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: Engravings (prints)

The Stoning of St. Stephen

Engraving after painting formerly attributed to Eustache Le Sueur once in the Salon at Houghton Hall, Norfolk, England. Now in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, attributed provisionally to Thomas Gousse. Print removed from George P.
Description
Engraving after painting formerly attributed to Eustache Le Sueur once in the Salon at Houghton Hall, Norfolk, England. Now in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, attributed provisionally to Thomas Gousse. Print removed from George P. Marsh’s copy of The Houghton Gallery, vol. 2.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1773
maker
A. B. & W. Transit Company
artist attribution
Le Sueur, Eustache
publisher
Boydell, John
engraver
Aliamet, Francois Germain
ID Number
1978.0534.03.40
accession number
1978.0534
catalog number
1978.0534.03.40

The Prodigal Son

Line engraving from original painting by Salvator Rosa once in the Gallery at Houghton, now in State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Print tipped onto sheet bound in George P. Marsh’s copy of The Houghton Gallery, vol.
Description
Line engraving from original painting by Salvator Rosa once in the Gallery at Houghton, now in State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Print tipped onto sheet bound in George P. Marsh’s copy of The Houghton Gallery, vol. 1.This is the smaller of two engravings after Rosa's painting included in the Houghton Gallery set; it was delineated by Richard Earlom and engraved by J. B. Michel.
Claiming that this print in volume one was “too small for such a capital picture,” the publisher introduced another larger version for volume two, also delineated by Earlom but engraved by Simon Ravenet. It had first appeared in Boydell’s series, A Collection of Prints Engraved after the Most Capital Paintings in England, begun in 1769.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1775
publisher
Boydell, John
delineator
Earlom, Richard
engraver
Michel, Jean Baptiste
original artist
Rosa, Salvator
ID Number
1978.0534.02.39
accession number
1978.0534
catalog number
1978.0534.02.39

Independence Hall

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1861
maker
Neagle, John B.
ID Number
2014.0250.54
accession number
2014.0250
catalog number
2014.0250.54

Buffalo Chase

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 1878Pencil, colored pencil, and watercolorWohaw's drawing shows a party of Kiowa warriors participating in a buffalo hunt.
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

Three Soldiers

Engraving after painting by Salvator Rosa once in the Cabinet at Houghton Hall, Norfolk, England. Sold to Russia in 1779; first in the Hermitage Palace, later in the Gatchina Palace. Disappeared during World War II; present location unknown. Print removed from George P.
Description
Engraving after painting by Salvator Rosa once in the Cabinet at Houghton Hall, Norfolk, England. Sold to Russia in 1779; first in the Hermitage Palace, later in the Gatchina Palace. Disappeared during World War II; present location unknown. Print removed from George P. Marsh’s copy of The Houghton Gallery, vol. 2. Marsh probably wrote the numeral 60 in pencil in the lower right corner.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1778
1788
publisher
Boydell, John
Boydell, Josiah
engraver
Heath, James
original artist
Rosa, Salvator
ID Number
1978.0534.03.62
accession number
1978.0534
catalog number
1978.0534.03.62

The Just Upright Man is laughed to scorn; Job rebuked by his friends

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1825
maker
Blake, William
ID Number
GA.19957
catalog number
19957
accession number
179418

Engraving of snake species "Crotalus molossus"

