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.

This postcard view of the Garden of Mission Santa Barbara was published by the Edward H. Mitchell company of San Francisco about 1908, as a photomechanical lithograph. The Edward H.
Description (Brief)
This postcard view of the Garden of Mission Santa Barbara was published by the Edward H. Mitchell company of San Francisco about 1908, as a photomechanical lithograph. The Edward H. Mitchell company published postcards between about 1900 and 1928.
Founded in 1786, Mission Santa Barbara was the tenth of twenty-one Spanish Franciscan missions established in California between 1769 and 1823. The mission was built to convert American Indians of the Chumash tribe to Catholicism.
Today the mission serves as a parish church and includes a museum, a Franciscan friary, or monastery, and a retreat site.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
graphic artist
Mitchell, Edward H.
ID Number
GA.24880.016
catalog number
24880.016
accession number
1978.0801
This postcard view of Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma was printed by the Curt Teich Company using photomechanical processes. The card was published in about 1914 by the I. L.
Description (Brief)
This postcard view of Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma was printed by the Curt Teich Company using photomechanical processes. The card was published in about 1914 by the I. L. Eno company in San Diego, Calif.
The Chicago-based Curt Teich Company manufactured postcards between 1898 and 1978 in association with several publishers. It used the term "Photochrom" and later "Colortone" to describe its color printing processes.
Mission San Francisco Solano De Sonoma founded in 1823, was the last of twenty-one missions built by Spanish Franciscans in California between 1769 and 1823. The mission was established to convert American Indians of the region to Catholicism.
Today the mission is a historical site managed by the Sonoma State Historic Parks system.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1914
graphic artist
Eno, I. L.
ID Number
1986.0639.0322
accession number
1986.0639
catalog number
1986.639.0322
Sometime around her 17th birthday, Canadian Bernice Palmer received a Kodak Brownie box camera (No. 2A Model), either for Christmas 1911 or for her birthday on 10 January 1912.
Description
Sometime around her 17th birthday, Canadian Bernice Palmer received a Kodak Brownie box camera (No. 2A Model), either for Christmas 1911 or for her birthday on 10 January 1912. In early April, she and her mother boarded the Cunard liner Carpathia in New York, for a Mediterranean cruise. Carpathia had scarcely cleared New York, when it received a distress call from the White Star liner Titanic on 14 April. It raced to the scene of the sinking and managed to rescue over 700 survivors from the icy North Atlantic. With her new camera, Bernice took pictures of the iceberg that sliced open the Titanic’s hull below the waterline and also took snapshots of some of the Titanic survivors. Lacking enough food to feed both the paying passengers and Titanic survivors, the Carpathia turned around and headed back to New York to land the survivors. Unaware of the high value of her pictures, Bernice sold publication rights to Underwood & Underwood for just $10 and a promise to develop, print, and return her pictures after use. In 1986, she donated her camera, the pictures and her remarkable story to the Smithsonian.
date made
ca 1912
user
Ellis, Bernice P.
maker
Eastman Kodak Company
ID Number
1986.0173.38
accession number
1986.0173
catalog number
1986.0173.38
Unknown artist, about 1894“Cheyenne Picture. Warrior Killing a Soldier.”Ink and watercolorThis drawing shows the victory of a Cheyenne warrior over a U.S. Army soldier.
Description
Unknown artist, about 1894
“Cheyenne Picture. Warrior Killing a Soldier.”
Ink and watercolor
This drawing shows the victory of a Cheyenne warrior over a U.S. Army soldier. The artist depicts the warrior counting coup on his enemy by touching the fallen soldier with his riding whip (quirt). Counting coup - in this instance touching an adversary in battle - was considered an act of bravery that could gain war honors. This single event took place during a larger battle against many adversaries, as indicated by the large number of rifles at the left.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1875
date made
ca 1894
original artist
unknown
ID Number
GA.08111
accession number
1897.031963
catalog number
GA*08111
accession number
1897.31963
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Short Ribs comic strip shows the wedding of Gert and a younger, attractive man who appears to have been the victim of a spell.Frank O’Neal (1921-1986) sold his first cartoon to the Saturday Evening Post in 1950.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Short Ribs comic strip shows the wedding of Gert and a younger, attractive man who appears to have been the victim of a spell.
Frank O’Neal (1921-1986) sold his first cartoon to the Saturday Evening Post in 1950. In 1958 he debuted his Short Ribs comic strip and continued to draw the strip until 1973. His assistant, Frank Hill, then took over the strip and O’Neal spent the rest of his career creating advertising art.
