Advertising

Ivory Soap Ad

Advertising is meant to persuade, and the themes and techniques of that persuasion reveal a part of the nation's history. The Museum has preserved advertising campaigns for several familiar companies, such as Marlboro, Alka-Seltzer, Federal Express, Cover Girl, and Nike. It also holds the records of the NW Ayer Advertising Agency and business papers from Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Carvel Ice Cream, and other companies. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana comprises thousands of trade cards, catalogs, labels, and other business papers and images dating back to the late 1700s.

Beyond advertising campaigns, the collections encompass thousands of examples of packaging, catalogs, and other literature from many crafts and trades, from engineering to hat making. The collections also contain an eclectic array of advertising objects, such as wooden cigar-store Indians, neon signs, and political campaign ads.

Search term: *:* Set Name: Advertising Online visual material: Yes Museum / Unit: NMAH Museum / Unit: NMAH-AF Museum / Unit: NMAHLC YT Museum / Unit: NMAH BL Museum / Unit: NMAH YT Museum / Unit: ACAH Topic: Furnishings Clear All

New Catalogue of Cheap and Popular Pictures

Black and white one page printed list of pictures organized by subject and descriptive title. "Sold by H. F. Gilnack, South Manchester, Conn." (the retailer)Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white one page printed list of pictures organized by subject and descriptive title. "Sold by H. F. Gilnack, South Manchester, Conn." (the retailer)
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
after 1868
distributor
Gilnack, H. F.
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.60.3094
catalog number
60.3094
accession number
228146

Leaflet for Agate Iron Ware

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1876
fair dates
1876
ID Number
DL.309976.0027
catalog number
309976.0027
accession number
309976

S.T. Suit's Pure Kentucky Bourbon

Black & white advertising print for bourbon depicting the United States Capitol Building. Eight small circles around the engraved border names specific bourbons and ryes produced by the company.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black & white advertising print for bourbon depicting the United States Capitol Building. Eight small circles around the engraved border names specific bourbons and ryes produced by the company.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1872
maker
New York Printing Company
ID Number
DL.60.3077
catalog number
60.3077
accession number
228146

The Great Kentucky Rifle Team, Champions of the World

This colored print depicts an outdoor scene in which tree trunks spell out the word "FRAYNE." Various figures surrounding the word; some are rescuing people, some are performing stunts with guns, others are being executed as an example of frontier justice.
Description
This colored print depicts an outdoor scene in which tree trunks spell out the word "FRAYNE." Various figures surrounding the word; some are rescuing people, some are performing stunts with guns, others are being executed as an example of frontier justice. In addition to the words “The Great Kentucky Rifle Team,” the print contains a caption reading “The Great Sensation of the Age” at the top and “Chas. A. Wing / Business Manager” at the bottom. The word “Champions” is printed vertically on the left side and “Of the World” runs vertically along the right.
Frank I. Frayne (1839-1891) was an actor and expert marksman born in Danville, Kentucky. He got his start as an actor performing on stages in Cincinnati, Ohio and New Orleans, Louisiana. After the Civil War he headed to the mining regions of the American West, where he became an expert shooter. When he returned to the East, he formed a rifle team and began presenting shows that combined shooting tricks with animal stunts involving dogs, ponies, a bear, a lion and hyenas. One of his most famous presentations was Si Slocum, in which he portrayed a ranch proprietor locked in a vicious battle to keep his land. Frayne used live ammunition for his tricks, which included shooting a pipe out of a ranch hand's mouth, extinguishing a candle with a gunshot, and shooting an apple off another performer's head while standing backwards and sighting his target with a mirror. His act went tragically wrong during an 1882 performance in Cincinnati, Ohio, when Frayne shot and killed his fiancé and partner in a William Tell type performance, actress Annie Von Behren (1857-1882). He claimed his rifle accidentally discharged, and he was absolved of responsibility for the death when an examination of his three foot long single breechloading rifle proved the firearm was damaged and not firing properly.
Charles W. Wing was buisness manager for the Frank Frayne Combination in the 1870's and 1880s.
This lithograph was produced by the Metropolitan Printing Company and E. Rothengatter. Emil Rothengatter (1848-1939) was a German-born artist and designer of circus posters who worked in cities including Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1896 he won a contest to design the flag of Cincinnati for a work he called “Zero of Burnet Woods.” However, controversy over whether Cincinnati should have a flag delayed the design’s formal adoption until 1940. Emil Rothengatter also wrote a book entitled Art of Poster Making in the United States, published in 1911. He died in New York.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
Metropolitan Printing Company
Rothengatter
ID Number
DL.60.3021
catalog number
60.3021
accession number
228146

