Domestic Furnishings

Tiffany Floor Lamp

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.

Resource Type: Chromolithographs

Battle of Olustee, Fla

Capitalizing on the success of Civil War-related artwork during the 1880s and 90s, the Chicago-based printmakers Louis Kurz and Alexander Allison published a series of 36 battle scenes commemorating famous engagements of the war.
Description
Capitalizing on the success of Civil War-related artwork during the 1880s and 90s, the Chicago-based printmakers Louis Kurz and Alexander Allison published a series of 36 battle scenes commemorating famous engagements of the war. All displayed idealized, panoramic representations of the battles with statistics of the killed and wounded below each image. Kurz and Allison did not consult photography or Civil War historians when designing their prints, instead relying on Kurz’s own first-hand experience as a soldier during the conflict. They included historical inaccuracies and eschewed aesthetic realism to remain true to earlier, pre-photographic lithographic traditions, which preferred bold graphics, black outlines, and figures performing grand, exaggerated gestures.
This 1889 chromolithograph commemorates the 25th anniversary of the battle of Olustee, the only major battle of the Civil War fought in Florida, which took place on February 20, 1864. The Confederacy earned a major victory over Union forces. Federal casualties were high, and the Union Army decided against engaging in future contests in Florida for the remainder of the war. In the print, a Union force composed mainly of free blacks and freedmen from the United States Colored Troops, advance on a heavily fortified Confederate position. In actuality, however, the Confederate forces did not fire from trenches as they do in the print and the battle was fought in a pine forest with relatively few large clearings.
Louis Kurz was a mural and scene painter before the Civil War, explaining the mural-like format of the images. His illustrations also appear to have been inspired by cycloramas, which were popular at the time, such as Paul Philippoteaux’s Gettysburg Cyclorama. Kurz was an Austrian immigrant who settled in Chicago during the 1850s, where he formed a partnership with Henry Seifert of Milwaukee. He later fought for the Union Army during the Civil War. After the conflict, he co-founded the Chicago Lithographic Company. When the company’s assets were destroyed during the Chicago Fire of 1871, Kurz started a new business with his partner, financial backer, and business manager, Alexander Allison.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1894
depicted
Seymour, Truman
maker
Kurz & Allison-Art Studio
ID Number
DL.60.2634
catalog number
60.2634
accession number
228146

Stalking the Wapiti

This print is one of fifteen chromolithographs that were included in the 1889-1890 folio "Sport or Fishing and Shooting" published by Bradlee Whidden of Boston and edited by A.C. Gould.
Description (Brief)
This print is one of fifteen chromolithographs that were included in the 1889-1890 folio "Sport or Fishing and Shooting" published by Bradlee Whidden of Boston and edited by A.C. Gould. These prints are based on watercolors that were commissioned for the publication, and illustrated by prominent American artists. Each folio illustration was accompanied by a single leaf of descriptive text followed by an account of the depicted sporting scene. The publication was advertised as having been reviewed for accuracy by a renowned group of anglers and hunters prior to printing.
This print was originally titled and numbered on the text page as 15. Stalking the Wapiti. Henry Sandham. Depicted are four Wapiti or elk- one stag and three doe- standing on a grassy ridge, overlooking two men walking on a path below the ridge.
The artist was Henry Sandham (1842-1910), a Canadian born illustrator and artist of hunting and fishing scenes.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1890
publisher; copywriter
Bradlee Whidden
lithographer
Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company
artist
Sandham, Henry
ID Number
DL.60.2729
catalog number
60.2729
accession number
228146

Court Reception of Columbus

Colored print of a bearded Columbus wearing a long purple cape and kneeling before king and queen who stand on a throne. Behind Columbus are three Indians bearing gifts. Also in the room are soldiers, courtiers, monks and scholars observing the proceedings.
Description (Brief)
Colored print of a bearded Columbus wearing a long purple cape and kneeling before king and queen who stand on a throne. Behind Columbus are three Indians bearing gifts. Also in the room are soldiers, courtiers, monks and scholars observing the proceedings. The setting is a Gothic style audience room decorated with statues. Proof before letters.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1870
depicted
Columbus, Christopher
Isabella I Queen of Spain
Ferdinand V King of Spain
maker
Schile, Henry
ID Number
DL.60.2474
catalog number
60.2474
accession number
228146

