Communications

WANN Microphone

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.

Resource Type: Etchings (prints)

The steer

Etching on laid paper, trimmed. The outline of the animal is pricked, perhaps for tracing or transfer.Currently not on view
Description
Etching on laid paper, trimmed. The outline of the animal is pricked, perhaps for tracing or transfer.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
17th century
original artist
Roos, Johann Heinrich
ID Number
1978.0534.16
accession number
1978.0534
catalog number
1978.0534.16

Two Women

Zinc plate for the only etching made by Stuart Davis (1894-1964)Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Zinc plate for the only etching made by Stuart Davis (1894-1964)
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
circa 1916
maker
Davis, Stuart
ID Number
GA.22182
catalog number
22182
accession number
272554

The Green Calash

"The Green Calash" is a soft ground color etching and aquatint by Ellen Day Hale (1855–1940), produced in 1925 after her 1904 painting. The print is a three-quarter-view portrait of a young woman seated with her hands resting together in her lap.
Description
"The Green Calash" is a soft ground color etching and aquatint by Ellen Day Hale (1855–1940), produced in 1925 after her 1904 painting. The print is a three-quarter-view portrait of a young woman seated with her hands resting together in her lap. She is wearing a large green bonnet or hood called a calash because of its resemblance to the folding top of an 18th-century carriage known as a calash.
"The Green Calash" was shown at the Smithsonian as part of a print exhibition in November 1936. Other exhibitors were Gabrielle DeVeaux Clements, Margaret Hoyt, and Lesley Jackson. Clements and Hale experimented extensively with color printmaking throughout their careers. They were especially inspired by French artist René Ligeron's 1924 treatise on color intaglio, which Hale translated into English for the Smithsonian exhibition. Clements wrote to curator R.P. Tolman that she and Hale had "been working on an interesting line of experiments in printing etchings in color" and that they had "lately gained better control of the medium, and greater simplicity."
The 1936 exhibition came near the end of Hale's and Clements's careers. By that time they had been producing prints for more than sixty years. Their work was included in the first exhibition of etchings exclusively by women at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1887. Curator Sylvester R. Koehler included more than 400 etchings by twenty-five artists in a very successful exhibition titled Women Etchers of America. In 1888 the Union League Club in New York exhibited the same works, plus about 100 more by eleven additional women. A traveling exhibition celebrating the centennial of these two ground-breaking shows, American Women of the Etching Revival, was organized by the High Museum in Atlanta, Georgia in 1988. The NMAH lent works by Hale, Clements, and other women printmakers, and the Museum showed the exhibition in Washington in 1989.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1925
ID Number
GA.17165
catalog number
17165
accession number
142035

Map of the Pilgrim's Progress

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
c. 1850
date made
ca 1800
graphic artist
Melish, John
ID Number
1985.0303.05
accession number
1985.0303
catalog number
1985.0303.05

Witch Doctor

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1930
ca 1928
ca 1931
ca 1927
ca 1933
ca 1932
ca 1936
graphic artist
Totten, Ralph J.
ID Number
2013.0196.30
accession number
2013.0196
catalog number
2013.0196.30

nude woman opening curtain

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1930
ca 1928
ca 1931
ca 1927
ca 1933
ca 1932
ca 1936
graphic artist
Totten, Ralph J.
ID Number
2013.0196.33
accession number
2013.0196
catalog number
2013.0196.33

Man in an arbor (after)

Etching, trimmed inside plate mark. Reversed copy by unknown artist after Rembrandt. Signed in plate "Rembrent f 1643." NHD 208, copy d, probably British, 18th century. For original print dated 1642, see Hind 194, Bartsch 257, Biorklund-Barnard 42-A.Currently not on view
Description
Etching, trimmed inside plate mark. Reversed copy by unknown artist after Rembrandt. Signed in plate "Rembrent f 1643." NHD 208, copy d, probably British, 18th century. For original print dated 1642, see Hind 194, Bartsch 257, Biorklund-Barnard 42-A.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1643
original artist
Rembrandt van Rijn
ID Number
1978.0534.36
accession number
1978.0534
catalog number
1978.0534.36

Pobrecitas!

