Domestic Furnishings

Washboards, armchairs, lamps, and pots and pans may not seem to be museum pieces. But they are invaluable evidence of how most people lived day to day, last week or three centuries ago. The Museum's collections of domestic furnishings comprise more than 40,000 artifacts from American households. Large and small, they include four houses, roughly 800 pieces of furniture, fireplace equipment, spinning wheels, ceramics and glass, family portraits, and much more.

The Arthur and Edna Greenwood Collection contains more than 2,000 objects from New England households from colonial times to mid-1800s. From kitchens of the past, the collections hold some 3,300 artifacts, ranging from refrigerators to spatulas. The lighting devices alone number roughly 3,000 lamps, candleholders, and lanterns.

This 1850 print offers a defense of slavery in America by satirically comparing it with a perceived system of “wage slavery” in England.
Description
This 1850 print offers a defense of slavery in America by satirically comparing it with a perceived system of “wage slavery” in England. In the top panel, two Northern men and two Southern men look upon a group of seemingly content slaves who are shown dancing, playing music, and smiling. The Northerners are surprised at this scene, amazed to find that popular assumptions at home about slavery were unfounded. The Southerners hope that the Northerners will return home with a new perspective on slavery, but demonstrate their readiness to fight for their rights if necessary. The lower panel shows a gathering of people outside of a cloth factory in England. On the side of the factory, a sign reads, “Sale / A Wife to be Sold.” On the left, a young farmer talks to his childhood friend, who appears as an old man. The older figure explains that life in a British factory producing cloth ages one more quickly, and that the workers die of old age at 40. To their right, a mother looks down upon her three children, lamenting “What wretched slaves, this factory life makes me & my children. Continuing right, two factory workers contemplate running away to the coal mines, where they would only work for 14 hours instead of their current 17. On the far right, two rotund men, a priest and a tax collector, approach the workers with books labeled “Tythes” and “Taxes.” In the right corner, a man thanks God that he will soon die and be free of his “factory slavery.” Below the panels is included a portrait of the bust of George Thompson, a Scottish abolitionist. An accompanying quote from Thompson reads, “I am proud to boast that Slavery does not breathe in England,” although the creators of this print would argue otherwise. It was printed by British born John Haven ( born ca 1817), who was active in New York City at 3 Broad Street 1846-1848. He then moved to 86 State Street, Boston where he was active 1848-1850. He is known for designing maps as well as for prints on Manifest Destiny and prints with political commentary.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1850
depicted
Thompson, George
maker
Haven, Joshua P.
ID Number
DL.60.3490
catalog number
60.3490
Black and white comic print of two young lovers in a board and rope swing with devilish looks on their faces.This is one of over 100 in a series of comic parodies of popular songs.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white comic print of two young lovers in a board and rope swing with devilish looks on their faces.This is one of over 100 in a series of comic parodies of popular songs.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1875
maker
Vance, Fred T.
Vance, Parsloe and Company
ID Number
DL.60.2842
catalog number
60.2842
accession number
228146
Colored print; market scene with a black man sitting on a bench before two women, one white and holding up a rabbit for examination, the other black and holding a basket of fruit and two fowl. In front of him is a table with fowl that he is selling.
Description (Brief)
Colored print; market scene with a black man sitting on a bench before two women, one white and holding up a rabbit for examination, the other black and holding a basket of fruit and two fowl. In front of him is a table with fowl that he is selling. Two baskets of fruit are beside him. More fowl and meat are on hooks on the wall behind him. Conversation between the white woman and the man is contained in dialogue bubbles over their heads (see inscriptions).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1848
lithographer
Baillie, James S.
artist
Bucholzer, H.
ID Number
DL.60.2295
catalog number
60.2295
accession number
228146
In 19th-century New York City, rising rent rates often led families to search out more economically suitable dwellings.
Description
In 19th-century New York City, rising rent rates often led families to search out more economically suitable dwellings. All leases across the city expired simultaneously on May 1st, so on that day, thousands of people would chaotically scramble across town to their new residences with all of their belongings. This 1865 print from the New-York-based Kimmel and Forster satirizes this New York City Moving Day tradition to poke fun at Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, who are depicted leaving Richmond, Virginia after the defeat of the Confederacy. Lee holds several swords and a rifle as he stands next to a cart marked “C.S.A.,” hitched to two emaciated dogs. Davis walks out from a run-down house, struggling towards the cart with boxes labeled with the names of the Confederate States, which ultimately fall from his grip. Another dog near the cart urinates on a crate branded “C.S.A. Treasury.” A new label placed on the crate, however, describes these worthless bills as “Waste Paper” as the Confederate government at that point was supposedly bankrupt. Two white men and a boy watch these events. Two black men stand next to the house look on as well, one making a mocking gesture by putting his thumb up against his nose. In reality, Davis, fearing capture by Union forces, had already fled Richmond in early April.
