Religion - Overview
One hallmark of the American experience captured in the Museum's collections is the nation's broad diversity of religious faiths. Artifacts range from Thomas Jefferson's Bible to a huge "Sunstone" sculpture carved for a Mormon temple in Illinois in 1844 to a household shrine from the home of a Pueblo Indian in the 1990s. Furniture, musical instruments, clothing, cooking ware, and thousands of prints and figures in the collections have all played roles in the religious lives of Americans. The most comprehensive collections include artifacts from Jewish and Christian European Americans, Catholic Latinos, Protestant Arab Americans, Buddhist and Christian Asian Pacific Americans, and Protestant African Americans. One notable group is the Vidal Collection of carved figures known as santos and other folk religious material from the practice of Santeria in Puerto Rico.
"Religion - Overview" showing 100 items.
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Mountain of the Holy Cross
- Description
- After the Civil War the United States turned its full attention to exploration of the West. A number of geological survey teams, organized by the Department of the Interior, spent the 1870s traveling throughout the region, charting the landscape and employing photographers and engravers to capture images of the people and the environment. One such photographer was William Henry Jackson, a member of the United States Geological and Geographic Survey of the Territories from 1870 to 1878. The photographs that Jackson brought back to the East helped to introduce much of the population to the existence and phenomena of the western landscape, and helped to shape public perception as well as governmental policies surrounding the region.
- One of Jackson's most enduring and iconic images is his photograph of the 14,000-foot Mountain of the Holy Cross, located in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. The mountain was already a legend when Jackson photographed it, because of the snow-filled cross that appeared on its eastern face when weather conditions permitted. His struggle to actually locate and get the photograph—including an arduous trek up a mountainside carrying hundreds of pounds of equipment without the benefit of pack animals, and a night spent exposed to the high altitude air in order to be in the right place when the sun —only added to the status of the mountain after the image was published.
- In subsequent years the Holy Cross photograph continued to influence American culture. Jackson won a number of awards for the image; Henry Wadsworth Longfellow used the picture as inspiration for his poem The Cross of Snow; and many Christians saw the presence of the cross in such a landscape as an invitation to participate in Manifest Destiny and further explore and populate the unknown territories of the West.
- This image was donated to the Smithsonian in 1967.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca 1870s
- date made
- 1873
- user
- Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
- maker
- Jackson, William Henry
- ID Number
- 2004.0286.16
- accession number
- 2004.0286
- catalog number
- 2004.0286.16
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Noah's Ark
- Description
- Noah's Ark, an Old Testament story, appealed to 19th-century children as part of their Bible study. The animals also appeared in the form of games and toys. Prints of religious scenes and other uplifting subjects were recommended as encouraging moral improvement, especially for the benefit of children. Currier and Ives published half-a-dozen different versions of Noah's Ark in several sizes. The firm issued hundreds of religious prints featuring Christian subjects for both Catholic and Protestant devotions. A number of these images were produced with titles in Spanish and French for immigrants and for foreign markets.
- The firm of Currier and Ives was an important publisher of American lithographs. Nathaniel Currier produced his first prints in the 1830s and, after 1857 with his partner James M. Ives, enjoyed great success publishing what the firm advertised as "cheap, popular pictures for the people." Currier and Ives produced more than 7,000 titles over nearly eight decades, and their name has become synonymous with the 19th-century American popular print.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- n.d.
- referenced
- Noah
- publisher
- Currier and Ives
- ID Number
- GA*24050
- catalog number
- 24050
- accession number
- 219034
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
New England Bass Viol
- Description
- Unlike many New England bass viols, this instrument is constructed with interior linings and corner blocks, and the ribs are not inlaid, but glued flush to the table and back. The instrument is ornamented by single painted purfling with a small xxxx pattern beneath the button
- on the back. The neck and top-block section, carved from a single piece of maple, is positioned inside the back with a small iron pin through the extended neck-foot. This bass viol is also unusually fine and intact excepting strings, bridge and soundpost.
