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 19 items.
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Prescription Label, Adler Apotheke. vE. Hintze
- Description (Brief)
- The Bristol-Myers Squibb Collection has over two hundred early prescription labels from dozens of apothecaries across Germany and Austria. Early labels were plain and without adornment. Later embellishments included decorative borders, images of animals such as stags, lions, or elephants associated with the name of the apothecary.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1857
- ID Number
- 1991.0664.1188
- catalog number
- 1991.0664.1188
- accession number
- 1991.0664
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Prescription Label, Apotheke in Steele
- Description (Brief)
- The Bristol-Myers Squibb Collection has over two hundred early prescription labels from dozens of apothecaries across Germany and Austria.
- Early labels were plain and without adornment. Later embellishments included decorative borders, images of animals such as stags, lions, or elephants associated with the name of the apothecary.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1859
- ID Number
- 1991.0664.1208
- catalog number
- 1991.0664.1208
- accession number
- 1991.0664
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Prescription Label, Apotheke von H.J. Trip in HuckeswagenBorken
- Description (Brief)
- The Bristol-Myers Squibb Collection has over two hundred early prescription labels from dozens of apothecaries across Germany and Austria.
- Early labels were plain and without adornment. Later embellishments included decorative borders, images of animals such as stags, lions, or elephants associated with the name of the apothecary.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1855
- ID Number
- 1991.0664.1261
- catalog number
- 1991.0664.1261
- accession number
- 1991.0664
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Prescription Label, Salomonis Apotheke Dresden
- Description (Brief)
- The Bristol-Myers Squibb Collection has over two hundred early prescription labels from dozens of apothecaries across Germany and Austria.
- Early labels were plain and without adornment. Later embellishments included decorative borders, images of animals such as stags, lions, or elephants associated with the name of the apothecary.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1854
- ID Number
- 1991.0664.1319
- accession number
- 1991.0664
- catalog number
- 1991.0664.1319
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
New Testament
- Description
- Physical Description
- Print on paper; bound in leather.
- Specific History
- New Testament owned by James H. Stetson, who was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg.
- General History
- The Battle of Gettysburg was a critical turning point in the American Civil War. During the first three days of July 1863, over 172,000 men and 634 cannons were positioned in an area encompassing 25 square miles. An estimated 569 tons of ammunition were expended and, when the battle had ended, the losses toped 51,000 in dead and wounded soldiers on both sides. While the Confederate army retreated after Gettysburg, the war would drag on another two years. It would be the most costly battle ever fought on U.S. soil. The battle was commemorated by Abraham Lincoln’s legendary address. Lincoln stated: “Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it as a final resting place for those who died here that the nation might live. This we may, in all propriety do. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have hallowed it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.” The world has remembered both the battle and Lincoln’s eloquent words.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1852
- user
- Stetson, James H.
- publisher
- American Bible Society
- ID Number
- AF*77318M
- catalog number
- 77318M
- accession number
- 307583
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1851 Ellen Calder's Presentation Quilt
- Description
- Harrisburg, Pennsylvania friends of Ellen Winebrenner Calder presented this quilt to her in 1851. It was a farewell present for Ellen, a young bride, who was accompanying her husband, Rev. James K. Calder to Fuh-Chua, China. They worked under difficult circumstances in China for two years as missionaries for the Methodist Episcopal Church before returning to the United States. Ellen Calder, born in 1824, died in 1858 at Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. She is buried in the Harrisburg Cemetery.
- This cotton quilt consists of 36 blocks appliquéd with a fleur-de-lis motif often used by religious groups for presentation pieces. In the center circle of each block is penned a name and on many the place and date as well. Also penned on the quilt are a few pertinent religious inscriptions such as:
- "When on the bounding wave,
- Or in a Heathen land,
- May God in Mercy Save,
- And guide you by the hand.
- And when your labors cease,
- And you no more must roam,
- May you return in peace,
- To your beloved home."
- In the mid nineteenth century the album or autograph quilt was a popular token of affection, often presented to someone leaving the community for a long journey or a new home far away.
- Date made
- 1851
- user
- Calder, Ellen Winebrenner
- quilters
- unknown
- ID Number
- TE*T08114
- accession number
- 144655
- catalog number
- T08114
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
Religion : stereographs, ca. 1870s-1880s
- Summary
- Religious subjects and connections, including holidays, all concerning Christian beliefs: 2 views of camp meetings(?), one by D. W. Butterfield, the other unidentified; 2 views of leaf and flower arrangements surrounding photographs; one of the Passion Play by Ingersoll, 7 by C. H. Graves, "First Communion" from the Popular Series, and 6 views relating to Christmas
- Cite as
- Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1870
- 1890
- ca 1870s-1880s
- 1870-1890
- 1900-1950
- 1850-1900
- 1880-1900
- photographer
- Graves, C. H
- Ingersoll
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Religion (series title), circa 1728-1950
- Summary
- Consists primarily of books, periodicals, publications, programs, leaflets, announcements, invitations, reports, circulars, letters, cards, photographs, engravings and illustrations relating to religious education, religious organizations and the dissemination of a great variety of religious viewpoints. Includes a substantial amount of colorful printed material, especially in card form. The bulk of the material dates from the late 19th and early 20th centuries
- Cite as
- Religion, Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, box ##, folder ###, digital file number ####
- Date
- 1728
- 1950
- circa 1728-1950
- collector
- Warshaw, Isadore d. 1969
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from Merklin & Cie]
- Date
- 1800s
- Company Name
- Merklin & Cie
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_30806
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- No Image Available
Massachusetts (series), circa 1823-1962
- Summary
- A significant part of this series deals with Boston. The General subseries is largely concerned with colonial history
- Cite as
- Massachusetts, Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, box X, folder XX, digital file number XXXX
- Date
- 1823
- 1962
- circa 1823-1962
- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
- collector
- Warshaw, Isadore d. 1969
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH