Cultures & Communities

Cleveland Many Peoples One Language Poster

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.

Topic: Communications

Letter to Mary Copp from Samuel Copp

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
1809-11-22
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
recipient
Copp, Mary Esther
originator (author, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
ID Number
DL.006873.007
catalog number
6873.007
accession number
28810

Letter to Samuel Copp from Elisha Starr

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
1821-10-16
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
recipient
Starr, Elisha
originator (author, etc.)
Starr, Elisha
ID Number
DL.006873.086
catalog number
6873.086
accession number
28810

Picture postcard, "La Soledad Mission, Founded 1791, near Monterey, California"

This postcard view of La Soledad Mission was printed by the Van Ornum Colorprint Company in Los Angeles, Calif.
Description (Brief)
This postcard view of La Soledad Mission was printed by the Van Ornum Colorprint Company in Los Angeles, Calif. using photomechanical processes.
The Van Ornum firm (1908-1921) was one of many picture postcard publishing companies producing California landmark scenes.
Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad was founded in 1791. It was the thirteenth of twenty-one Spanish Franciscan missions established in California between 1769 and 1823, and was founded to convert American Indians of the Costanoan, Esselin, and Yokuts tribes to Catholicism.
The mission now serves as a parish church and a museum.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1908-1921
graphic artist
Van Ornum Colorprint Co.
ID Number
1986.0639.0497
accession number
1986.0639
catalog number
1986.639.0497

Letter to Mary and Esther Copp from Sarah Rathbone

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
1808-02-15
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Rathbone, Sarah
recipient
Copp, Mary Esther
Copp, Esther
originator (author, etc.)
Rathbone, Sarah
ID Number
DL.006873.181
catalog number
6873.181
accession number
28810

Letter to Esther Copp from E. Phelps

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
1802-02-14
recipient
Copp, Esther
ID Number
DL.006873.124
catalog number
6873.124
accession number
28810

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Brenda Starr

This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Brenda Starr comic strip shows Brenda engaging in deception in order to investigate her story, while using her colleague Kelly as her agent.Dalia "Dale" Messick (1906-2005), a female comic artist, changed her name from Dalia in order to b
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Brenda Starr comic strip shows Brenda engaging in deception in order to investigate her story, while using her colleague Kelly as her agent.
Dalia "Dale" Messick (1906-2005), a female comic artist, changed her name from Dalia in order to be recognized for her work, and to fit societal norms. The strip about an adventurous female reporter was debuted in 1940. Its popularity came with industry criticism, particularly from women journalists who reacted to the artist's embellishments of the profession. Nonetheless Messick produced the strip until 1980 and then began developing other comic strips for local publications in California.
Brenda Starr (1940-2011) was a comic strip that portrayed the life of a contemporary female newspaper reporter. The title character was shown in adventurous stories at work and at home. She participated in persistent journalism and dramatic romances. After many years Brenda married her periodical love interest, Basil St. John. The story was eventually recreated as a television movie in 1976 and as a film in 1992.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1951-05-07
graphic artist
Messick, Dale
publisher
Tribune Printing Company
ID Number
2010.0081.369
accession number
2010.0081
catalog number
2010.0081.369

Letter to his sister from Samuel Copp

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
ca 1812
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
recipient
Copp, Mary Esther
originator (author, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
ID Number
DL.006873.019
catalog number
6873.019
accession number
28810

Letter to Mary Copp from Pheobe Copp

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
1815-12-17
recipient
Copp, Mary Esther
ID Number
DL.006873.050
catalog number
6873.050
accession number
28810

Letter to Mary and Esther Copp from Samuel Copp

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
1806-09-22
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
originator (author, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
ID Number
DL.006873.160
catalog number
6873.160
accession number
28810

Picture postcard, "Monterey. Old Mission Chapel"

This postcard view of the Old Mission Chapel at Monterey was printed using a copyrighted photolithographic process called "Photostint" by the Detroit Photographic Company in about 1899.The Detroit Photographic Company was first listed in Detroit city directories in 1888 and was m
Description (Brief)
This postcard view of the Old Mission Chapel at Monterey was printed using a copyrighted photolithographic process called "Photostint" by the Detroit Photographic Company in about 1899.
The Detroit Photographic Company was first listed in Detroit city directories in 1888 and was managed by William A. Livingstone. 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 Carlos Borroméo de Carmelo, or the Old Mission Chapel, was founded in 1770 by Fr. Junípero Serra, the Spanish Franciscan missionary associated with twenty-one missions in California. Mission San Carlos was the second of the missions founded between 1769 and 1823 for the conversion of American Indians of the Esselen and Ohlone, or Costanoan, tribes to Catholicism.
Today the mission serves as a parish church.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1899
graphic artist
Detroit Photographic Co.
ID Number
1986.0639.1998
catalog number
1986.639.1998
accession number
1986.0639

