Cultures & Communities

Furniture, cooking wares, clothing, works of art, and many other kinds of artifacts are part of what knit people into communities and cultures. The Museum’s collections feature artifacts from European Americans, Latinos, Arab Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, African Americans, Gypsies, Jews, and Christians, both Catholics and Protestants. The objects range from ceramic face jugs made by enslaved African Americans in South Carolina to graduation robes and wedding gowns. The holdings also include artifacts associated with education, such as teaching equipment, textbooks, and two complete schoolrooms. Uniforms, insignia, and other objects represent a wide variety of civic and voluntary organizations, including youth and fraternal groups, scouting, police forces, and firefighters.

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
This map of North and South America appeared as part of a seven-volume historic atlas published in Paris between 1705 and 1720. It was also issued separately, and its large size together with its companion lower half suggest its use as a wall chart. Only a detail is shown here.
Description
This map of North and South America appeared as part of a seven-volume historic atlas published in Paris between 1705 and 1720. It was also issued separately, and its large size together with its companion lower half suggest its use as a wall chart. Only a detail is shown here. Circular portraits identify nine great explorers, including Columbus, Magellan, and Vespucci. Five voyages of discovery are marked on the Pacific Ocean, the southern ocean of the title.
Elaborate engraved vignettes depict beavers building a dam, Native Americans hunting and fishing, and other men salting and drying codfish. Niagara Falls is pictured, and California is shown as an island, although the growing belief that it was part of the continent is noted.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1719
graphic artist
Chatelain, Henri Abraham
ID Number
GA.313248.01a
catalog number
313248.01
accession number
313248
This engraving shows Hernán Cortés (1485–1547), the Spanish captain who headed the conquest of the Aztec Empire. He became a part of popular mythology the moment he arrived in Mexico around 1520.
Description
This engraving shows Hernán Cortés (1485–1547), the Spanish captain who headed the conquest of the Aztec Empire. He became a part of popular mythology the moment he arrived in Mexico around 1520. Cortés had spent time in Cuba killing and enslaving its indigenous inhabitants and administering the new social order of the Spanish colonies of the Caribbean. As his well-read memoirs attest, even his experiences in Cuba did not prepare him for the history-altering intrigues, battles, and cultural encounters between the Spanish and the Mexicans, Mayas, and their many neighbors in between. Motivated by an ancient notion of fame, Hernán Cortés wrote his own version of the conquest of Mexico that put him squarely at the center, favored by the Christian God. But neither his victories nor his pillage of the Mexican capital would have been possible without the aid of soldiers, slaves, and supplies from the enemies of the Aztecs. As a testament to Cortés's enduring fame, his portrait by the Spanish painter Antonio Carnicero was published as an engraving by Manuel Salvador y Carmona in 1791 in the book, Retratos de los españoles ilustres, con un epítome de sus vidas, (Portraits of Illustrious Spaniards, with a Synopsis of Their Lives.)
Description (Spanish)
Este grabado representa a Hernán Cortés (1485-1547), el capitán español que encabezó la conquista del Imperio Azteca. Desde que Cortés arribó a México en 1521 pasó a formar parte de la mitología popular. Había pasado algún tiempo en Cuba involucrado en la matanza y esclavización de los nativos y administrando la nueva estructura social de las colonias españolas del Caribe. Como lo atestiguan sus bien documentadas memorias, ni siquiera sus experiencias en Cuba lo prepararon para las decisivas intrigas, batallas y choques culturales entre españoles y mexicanos, mayas y otros pueblos vecinos. Motivado por el antiguo concepto de fama, Hernán Cortés escribió una versión propia de la conquista de México que lo situó manifiestamente en el centro de la historia, favorecido por el Dios cristiano. Sin embargo, ni sus victorias ni el saqueo de la capital mexicana hubieran sido posibles sin la ayuda de los soldados, esclavos y aprovisionamiento suplidos por los enemigos de los aztecas. Como testamento de la fama perdurable de Cortés, este retrato suyo del pintor español Antonio Carnicero se publicó como un grabado de Manuel Salvador y Carmona en 1791, en el libro Retratos de los Españoles Ilustres, con un Epítome de sus Vidas.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1795
depicted
Cortes, Hernan
original artist
Carnicero, D. A.
graphic artist
Carmona, D. J. A.
ID Number
GA.20683
catalog number
20683
accession number
226630
The engraved copper plate "Discovery of the New World" was used to print illustration number six in Nova Typis Transacta Navigatio, an account of Columbus's expeditions published in Austria in 1621.
Description
The engraved copper plate "Discovery of the New World" was used to print illustration number six in Nova Typis Transacta Navigatio, an account of Columbus's expeditions published in Austria in 1621. The plate was engraved by Wolfgang Kilian (1581–1662), one of a distinguished family of artists and engravers from Augsburg, Germany. The scene represents European explorers being welcomed at a feast by Native Americans.
The publication was dedicated to Caspar Plautius, Abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Seitenstetten, where the book was published. Plautius also has been suggested as the author of the work, which treats the exploration and discovery of the Americas and the role of Benedictine priests as missionaries. The Benedictines, under Father Bernardo Boyl or Buell, were sent by the King of Spain to Christianize the native peoples of the New World. The plate came to the Smithsonian in 1905 from the Seitenstetten monastery, through Prof. P. Joseph Schock. Several impressions were printed from the plate in 1913.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1621
maker
Kilian, Wolfgang
ID Number
GA.07252
catalog number
07252
accession number
45209
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1719
graphic artist
Chatelain, Henri Abraham
ID Number
GA.313248.01b
accession number
313248
catalog number
313248.02
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

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