Plate 22 of "Los Caprichos"Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Plate 22 of "Los Caprichos"
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c. 1790
graphic artist
Goya, Francisco
ID Number
GA.19953
catalog number
19953
accession number
179418

Rembrandt Bankrupt

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Colescott, Warrington
ID Number
1985.0759.12
accession number
1985.0759
catalog number
85.0759.12

Ceres and Phytalus

Phytalus, kneeling at right, receives the fig tree from the goddess Ceres, standing at left, as a reward for his hospitality. Reversed copy after Rosa's etching with "inv." added and numeral "66" engraved in plate at lower right.
Description
Phytalus, kneeling at right, receives the fig tree from the goddess Ceres, standing at left, as a reward for his hospitality. Reversed copy after Rosa's etching with "inv." added and numeral "66" engraved in plate at lower right. Probably etched during the 17th century by Johann Jakob von Sandrart as he is credited with a series of prints after Rosa made in reverse with numbers added.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
17th century
original artist
Rosa, Salvator
graphic artist
Sandrart, Johann Jakob von
ID Number
1978.0534.19
accession number
1978.0534
catalog number
1978.0534.19

Meditation

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c. 1860
graphic artist
Fortuny y Carbo, Mariano
ID Number
GA.16775
catalog number
16775
accession number
119780

Victor Hugo’s Bedroom

Maxime Lalanne’s etching Le Chambre de Victor Hugo shows Hugo’s bedroom in Hauteville House on the Isle of Guernsey. The distinguished French author of works such as Les Misérables left Paris for political exile after a coup brought to power Louis Napoleon, later Napoleon III.
Description
Maxime Lalanne’s etching Le Chambre de Victor Hugo shows Hugo’s bedroom in Hauteville House on the Isle of Guernsey. The distinguished French author of works such as Les Misérables left Paris for political exile after a coup brought to power Louis Napoleon, later Napoleon III. The print was originally published as one of a suite of twelve to accompany a book titled Chez Victor Hugo par un Passant (At Victor Hugo’s House by a Passer-by). Hugo’s son Charles based his book on the reporting of Edmond Bacot, who visited Hugo in 1862. Lalanne etched this scene after one of the photographs Bacot took.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1864
publisher
Cadart, A.
graphic artist
Lalanne, Maxime
photographer
Bacot, Edmond
ID Number
GA.14597
catalog number
14597
accession number
94830

The Baptism of the Eunuch

Top margin trimmed; ruled ink border on all sides. Signed in plate lower right: "Rembrandt f. 1641" see NHD 186, III; Bartsch 98, Hind 182, Biorklund-Barnard 41-E. "B 98" on verso in pencil in what looks like George P. Marsh's hand.Currently not on view
Description
Top margin trimmed; ruled ink border on all sides. Signed in plate lower right: "Rembrandt f. 1641" see NHD 186, III; Bartsch 98, Hind 182, Biorklund-Barnard 41-E. "B 98" on verso in pencil in what looks like George P. Marsh's hand.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1641
maker
Rembrandt van Rijn
ID Number
1978.0534.44
accession number
1978.0534
catalog number
1978.0534.44

Christ Preaching (La Petite Tombe)

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
engraver
Rembrandt van Rijn
ID Number
GA.01459
catalog number
01459
accession number
20802

Goose Pond, East Hampton

Mary Nimmo Moran chose The Goose Pond, Easthampton as her diploma work when the recently formed Royal Society of Painter-Etchers in London elected her a Fellow in 1881, the only woman among the sixty-five original Fellows.
Description
Mary Nimmo Moran chose The Goose Pond, Easthampton as her diploma work when the recently formed Royal Society of Painter-Etchers in London elected her a Fellow in 1881, the only woman among the sixty-five original Fellows. When she exhibited four etchings in the Society’s show, the New York Herald commented on a review in a London paper, ‘“Mrs. Moran’s work is so masculine [sic] that the Daily News critic takes it for that of a man.”’ Her vigorous etching style has been frequently noted along with her preference for working outdoors directly on a prepared plate, before the subject.
The print shows a pond, now known as Town Pond, and Gardiner’s Mill, which still stands in the town of East Hampton, where the Morans spent many summers. Landscape and in particular the landscape around East Hampton was the subject of many of Mary Nimmo Moran’s etchings.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1881
graphic artist
Moran, Mary Nimmo
ID Number
GA.14566
catalog number
14566
accession number
94830

Joseph Octave Plessis...