- William Green worked from 1798 to 1800 with William Bent in Boston. After dissolving their partnership, Green moved to Medway to make bass viols where he was joined by Deacon Allen from about 1815 to 1818. Green died ca. 1825.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1806
- maker
- Green, William
- ID Number
- 1985.0861.01
- catalog number
- 1985.0861.01
- accession number
- 1985.0861
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Publications of Sister Helen Sullivan
- Description
- Sister M. Helen Sullivan donated items to the Smithsonian on the occasion of the August 31, 1981, meeting honoring American women in mathematics. Among these materials were several of her publications.
- 1993.3019.06.01. Her doctoral dissertation: The Number and Reality of the Non-Self-Symmetric Quadrilaterals In-and-Circumscribed to the Rational Unicuspidal Quartic with a Line of Symmetry, (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America, 1934).
- 1993.3019.06.02. Typewritten and bound text: The Christian Approach to Science: A Philosophic Integration for Science Majors in Liberal Arts Colleges. This text was used in a class Sullivan taught at Loyola University during the summer of 1949.
- 1993.3019.06.03. Published book: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, (New York: Vantage Press, Inc., 1952).
- 1993.3019.06.04. Spiral-bound copy of her published book An Introduction to the Philosophy of Natural and Mathematical Sciences (1993.3019.06.03) with “Additional Suggested Readings and Bibliography (Revised List – 1960).”
- 1993.3019.06.05. Carbon copy of a typescript, “Undergraduate Research in Mathematics.” Sullivan presented this paper at a meeting of the American Benedictine Academy in Canon City, Colorado, August 1961.
- 1993.3019.06.06. Carbon copy of a typescript, “Undergraduate Research in Mathematics in Catholic Colleges for Women.” Sullivan presented the paper at a meeting of the American Benedictine Academy in St. Josesph, Minnesota, August 1965.
- 1993.3019.06.07. Copy of a typescript with a removable hard cover, “Geometric Transformations.” A unit produced by the College Geometry Project, Minnesota School Mathematics and Science Center, University of Minnesota, under a grant from the National Science Foundation, August 1966.
- 1993.3019.06.08. Syllabus for a course, MA 465 Modern Geometry, taught by Sullivan at Mount St. Scholastica College during the first semester of the academic year 1969–70.
- 1993.3019.06.09. Copy of an article, “Catholicism in Ireland, As I See It,” The Furrow 22 (Fall 1971): 615-21. This was published in an Irish journal shortly after Sister Helen Sullivan spent a sabbatical year at University College, Galway.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1934-1970s
- maker
- Sullivan, Sister Helen
- ID Number
- 1993.3019.06
- nonaccession number
- 1993.3019
- catalog number
- 1993.3019.06
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1922 Clarkesville Reformed Church Embroidered Counterpane
- Description
- This redwork embroidered counterpane was most likely made as a fund raiser for the Clarksville Reformed Church. It is dedicated to “Rev. Boyce Pastor. Peggy His wife, Rex Their dog.” According to further inscriptions on the quilt, the occasion was the “Clarksville Reformed Church Fair Dec. 8th 1922.”
- A twelve-petal daisy is the motif of the forty-eight blocks, the petals providing spaces for over 500 embroidered names. First, the names were written in pencil, and then embroidered with red cotton. In a few instances, a different name is embroidered over the original penciled name. One block utilized the spaces for advertising: “Priced / Lowest / The / Transportation / Economical / Motor Cars / Chevrolet / Wright / Gardner / Automobile / Equipped / Fully.” Presumably a small donation, maybe ten or twenty-five cents, assured one’s name embroidered on the counterpane. Further funds may have been secured by a raffle at the December fair. Or it may have been given to Pastor Boyce as a token of appreciation. Quilts or counterpanes such as this are still used, as they have been for more than 150 years, to raise funds for worthy causes.
- The Clarksville Reformed Church was established in 1853, when a building was erected to serve the congregation. Sadly, this church was destroyed by fire on a cold February Sunday in 1912. The congregation rallied to rebuild and less then a year later, in January 1913, they were able to hold services in a new church. Clarksville in the 1920s, when this counterpane was made, was a small village in Albany County, New York. Reverend Boyce was the pastor for the Clarksville Reformed Church from 1919 to 1926 and also the Reformed Church in Westerlo, New York. In the 1950s Clarksville was still a small village and it became increasingly difficult to support the church. Another church in Clarksville, the Methodist Episcopal Church, also faced similar problems, and the solution was to merge the two. By the mid-1960s, a new church was dedicated whose sign incorporates the two bells from the older churches, symbolizing the origins of the new Clarksville Community Church.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1922
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1995.0011.02
- accession number
- 1995.0011
- catalog number
- 1995.0011.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
[Group of men, probably a religious organization, some wearing crosses and clerical collars : acetate film photonegative, ca. 1930.]