Unabhangiger Deutscher Orden der Harugari

Chromolithographed certificate for German Order of the Harugari (a fraternal organization). Print composed of text surrounded by vignettes and fraternal order symbols.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Chromolithographed certificate for German Order of the Harugari (a fraternal organization). Print composed of text surrounded by vignettes and fraternal order symbols.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1868
maker
Herline & Hensel
ID Number
DL.60.2405
catalog number
60.2405
accession number
228146

Ye Gods! It's a Skunk

Colored print of two hunters, a black companion, and two dogs surprised by a skunk while hunting in the snow.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Colored print of two hunters, a black companion, and two dogs surprised by a skunk while hunting in the snow.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1883
maker
Bruns, William
ID Number
DL.60.2683
catalog number
60.2683
accession number
228146

View of the Philadelphia Volunteer Refreshment Saloons

This print contains illustrations of the Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon and the Cooper Shop Volunteer Refreshment Saloon.
Description
This print contains illustrations of the Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon and the Cooper Shop Volunteer Refreshment Saloon. Located on a railroad hub linking the North and the South, the saloons were staffed by volunteers and provided relief for Union troops to soldiers on their way to or returning from battlefields in the South. Its services included warm meals, temporary housing, medical services, and washing facilities. Over the course of the war, these saloons assisted more than one million Union military personnel. In the central image of the print, formations of troops march down the road, cheered on by a crowd of civilians. Lines of soldiers wait to enter the Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon, while another regiment of troops in the street wait to board a Philadelphia, Wilmington, & Baltimore railroad car, bound for the battlefront. The images to the left and right of the central one depict the facility’s washing and cooking departments. In a lower image, men and women volunteers prepare long tables covered in dishes and food. In the lower left image, a group of Zouaves wait in line outside the storefront of William Cooper, who converted his place of business into a refreshment saloon during the war years. A flag outside of the building reads, “Union Now and Forever / Death to Traitors.” The lower right illustration shows the interior of the Cooper saloon. A large American flag is draped across the ceiling and, underneath, long tables are set with dishes. The names of members of the Volunteer Refreshment Committee are listed in the margin below the illustration.
The Philadelphia saloons received support from the United States Sanitary Commission, a relief agency approved by the War Department on June 18, 1861 to provide assistance to sick, wounded, and travelling Union soldiers. Although the leaders of the Commission were men, the agency depended on thousands of women, who collected donations, volunteered as nurses in hospitals, and offered assistance at rest stations and refreshment saloons. They also sponsored Sanitary Fairs in Northern cities, raising millions of dollars used to send food, clothing, and medicine to Union soldiers.
The print was created by James Fuller Queen, a pioneering chromolithographer active in Philadelphia, who served in a Civil War militia between 1862 and 1863. Its printer, Thomas S. Sinclair, was a Scottish immigrant to Philadelphia who worked in the lithographic shop of John Collins, before taking over the business the next year. His firm was profitable into the 1880s, producing maps, city views, certificates, book illustrations, political cartoons, sheet music covers, and fashion advertisements. The scene of the saloons was published by Job T. Williams, the Steward of the Volunteer Refreshment Committee.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1861
lithographer
Sinclair, Thomas
artist
Queen, James
ID Number
DL.60.3800
catalog number
60.3800

Washington As a Freemason by Strobridge and Company, 1870

Chromolithographic print depicting George Washington, standing, facing left as the central figure, wearing a Masonic apron and holding a trowel in his right hand and a mallet and parchment in his left.
Description
Chromolithographic print depicting George Washington, standing, facing left as the central figure, wearing a Masonic apron and holding a trowel in his right hand and a mallet and parchment in his left. He is standing in under a Gothic arch flanked by columns with capitals of different orders and quatrefoil windows with a staircase is in the background. Bust portraits of the Marquis de Lafayette and Andrew Jackson appear in upper left and right corners, respectively. Bordering the central image are Gothic niches containing biblical scenes, allegorical figures, numerous inscriptions, and Masonic symbols and rites. Washington's coffin appears below the central image and is surrounded by a commemorative poem.
Lithography company was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio about 1847 by lithographer Elijah C. Middleton. Middleton was known as one of the pioneers of chromolithography in the United States. By 1854 lithographer W. R. Wallace and bookseller Hines Strobridge (1823-1909) had joined the firm as partners. After the Civil War Strobridge acquired sole ownership of the company and renamed it after himself. Strobridge and Company was especially well known for circus, theater and movie posters. After leaving Strobridge and Company, Elijah Middleton became known as a portrait publisher, producing prints of George and Martha Washington, Daniel Webster and other American historical figures.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1870
depicted
Washington, George
publisher
J. Hale Powers & Company
depicted
Jackson, Andrew
Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier Marquis de Lafayette
maker
Strobridge and Company
ID Number
DL.60.2597
catalog number
60.2597
accession number
228146