Florence Stover from the Richmond and Von Boyle Comedy Company by Matthew S. Morgan of Strobridge Lithographing Company

This colored print is a bust portrait of Florence Stover. She is wearing a pink dress with a white lace collar and golden pearls and earrings.
Description
This colored print is a bust portrait of Florence Stover. She is wearing a pink dress with a white lace collar and golden pearls and earrings. The print advertises on the top of the poster that she will be appearing at the Newark Opera House, which was built in 1885 in New Castle County, Delaware.
Florence Stover was an actress who, in 1880, married the vocalist, dancer, and comedian Harry G. Richmond (1847-1885). Harry Richmond was born Augustus Van Boyle in Brooklyn, New York and performed with the Haverly Minstrels in 1878. The following year he produced The Candidate with his brother Aeland Von Boyle. A Florence Stover’s later performed in early film roles including Santa Claus vs. Cupid (1915), A Broth of a Boy (1915), and The Last Sentence (1917).
This chromolithograph was produced by Strobridge Lithographing Company and Matt Morgan. The Strobridge firm was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio ca 1847 by lithographer Elijah J. Middleton (cited in some sources as Elijah C. Middleton). Middleton was known as one of the pioneers of chromolithography in the United States. By 1854 another lithographer, W. R. Wallace, along with the bookseller Hines Strobridge (1823-1909) had joined the firm as partners. After the Civil War, Strobridge acquired sole ownership of the company and renamed it after himself. Strobridge and Company became especially well known for circus, theater, and movie posters. After leaving the company, Elijah Middleton established a reputation as a portrait publisher, producing prints of George and Martha Washington, Daniel Webster, and other American historical figures.
Matthew Somerville Morgan (1837-1890) was a British-born artist and cartoonist. As a young man, Morgan studied scene painting in London and worked as an artist and war correspondent in Western Europe and Africa. He also established a London humor magazine, becoming especially well known for his attacks on the British royal family. He immigrated to the United States in 1870 and continued to work as a caricaturist and New York theater stage manager. His works included political cartoons drawn on behalf of liberal Republicans who opposed President Ulysses S. Grant. From 1880-1885 he was manager of the Strobridge Lithograph Company where he worked to improve theatrical lithography. In his later years he painted large panoramic scenes of the American Civil War.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
depicted
Stover, Florence
maker
Strobridge Lithographing Company
Morgan, Matt
ID Number
DL.60.3056
catalog number
60.3056
accession number
228146

Gorman's Original Philadelphia Church Choir Company

This black and white print is a profile bust portrait of actress Emma Henry wearing a plumed hat. The date and place, “Grand Opera House. Saturday Afternoon and Evening, Dec. 13, ’79,” are printed across the top in colored letters.Emma Henry was a successful stage actress.
Description
This black and white print is a profile bust portrait of actress Emma Henry wearing a plumed hat. The date and place, “Grand Opera House. Saturday Afternoon and Evening, Dec. 13, ’79,” are printed across the top in colored letters.
Emma Henry was a successful stage actress. She performed in the comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore at the Broadway Theatre in New York in the spring of 1879. That production was also presented by Gorman’s Philadelphia Church Choir Company and directed by John Philip Sousa. It’s possible that this poster is advertising her appearance in H.M.S. Pinafore later that year at the Grand Opera House which was probably the one in Manhattan which opened originally in 1868 as Pikes Opera House but was renamed a year later.
Gorman's Original Philadelphia Church Choir Company made its debut in the late 1870s with a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's H. M. S. Pinafore. Composer and conductor John Philip Sousa (1854-1932) directed the production. The group was called the Amateur Opera Company before it changed its name to Gorman's Original Philadelphia Church Choir Company. Under Sousa's direction, the semi-amateur company continued to perform through 1879 in the Philadelphia area and New York. During this time Sousa met his wife, Jane van Middlesworth Bellis (ca 1862-1944), who had an understudy role in the production. The choir was one of several American musical companies that sprang up during that period, inspired by enthusiasm for the light operas of Gilbert and Sullivan.
This lithograph was produced by Henry Atwell Thomas. Henry Atwell Thomas (1834-1904) was an artist, portrait painter, and lithographer especially well known for his theatrical portraits. His New York firm was called H. A. Thomas Lith. Studio until 1887, when it became H. A. Thomas & Wylie Lithographic (sometimes cited as Lithography or Lithographing) Company.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1879 or before
depicted
Henry, Emma
maker
Thomas, Henry Atwell
ID Number
DL.60.3040
catalog number
60.3040
accession number
228146