In a copy of the print housed at the Library of Congress, the white man in the lower right hand corner is identified as General Stonewall Jackson, as the man’s right arm is not visible and Jackson’s was amputated after he was mistakenly fired upon by friendly troops. Jackson lost his left arm, however, and died shortly after the amputation in May 1863, two years before the alleged moving day.
The print was produced by the lithography firm of Kimmel & Forster. Christopher Kimmel was born in Germany around 1850 and after immigrating to the United States, was active in New York City from 1850 to 1876. He was part of Capewell & Kimmel from 1853 to 1860, and then partnered with Thomas Forster in 1865, forming Kimmel & Forster, which was active until 1871.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1865
copyright holder; publisher
H & W Voight
depicted (sitter)
Davis, Jefferson
Lee, Robert E.
maker
Kimmel and Forster
ID Number
DL.60.3463
catalog number
60.3463
Color print of the Battle of Lake Erie, Sept 10th 1813, depicting a large row boat flying an American flag, contains eight sailors and a uniform officer standing and pointing to the right. American and British men of war fire on each other in the background.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Color print of the Battle of Lake Erie, Sept 10th 1813, depicting a large row boat flying an American flag, contains eight sailors and a uniform officer standing and pointing to the right. American and British men of war fire on each other in the background.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
Kurz & Allison-Art Studio
ID Number
DL.60.3286
catalog number
60.3286
This lithograph, designed by Edward William Clay, a Northern apologist for slavery, contrasts an idealized scene of seemingly content slaves in America with that of a family of forlorn factory workers in England.
Description
This lithograph, designed by Edward William Clay, a Northern apologist for slavery, contrasts an idealized scene of seemingly content slaves in America with that of a family of forlorn factory workers in England. In the left “America” panel, a well-dressed slave-holder is depicted with his wife, children, and greyhound. The plantation-owner’s son gestures towards two elderly slaves, who thank their master for providing for them. The white man, in turn, responds that as a long as “a dollar is left me, nothing shall be spared to increase their comfort and happiness.” In the background, a group of slaves is shown smiling and dancing to fiddle music. The circumstances of the black slaves were meant to be interpreted as more favorable than the conditions of life for “white slaves” in England, depicted in the right panel. Here, a starving, unemployed factory worker sits with his malnourished, sickly family, as a man in a top hat instructs him to enter a workhouse.
Edward Williams Clay was born in Philadelphia in 1799. He originally found employment as an attorney and became a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 1825, but he later abandoned law for a career in art. He moved to New York City in 1837 but shortly after was forced to end his artistic career when his eyesight began to fail. The publisher of the work, Arthur Donnelly, maintained a shop at 19 ½ Courtland Street, New York.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1846?
date made
1841-1847
publisher
Donnelly, A.
artist
Clay, Edward Williams
ID Number
DL.60.2402
catalog number
60.2402
accession number
228146
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in 1852, quickly becoming the nation’s bestselling book.
Description
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in 1852, quickly becoming the nation’s bestselling book. It features a spirited, religious-minded enslaved black man named Tom, who is sold downriver by his financially-strapped owner in Kentucky to a plantation in Louisiana. There, his Christian beliefs spread hope to his fellow slaves and enable him to endure the harsh beatings of his cruel master. He is ultimately whipped to death after refusing to reveal the location of two runaway slaves. Published after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, the novel targeted Northern audiences, arguing against the injustice of slavery and spurring the abolition movement into action.
Although the bestselling novel of the 19th century, many American were exposed to Uncle Tom’s Cabin through play adaptations known as Tom shows. The immense popularity of both the novel and plays transformed Uncle Tom into a cultural phenomenon in America and Europe, and manufacturers quickly capitalized on the production of “Tomitudes,” everyday commodities that referenced scenes and characters from the novel. These included card games, jigsaw puzzles, chinaware, jars and vases, snuffboxes, ceramic figurines, and decorative prints. Although some of these Tomitudes employed racial stereotypes and the imagery of blackface minstrelsy, most chose to depict the enslaved characters of Beecher’s novel in a sympathetic light, often carrying an anti-slavery message.