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1807
original artist
Schipper, Gerritt
ID Number
GA.179095
catalog number
179095
accession number
25819

Street Musicians

Jean Léon Gérôme (1824–1904) painted this scene of Pifferari or street musicians serenading an unseen image of the Virgin Mary in 1870. Camille Piton etched it for an auction catalog of works from the collection of J. C. Runkle, which were sold on March 8, 1883.
Description
Jean Léon Gérôme (1824–1904) painted this scene of Pifferari or street musicians serenading an unseen image of the Virgin Mary in 1870. Camille Piton etched it for an auction catalog of works from the collection of J. C. Runkle, which were sold on March 8, 1883. The auction was organized by Samuel P. Avery, art dealer and print collector. Pifferari come from the mountains in Calabria, Italy, and from the Abruzzi to play bagpipes and reed instruments like the piffero, a kind of oboe, before images of the Virgin in Rome during the Christmas season. Jean Léon Gérôme was a favorite painter of Stephen Ferris, who named his son after him.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1879
1883
original artist
Gerôme, Jean-Léon
graphic artist
Piton, Camille
ID Number
GA.14886
catalog number
14886
accession number
94830

Dance at the League

Scene of a dance at the Art Students League in New York City, 1919. The artist included herself in the print, near the top. She has drawn many of the people as caricatures, including fellow artist John Sloan and his first wife Dolly, in the center.Currently not on view
Description
Scene of a dance at the Art Students League in New York City, 1919. The artist included herself in the print, near the top. She has drawn many of the people as caricatures, including fellow artist John Sloan and his first wife Dolly, in the center.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1919
depicted
Sloan, John
Bacon, Peggy
original artist
Bacon, Peggy
graphic artist
Bacon, Peggy
ID Number
GA.22176
catalog number
22176
accession number
272554

Table Mountain

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1930
ca 1928
ca 1931
ca 1927
ca 1933
ca 1932
ca 1936
ca 1929
graphic artist
Totten, Ralph J.
ID Number
2013.0196.39
accession number
2013.0196
catalog number
2013.0196.39

Christ Healing the Sick

Trimmed inside plate mark. Print made after Capt. William Baillie's reworking of the plate, with changes to Christ's face and other details. Rembrandt's plate originally was etched about 1648.
Description
Trimmed inside plate mark. Print made after Capt. William Baillie's reworking of the plate, with changes to Christ's face and other details. Rembrandt's plate originally was etched about 1648. It was reworked by Baillie in 1775 and later cut into four pieces, with additional impressions taken from each. See NHD 239, III; Hind 236; Biorklund-Barnard 49-1.
Location
Currently not on view
original plate
1648
reworked plate
1775
graphic artist
Baillie, William
ID Number
1978.0534.43
accession number
1978.0534
catalog number
1978.0534.43

Farm Scene, the Scourer

This impression of La Recureuse by Charles Jacque is neither signed nor dated. The print shows a farm girl washing a large tub, which has been propped up on a rustic stool or wooden chopping block.
Description
This impression of La Recureuse by Charles Jacque is neither signed nor dated. The print shows a farm girl washing a large tub, which has been propped up on a rustic stool or wooden chopping block. The young boy, standing and carrying a shield, originally was shown relieving himself. A later hand, possibly Stephen Ferris’s or Gerome Ferris’s, censored the artist’s composition by whiting out the original activity and inking in a shield. Printed on chine colle.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1845
graphic artist
Jacque, Charles Émile
ID Number
GA.14705
catalog number
14705
accession number
94830

The Barrens,Easthampton

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1879
maker
Moran, Mary Nimmo
ID Number
GA.00536
catalog number
536
accession number
20295

Peasants in conversation

Etching, weak or late impression of 6th state, trimmed to ruled border. Alternate titles "Grotesques" or "Three Grotesque Figures." See Godefroy 28.Currently not on view
Description
Etching, weak or late impression of 6th state, trimmed to ruled border. Alternate titles "Grotesques" or "Three Grotesque Figures." See Godefroy 28.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1647
maker
Ostade, Adriaen van
ID Number
1978.0534.24
accession number
1978.0534
catalog number
1978.0534.24

Wild Geese

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1930
ca 1928
ca 1931
ca 1927
ca 1933
ca 1932
ca 1936
ca 1929
graphic artist
Totten, Ralph J.
ID Number
2013.0196.35
accession number
2013.0196
catalog number
2013.0196.35

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.