Florence

This black and white print is a bust portrait of actor Billy Florence wearing a suit and jewelry in the shape of a horseshoe. Below the print the words “Park Theatre, / Saturday, March 11th” appear to have been pasted on, but part of the printing is destroyed.
Description
This black and white print is a bust portrait of actor Billy Florence wearing a suit and jewelry in the shape of a horseshoe. Below the print the words “Park Theatre, / Saturday, March 11th” appear to have been pasted on, but part of the printing is destroyed. This addition of the location and date of the performance is known as a "datebill."
The Park Theater was built in 1798 on Park Row in Manhattan and was New York City’s premiere performance space in the early 19th Century. It attracted a diverse audience with each class sitting in its preferred section. Working class men sat in the pit; members of the upper class and women in the boxes; the least affluent sat or stood in the balcony. This included immigrants, people of color, and prostitutes.
William J. (Billy) Florence (1831-1891) was an Irish American performer, song writer and playwright. He was born William Jermyn Conlin (his birth name is cited in some sources as Bernard Conlin) in Albany, New York and raised in New York City. He broke into show business working as a call boy at the Old Bowery Theater while rehearsing plays at night. Florence made his professional debut in Richmond, Virginia in 1849 in The Stranger and returned to New York to perform in Home in 1850. His unassuming charm, skill at imitating various dialects and ability to convey the humanity of his characters all helped him win over audiences. He married actress Malvina Pray (1831-1906) in 1853, and the two frequently appeared together, with Florence playing the part of an Irishman and Malvina Pray as that of a Yankee. In 1836, Florence launched a successful national tour starring in The Ticket-of-Leave Man, a detective melodrama about a former convict. He and Pray also scored a hit in an 1875 play called The Mighty Dollar, which was inspired by her observations of wealthy Americans abroad. They performed together in the play more than 2500 times during the 1870s and 1880s. In his later years, Florence formed a comedy act with actor Joseph Jefferson. His stage name was inspired by his love for Florence, Italy, where he had an apartment. Billy Florence was also a Freemason and has been credited with co-founding the Shriners, whose official name was the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
This lithograph was produced by the artist Joseph E. Baker and Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company. Joseph E. Baker (1837-1914) was a lithographer, cartoonist and pencil portraitist who became especially well known for an 1860 portrait of Abraham Lincoln. He began his printing career as an apprentice at J. H. Bufford & Co. in 1857, and eventually became John Bufford’s principal draftsman and illustrator of sheet music. During the Civil War Baker produced political cartoons and lithographs for Bufford. He also did playbills and advertisements for the Forbes Company. Baker later worked for Armstrong & Company, remaining active until 1888.
The Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company was founded by William H. Forbes (ca 1836-1915), who immigrated to the United States from Liverpool, England in 1848. Forbes became an apprentice in the lithography business while still a boy and established William H. Forbes and Company in Boston in 1861. The firm expanded to become Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company in 1875 with hundreds of employees and offices in Boston, New York, Chicago, and London. During World War II the company became a major printer of allied military currency but went out of business later in the twentieth century.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
depicted
Florence, William Jermyn
maker
Baker, Joseph E.
Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company
ID Number
DL.60.3022
catalog number
60.3022
accession number
228146

