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.

Topic: Art

Camera-ready comic strip, entitled "Aggie".

Originally drawn as "Aggie Mack" by Hal Rasmusson in 1946, Roy Fox took over the comic strip in 1962 at the time of Rasmusson's death, shortening the title to "Aggie". The strip features the adventures of a blond teenager named Agnes (Aggie) and her friends.
Description
Originally drawn as "Aggie Mack" by Hal Rasmusson in 1946, Roy Fox took over the comic strip in 1962 at the time of Rasmusson's death, shortening the title to "Aggie". The strip features the adventures of a blond teenager named Agnes (Aggie) and her friends. In this strip, Wayout is describing the perfect person: himself.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
08/15/1966
graphic artist
Fox, Roy
publisher
Tribune Printing Company
ID Number
GA.22628
catalog number
22628
accession number
277502

The Etching of Figures

Single sheet, folded as one gathering, for "The Etching of Figures" by William Aspinwall Bradley. Designed and printed by Dard Hunter on laid paper made at his Marlborough-on-Hudson mill, 1915, with watermarks of his initials, DH inside a heart and CSE in a circle.
Description (Brief)
Single sheet, folded as one gathering, for "The Etching of Figures" by William Aspinwall Bradley. Designed and printed by Dard Hunter on laid paper made at his Marlborough-on-Hudson mill, 1915, with watermarks of his initials, DH inside a heart and CSE in a circle. Published by the Chicago Society of Etchers. This is the first signature of the book, including the title page, foreword (p. 2), and text pp. 7-8.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
maker
Hunter, Dard
ID Number
GA.12472.02
accession number
66548
catalog number
12472.02

Turmeric: Wakon-ko

Small glass bottle of powdered pigment used for printing Japanese woodblocks. Paper label in English with color name transliterated from Japanese; separate label with catalogue number. Each bottle is stopped with small cork.Turmeric: Wakon-koCurrently not on view
Description
Small glass bottle of powdered pigment used for printing Japanese woodblocks. Paper label in English with color name transliterated from Japanese; separate label with catalogue number. Each bottle is stopped with small cork.
Turmeric: Wakon-ko
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
GA.03441
catalog number
03441
accession number
23218

Nandina domestica

Japanese wood block print. No. 5 in a series of progressive proofs of a stylized group of leaves and berries from the shrub Nandina domestica. Designed by Tsubaki Chinzan, engraved by Kotaro Kido, and printed by Iwakichi Yamamoto.Currently not on view
Description
Japanese wood block print. No. 5 in a series of progressive proofs of a stylized group of leaves and berries from the shrub Nandina domestica. Designed by Tsubaki Chinzan, engraved by Kotaro Kido, and printed by Iwakichi Yamamoto.
Location
Currently not on view
engraver
Kido, Kotaro
ID Number
GA.03217.05
catalog number
03217.05
accession number
22582

Seated Male Nude

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

chisel

Wooden handle with sharp metal point, chisel for removing small bits of wood between the lines of the design of a woodblock. One of a group of woodblock-cutter's tools used in Graphic Arts exhibit of Japanese printmaking techniques from about 1890 to 1990s. Identified as No.
Description
Wooden handle with sharp metal point, chisel for removing small bits of wood between the lines of the design of a woodblock. One of a group of woodblock-cutter's tools used in Graphic Arts exhibit of Japanese printmaking techniques from about 1890 to 1990s. Identified as No. 11 in watercolor drawing GA 03209.02 showing the tools of the block cutter.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
GA.03210.11
accession number
22582
catalog number
03210.11

Cheyenne Pictures. 'High Wolf' kills a Shoshone or Snake Indian.

Unknown artist, about 1894“Cheyenne Pictures.
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

portrait studies of women and men

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca. 1900
ID Number
2014.0250.01
accession number
2014.0250
catalog number
2014.0250.01

sheet(paper)

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
U.S. Government Printing Office
ID Number
GA.20483.02
accession number
203077

photograph

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1910
ID Number
2012.0093.16
accession number
2012.0093
catalog number
2012.0093.16

Anchovy Stuffed Eggs

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968-1970
author
Waters, Alice
ID Number
2016.0085.02
accession number
2016.0085
catalog number
2016.0085.02

New York Lithographing, Engraving, and Printing Company circular

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1868
maker
Bien, Julius
ID Number
GA.03771
catalog number
03771
accession number
23155

Nandina domestica

Japanese wood block print. No. 25 in a series of progressive proofs of a stylized group of leaves and berries from the shrub Nandina domestica. Designed by Tsubaki Chinzan, engraved by Kotaro Kido, and printed by Iwakichi Yamamoto.Currently not on view
Description
Japanese wood block print. No. 25 in a series of progressive proofs of a stylized group of leaves and berries from the shrub Nandina domestica. Designed by Tsubaki Chinzan, engraved by Kotaro Kido, and printed by Iwakichi Yamamoto.
Location
Currently not on view
engraver
Kido, Kotaro
ID Number
GA.03217.25
catalog number
03217.25
accession number
22582

Camera-ready comic strip, entitled Mr. Breger

Mr. Breger (also published as Private Breger and G.I. Joe during World War II) was created by Dave Breger (1908-1970), syndicated by King Features from 1946-1960s. Breger has been credited with creating the term "G.I.
Description
Mr. Breger (also published as Private Breger and G.I. Joe during World War II) was created by Dave Breger (1908-1970), syndicated by King Features from 1946-1960s. Breger has been credited with creating the term "G.I. Joe", replacing the term "Yank" to describe American soldiers. The comic is a gag-panel about life in the military. In this comic, The Bregers go to the attorney to discover what Mr. Breger's uncle willed to him.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
8/21/1966
publisher
King Features Syndicate
ID Number
GA.22334
catalog number
22334