- Notes
- From original negative Box 693513A
- Summary
- No ink on negative. No manufacturer's mark on film edge
- Cite as
- Scurlock Studio Records, ca. 1905-1994, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1930
- ca 1930
- 1930-1940
- photographer
- Scurlock, Addison N. 1883-1964
- Local number
- Freezer box 08 , Envelope 3
- 618ns0177500pg.tif (AC Scan)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
“In the Chapel in the Moonlight” Sheet Music
- Description (Brief)
- This sheet music is for the song “In the Chapel in the Moonlight” written and composed by Billy Hill. The song was published by Shapiro, Bernstein & Company Inc. of New York City in 1936. The bright yellow cover features an illustration of a man standing in a chapel in the moonlight, signed by Barbelle. There is a large inset photograph of performer Phil Regan on the right of the cover.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1936
- composer; lyricist
- Hill, Billy
- publisher
- Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., Inc.
- ID Number
- 1983.0313.09
- accession number
- 1983.0313
- catalog number
- 1983.0313.09
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
“The Maiden's Prayer” Sheet Music
- Description (Brief)
- This sheet music is for the song “The Maiden's Prayer” which was composed by Thécla (Tekla) Badarzewska in 1856. The sheet music was published by the Armstrong Music Publishing Company in the early 1900s. The white and red cover features an inset illustration of a maiden kneeling before a cross and candles in front of her window, as light shines down on her face. This song was published in Polish and French prior to being published in English, which is why the sub-title is “La Priére D’une Vierge.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- composer
- Badarzewska, Thecla
- publisher
- Armstrong Music Publishing Company
- ID Number
- 1983.0424.015
- accession number
- 1983.0424
- catalog number
- 1983.0424.015
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
“The Rosary” Sheet Music
- Description (Brief)
- This sheet music is for the song “The Rosary.” The lyrics come from a poem of the same name by Robert Cameron Rogers, and the music was composed by Georgia B. Welles. The sheet music was published by Eclipse Publishing Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1908. The cover features a floral print background, and an inset illustration of a dark haired woman clutching a beaded rosary that is signed “Starmer.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1908
- lyricist
- Rogers, Robert Cameron
- composer
- Welles, Georgia B.
- publisher
- Eclipse Publishing
- ID Number
- 1983.0424.020
- accession number
- 1983.0424
- catalog number
- 1983.0424.020
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Don Garlits Top-fuel Dragster Swamp Rat XXX
- Description
- Swamp Rat XXX is a drag racing car of the top-fuel class, designed, built and raced by Don Garlits of Ocala, Florida. Garlits, better known as "Big Daddy," is one of the pioneers of drag racing, which is a test of acceleration on quarter-mile tracks. He began racing in 1950 in modified stock cars at Zephyr Hills, Fla., not far from his home in Tampa, shifting to drag racing in 1959. Over a 30-year career, he was one of the most innovative builders in the sport.
- Swamp Rat XXX won the National Hot Rod Association championship in 1986 with a quarter-mile speed of 272.55 miles an hour. It crashed at a race in Spokane, Washington, and, along with Garlits, retired from active competition.
- The vehicle displays the state of drag racing art in the 1980s: a very long wheelbase, small front wheels to minimize aerodynamic drag, engine in the rear, and a wing for added aerodynamic down force. The engine placement puts most of the vehicle's weight on the rear or driving wheels and behind the driver for safety reasons in case of an engine blow-up.
- The car is covered with emblems, chiefly of sponsoring corporations. It carries a Christian cross and the words "God is Love," reflecting Garlits' experience in 1959 when, after an accident, his system could not handle pain-killing drugs. In severe pain, he cried out, "Lord help me," and his pain ceased.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1985-1986
- user
- Garlits, Donald G.
- maker
- Garlits, Donald G.
- ID Number
- 1987.0889.01
- catalog number
- 1987.0889.01
- accession number
- 1987.0889
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