The Horse Trustee

Black and white print; a broadside announcing that the race horse,Trustee, would stand for mares during the present season at a particular stable.
Description (Brief)
Black and white print; a broadside announcing that the race horse,Trustee, would stand for mares during the present season at a particular stable. A small view of a man holding the reins of a horse is above the text giving the details of the horse's pedigree and performance.
Description
A black and white print of a man holding the reins of a black stallion in a meadow. The broadside announces Trustee will stand for mares.
Trustee was foaled in 1837 from Trustee and Fanny Pollen, a distant mare of Messenger. Trustee’s pedigree is significant because it represents a shift from the traditional method of breeding running stallions to trotting mares to the newer method of breeding proven trotting champions together. He was famous for trotting 20 miles in 35.5 minutes in 1848.
Jared W. Bell was born in 1798 and died in 1870 from Bright’s Disease in New York. He had been married and was a painter by profession.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1849
printer
Bell, Jared W.
ID Number
DL.60.3597
catalog number
60.3597

The Old Reliable Schuttler Wagon. Presented by Peter Schuttler, Chicago

Color print of a wagon train descending a mountain road to a central level area beside a river. A wooden fenced structure is located to the left with tents and a number of parked wagons across from it.
Description (Brief)
Color print of a wagon train descending a mountain road to a central level area beside a river. A wooden fenced structure is located to the left with tents and a number of parked wagons across from it. This is an advertisement for Peter Schuttler, a prominent manufacturer of the wagons out of Chicago. Peter Schuttler was a German immigrant who learned his craft by working for a wagon maker in Sandusky, Ohio. In 1843 he moved to Chicago to start his own business by producing wagons for both the city and for Western travellers. By the 1850's, he had become a leading manufacturer of wagons partially due to the California Gold Rush, producing up to 1800 wagons a year. His son Peter took over the business when he died in 1865.
This image was a copy of a 1875-1880 stereo viewby Thurlow of Manitou Springs.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
date made
ca 1885
maker
Clay & Company
ID Number
DL.60.3753
catalog number
60.3753

Winning Easy

Black and white advertising print for Thorley's Food depicting one horse crossing a finish line well ahead of another.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white advertising print for Thorley's Food depicting one horse crossing a finish line well ahead of another.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
Webb, G.
ID Number
DL.60.3084
catalog number
60.3084
accession number
228146

Yankee Locke. The Distiguished Yankee Comedian: As he appears at the principal Theaters of the Union.

This black and white print is an oval bust portrait of the actor George E.
Description
This black and white print is an oval bust portrait of the actor George E. Locke, known as "Yankee Locke." The portrait is surrounded by six ornately framed full-length depictions of Locke’s various dramatic roles, including Jonathan Plowboy, Jedediah Homebred, Curtis Chunk, Lot Sap Sago, Solomon Swop, and Moderation Easterbrook. The words “Yankee Locke. / The Distinguished Yankee Comedian” are printed below the illustrations.
"Yankee" Locke (1817-1880) was an American comedian who was born George Evans Locke in Epsom, New Hampshire. Locke made his theatrical debut in Pizarro at Boylston Hall in Boston, Massachusetts and went on to perform on stages on both the East and West Coasts, often in smaller cities and towns. He earned the nickname "Yankee" for portraying what were seen as typically homespun American personalities, with names like Jedediah Homebred, Zedediah Short, and Moderation Easterbrook. Later in life he managed touring stage companies.
This lithograph was produced by John L. Magee. John L. Magee (ca 1820-1870s) was an artist, engraver, and lithographer born in New York. He worked at the lithographic firms of James Baillie, Nathaniel Currier, Thomas Strong, and Thomas Sinclair. He started his own business in New York in 1850 but moved to Philadelphia after 1852. He was known for his political cartoons and prints inspired by news and sports events. He also produced portraits, illustrated letterheads, and song sheets. Magee exhibited three paintings at the National Academy of Design, including The Mischievous Boy.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
date made
ca 1860
depicted
Locke, George E.
maker
Magee, John L.
daguerreotypist
Warren, L. K.
ID Number
DL.60.3009
catalog number
60.3009
accession number
228146