Cheyenne Pictures. Warrior Killing a Soldier

Unknown artist, about 1894“Cheyenne Pictures. Standing Elk’s Horse Killed in Fight with Troops.”Pencil, ink, and watercolorThe central focus of this image is a wounded horse, bleeding from head and rump, being fired on by U.S. troops at the right.
Description
Unknown artist, about 1894
“Cheyenne Pictures. Standing Elk’s Horse Killed in Fight with Troops.”
Pencil, ink, and watercolor
The central focus of this image is a wounded horse, bleeding from head and rump, being fired on by U.S. troops at the right. Standing Elk, with his name glyph above him, has dismounted and appears to be safe from the rifle shots. The suggestion of concern by the warrior indicates the high value placed on horses by Plains tribesmen.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1894
original artist
unknown
ID Number
GA.08112
catalog number
GA*08112
accession number
1897.031963

Letter to Samuel Copp

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
recipient
Copp, Jr., Samuel
ID Number
DL.006873.179
catalog number
6873.179
accession number
28810

Letter to Mary Copp from Mary Stanton

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
1814-01-22
recipient
Copp, Mary Esther
ID Number
DL.006873.043
catalog number
6873.043
accession number
28810

Drawing made by a Comanche Indian

Unknown artist, about 1869“Drawing made by a Comanche Indian”[Title given by collector Dr. Edward Palmer]Media: Colored inks on paperThis drawing of a Comanche warrior was likely prepared and collected in 1869 at the Kiowa and Comanche Agency in present-day Oklahoma.
Description
Unknown artist, about 1869
“Drawing made by a Comanche Indian”
[Title given by collector Dr. Edward Palmer]
Media: Colored inks on paper
This drawing of a Comanche warrior was likely prepared and collected in 1869 at the Kiowa and Comanche Agency in present-day Oklahoma. The artist’s representation of a warrior on horseback follows a tradition of pictographic imagery which presents the subject on one plane without the illusion of depth. Here both of the warrior’s legs and leg sashes are imaged on the viewer’s side of the horse.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1880
ca 1868
ca 1882
ca 1868
original artist
unknown
ID Number
2008.0175.50
catalog number
2008.0175.050
accession number
2008.0175

Camera-ready comic art drawing for The Flintstones

This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for The Flintstones comic strip shows Fred using his vehicle to squeeze out the last bit of toothpaste in the tube.Gene Hazelton (1919-2005) worked as both an animator and a newspaper comic artist.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for The Flintstones comic strip shows Fred using his vehicle to squeeze out the last bit of toothpaste in the tube.
Gene Hazelton (1919-2005) worked as both an animator and a newspaper comic artist. In 1939 he was hired by Walt Disney Studios and contributed animation drawings to films such as Fantasia and Pinocchio. After the 1941 animators’ strike at Disney, Hazelton worked for Robert Clampett at Warner Bros., as well as for Hanna-Barbera at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. During the 1950s Hazelton worked as a freelance illustrator and in the process developed his first newspaper comic panel called Angel Face. Beginning in 1961, and for over two decades, he served as the chief illustrator for both The Flintstones and the Yogi Bear newspaper strips for Hanna-Barbera, and assisted with the studio's The Jetsons.
The Flintstones (1961-1988) was a comic strip that was adapted from a television series. The show ran for six seasons between 1960 and 1966. It was the first animated evening series on network television, and until The Simpsons, the most financially successful one. The television show and the strip dealt with family issues in a prehistoric setting.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1962-11-27
graphic artist
Hazelton, Gene
publisher
McNaught Syndicate, Inc.
Hanna-Barbera
ID Number
2010.0081.263
accession number
2010.0081
catalog number
2010.0081.263

Letter to his parents from Samuel and Pheobe Copp

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
1817-04-04
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
recipient
Copp, Jr., Samuel
Copp, Dolly Emery
originator (author, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
ID Number
DL.006873.056
catalog number
6873.056
accession number
28810

Letter to Esther Copp from Mary Denison

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
1808-04-03
recipient
Copp, Esther
ID Number
DL.006873.184
catalog number
6873.184
accession number
28810

