Art - Overview
The National Museum of American History is not an art museum. But works of art fill its collections and testify to the vital place of art in everyday American life. The ceramics collections hold hundreds of examples of American and European art glass and pottery. Fashion sketches, illustrations, and prints are part of the costume collections. Donations from ethnic and cultural communities include many homemade religious ornaments, paintings, and figures. The Harry T Peters "America on Stone" collection alone comprises some 1,700 color prints of scenes from the 1800s. The National Quilt Collection is art on fabric. And the tools of artists and artisans are part of the Museum's collections, too, in the form of printing plates, woodblock tools, photographic equipment, and potters' stamps, kilns, and wheels.
"Art - Overview" showing 2 items.
America Hose Company Cape
- Description
- Some early American firefighters wore capes for protection, ornamentation, and identification. The stiff oil cloth protected their shoulders and upper body against fiery embers and water, and the decorative painting served to identify company members at chaotic fire scenes or on parade. The capes were often painted by local sign painters, some skilled artists like John A. Woodside, who also painted the company’s hats and banners and decorated their fire engines. Many of the capes in the firefighting collection display patriotic names and symbolism, reflecting themes important to 19th century volunteers, as well as the pride they felt in the early founding date of their fire company.
- This oil cloth cape is painted maroon with gold trim. The center of the cape has gold letters that read “America Hose” with a golden “A” (for America) on each shoulder. America was a common name among fire companies, making it difficult to determine which company this cape, painted burgundy with yellow lettering, belonged. Companies often chose monikers such as America, Eagle, Columbia, Washington, and United States to link their company with patriotic values of a still young republic. Hose companies began to form the first decades of the 19th century, with the creation of municipal water systems and developments in hose design that made the equipment more functional and essential in fighting fires in larger cities. Hose companies were responsible for maintaining the leather hoses, transporting and working them at fires. The hose allowed firemen to quickly bring water to a blaze from a distance, as well as the ability to put more water directly on the conflagration.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1840-1850
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 2005.0233.0120
- catalog number
- 2005.0233.0120
- accession number
- 2005.0233
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Columbia Company Cape
- Description
- Some early American firefighters wore capes for protection, ornamentation, and identification. The stiff oil cloth protected their shoulders and upper body against fiery embers and water, and the decorative painting served to identify company members at chaotic fire scenes or on parade. The capes were often painted by local sign painters, some skilled artists like John A. Woodside, who also painted the company’s hats and banners and decorated their fire engines. Many of the capes in the firefighting collection display patriotic names and symbolism, reflecting themes important to 19th century volunteers, as well as the pride they felt in the early founding date of their fire company.
- This oil cloth cape is painted blue with gold trim and lettering that reads “COLUMBIA/1763.” Early American fire companies often linked themselves with patriotic names or symbols. Linked to the goddess of Liberty, Columbia was popularized as the female personification of the United States in the late 18th century, as the country began to agitate for its independence. Actually founded in 1765, Columbia Fire Company began as the Fellowship Engine Company (Lower Ward) in the Germantown area of Philadelphia. The company took the name Columbia around 1809.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1820-1840
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 2005.0233.0121
- catalog number
- 2005.0233.0121
- accession number
- 2005.0233
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center