Ocean House Nantucket, Massachusetts

Black and white advertising print for a hotel (Ocean House) with a view of a three-story Federal style building above the text.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Black and white advertising print for a hotel (Ocean House) with a view of a three-story Federal style building above the text.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1862-06-01
maker
Daniels, J.H.
ID Number
DL.60.3664
catalog number
60.3664

Maggie Mitchell

This colored print is a signed oval bust portrait with a light green background on a red banner with gold fringe. The portrait depicts auburn haired actress Maggie Mitchell, wearing a white earring, a white dress and a matching hat. .
Description
This colored print is a signed oval bust portrait with a light green background on a red banner with gold fringe. The portrait depicts auburn haired actress Maggie Mitchell, wearing a white earring, a white dress and a matching hat. . The caption stamped at the top of the poster announces the location and date of the performance as “Park Theatre, Tuesday, March 14.”
The Park Theater was built in 1798 on Park Row in Manhattan and was New York City’s premiere performance space in the early 19th Century. It attracted a diverse audience with each class sitting in its preferred section. Working class men sat in the pit; members of the upper class and women in the boxes; the least affluent sat or stood in the balcony. These included immigrants, people of color, and prostitutes.
Maggie Mitchell (1832-1918) has been described as a pioneering example of "the personality actress," a performer whose onstage persona was almost indistinguishable from her image offstage. ( The History of North American Theater). She was born Margaret Julia Mitchell in New York City. As a young girl, she performed in silent roles before making her speaking debut as Julia in The Soldier's Daughter in 1851. Petite and curly haired, with a childlike energy, she was often cast in sentimental comedies and in male or “tomboy” roles, including the title role in a stage adaptation of Oliver Twist. Mitchell's sprightly charm sparked what would later be called a "Maggie Mitchell craze" in Cleveland, Ohio, and she eventually became one of the most celebrated actresses of her era. She appeared in Jane Eyre, Little Barefoot, The Pearl of Savoy, and other dramas, but her best-known role was as a simple country girl in a comedy called Fanchon, the Cricket, adapted from George Sand's story "La Petite Fadette." She made her debut as Fanchon in the early 1860s and continued to perform the part, along with her trademark “shadow dance,” until she was in her fifties. Abraham Lincoln, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow were said to be among her admirers. Maggie Mitchell retired from the theater in 1892.
This lithograph was produced by Henry Atwell Thomas. Henry Atwell Thomas (1834-1904) was an artist, portrait painter, and lithographer especially well known for his theatrical portraits. His New York firm was called H. A. Thomas Lith. Studio until 1887, when it became H. A. Thomas & Wylie Lithographic (sometimes cited as Lithography or Lithographing) Company.
The collection contains a duplicate of this same print.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
depicted
Mitchell, Margaret Julia
maker
Thomas, Henry Atwell
ID Number
DL.60.3049
catalog number
60.3049
accession number
228146

Genl Tom Thumb & Wife, Com. Nutt & Minnie Warren at their marriage at Grace Church, N.Y., Feb. 10, 1863 by Currier & Ives

Color print, central image depicts General Tom Thumb and his bride, Lavinia Warren, flanked by Commodore Nutt and Minnie Warren, at their marriage at Grace Church, N.Y., Feb. 10, 1863.
Description (Brief)
Color print, central image depicts General Tom Thumb and his bride, Lavinia Warren, flanked by Commodore Nutt and Minnie Warren, at their marriage at Grace Church, N.Y., Feb. 10, 1863. This image is surrounded by small views of the midgets in a variety of costumes and roles with the largest of them being a view beneath the central image of a coach and horses labeled "Splendid Equipage of Genl. Tom Thumb & Suite, Cost over $2000."
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1863
depicted
Thumb, Tom
Warren, Lavinia
Warren, Minnie
Nutt, Commodore George Washington Morrison
maker
Currier & Ives
ID Number
DL.60.3492
catalog number
60.3492

The Colonel! Eric Bayley's The Colonel Comedy Company by Joseph E. Baker and published by Forbes Lithographic Manufacturing Company