In the novel, Tom’s owner in Kentucky, Arthur Shelby decides to sell two of his slaves, Tom and the child Harry, the young son of another slave named Eliza. In order to keep her son, Eliza determines to escape into the North across the Ohio River. Depicting Eliza’s dramatic flight from Chapter 7 of the novel, this print around 1853 presents the slave woman crossing the River in the winter, desperately leaping across ice floes, her son clutched in her arms. As Eliza steps forward, she turns her head back in the direction of Mr. Shelby, who has pursued her to the river’s bank. After her escape, Eliza is joined by her husband George, who is also on the run, and with the aid of sympathetic Northern Quakers, the trio escapes into Canada. In the novel, Harry is described as a young child of mixed race at about 4 or 5 years of age. Strong depicts him more as a child of 2 or 3 being carried though perhaps that was a deliberate infernce that the child was small due to malnutrition?
Thomas W. Strong was a New York-based printer and wood engraver who began his career around 1840. His shop specialized in comic literature and he employed many talented cartoonists and draftsmen who would go on to work for Harper’s Weekly and Vanity Fair. This print was the first in a series by Strong of scenes from Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) rose to fame in 1851 with the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which highlighted the evils of slavery, angered the slaveholding South, and inspired pro-slavery copy-cat works in defense of the institution of slavery. Stowe’s father was the famed Congregational minister Lyman Beecher and her brother, Henry Ward Beecher, was also a famous preacher and reformer. In 1824, she attended her sister Catherine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary, which exposed young women to many of the same courses available in men’s academies. Stowe became a teacher, working from 1829 to 1832 at the Seminary.
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote numerous articles, some of which were published in the renowned women’s magazine of the times, Godey’s Lady’s Book. She also wrote 30 books, covering a wide range of topics from homemaking to religion, as well as several novels. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which legally compelled Northerners to return runaway slaves, infuriated Stowe, and many in the North. She subsequently authored her most famous work, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Originally serialized in the National Era, Stowe saw her tale as a call to arms for Northerners to defy the Fugitive Slave Act. It was released as a book in 1852 and later performed on stage and translated into dozens of languages. Stowe used her fame to petition to end slavery. She toured nationally and internationally, speaking about her book, and donating some of what she earned to help the antislavery cause.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1853
originator of scene
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
maker
Strong, Thomas W.
ID Number
DL.60.2373
catalog number
60.2373
accession number
228146
This black and white print is of a life membership to a Mr. Philip J.A. Harper issued by the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Description
This black and white print is of a life membership to a Mr. Philip J.A. Harper issued by the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Society, begun in 1820 and headquartered in New York City, was among the earliest organizations that focused on mission within and outside the United States. It initially worked to convert Native Americans and slaves before extending its activities to inhabitants of West Africa and elsewhere overseas.
A vignette depicting missionary activity appears above the text that was inspired by the Society’s proselytizing during the 19th Century. On the right side is a depiction of Native Americans and Africans who were “saved” due to the preaching of a missionary. The left side shows the damnation that comes to those who fail to hear God’s word. Above the scene floats a triumphant angel sent by God who is blowing a trumpet, Bible in hand.
This print was produced by Nathaniel Currier (1813-1888). Currier was the founder of the company that eventually became the Currier & Ives lithography firm. At the age of fifteen Currier apprenticed with the Pendleton lithography firm in New York City. Five years later he moved to Philadelphia to work with the lithographer M.E.D. Brown (1810-1896). After a year Currier moved back to New York, where he intended on going into business with one of the Pendleton brothers. Instead he formed a partnership in 1834 with Adam Stodart who was in the sheet music business. Within a year he opened his own lithography company on Wall Street and then moved to Nassau and Spruce. In 1852 a bookkeeper named James Merritt Ives joined the firm. He married Charles Currier’s sister-in-law and brought to the firm a critical eye and business acumen. In five years he had become a partner. Currier & Ives would become arguably the most successful and prodigious lithography firm of the 19th century. Although especially well known for prints celebrating American landscapes and pastimes like sailing and ice skating, Currier & Ives also produced lithographs that featured current events, social issues and political controversies
Location
Currently on loan
Date made
1848
issuer
Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church
maker
Currier, Nathaniel
ID Number
DL.60.2929
catalog number
60.2929
accession number
228146
This undated print depicts a scene from Chapter 30 of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, “The Slave Warehouse,” in which the fifteen-year-old Emmeline is separated from her mother and sold to the villainous Simon Legree.
