samuel P. Avery, art dealer and himself a collector, organized the sale and the catalog. The New York Times judged Piton’s effort as “handsomely etched.” Ludwig Knaus (1829–1910), the original artist of First Love Letter, was a German painter of sentimental genre scenes which were very popular in his day. Originally titled in German, his painting was known by its English title because it had been purchased by an American.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1879
original artist
Knaus, Ludwig
graphic artist
Piton, Camille
ID Number
GA.14885
catalog number
14885
accession number
94830
Robert Swain Gifford’s etching Coal Pockets at New Bedford shows a grimy Massachusetts dock scene with a coal storage facility and a chimney belching smoke. Gifford pictured the southeastern Massachusetts coast, where he had lived as a boy, in many of his prints. As Sylvester R.
Description
Robert Swain Gifford’s etching Coal Pockets at New Bedford shows a grimy Massachusetts dock scene with a coal storage facility and a chimney belching smoke. Gifford pictured the southeastern Massachusetts coast, where he had lived as a boy, in many of his prints. As Sylvester R. Koehler noted in the American Art Review, which published the print in 1880, “The artist lifts the commonplace into the ideal, and teaches us to see beauty where our unguided eyes would have failed to discover it.” The print continued to be popular and was republished several times. In later impressions like this one, the date “-79’’ at bottom right has almost disappeared. Probably the publishers did not want the print to seem out of date.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1879
graphic artist
Gifford, Robert Swain
maker
Gifford, Robert Swain
ID Number
GA.14871.02
catalog number
14871.02
accession number
94830
Gerome Ferris sketched these helmets in pencil for his 1930 historical painting of Christopher Columbus landing in the new world, San Salvador, 1492.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Gerome Ferris sketched these helmets in pencil for his 1930 historical painting of Christopher Columbus landing in the new world, San Salvador, 1492.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1920s
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
1985.0650.006
accession number
1985.0650
catalog number
85.0650.006
Unsigned drawing showing a printing press in ink and two male figures in pencilCurrently not on view
Description (Brief)
Unsigned drawing showing a printing press in ink and two male figures in pencil
Location
Currently not on view
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16562.13
catalog number
16562.13
accession number
119780

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