Short Ribs (1958-1982) was a strip without a regular cast or a continuous setting. With some frequency, however, the strip took place in a castle in Medieval Europe. Other locations included Ancient Egypt or the American West. The storylines regularly made references to 20th-century events.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-04-17
graphic artist
O'Neal, Frank
publisher
NEA, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22568
catalog number
22568
accession number
277502
This engraved woodblock of "Marble Canyon” was prepared by engraver Edward Bookhout (1844-1886) and the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the print was published in 1875 as Figure 26 (p.77) in Report of the Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and Its Tribu
Description
This engraved woodblock of "Marble Canyon” was prepared by engraver Edward Bookhout (1844-1886) and the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the print was published in 1875 as Figure 26 (p.77) in Report of the Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and Its Tributaries. Explored in 1869, 1870, 1871, and 1872, under the direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution by John Wesley Powell (1834-1902). Thomas Moran (1837-1926) accompanied Powell on his expedition and drew the original image.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1875
1875
original artist
Moran, Thomas
publisher
Bureau of American Ethnology
printer
Government Printing Office
author
Powell, John Wesley
graphic artist
Bookhout, Edward
block maker
V. W. & Co.
ID Number
1980.0219.0259
catalog number
1980.0219.0259
accession number
1980.0219
Unknown artist, about 1868“Drawing made by a Kiowa Indian”(Title given by collector Dr. Edward Palmer)Media: Pencil on paperThis Kiowa Indian drawing was likely prepared and collected in 1868 at the Kiowa and Comanche Agency in present-day Oklahoma.
Description
Unknown artist, about 1868
“Drawing made by a Kiowa Indian”
(Title given by collector Dr. Edward Palmer)
Media: Pencil on paper
This Kiowa Indian drawing was likely prepared and collected in 1868 at the Kiowa and Comanche Agency in present-day Oklahoma. Non-Indians were known to have offered paper and illustrating equipment to Plains Indians as early as the 1830s. The drawing displays a Kiowa warrior’s head and neck ornament (possibly a peace medal), and his leg sashes.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1880
ca 1869
ca 1882
original artist
unknown
ID Number
2008.0175.51
catalog number
2008.0175.051
accession number
2008.0175
This postcard view of Mission San Luis Rey was printed by the Detroit Publishing Company in about 1910, using a copyrighted photolithographic process called "Photostint."The Detroit Publishing Company, previously known as the Detroit Photographic Company, was first listed in Detr
Description (Brief)
This postcard view of Mission San Luis Rey was printed by the Detroit Publishing Company in about 1910, using a copyrighted photolithographic process called "Photostint."
The Detroit Publishing Company, previously known as the Detroit Photographic Company, was first listed in Detroit city directories in 1888. Its manager, William A. Livingstone, invited the famous landscape photographer William Henry Jackson to join the company as a partner in 1897. Jackson brought with him his own photographic images, which would be used by the company.
Mission San Luis Rey de Francia was the eighteenth of twenty-one Spanish Franciscan missions founded in California between 1769 and 1823. Its dedication ceremonies took place in 1798. The mission was founded to convert American Indians of the Kumeyaay and Luiseno tribes to Catholicism.
Today the mission serves as a parish church, a museum, and a retreat site.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1910
graphic artist
Detroit Publishing Co.
ID Number
1986.0639.2017
accession number
1986.0639
catalog number
1986.639.2017
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1804-08-02
ID Number
DL.006873.140
catalog number
6873.140
accession number
28810
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1821-02-13
recipient
Copp, Jr., Samuel
originator (author, etc.)
Rathbone, Aaron
ID Number
DL.006873.080
catalog number
6873.080
accession number
28810
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1809-09-20
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Copp, Esther
recipient
Copp, Mary Esther
originator (author, etc.)
Copp, Esther
ID Number
DL.006873.005
accession number
28810
catalog number
6873.005
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1802-05-10
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
recipient
Copp, Esther
originator (author, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
ID Number
DL.006873.128
catalog number
6873.128
accession number
28810
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Dotty Dripple comic strip shows the title character’s son rushing back to college, leaving her with empty-nest syndrome.Buford Tune (1906-1989) started working as an assistant to the art editor of the New York Post in 1927.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Dotty Dripple comic strip shows the title character’s son rushing back to college, leaving her with empty-nest syndrome.
Buford Tune (1906-1989) started working as an assistant to the art editor of the New York Post in 1927. One of his first assignments was to revive an old family comic strip called Doings of the Duffs. After a brief hiatus Tune returned to comic strip production in 1931. He created Dotty Dripple in 1944.
Dotty Dripple (1944-1974) was a domestic humor-themed comic strip like the popular Blondie strip. Dottie was described as a typical housewife responsible for her children, Taffy and Wilbert; her dog, Pepper; and her husband, Horace. Part of the running humor of the strip was that Horace was often seen behaving like a child himself. Between 1946 and 1955 the strip was also sold in comic book form by Harvey Comics.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-09-12
graphic artist
Tune, Buford
publisher
Publishers Newspapers Syndicate, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22530
catalog number
22530
accession number
277502
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1807-03-12
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Rathbone, Sarah
recipient
Copp, Mary Esther
Copp, Esther
originator (author, etc.)