Description
This undated print depicts a scene from Chapter 30 of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, “The Slave Warehouse,” in which the fifteen-year-old Emmeline is separated from her mother and sold to the villainous Simon Legree. A group of white men are gathered in a circular inspecting a selection of slaves who are up for auction. On the left, a young boy is examined by a group of prospective buyers, while Emmeline stands on the auction block on the right. Her mother makes a pleading gesture towards Legree, who raises his hand to place the winning bid. A caption below the illustration, a caption reads, “The Hammer Falls…’he has got the girl body & soul unless God help her,’” revealing the man’s sexual desire towards the girl. In this illustration, Emmeline has been given distinctively white skin, to emphasize that she is a quadroon, one-fourth black, and thereby garner extra sympathy from white Northerners.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1855
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.60.2419
catalog number
60.2419
accession number
228146
A sequel to Kimmel and Forster’s earlier “The Outbreak of the Rebellion in the United States,” this 1866 print features a symbolic representation of the downfall of the Confederacy and the end of the Civil War.
Description
A sequel to Kimmel and Forster’s earlier “The Outbreak of the Rebellion in the United States,” this 1866 print features a symbolic representation of the downfall of the Confederacy and the end of the Civil War. Upon an altar carved with relief portraits of Washington and Lincoln, stand two robed females figures, Liberty, who wears a Phrygian cap and holds an American flag, and Columbia, who is adorned with a crown of stars. Below them to the left, Lady Justice triumphantly raises her sword and balance. In the foreground of the scene, a black soldier and a freedman kneel before the central pedestal. Behind Liberty stand President Andrew Johnson and the Union generals, Grant, Sherman, and Butler. In the background, behind these officers, an outfit of solemn, well-postured Union troops face opposite a disorganized grouping of defeated Southern fighters. A selection of notable Confederates are gathered in the right of the scene, including Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and John Wilkes Booth. An eagle grasping thunderbolts flies above all these figures and in the background, an American flag waves over Fort Sumter.
Christopher Kimmel was born in Germany around 1850 and after immigrating to the United States, was active in New York City from 1850 to 1876. He was part of Capewell & Kimmel from 1853 to 1860, and then partnered with Thomas Forster in 1865, forming the lithography firm of Kimmel & Forster, which was active until 1871.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1856
1865
date made
1866
depicted
Washington, George
Lincoln, Abraham
Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson)
Davis, Jefferson
Lee, Robert E.
Butler, Benjamin Franklin
Sherman, William Tecumseh
Johnson, Andrew
Booth, John Wilkes
maker
Kimmel and Forster
ID Number
DL.60.2620
catalog number
60.2620
accession number
228146
During the war, Atlanta, Georgia, served as a major hub on the railroads supplying the Confederacy. Following a victory at Chattanooga, the Union Army began an invasion of Georgia, commanded by General William Tecumseh Sherman.
Description
During the war, Atlanta, Georgia, served as a major hub on the railroads supplying the Confederacy. Following a victory at Chattanooga, the Union Army began an invasion of Georgia, commanded by General William Tecumseh Sherman. Several battles outside of Atlanta were followed by a four-month-long siege of the Confederate army there. On September 1, 1864, Confederate General John Bell Hood decided to withdraw his men from the city, and the mayor surrendered to Sherman the next day. This print shows the Union general’s men entering the city. Two horse drawn covered wagons process through the city. To the right of these, two mounted Union officers gaze upon the urban center. A train is situated among the buildings in the background, referencing the city’s strategic importance to the Confederacy.
Both Sherman and Grant believed the Union Army would only be victorious if it could completely break the Confederacy both economically and psychologically. From Atlanta, Sherman launched his famous march to the sea, commanding the Army of the Tennessee and the Army of Georgia on a scorched earth campaign through Georgia during the winter of 1864, destroying Southern railroads, telegraph lines, and farms. Upon leaving the city of Atlanta on November 15, he ordered that the city be burnt to the ground, sparing only its churches and hospitals.
This colored lithograph was produced by the Hartford, Connecticut firm of E.B. & E.C. Kellogg. Edmund Burke Kellogg and Elijah Chapman Kellogg were younger brothers of the founder of the Kellogg lithography firm, Daniel Wright Kellogg. After Daniel Wright Kellogg moved west, his two brothers took over the family lithography firm in 1840 and changed the name to E.B. & E.C. Kellogg. They were responsible for the continued success of the family firm and involved in partnerships with Horace Thayer in 1846-47, John Chenevard Comstock in 1848 and William Henry Bulkeley in 1867.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
After 1864-09-02
maker
E.B. and E.C. Kellogg
ID Number
DL.60.3647
catalog number
60.3647
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in 1852, quickly becoming the nation’s bestselling book.
Description
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe was published in 1852, quickly becoming the nation’s bestselling book. It features a spirited, religious-minded enslaved black man named Tom, who is sold downriver by his financially-strapped owner in Kentucky to a plantation in Louisiana. There, his Christian beliefs spread hope to his fellow slaves and enable him to endure the harsh beatings of his cruel master. He is ultimately whipped to death after refusing to reveal the location of two runaway slaves. Published after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, the novel targeted Northern audiences, arguing against the injustice of slavery and spurring the abolition movement into action.
Although the bestselling novel of the 19th century, many American were exposed to Uncle Tom’s Cabin through play adaptations known as Tom shows. The immense popularity of both the novel and plays transformed Uncle Tom into a cultural phenomenon in America and Europe, and manufacturers quickly capitalized on the production of “Tomitudes,” everyday commodities that referenced scenes and characters from the novel. These included card games, jigsaw puzzles, chinaware, jars and vases, snuffboxes, ceramic figurines, and decorative prints. Although some of these Tomitudes employed racial stereotypes and the imagery of blackface minstrelsy, most chose to depict the enslaved characters of Beecher’s novel in a sympathetic light, often carrying an anti-slavery message.
The most popular depictions of Uncle Tom were those in which he was accompanied by the young white girl, Eva St. Clare. Representations of their companionship conveyed a message of racial bonding and celebrated the characters’ shared Christian faith. While riding aboard a Mississippi riverboat on his journey to be sold downriver, Tom would occupy his time sitting among cotton bales and reading from his Bible. After he introduces himself to the saintly Eva, the young girl decides to ask her father to buy Tom. This print, illustrating a scene from Chapter 14 of the novel, depicts the pair’s first meeting. Tom has one hand placed on his Bible, while his other, enchained by a manacle, motions towards Eva. With his confident pose and flowing robes, Tom looks more like a classical philosopher than a slave learning to read. Eva, reclining on a bale of cotton, appear almost doll-like. After Tom rescues Eva from her fall overboard into the waters of the Mississippi, her father agrees to buy him.
Thomas W. Strong was a New York-based printer and wood engraver who began his career around 1840. His shop specialized in comic literature and he employed many talented cartoonists and draftsmen who would go on to work for Harper’s Weekly and Vanity Fair. This print was published around 1853 as the second in a series by Strong of scenes from Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) rose to fame in 1851 with the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which highlighted the evils of slavery, angered the slaveholding South, and inspired pro-slavery copy-cat works in defense of the institution of slavery. Stowe’s father was the famed Congregational minister Lyman Beecher and her brother, Henry Ward Beecher, was also a famous preacher and reformer. In 1824, she attended her sister Catherine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary, which exposed young women to many of the same courses available in men’s academies. Stowe became a teacher, working from 1829 to 1832 at the Seminary.
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote numerous articles, some of which were published in the renowned women’s magazine of the times, Godey’s Lady’s Book. She also wrote 30 books, covering a wide range of topics from homemaking to religion, as well as several novels. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which legally compelled Northerners to return runaway slaves, infuriated Stowe, and many in the North. She subsequently authored her most famous work, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Originally serialized in the National Era, Stowe saw her tale as a call to arms for Northerners to defy the Fugitive Slave Act. It was released as a book in 1852 and later performed on stage and translated into dozens of languages. Stowe used her fame to petition to end slavery. She toured nationally and internationally, speaking about her book, and donating some of what she earned to help the antislavery cause.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1853
originator of scene
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
maker
Strong, Thomas W.
ID Number
DL.60.2374
catalog number
60.2374
accession number
228146
This print, designed by E.W. Clay, a Northern opponent of the anti-slavery movement plays upon antebellum fears of miscegenation, or interracial mixing, to satirize abolitionism.