Vichyssoise

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968-1970
author
Waters, Alice
ID Number
2016.0085.27
accession number
2016.0085
catalog number
2016.0085.27

Pallido California Extra Virgin Olive Oil Poster

David Lance Goines is known as a writer and lecturer as well as an illustrator and printer of both letterpress and offset lithography, his work much exhibited and collected throughout the country.
Description
David Lance Goines is known as a writer and lecturer as well as an illustrator and printer of both letterpress and offset lithography, his work much exhibited and collected throughout the country. But his Arts and Crafts influenced design is best known on his posters and in books. Goines was a recognized activist in Berkeley, associated with the Free Speech and Anti-War movements, and he did poster and book work for these movements.
Alice Waters, who founded the Berkeley restaurant, Chez Panisse, was a founding inspiration of the fresh, local, and organic food movement. She met David Goines in the Berkeley Free Speech movement. They began to collaborate on a column, “Alice’s Restaurant” for the local alternative paper. She wrote the recipes and he provided the artwork. He collected and printed each column as Thirty Recipes for Framing and the entire set and individual prints from the set began to appear on Berkeley walls and beyond, establishing him with enough profits to buy the Berkeley Free Press, rechristened the St. Hieronymus Press.
He issued his first Chez Panisse poster, "Red-Haired Lady," in 1972 and his most recent, "41st Anniversary," in 2012. In between is a series of anniversary posters, plus occasional others celebrating the restaurant's book releases, such as the Chez Panisse Café Cookbook, and other ventures. These works established his place as the primary artist associated with food and wine in the so-called Gourmet Ghetto. His early posters for Chez Panisse were soon followed by requests from other food and wine related sites and events, as well as from many other commercial entities.
The design for this 1987 poster by David Lance Goines was first commissioned as a bottle label by Corti Brothers Grocery in Sacramento to note the introduction of some of the first extra-virgin olive oil made in the United States. According to Corti, the labels were originally made for Antinori, the great Italian wine (and olive oil) producer, but a freeze knocked out the olive crop. Antinori returned the labels to Corti, whose grocery was to carry the Antinori oil. Corti got Goines to re-do the labels for the Pallido and Verdesco oils, “Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Spring Harvest Mission Olives,” simultaneously requesting a large number of the 4 color posters (unsigned, number130 in the Goines repertory) which he (Corti) could sell in the store. He also obtained the progressives from Goines, eventually giving the set of progressives and several of the posters to the National Museum of American History in 2012. The poster documents the arrival in the U.S. of the first wave of soon-to-be well known and much favored California-produced olive oils.
Many credit Darrell Corti for introducing chefs, food writers, and food critics to some of the high grades of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, American wines such as Zinfandel, and other foods that have become staples across America.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1987
maker
Goines, David Lance
ID Number
2011.0252.04
accession number
2011.0252
catalog number
2011.0252.04

Christopher Columbus Dying

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

sheet(paper)

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
GA.20481.01
accession number
203077

A Rustic Genji (Inaka Genji)

Wood block, Japanese. Landscape with two kimono-clad female figures in foreground; men engaged in agricultural activities in background with waterwheel. Block (recto) used to produce left-hand print in a triptych with GA 03213 and GA 03215.
Description
Wood block, Japanese. Landscape with two kimono-clad female figures in foreground; men engaged in agricultural activities in background with waterwheel. Block (recto) used to produce left-hand print in a triptych with GA 03213 and GA 03215. 24 separate impressions were required to complete the image from 14 printing surfaces on eight blocks. This block printed impressions GA 03216.03 (2 pairs of red lips--recto) and GA 03213.03 (3 pairs of red lips--verso). Both sides of block show some Japanese writing and residue of print pasted down to guide cutting. The verso has a tiny typewritten numeral 3 pasted on.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Morikawa, Kokichiro
ID Number
GA.03216.27
accession number
22582
catalog number
03216.27

Orange Duck

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968-1970
author
Waters, Alice
ID Number
2016.0085.16
accession number
2016.0085
catalog number
2016.0085.16

Winter Morning in the Country

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1969
1962
original artist
Palmer, Frances F.
publisher
Travelers Companies, Inc.
ID Number
2012.3050.05.13
nonaccession number
2012.3050
catalog number
2012.3050.05.13

Sunbath

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1935
printer
Kistler, Lynton R.
ID Number
1978.0650.1436
accession number
1978.0650
catalog number
1978.0650.1436
78.0650.1436

The Mystic Marriage of St. Catharine

Mezzotint after original painting by Giulio Cesare Procaccini (once attributed to his brother Camillo Procaccini), formerly at Houghton Hall, Norfolk,England. Current location of the original is State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Print tipped onto sheet bound in George P.
Description
Mezzotint after original painting by Giulio Cesare Procaccini (once attributed to his brother Camillo Procaccini), formerly at Houghton Hall, Norfolk,England. Current location of the original is State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Print tipped onto sheet bound in George P. Marsh's copy of The Houghton Gallery, vol. 1.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1775
artist attribution
Procaccini, Camillo
delineator
Boydell, Josiah
engraver
Green, Valentine
publisher
Boydell, John
original artist
Procaccini, Giulio Cesare
ID Number
1978.0534.02.36
catalog number
1978.0534.02.36
accession number
1978.0534

Spring Vegetable Soup

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968-1970
author
Waters, Alice
ID Number
2016.0085.24
accession number
2016.0085
catalog number
2016.0085.24

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