A Sure Thing on a Rabbit

Colored print of two hunters, a black companion, and two dogs cornering their prey in a hollowed log while hunting in the snow.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Colored print of two hunters, a black companion, and two dogs cornering their prey in a hollowed log while hunting in the snow.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1883
maker
Bruns, William
ID Number
DL.60.2684
catalog number
60.2684
accession number
228146

A Day with the Chickens

This print is one of fifteen chromolithographs that were included in the 1889-1890 folio "Sport or Fishing and Shooting" published by Bradlee Whidden of Boston and edited by A.C. Gould.
Description (Brief)
This print is one of fifteen chromolithographs that were included in the 1889-1890 folio "Sport or Fishing and Shooting" published by Bradlee Whidden of Boston and edited by A.C. Gould. These prints are based on watercolors that were commissioned for the publication, and illustrated by prominent American artists. Each folio illustration was accompanied by a single leaf of descriptive text followed by an account of the depicted sporting scene. The publication was advertised as having been reviewed for accuracy by a renowned group of anglers and hunters prior to printing.
This print was originally titled and numbered on the text page as 12. A Day with the [Prairie] Chickens. R. F. Zogbaum. Depicted are two hunters shooting at prairie chickens. A dog stands at point flushing birds out of the brush. In the background a man sits in a horse-drawn wagon.
The artist was Rufus Fairchild Zogbaum (1849-1925) known for his images of horses, cowboys, and battle scenes.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1890
publisher; copywriter
Bradlee Whidden
lithographer
Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company
artist
Zogbaum, Rufas Fairchild
ID Number
DL.60.2721
catalog number
60.2721
accession number
228146

Freiheit Edelmuth & Bruderliebe, Unabhangiger Orden der Rothmaenner

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca. 1863
recipient
Gratz, Otto
depicted
Pocahontas
Associated Name
Plumig, John
Bissout, Heinrich
maker
Feusier, A.
Schnabel & Finkeldey
ID Number
DL.60.2396
catalog number
60.2396
accession number
228146

Battle of Wilson's Creek

Capitalizing on the success of Civil War-related artwork during the 1880s and 90s, the Chicago-based printmakers Louis Kurz and Alexander Allison published a series of 36 battle scenes commemorating famous engagements of the war.
Description
Capitalizing on the success of Civil War-related artwork during the 1880s and 90s, the Chicago-based printmakers Louis Kurz and Alexander Allison published a series of 36 battle scenes commemorating famous engagements of the war. All displayed idealized, panoramic representations of the battles with statistics of the killed and wounded below each image. Kurz and Allison did not consult photography or Civil War historians when designing their prints, instead relying on Kurz’s own first-hand experience as a soldier during the conflict. They included historical inaccuracies and eschewed aesthetic realism to remain true to earlier, pre-photographic lithographic traditions, which preferred bold graphics, black outlines, and figures performing grand, exaggerated gestures.
This 1893 chromolithograph depicts the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, fought on August 10, 1861, as part of the larger struggle over control of the state of Missouri, which was officially neutral at the start of the war. The Confederacy won the battle, but ultimately failed to establish dominance in Missouri. In the print, General Nathaniel Lyon leads the men of the First Iowa out of a forest to engage the Confederate Army in a clearing. At center, General Lyon’s horse rears as he falls back mortally wound from a gunshot to the heart. Several wounded men lie in the foreground amongst the charging troops.
Louis Kurz was a mural and scene painter before the Civil War, explaining the mural-like format of the images. His illustrations also appear to have been inspired by cycloramas, which were popular at the time, such as Paul Philippoteaux’s Gettysburg Cyclorama. Kurz was an Austrian immigrant who settled in Chicago during the 1850s, where he formed a partnership with Henry Seifert of Milwaukee. He later fought for the Union Army during the Civil War. After the conflict, he co-founded the Chicago Lithographic Company. When the company’s assets were destroyed during the Chicago Fire of 1871, Kurz started a new business with his partner, financial backer, and business manager, Alexander Allison.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1893
Associated Name
Lyon, Nathaniel
maker
Kurz & Allison-Art Studio
Kurz & Allison
ID Number
DL.60.2626
catalog number
60.2626
accession number
228146