Description
This print, designed by E.W. Clay, a Northern opponent of the anti-slavery movement plays upon antebellum fears of miscegenation, or interracial mixing, to satirize abolitionism. Part of series of miscegenation prints done by Clay during 1839, the print depicts a dance in an elegantly furnished ballroom. In the middle of the scene, fashionably dressed, interracial couples are shown dancing. Each consists of a black man and white woman. Along the right wall, several black men ask seated white women to dance. On the left, members of a mixed race couple clasp hands and prepare to kiss. Above these proceedings, music is performed by an orchestra composed solely of white musicians.
Edward Williams Clay was born in Philadelphia in 1799. He originally found employment as an attorney and became a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 1825, but he later abandoned law for a career in art. He moved to New York City in 1837 but shortly after was forced to end his artistic career when his eyesight began to fail.
The work’s publisher, John Childs, was a New York lithographer, artist, and print colorist active between the years 1836 to 1844. For a brief period, he published a quantity of political cartoons, especially in 1840, when he published 34, of which 26 were drawn by Clay.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1839
maker
Childs, John
artist
Clay, Edward Williams
ID Number
DL.60.3340
catalog number
60.3340
Black and white print of a man sampling an oyster at the back of a covered four-wheeled wagon. He is accompanied by his black serving girl. The oysterman is serving him and a horse is tied to the wagon.
Description (Brief)
Black and white print of a man sampling an oyster at the back of a covered four-wheeled wagon. He is accompanied by his black serving girl. The oysterman is serving him and a horse is tied to the wagon. The print was originally pasted on a sheet of manilla paper with several smaller prints cut out and pasted on the other side and on the front and is thought to have come from a child's scrapbook.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
Kollner, August
ID Number
DL.60.2995
catalog number
60.2995
accession number
228146
Black and white print of a man, woman and three children disembarking from a sailing ship docked behind them. A black porter carries their trunk on his shoulder and back.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white print of a man, woman and three children disembarking from a sailing ship docked behind them. A black porter carries their trunk on his shoulder and back.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
publisher
American Sunday School Union
maker
Kollner, August
ID Number
DL.60.2988
catalog number
60.2988
accession number
228146
A black and white print of a standing race horse with a jockey.Exile was foaled in 1882 from Mortemer and Second Hand.Currently not on view
Description
A black and white print of a standing race horse with a jockey.
Exile was foaled in 1882 from Mortemer and Second Hand.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.60.3631
catalog number
60.3631
A color print of a galloping horse and jockey. It is black with a white nose and rear stockings.Longfellow was bred in 1867 by John Harper on Nantura Stock Farm in Midway, Kentucky. Harper also owned the famous sires Lexington and Glencoe.
Description
A color print of a galloping horse and jockey. It is black with a white nose and rear stockings.
Longfellow was bred in 1867 by John Harper on Nantura Stock Farm in Midway, Kentucky. Harper also owned the famous sires Lexington and Glencoe. Longfellow’s sire was Leamington and his dam was Nantura. At 17.0 hands, he was an above-average height for a racer, so Harper had to postpone his training until the colt grew into his size. Harper claimed he named the horse after his long legs. His racing career began when Longfellow turned 3. The beginning of Longfellow’s racing career was marked by several unfortunate events. He lost his first race, and then in 1871 before a match Harper’s siblings were murdered at his estate by a jealous nephew. Harper would have been killed as well, had he not been sleeping in Longfellow’s stall. After this event, Longfellow’s career began to accelerate, and he won 13 of his 16 starts in 1871, frequenting the tracks at Monmouth and Saratoga. Longfellow eventually earned the name “King of the Turf.” The match against Harry Bassett took place in Longfellow’s last season in the Monmouth Cup of 1872 where they were the only two horses entered. Longfellow beat Harry Bassett by over 100 yards. They met again in the Saratoga Cup, but at the start Longfellow twisted his foot. He managed to catch up to Harry Bassett and only lost by a length, but it was the last race of his racing career. His total earnings amounted to $11,200. At stud, Longfellow sired two Kentucky Derby winners and became the leading sire of 1891. Longfellow died on November 5, 1893 at age 26 and his grave was the second grave in Kentucky to be erected for a racehorse. Longfellow was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1971.
