Religion

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.

Physical DescriptionSong and Service Book for Ship and Field, Army and Navy, edited by Ivan Loveridge Bennett.
Description
Physical Description
Song and Service Book for Ship and Field, Army and Navy, edited by Ivan Loveridge Bennett. Gilt title on maroon boards, 192 pp.
General History
The Song and Service Book for Ship and Field, Army and Navy, edited by Ivan Loveridge Bennett, features prayers, hymns, and patriotic songs used in various military ceremonies and religious services.
date made
1942
printer
U.S. Government Printing Office
ID Number
1982.0372.01
accession number
1982.0372
catalog number
1982.0372.01
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c. 1920
Associated Date
20th century
graphic artist
Hart, George O.
ID Number
GA.14179
catalog number
14179
accession number
92987
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1927
maker
Bairstow, Herbert
ID Number
PG.003946.02
accession number
115163
catalog number
3946.02
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1926
associated date
1926
maker
Coleman, R. H.
ID Number
CL.306787.90
accession number
306787
catalog number
306787.90
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1924
Artist
Miller, Benjamin
Associated Name
Bernard, Allen W.
maker
Miller, Benjamin
ID Number
2016.0084.014
accession number
2016.0084
catalog number
2016.0084.014
Physical DescriptionBrass chalice with gold inlay.General HistoryChalices are used during the celebration of the Roman Catholic Mass. They bear the wine which represents the blood of Christ.
Description
Physical Description
Brass chalice with gold inlay.
General History
Chalices are used during the celebration of the Roman Catholic Mass. They bear the wine which represents the blood of Christ. Chaplains often celebrated Mass in the field for Catholic soldiers during active campaigns and before battles.
associated date
1941-1945
date obtained by donor
1946
ID Number
1981.0151.02
accession number
1981.0151
catalog number
1981.0151.02
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1918
associated date
1910 - 1920
maker
Gosar, Ivan
ID Number
DL.304142.20B
accession number
304142
catalog number
304142.20B
"Evening in the City, Synagogue at Eutaw Place, Baltimore" is a color etching by Gabrielle de Veaux Clements (1858–1948). The very small image, printed predominantly in blues and browns, depicts a view across the city at twilight.
Description
"Evening in the City, Synagogue at Eutaw Place, Baltimore" is a color etching by Gabrielle de Veaux Clements (1858–1948). The very small image, printed predominantly in blues and browns, depicts a view across the city at twilight. In the foreground, very faintly rendered with delicate lines, is the roof of a building, the moldings barely visible in the shadows. Two birds are perched on the right side of the rooftop. Along the horizon is a row of buildings. The largest, presumably the synagogue, has a dome and a spire. Several tiny windows are lit with a glowing, yellow light.
Between the years of 1896 and 1927 Clements created several etchings of Baltimore, later to be known as "The Baltimore Series." The series comprised five large plates of significant Baltimore landmarks, such as the Washington Monument and Mount Vernon Place. "Evening in the City," printed in 1920, could be a study for the series.
Toward the end of their careers in 1936 Clements and her partner and fellow printmaker Ellen Day Hale exhibited jointly at the Smithsonian. By that time they had been producing prints for more than sixty years. Their work was included in the first exhibition of etchings exclusively by women at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1887. As a response to the Etching Revival of the late 19th century, curator Sylvester R. Koehler included more than 400 etchings by twenty-five artists in the very successful exhibition titled Women Etchers of America. In 1888 the Union League Club in New York exhibited the same works, plus about 100 more by eleven additional women. A traveling exhibition celebrating the centennial of these two ground-breaking shows, American Women of the Etching Revival, was organized by the High Museum in Atlanta, Georgia in 1988. The NMAH lent works by Hale, Clements and others, and the Museum showed the exhibition in Washington in 1989.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1920
ID Number
GA.10740
catalog number
10740
accession number
62397
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1918
associated date
1910 - 1920
maker
Gosar, Ivan
ID Number
DL.304142.21
accession number
304142
catalog number
304142.21
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1918
associated date
1910 - 1920
maker
Gosar, Ivan
ID Number
DL.304142.20A
accession number
304142
catalog number
304142.20A
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1925
associated institution
Ku Klux Klan
publisher
Windle, Harry F.
lyricist; composer
Tillery, Noah F.
ID Number
1986.0309.09
accession number
1986.0309
catalog number
1986.0309.09
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1920s
maker
Keighley, Alexander
ID Number
PG.004887
accession number
198282
catalog number
4887
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1920-1927
maker
Petrocelli, Joseph
ID Number
PG.006024.23
accession number
224379
catalog number
6024.23
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1926-03
maker
Petrocelli, Joseph
ID Number
PG.003844.02
accession number
96918
catalog number
3844.2
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
early 1920s
maker
Leighton, J. Harold
ID Number
PG.003910
catalog number
3910
accession number
109721
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1920
maker
Astrella, Louis
ID Number
PG.003411
accession number
67272
catalog number
3411
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1926-04
maker
Petrocelli, Joseph
ID Number
PG.003844.01
accession number
96918
catalog number
3844.1
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1921
maker
Astrella, Louis
ID Number
PG.003412
accession number
67272
catalog number
3412
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1920-1927
maker
Petrocelli, Joseph
ID Number
PG.006024.30
accession number
224379
catalog number
6024.30
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1920-1926
maker
Petrocelli, Joseph
ID Number
PG.006024.06
accession number
224379
catalog number
6024.6
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1875 - 1925
ID Number
CL.280129.09
accession number
280129
catalog number
280129.09
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1921
associated date
1921
maker
Federation Publishing Co.
ID Number
CL.306787.89
accession number
306787
catalog number
306787.89
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1921
associated date
1921
maker
S. S. Publishing Board
ID Number
CL.306787.79
accession number
306787
catalog number
306787.79
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1875 - 1925
ID Number
CL.280129.10
accession number
280129
catalog number
280129.10

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