Religion

Page from the Koran

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.

Resource Type: Photographs

Anything Goes

(untitled) by Herbert Mitchell, gelatin silver print.Currently not on view
Description
(untitled) by Herbert Mitchell, gelatin silver print.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Mitchell, Herbert
ID Number
2013.0327.1325
catalog number
2013.0327.1325
accession number
2013.0327

Young girl on her confirmation

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2017.3133.0073
nonaccession number
2017.3133
catalog number
2017.3133.0073

Young boy crouched on ground

two black and white photographs mounted on black, perforated construction paper; recto- three elderly women standing side by side in profile but with faces turned and looking towards photographer, woman on left is wearing a black hat and a black and white coat with a belt tied ar
Description (Brief)
two black and white photographs mounted on black, perforated construction paper; recto- three elderly women standing side by side in profile but with faces turned and looking towards photographer, woman on left is wearing a black hat and a black and white coat with a belt tied around waist, woman in middle is wearing a dark coat and has a white kerchief with spotted pattern wrapped around hair and tied under chin, woman on right is wearing a light colored jacket, dark kerchief around her head and tied under her chin and is pointing towards photographer with her left hand; verso- young African American boy is peering over the top of a drinking water fountain with the spray on, right hand is gripping edge of bowl
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968-1969
maker
Zalesky, Roy Joseph
ID Number
2017.0306.0151
accession number
2017.0306
catalog number
2017.0306.0151

View of Villeneuve les Avignon

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1890
ID Number
2012.0203.0092
accession number
2012.0203
catalog number
2012.0203.0092

Strasburg

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
19th century
ID Number
2012.0203.0064
accession number
2012.0203
catalog number
2012.0203.0064

Elephanta Island, Bombay

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 19th century
ID Number
2012.0203.0081
accession number
2012.0203
catalog number
2012.0203.0081

Lt. Gov. Robert Mondragon singing to raise money

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1974-07-02
ID Number
2013.0327.0851
accession number
2013.0327
catalog number
2013.0327.0851

Old stone walls of Avignon

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1890
ID Number
2012.0203.0091
accession number
2012.0203
catalog number
2012.0203.0091

Christmas tree

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1961-12
ID Number
2015.0074.0046
catalog number
2015.0074.0046
accession number
2015.0074

Japanese Temple

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1860s
ID Number
2012.0203.0086
accession number
2012.0203
catalog number
2012.0203.0086

Japanese shrine

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1860s
ID Number
2012.0203.0085
accession number
2012.0203
catalog number
2012.0203.0085

Listening to Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, Poland

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Larsen, Lisa
ID Number
1986.0711.0116
accession number
1986.0711
catalog number
1986.0711.0116

President Jimmy Carter praying

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1979-11-05
depicted (sitter)
Carter, Jimmy
maker
Walker, Diana
ID Number
2003.0250.006
catalog number
2003.0250.006
accession number
2003.0250

106. Mountain of the Holy Cross

After the Civil War the United States turned its full attention to exploration of the West.
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

President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton attend church services

President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton attend church services, Soweto, South Africa, March 1998.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton attend church services, Soweto, South Africa, March 1998.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1998-03
depicted (sitter)
Clinton, Bill
Clinton, Hillary Rodham
maker
Walker, Diana
ID Number
2003.0250.086
catalog number
2003.0250.086
accession number
2003.0250

funeral procession to Jerry Brown's burial

The funeral procession to Jerry Brown's burial at St. John Cemetery, Oliver, Georgia, October 23, 1976.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
The funeral procession to Jerry Brown's burial at St. John Cemetery, Oliver, Georgia, October 23, 1976.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1976-10
maker
Walker, Diana
ID Number
2003.0250.119
accession number
2003.0250
catalog number
2003.0250.119

Family and friends of Jerry Brown departing

Family and friends of Jerry Brown departing, St. John Baptist Church, Oliver, Georgia, October, 1976.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Family and friends of Jerry Brown departing, St. John Baptist Church, Oliver, Georgia, October, 1976.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1976-10
maker
Walker, Diana
ID Number
2003.0250.120
accession number
2003.0250
catalog number
2003.0250.120

The Clintons and the Gores

The Clintons and the Gores laughing at the Inaugral Prayer Service, Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, Washington, D.C., January 20, 1997.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
The Clintons and the Gores laughing at the Inaugral Prayer Service, Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, Washington, D.C., January 20, 1997.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1997-01-20
depicted (sitter)
Clinton, Bill
Clinton, Hillary Rodham
Clinton, Chelsea
Gore, Jr., Albert A.
Gore, Tipper
maker
Walker, Diana
ID Number
2003.0250.100
catalog number
2003.0250.100
accession number
2003.0250

Young man holding a flag at Selma, AL

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965-03
maker
Davidson, Bruce
ID Number
2006.0100.03
catalog number
2006.0100.03
accession number
2006.0100

Reverend Jesse Jackson

The Reverend Jesse Jackson speaking to the press on the White House driveway after a late visit with President Clinton, Washington, D.C., January 1993.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
The Reverend Jesse Jackson speaking to the press on the White House driveway after a late visit with President Clinton, Washington, D.C., January 1993.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1993-01
depicted (sitter)
Jackson, Jesse
maker
Walker, Diana
ID Number
2003.0250.056
catalog number
2003.0250.056
accession number
2003.0250

St. John's Baptist Church

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1976-10
maker
Walker, Diana
ID Number
2003.0250.116
catalog number
2003.0250.116
accession number
2003.0250

Mourners at Jerry Brown's funeral

Mourners at Jerry Brown's funeral, St. John Baptist Church, Oliver, Georgia, October 1976.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Mourners at Jerry Brown's funeral, St. John Baptist Church, Oliver, Georgia, October 1976.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1976-10
maker
Walker, Diana
ID Number
2003.0250.117
accession number
2003.0250
catalog number
2003.0250.117

Jerry Brown's coffin being carried from church

Jerry Brown's coffin being carried from church following the funeral, St. John's Baptist Church, Oliver, Georgia, October 1976.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Jerry Brown's coffin being carried from church following the funeral, St. John's Baptist Church, Oliver, Georgia, October 1976.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1976-10
maker
Walker, Diana
ID Number
2003.0250.118
accession number
2003.0250
catalog number
2003.0250.118

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