William Dougal (1822–1895) of Washington, D.C. engraved this print of “Crotalus molassus [B & G],” or Black–tailed rattlesnake, from an original sketch likely drawn by John H. Richard (c.1807–1881) of Philadelphia.
Description (Brief)
William Dougal (1822–1895) of Washington, D.C. engraved this print of “Crotalus molassus [B & G],” or Black–tailed rattlesnake, from an original sketch likely drawn by John H. Richard (c.1807–1881) of Philadelphia. The illustration was printed as Plate II in the “Reptiles” section of the second part of volume II of the Report on the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey, which was written by Spencer F. Baird (1823–1887). The volume was printed in 1859 by Cornelius Wendell of Washington, D.C.
Description
William Dougal (1822–1895) of Washington, D.C. engraved this print of “Crotalus molassus [B & G],” or Black–tailed rattlesnake, from an original sketch likely drawn by John H. Richard (c.1807–1881) of Philadelphia. The illustration was printed as Plate 2 in the “Reptiles” section of the second part of volume II of the Report on the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey, which was written by Spencer F. Baird (1823–1887). The volume was printed in 1859 by Cornelius Wendell of Washington, D.C.
Location
Currently not on view
graphic artist
Dougal, William H.
printer
Nicholson, A.O.P.
author
Emory, William H.
printer
Wendell, Cornelius
publisher
U.S. Department of the Interior
original artist
Richard, John H.
author
Baird, Spencer Fullerton
publisher
U.S. Army
ID Number
GA.1367
accession number
1888.20627
catalog number
1367

The Rocky Mountains, etched proof

Albert Bierstadt's (1830–1902) large painting, The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak, completed in 1863, presented the drama of the American West to audiences in the Eastern United States.
Description
Albert Bierstadt's (1830–1902) large painting, The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak, completed in 1863, presented the drama of the American West to audiences in the Eastern United States. The Rocky Mountains was Bierstadt's first big success, and he quickly developed a marketing strategy to promote his work. He contracted with engraver James Smillie (1807–1885) to produce a large black-and-white reproductive print. Then he sent the painting on tour, to be exhibited in art galleries in several eastern cities, accompanied by a subscription book and promotional flyers describing the engraving. It was available in four versions, from a limited number of artists' proofs priced at $50 each to an unlimited edition of plain proofs at $10 each.
Public exhibitions in commercial galleries, together with the growth of the print trade, expanded opportunities for people to see paintings and purchase reproductions. Publishing prints enhanced an artist's reputation and added significantly to his income, but engraving on steel was a slow and painstaking process. It took Smillie more than three years to complete his work, in part because the painting was unavailable for him to copy. First Smillie drew the details of the image with a needle on a large steel plate, measuring 43 by 70.5 centimeters. This background image was etched in acid, and the Museum's copy is an early stage proof made "off the acid" to check Smillie's progress with the design. Several areas of the print remain to be completed. They were finished by hand with the engraver's cutting tool called the burin.
In 1888 Smillie's son George donated this proof, which had been signed and dated by his father in 1865. Bierstadt also donated a signed impression of the final state of the print. Both states were exhibited together to demonstrate the process of engraving.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1865
engraver
Smillie, James
original artist
Bierstadt, Albert
ID Number
GA.00730
catalog number
00730
accession number
20355

Francicso De Moncada, Marquis de Aytona

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c.1641
original artist
Dyck, Anthony van
graphic artist
Vorsterman, Lucas
ID Number
GA.15001
catalog number
15001
accession number
94830

Atlas Moderne Ou Collection De Cartes ... Avertissement

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1762
ID Number
GA.23133.02
accession number
289956
catalog number
23133.02

Atlas Moderne Ou Collection De Cartes ...

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1762
graphic artist
Lattre, Jean
maker
Monnet, Charles
ID Number
GA.23133.01
catalog number
23133
accession number
289956

Paulus Pontius;

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
seventeenth century
17th century
original artist
Dyck, Anthony van
maker
Pontius, Paulus
ID Number
GA.15003
catalog number
15003
accession number
94830

Portrait of Cornelis van der Geest

Portrait of Cornelis van der Geest (1577-1638), Antwerp spice merchant, patron, and art collector, after the painting by Anthony van Dyck in the National Gallery, London.
Description
Portrait of Cornelis van der Geest (1577-1638), Antwerp spice merchant, patron, and art collector, after the painting by Anthony van Dyck in the National Gallery, London. The engraving, titled "Gevartius," originally appeared in a catalogue, The National Gallery of Pictures by the Great Masters (London:1836).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1835
publisher
Jones & Co.
graphic artist
Rogers, J. [John]
ID Number
GA.15979
catalog number
15979
accession number
99933

Portrait of Abraham Lincoln

William Pate & Co. of New York published this portrait of Lincoln in 1869. The engraver, Henry Gugler, is best known for his bank-note work. Although the copyright notice below the print indicates the source as an original painting by J. H.
Description
William Pate & Co. of New York published this portrait of Lincoln in 1869. The engraver, Henry Gugler, is best known for his bank-note work. Although the copyright notice below the print indicates the source as an original painting by J. H. Littlefield, who was once a clerk in Lincoln's law office, the image was based on a photograph made in the Mathew Brady studio in 1864. Perhaps Littlefield made a painting after the photograph that Gugler then engraved. The Brady studio photograph of Lincoln also served as the model for the engraving that appeared on the five-dollar bill and for other portrait prints.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1869
engraver
Gugler, Henry
original artist
Littlefield, J. H.
artist attribution
Brady, Mathew B.
publisher
William Pate & Co.
ID Number
GA.03352
catalog number
03352
accession number
23155

Jared Sparks

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
graphic artist
Schoff, Stephen Alonzo
original artist
Sully, Thomas
maker
Schoff, Stephen Alonzo
ID Number
GA.15759
catalog number
15759
accession number
94830

The Capitol

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
printer
Bureau of Engraving and Printing
ID Number
GA.10166
catalog number
10166
accession number
59222

Theodorus Vanlonius

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
17th century
maker
Van Dyck, Anthony
unknown
ID Number
GA.14997
catalog number
14997
accession number
94830

Saint Jerome

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
original artist
Domenichino, Domenico Zampieri
graphic artist
Pecoul, Nicholas
maker
Domenichino, Domenico Zampieri
ID Number
GA.15745.35
catalog number
15745.35
accession number
94830

Farmers Nooning

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1843
engraver
Jones, Alfred
original artist
Mount, William Sidney
printer
Burton, James
publisher
Apollo Association
ID Number
GA.12804
catalog number
12804
accession number
29209

Robert van Voerst

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
17th century
Original artist
Dyck, Anthony van
Graphic artist
Chambars, Thomas
maker
Chambars, Thomas
ID Number
GA.14999
catalog number
14999
accession number
94830

In Pursuit of Game

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 1878Pencil, colored pencil, ink and colored inkThis drawing shows two Cheyenne warriors hiding and hunting in a wooded area.
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.
date made
ca 1875-1878
original artist
Shave Head
ID Number
2008.0175.55
accession number
2008.0175
catalog number
2008.0175.055

Lithograph of "Indian Antiquities" pottery artifacts

P. S. Duval and Company (ca 1840s-1858) of Philadelphia produced this chromolithographic print from an original illustration by John M. Stanley (1814-1872).
Description (Brief)
P. S. Duval and Company (ca 1840s-1858) of Philadelphia produced this chromolithographic print from an original illustration by John M. Stanley (1814-1872). The image of "Wooden Ware, etc." was published as Plate X in Volume 2, following page 116 of Appendix E (Indian Antiquities) by Thomas Ewbank (1792-1870) in the report describing "The U.S. Naval Astronomical Expedition to the Southern Hemisphere during the Years 1849, 1850, 1851, and 1852" by James M. Gillis (1811-1865). The volume was printed in 1855 by A. O. P. Nicholson (1808-1876) of Washington, D.C.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1855
original artist
Wallis, O. J.
Dreser, William
Herbst, Francis
graphic artist
Sinclair, Thomas
Dougal, William H.
Duval, Peter S.
printer
Nicholson, A. O. P.
publisher
United States Navy
original artist
Richard, John H.
Stanley, John Mix
Siebert, Selmar
author
Cassin, John
Ewbank, Thomas
Baird, Spencer Fullerton
Gilliss, James Melville
ID Number
2007.0204.01
accession number
2007.0204
catalog number
2007.0204.01

mythological subject

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
May 1783
engraver
Bartolozzi, Francesco
original artist
Cipriani, Giovanni Battista
ID Number
2014.0250.13
accession number
2014.0250
catalog number
2014.0250.13

The Silver Vase

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1834
ID Number
2012.0093.13
catalog number
2012.0093.13
accession number
2012.0093

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