Rathbone, Sarah
ID Number
DL.006873.169
catalog number
6873.169
accession number
28810
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1807-04-04
recipient
Copp, Esther
ID Number
DL.006873.116
catalog number
6873.116
accession number
28810
This postcard view of San Francisco Solano Mission was printed by the Van Ornum Colorprint Company in Los Angeles, Calif.
Description (Brief)
This postcard view of San Francisco Solano Mission was printed by the Van Ornum Colorprint Company in Los Angeles, Calif. using photomechanical processes.
The Van Ornum Colorprint Company (1908-1921) was one of many picture postcard publishing companies specializing in California landscapes and historic sites.
Mission San Francisco Solano was founded in 1823, the last of twenty-one Spanish Franciscan missions established in California between 1769 and 1823. All were founded for the purpose of coverting American Indians of the region to Catholicism.
Today the mission site is operated by the Sonoma State Historic Park system.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1908-1921
graphic artist
Van Ornum Colorprint Co.
ID Number
1986.0639.0479
accession number
1986.0639
catalog number
1986.639.0479
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1802-01-24
recipient
Copp, Esther
ID Number
DL.006873.123
catalog number
6873.123
accession number
28810
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1808-04-01
recipient
Copp, Mary Esther
Copp, Esther
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
originator (author, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
ID Number
DL.006873.172
catalog number
6873.172
accession number
28810
This postcard view of Mission San Antonio was printed by the Detroit Publishing Company in about 1910, using a copyrighted photolithographic process called "Photostint."The company, previously known as the Detroit Photographic Company, was first listed in Detroit city directories
Description (Brief)
This postcard view of Mission San Antonio was printed by the Detroit Publishing Company in about 1910, using a copyrighted photolithographic process called "Photostint."
The company, previously known as the Detroit Photographic Company, was first listed in Detroit city directories in 1888. Its manager, William A. Livingstone, invited famous landscape photographer William Henry Jackson to join the company as a partner in 1897. Jackson brought with him his own photographic images, which would be used by the company.
Mission San Antonio de Padua, founded in 1771, is located south of King City. It was the third of twenty-one Spanish Franciscan missions established in California between 1769 and 1823, and was built to convert American Indians of the Salinan tribe to Catholicism.
Today the mission serves a parish church.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1910
graphic artist
Detroit Publishing Co.
ID Number
1986.0639.2052
accession number
1986.0639
catalog number
1986.639.2052
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1810-11-10
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
recipient
Copp, Mary Esther
originator (author, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
ID Number
DL.006873.011
catalog number
6873.011
accession number
28810
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1820 - 1821
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
recipient
Copp, Mary Esther
Copp, Esther
originator (author, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
ID Number
DL.006873.183
catalog number
6873.183
accession number
28810
This postcard view of Mission Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles was printed by the Chicago-based Curt Teich Company using photomechanical processes.
Description (Brief)
This postcard view of Mission Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles was printed by the Chicago-based Curt Teich Company using photomechanical processes. Published about 1915 by Eno & Matteson in San Diego, the postcard was produced in association with the Panama-California Exposition.
The Curt Teich firm printed postcards between 1898 and 1978 in association with many publishers. It used the term "Photochrom," later "Colortone," to describe its color printing processes.
Mission Nuestra Señora Reina de Los Ángeles was founded in 1784 as an ancillary mission to Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, which was the fourth of twenty-one Spanish Franciscan missions built in California between 1769 and 1823. Nuestra Señora was established to convert American Indians of the Tongva tribe to Catholicism.
Today the mission serves as a chapel.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1915
publisher
Eno & Matteson
graphic artist
Curt Teich & Co.
ID Number
1986.0639.0596
accession number
1986.0639
catalog number
1986.639.0596
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1800 - 1802
recipient
Copp, Esther
ID Number
DL.006873.101
catalog number
6873.101
accession number
28810
Mostly Malarky was created and drawn by Wallace "Wally" Carlson (1884-1967) and distributed by The Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate from the 1950s until 1966. The comic features gag-joke panels.
Description
Mostly Malarky was created and drawn by Wallace "Wally" Carlson (1884-1967) and distributed by The Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate from the 1950s until 1966. The comic features gag-joke panels. In this comic, Dolly is talking to Wilbur, who is covered in various casts and bandages. The caption reads, "I'm glad you're finally making use of your hospitalization insurance, Wilbur."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
undated
graphic artist
Carlson, W. A.
publisher
Tribune Printing Company
ID Number
GA.22388
catalog number
22388
accession number
277502

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