Haskell and Allen’s most memorable productions were their horse prints. A Boston based lithograph publisher, the firm seems to have issued more large folio images than small. Haskell began as a print seller with Haskell and Ripley (1868) but a year later in 1869 he began a partnership with George Allen. In 1873 they moved to 61 Hanover St in Boston where they did well until they went bankrupt in 1878.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
Haskell & Allen
ID Number
DL.60.3612
catalog number
60.3612
This abolitionist broadsides depicts six scenes revealing the cruelty and injustice of American slavery.
Description
This abolitionist broadsides depicts six scenes revealing the cruelty and injustice of American slavery. These scenes include: enslaved women working in the field while their children are left alone; a freedwoman and her child watching as their free papers are destroyed by a man who has kidnapped them from the street; enslaved men being whipped and beaten; an enslaved woman watching as her child is taken away from her and sold; a slave auction; and a shipment of slaves being loading onto a ship at Baltimore bound for New Orleans. Above the images, the broadside challenges how slaveholders could see their slaves as people but not adhere to the rule of “Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them.” Below the images, a quote from Unitarian preacher William Ellery Channing argues that keeping a man enslaved is just as much a crime as reducing him to slavery.
The print was produced and distributed by the Emancipator, a weekly newspaper published by the American Anti-Slavery Society. The Society was an abolitionist activist group founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan in 1833, which had gained between 150,000 and 200,000 members by 1840. The Society held public meetings, printed vast quantities of anti-slavery propaganda (such as this piece), petitioned Congress, and sponsored lecturers to further the cause of the Abolition Movement in the North. Its membership was composed of white Northerners with religious and/or philanthropic convictions, but also free black citizens, including Frederick Douglass, who often delivered first-hand accounts of his life as a slave during the Society’s public meetings.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1835
date made
ca 1836
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.60.3489
catalog number
60.3489
Color print of the yard in front of a carriage shed. Two horses hitched to sulkies stand on either side of a large carriage pulled by two horse. A dog and three men on horseback are in the right foreground.
Description (Brief)
Color print of the yard in front of a carriage shed. Two horses hitched to sulkies stand on either side of a large carriage pulled by two horse. A dog and three men on horseback are in the right foreground. Advertisement for Brewster & Co., manufacturer of carriages.
Description
A color print of yard in front of a white shed with sign: “Hiram Woodruff.” There is a stir of activity as horses are hitched to sulkies. Men ride up on horseback, and two men in formal attire ride out of yard in open buggy with a high dashboard and low wheels, drawn by two horses. Dogs are underfoot. A black stable boy tends a horse. A portion of a white frame farmhouse seen to the right, with trees and grass in the distance.
Known as one of the leading lithography firms of the mid-19th Century, Endicott and Company was formed in 1852 as the successor to William Endicott and Company following the death of George Endicott in 1848 and William Endicott in 1852. The original partners of Endicott and Company were Sarah Endicott (William’s widow) and Charles mills. However, in 1853 the senior partner was Sarah and William’s son Frances Endicott. The company often did work for Currier and Ives and employed the well-known artist Charles Pearson. In 1856 the company was awarded a diploma for the best specimen of lithography at the 28th Annual Fair of the American Institute.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1862
publisher
Brewster & Co.
maker
Endicott and Company
artist
Oertel, Johannes Adam Simon
ID Number
DL.60.3563
catalog number
60.3563
Black and white print; full length portrait of a young man dressed as a woman, as indicated by the caption (see inscriptions). He wears a long patterned dress with full sleeves, carries a purse and a sachet, and wears long drop earrings.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white print; full length portrait of a young man dressed as a woman, as indicated by the caption (see inscriptions). He wears a long patterned dress with full sleeves, carries a purse and a sachet, and wears long drop earrings.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1836
depicted
Sewally, Peter
maker
Robinson, Henry R.
ID Number
DL.60.2363
catalog number
60.2363
accession number
228146
Color print, half length portrait of a man (James G. Birney) seated in a chair with his arm resting on document on a table in front of him. On a bracketed shelf to his left is a bust labeled "Wilberforce", indicating his interest in the abolition movement.
Description (Brief)
Color print, half length portrait of a man (James G. Birney) seated in a chair with his arm resting on document on a table in front of him. On a bracketed shelf to his left is a bust labeled "Wilberforce", indicating his interest in the abolition movement. In the far left background out a window are two black men hoeing a field. A column with green drapery is on the right behind him.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
depicted
Birney, James Gillespie
Wilberforce, William
maker
Sowle, John
Baillie, James S.