Rome

Colored print; view of Rome showing the Castellos with Angelo at right, the Ponte S. Angelo spanning the Tiber River, and the Theatre di Appollo on the left bank. St. Peter's Cathedral, the Vatican, and other buildings appear in background.
Description (Brief)
Colored print; view of Rome showing the Castellos with Angelo at right, the Ponte S. Angelo spanning the Tiber River, and the Theatre di Appollo on the left bank. St. Peter's Cathedral, the Vatican, and other buildings appear in background. A variety of people stroll along the river and ride in gondolas and carriages.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1870
maker
Schile, Henry
ID Number
DL.60.2470
catalog number
60.2470
accession number
228146

Hazard's Chemical & Liquid Bluing

Color advertising print depicting five women and a child doing laundry.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Color advertising print depicting five women and a child doing laundry.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1860
maker
Sarony, Major, & Knapp
ID Number
DL.60.3088
catalog number
60.3088
accession number
228146

"A Child of the State" by George Hoey

This colored theater print depicts a scene from a play A Child of the State in which a young woman stands outside a doorway at the top of the stairs. She is surrounded by nuns, and men in plain dress stand guard on each side of the doorway.
Description
This colored theater print depicts a scene from a play A Child of the State in which a young woman stands outside a doorway at the top of the stairs. She is surrounded by nuns, and men in plain dress stand guard on each side of the doorway. Four men and three women in elaborate clothing are in the foreground. The play was adapted by George Curtis Hoey (1852-1907), New York City playright/actor, from French melodrama called Les Orphelines de la Charite. There is a datebill or pasted on label indicating the play was performed: Park Theater, Dec 28, 29, & 30. The year is not included bit it was circa 1880, and George Hoey played the part of the character Gros- Rene.
The Park Theater was built in 1798 on Park Row in Manhattan and was New York City’s premiere performance space in the early 19th Century. It attracted a diverse audience with each class sitting in its preferred section. Working class men sat in the pit; members of the upper class and women in the boxes, while the less affluent including immigrants, people of color, and prostitutes sat in the balcony.
This chromolithograph was produced by the Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company. The Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company was founded by William H. Forbes (ca 1836-1915), who immigrated to the United States from Liverpool, England in 1848. Forbes became an apprentice in the lithography business while still a boy and established William H. Forbes and Company in Boston in 1861. The firm expanded to become Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company in 1875 with hundreds of employees and offices in Boston, New York, Chicago, and London. During World War II the company became a major printer of allied military currency but went out of business later in the twentieth century.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1880
ca 1880
maker
Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company
ID Number
DL.60.3013
catalog number
60.3013
accession number
228146

My Protector

Colored print of a little boy wearing eyelet-trimmed shorts, vest and jacket. He holds the leash of a brown and white dog that is seated next to him. Toys are scattered on the rug at his feet and on a table in background.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Colored print of a little boy wearing eyelet-trimmed shorts, vest and jacket. He holds the leash of a brown and white dog that is seated next to him. Toys are scattered on the rug at his feet and on a table in background.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1874
maker
Schile, Henry
ID Number
DL.60.2463
catalog number
60.2463
accession number
228146

Pot Hunters Disdaining the Rustics

Colored print of two gentlemen hunters and two dogs encountering two barefoot boys with guns and a dog.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Colored print of two gentlemen hunters and two dogs encountering two barefoot boys with guns and a dog.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1883
maker
Bruns, William
ID Number
DL.60.2685
catalog number
60.2685
accession number
228146

Bartley Campbell's Siberia A Jewish Massacre

This colored print depicts a town square where soldiers with swords are attacking men, women, and children. Several people are on the ground, dead or injured. At the center of the print is a fountain with a statue of the Virgin Mary.
Description
This colored print depicts a town square where soldiers with swords are attacking men, women, and children. Several people are on the ground, dead or injured. At the center of the print is a fountain with a statue of the Virgin Mary. A building emitting smoke and fire with the sign “Café Imperiale” stands on the left side of the square, and on the right another building carries the sign “Café du Peuple.” In the lower left-hand corner are the words “A Jewish Massacre,” indicating this is depicting a scene from the wave of anti-Jewish riots or pograms that swept through Russia during the 1880's and resulted in loss of life as well as emigration to other countries. A Russian Orthodox church with onion domes appears in the background. The drama Siberiafeatured many prominent actors of the day and toured in England, Australia, and New Zealand.
Bartley T. Campbell (1843-1888), was a journalist, novelist, poet, dramatist, and theatrical manager. He was born to Irish immigrant parents in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and began his writing career at age fifteen as a reporter for the Pittsburgh Post. He also worked for newspapers in Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio, and founded the Southern Monthly Magazine in New Orleans, Louisiana. After the success of his first melodrama, Through Fire, in 1871, Campbell gave up journalism for playwrighting and experimented with everything from comedies to domestic dramas to military sagas. Several of his works, including The White Slave, focused on racial themes and the plight of mixed-race characters. After an 1876 trip to London, Bartley Campbell began to write the western dramas for which he became especially famous, including The Vigilantes, or, The Heart of the Sierras. He has been described as America's "first fully professional dramatist" (The Oxford Companion to American Theatre),and he also produced and directed plays. Later in life Bartley Campbell suffered from financial and mental problems and died at the State Hospital for the Insane in Middletown, New York. The Galley Slave, became a 1915 film starring Theda Bara.
This chromolithograph was produced by Strobridge Lithographing Company. The Strobridge firm was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio ca 1847 by lithographer Elijah J. Middleton (cited in some sources as Elijah C. Middleton). Middleton was known as one of the pioneers of chromolithography in the United States. By 1854 another lithographer, W. R. Wallace, along with the bookseller Hines Strobridge (1823-1909) had joined the firm as partners. After the Civil War, Strobridge acquired sole ownership of the company and renamed it after himself. Strobridge and Company became especially well known for circus, theater, and movie posters. After leaving the company, Elijah Middleton established a reputation as a portrait publisher, producing prints of George and Martha Washington, Daniel Webster, and other American historical figures.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
cited
Campbell, Bartley
maker
Strobridge Lithographing Company
ID Number
DL.60.3020
catalog number
60.3020
accession number
228146

Come and Join Us Brothers.

Besides freeing all slaves held in areas of the United States under rebellion, the Emancipation Proclamation also allowed for black men to enlist in the United States Army. Around 190,000 African-Americans fought for the Union and made up one tenth of the entire Federal Army.
Description
Besides freeing all slaves held in areas of the United States under rebellion, the Emancipation Proclamation also allowed for black men to enlist in the United States Army. Around 190,000 African-Americans fought for the Union and made up one tenth of the entire Federal Army. Their successes in battle dispelled existing arguments that black men could not be trusted to bear arms. Despite this, they were only paid half as much a white soldiers, were often assigned menial tasks, and provided inferior clothing and medical care. The U.S.C.T. suffered an extremely high casualty rate, and 40,000 perished by the war’s end.
This print, published by the Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regiments, served as a recruitment poster for the U.S.C.T. In the illustration, 18 African American soldiers look out at potential black volunteers, calling upon them to join the fight in liberating those who remained enslaved. A black drummer boy plays in the lower right. The soldiers’ white commanding officer stands on the left, since black men could not become commissioned officers until the final months of the war. The men are stationed near Philadelphia at Camp Penn, the largest camp that exclusively trained U.S. Colored Troops. This image was based on a photograph taken in Philadelphia, in February 1864, of either Company C or G of the U.S.C.T.’s 25th Regiment.
Peter S. Duval, a French-born lithographer, was hired by Cephas G. Childs in 1831 to work for the firm of Childs & Inman in Philadelphia. Duval formed a partnership with George Lehman, and Lehman & Duval took over the business of Childs & Inman in 1835. From 1839 to 1843, Duval was part of the lithography and publishing house, Huddy & Duval. He established his own lithography firm in 1843, and was joined by his son, Stephen Orr Duval, in 1858.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1863 -1865
maker
P.S. Duval & Son Lith.
ID Number
DL.60.3320
catalog number
60.3320

Battle of Nashville

Capitalizing on the success of Civil War-related artwork during the 1880s and 90s, the Chicago-based printmakers Louis Kurz and Alexander Allison published a series of 36 battle scenes commemorating famous engagements of the war.
Description
Capitalizing on the success of Civil War-related artwork during the 1880s and 90s, the Chicago-based printmakers Louis Kurz and Alexander Allison published a series of 36 battle scenes commemorating famous engagements of the war. All displayed idealized, panoramic representations of the battles with statistics of the killed and wounded below each image. Kurz and Allison did not consult photography or Civil War historians when designing their prints, instead relying on Kurz’s own first-hand experience as a soldier during the conflict. They included historical inaccuracies and eschewed aesthetic realism to remain true to earlier, pre-photographic lithographic traditions, which preferred bold graphics, black outlines, and figures performing grand, exaggerated gestures.
This 1891 chromolithograph depicts the Battle of Nashville, fought on December 15 and 16, 1864. Part of the Franklin-Nashville Campaign, it was a major victory for the Union. General George H. Thomas soundly defeated the Confederate General John Bell Hood’s Army of Tennessee. In this print, Union troops overtake a Confederate artillery position during the battle. All soldiers’ uniforms are trimmed with different colors to represent their respective branch of service: light blue for infantry, red for artillery, and yellow for cavalry. The infantry regiment storming the hilltop in the upper portion of the illustration is composed of men from the United States Colored Troops. The retreating Confederate soldiers in the lower right corner wave white flags in surrender. A number of soldiers in the foreground of the scene lay either dead or dying.
Louis Kurz was a mural and scene painter before the Civil War, explaining the mural-like format of the images. His illustrations also appear to have been inspired by cycloramas, which were popular at the time, such as Paul Philippoteaux’s Gettysburg Cyclorama. Kurz was an Austrian immigrant who settled in Chicago during the 1850s, where he formed a partnership with Henry Seifert of Milwaukee. He later fought for the Union Army during the Civil War. After the conflict, he co-founded the Chicago Lithographic Company. When the company’s assets were destroyed during the Chicago Fire of 1871, Kurz started a new business with his partner, financial backer, and business manager, Alexander Allison.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1891
maker
Kurz & Allison-Art Studio
ID Number
DL.60.2635
catalog number
60.2635
accession number
228146

Farewell

Colored print of a woman supporting a little girl who is standing on a stone pier rail and waving a handkerchief to a vanishing steamship. A leashed dog (Spaniel) stands beside them watching the ship.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Colored print of a woman supporting a little girl who is standing on a stone pier rail and waving a handkerchief to a vanishing steamship. A leashed dog (Spaniel) stands beside them watching the ship.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1870
maker
Schile, Henry
ID Number
DL.60.2478
catalog number
60.2478
accession number
228146

Chromolithograph, Making the Scrap Book

The impulse to clip and save images is familiar to many people, and today there is active interest in scrapbooks. In Juliana Oakley's 1865 painting, "Making the Scrap Book," a girl in a spotless white dress is trimming small engravings for inclusion in the scrapbook at her feet.
Description
The impulse to clip and save images is familiar to many people, and today there is active interest in scrapbooks. In Juliana Oakley's 1865 painting, "Making the Scrap Book," a girl in a spotless white dress is trimming small engravings for inclusion in the scrapbook at her feet. The setting includes books, furniture, and other pictures that symbolize art and learning. These objects suggest middle-class cultural values and aspirations, while the activity itself indicates the importance of memory and its construction in the post-Civil War period.
Oakley's painting was exhibited in New York and Philadelphia, where it was purchased by portrait painter G. P. A. Healy in 1865. Healy lived in Chicago, permitting Louis Kurz's Chicago Lithographing Company to reproduce the painting in full color as a chromolithograph in 1868. Chromolithography used multiple lithographic stones for commercial and artistic printing in color. Separate stones were used to print each basic color, and some highlights were added by hand. The Museum's copy of this print has labels from both the Chicago publisher and the New York City retailer indicating its national distribution.
During the 19th century, many Americans believed in art as an agent of cultural improvement. Specific prints were cited for their civilizing influence, providing moral uplift as well as taste and refinement. Household manuals like The American Woman's Home, published in 1869 by Harriet Beecher Stowe and her sister Catharine Beecher, recommended that prints be framed and placed where they would be seen daily. They cited specific chromolithographs after American paintings as affordable and worthy of contemplation, including Juliana Oakley's "Making the Scrapbook." Looking at such prints, the Beecher sisters argued, invoked a child's powers of observation and imaginative faculties, influencing the formation of individual character and, by extension, the nation.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1868
owner
Healy, George Peter Alexander
graphic artist
Chicago Lithographing Company
original artist
Oakley, Juliana
publisher
Jenkinson, Keitz and Company
lithographer
Kurz, Louis
ID Number
2001.0074.1
accession number
2001.0074.01
catalog number
2001.0074.01

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