Council (or more properly, Sun Dance or Medicine Lodge)

Bear's Heart, or Nock-ko-ist (Cheyenne),drawn between 1875 and 1878 at Fort Marion, Florida"Council" (or more properly, Sun Dance or Medicine Lodge)Collected by Richard Henry Pratt about 1878Colored pencil, ink, colored ink, and watercolorThe drawing of a Sun Dance or Medicine Lo
Description
Bear's Heart, or Nock-ko-ist (Cheyenne),
drawn between 1875 and 1878 at Fort Marion, Florida
"Council" (or more properly, Sun Dance or Medicine Lodge)
Collected by Richard Henry Pratt about 1878
Colored pencil, ink, colored ink, and watercolor
The drawing of a Sun Dance or Medicine Lodge gathering offers a partial view of one moment in the most sacred of Plains Indian ceremonies. The event is represented here by the Sun Dance lodge with its cloth and tree-branch offerings flying. The people stand outside to bear witness to the sacred offerings being made, while four painted Sun Dancers stand ready to make their sacrifices inside. Four men, probably warrior society officers, stand guard over the ceremony.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1875-1878
original artist
Bear's Heart
ID Number
2008.0175.56
accession number
2008.0175
catalog number
2008.0175.056

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

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Tales of the Green Beret

This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the comic strip Tales of the Green Beret shows Sgt. Benton looking for Chris Tower, who has been kidnapped in Saigon.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the comic strip Tales of the Green Beret shows Sgt. Benton looking for Chris Tower, who has been kidnapped in Saigon. In order to find Tower, Benton tries to obtain information from a Vietnamese boy.
Joseph "Joe" Kubert (1926-2012) assisted at the Archie and Harry “A” Chesler shops in his early career. He later worked primarily for DC Comics, but continued work with other publishing companies. He also served as an editor, and in the 1960s worked on the Tales of the Green Beret. Kubert established The Kubert School for cartooning in 1976. He worked in comic books as well as newspaper strips throughout the 1980s, and in the 1990s began assisting his sons on their own comic strips.
Tales of the Green Beret (1965-1969) was adapted into a comic strip from the 1965 novel The Green Berets by Robin Moore. Moore’s story was published at a time when public opinion about the Vietnam War was still positive and real-life Green Berets were being celebrated in the media. The strip’s writing was credited to Robin Moore himself, although it was ghostwritten by Jerry Capp. After two years as the artist, Joe Kubert decided to leave the strip, which was eventually adapted for comic book format, but by that time public opinion about the war no longer supported the continuation of the story.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-08-28
graphic artist
Moore, Robin
Kubert, Joe
publisher
Tribune Printing Company
ID Number
GA.22469
catalog number
22469
accession number
277502

Letter to her parents from Sarah Rathbone

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
1810-03-30
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Rathbone, Sarah
recipient
Copp, Jr., Samuel
Copp, Dolly Brown
originator (author, etc.)
Rathbone, Sarah
ID Number
DL.006873.009
catalog number
6873.009
accession number
28810

Picture postcard, "The Broken Arch, Mission San Juan Capistrano, California"

This postcard view of Mission San Juan Capistrano was printed by the Curt Teich Company using photomechanical processes.
Description (Brief)
This postcard view of Mission San Juan Capistrano was printed by the Curt Teich Company using photomechanical processes. It was published about 1915 by Eno & Matteson in San Diego for the Panama-California Exposition.
The Curt Teich Company of Chicago 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 San Juan Capistrano, founded in 1776, is located southeast of Los Angeles. It was the seventh of twenty-one Spanish Franciscan missions built in California between 1769 and 1823 to convert American Indians of the Juaneño, or Luiseño tribe, to Catholicism.
Today the mission serves as a parish chapel and a museum.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1915
publisher
Eno & Matteson
graphic artist
Curt Teich & Co.
ID Number
1986.0639.0600
accession number
1986.0639
catalog number
1986.639.0600

Letter to Esther Copp from Samuel Copp

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
1804-03-21
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Copp, Esther
recipient
Copp, Jr., Samuel
originator (author, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
ID Number
DL.006873.138
catalog number
6873.138
accession number
28810

Letter to Samuel Copp from Esther Copp

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
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Copp, Esther
recipient
Copp, Jr., Samuel
originator (author, etc.)
Copp, Esther
ID Number
DL.006873.170
catalog number
6873.170
accession number
28810

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