ID Number
DL.60.3182
catalog number
60.3182
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1839
maker
Childs, John
Clay, Edward Williams
ID Number
DL.60.3329
catalog number
60.3329
This anti-English political cartoon highlights Northern concerns that Great Britain would abandon its anti-slavery values and instead give support to the Confederacy out of economic interests.
Description
This anti-English political cartoon highlights Northern concerns that Great Britain would abandon its anti-slavery values and instead give support to the Confederacy out of economic interests. In 1862 and 1863, the Northern blockade of the South resulted in a cotton shortage in England, and the textile industry there suffered. In the print, John Bull, the figural representation of Great Britain holds a clump of cotton that he had grasped from a bale. He remarks, “Well yes! it is certain that cotton is more useful to me than wool!!” as he strokes the hair, or “wool,” on the head of a slave kneeling at his feet. Two other black man stand in the back left and proceed to cry. In the back right, a goateed Southern man with a straw hat watches the scene with a joyful look upon his face. Despite Northern anxieties and Southern hopes, Great Britain had little interest in embroiling itself in the American war and maintained a policy of neutrality.
Nathaniel Currier (1813-1888) was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and after serving an apprenticeship in Boston, he moved to New York City in 1834. In New York, he briefly partnered with Adam Stodart, but their firm dissolved within a year, and Currier went into business on his own until 1857. James M. Ives (1824-1895) was a native New York lithographer who was hired as a bookkeeper by Currier in 1852. In 1857, the two men partnered, forming the famous lithography firm of Currier and Ives, which continued under their sons until 1907.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
date made
1861-1863
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.60.3368
catalog number
60.3368
This black and white print contains oval bust portraits of three men, along with three smaller heads of black cherubs with wings, a pan flute, and a lyre. Overprinted directly onto the poster in blue ink is the advertisement of the location and dates of some performances.
Description
This black and white print contains oval bust portraits of three men, along with three smaller heads of black cherubs with wings, a pan flute, and a lyre. Overprinted directly onto the poster in blue ink is the advertisement of the location and dates of some performances. The notification printed on top in blue reads: “Newark Opera House, Saturday, June 1st / Birch, Wambold & Backus.” Below the portraits is the statement “San Francisco Minstrels from their / Opera House Broadway & 29th Street, New York, ” which was designed to convey Broadway legitimacy on a trio from New York and New Jersey that first established themselves on the west coast.
Charles Backus (1831-1883), Billy Birch (1831-1897), and D. S. Wambold (1836-1889) belonged to a performing group called the San Francisco Minstrels that was founded in San Francisco in the mid-1860s, in part to make fun of what they viewed as the elitist tastes of San Francisco opera and serious drama fans. They went on to appear on New York-area stages for the next two decades, becoming one of the highest paid minstrel groups of their time. Like other minstrel performers, they performed in blackface and parodied what was considered in the period stereotypical African-American mannerisms and behavior, but they also poked fun at the social and political mores of white society. These performers were said to be a favorite of American author Mark Twain.
Charles Backus was born in Rochester, New York, and moved to San Francisco, California, in 1852. He performed with minstrel groups and circuses in countries around the world, including England, Australia, Egypt, India, and China, before helping form the San Francisco Minstrels with Birch and Wambold in 1864. Known as a talented mimic, his specialties included social parody and imitations of popular actors.
William Birch was a comedian born in Utica, New York, who began appearing in small town minstrel shows in his early teens. He crisscrossed the United States performing with various minstrel groups before helping establish the San Francisco Minstrels, where he was celebrated for his originality and clever word play.
David S. Wambold was born in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. He joined a small minstrel group when he was just 13 years old and toured with other shows in the United States and Europe before helping form the San Francisco Minstrels. His tenor voice made him one of the most highly praised ballad singers of his time.
This lithograph was produced by Henry Atwell Thomas. Henry Atwell Thomas (1834-1904) was an artist, portrait painter, and lithographer especially well known for his theatrical portraits. His New York firm was called H. A. Thomas Lith. Studio until 1887, when it became H. A. Thomas & Wylie Lithographic (sometimes cited as Lithography or Lithographing) Company.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
depicted
Birch, William
Wambold, David
Backus, Charles
referenced
San Francisco Minstrels
maker
Thomas, Henry Atwell
ID Number
DL.60.3027
catalog number
60.3027
accession number
228146

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.