This colored print depicts two scenes, one at the center and the other on the left, from the play The Colonel. The top corners each contain a circular portrait, one of Eric Bayley and the other of Mindha Bayley.
Description
This colored print depicts two scenes, one at the center and the other on the left, from the play The Colonel. The top corners each contain a circular portrait, one of Eric Bayley and the other of Mindha Bayley. Other characters are pictured down the right side and in an inset scene at the bottom, with a peacock and frogs in rushes in the light of a full moon. There are also several sunflowers in the design.
The Colonel tells the story of two imposters trying to get control of another family's fortune. It was written by F. C. Burnand (1836-1917), a British writer and editor of Punch, and based on an earlier drama called The Serious Family by Morris Barnett (1800-1856). It was first produced in London in 1881 and brought to the United States by Eric and Mindha Bayley in 1882. Eric Bayley played the role of Edward Langton and Mindha performed as a character named Olive.
This chromolithograph was produced by Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company and Joseph Edwin Baker. Baker (1837-1914) was a lithographer, cartoonist and pencil portraitist known for an 1860 portrait of Abraham Lincoln. He began his printing career as an apprentice at J. H. Bufford & Co. in 1857, and eventually became John Bufford’s principal draftsman and illustrator of sheet music. During the Civil War, Baker produced political cartoons and lithographs for Bufford. He also created playbills and advertisements for the Forbes Company and marine scenes. Baker later worked for Armstrong & Company, remaining active until 1888.
The Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company was founded by William H. Forbes (ca 1836-1915), who immigrated to the United States from Liverpool, England in 1848. Forbes became an apprentice in the lithography business while still a boy and established William H. Forbes and Company in Boston in 1861. The firm expanded to become Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company in 1875 with hundreds of employees and offices in Boston, New York, Chicago, and London. During World War II, the company became a major printer of allied military currency but went out of business later in the 20th century.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
date made
1882-1888
depicted
Bailey, Eric
maker
Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company
Baker, Joseph E.
ID Number
DL.60.3050
catalog number
60.3050
accession number
228146

Bartley Campbell's Great Play Galley Slave

"This black and white print is a three-quarter length portrait of the actress Maude Granger looking over her shoulder.
Description
"This black and white print is a three-quarter length portrait of the actress Maude Granger looking over her shoulder. The Galley Slave’s complicated plot involves the betrayal of a well-born woman by her artist husband and her ultimate vindication and revenge." The Galley Slave was produced in 1879 but would later become a 1915 film starring Theda Bara.
Maud Granger (ca 1851-1928) was born Anna Brainerd Follen in Middletown, Connecticut. She made her New York stage debut in 1873 in Without a Heart and went on to perform in plays like The Mighty Dollar and Fifth Avenue . In her youth Granger was celebrated for her beauty, and she became a favorite of photographers. Her image even appeared on a set of trade cards titled “World’s Beauties,” distributed by Allen & Ginter Cigarettes. She appeared as Cicely Blaine in The Galley Slave in 1879 shortly before her popularity began to decline. She spent several years performing with small tour companies or playing supporting roles in major productions. However, Maud Granger reemerged as a character actress in the final years of her career, winning new acclaim for her performances in The First Year (1920) and Pigs (1924).
The playwright Bartley T. Campbell (1843-1888), was a journalist, novelist, poet, dramatist, and theatrical manager. He was born to Irish immigrant parents in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and began his writing career at age 15 as a reporter for the Pittsburgh Post . He also worked for newspapers in Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio, and founded the Southern Monthly Magazine in New Orleans, Louisiana. After the success of his first melodrama, Through Fire , in 1871, Campbell gave up journalism for playwrighting and experimented with everything from comedies to domestic dramas to military sagas. Several of his works, including The White Slave , focused on racial themes and the plight of mixed race characters. Another of his plays, Siberia , featured many prominent actors of the day and toured in England, Australia, and New Zealand. After an 1876 trip to London, Bartley Campbell began to write the western dramas for which he became especially famous, including The Vigilantes , or, The Heart of the Sierras . He has been described as America's first "first fully professional dramatist" ( The Oxford Companion to American Theatre ), and he also produced and directed plays. Later in life Bartley Campbell suffered from financial and mental problems and died at the State Hospital for the Insane in Middletown, New York.
This lithograph was produced by Strobridge and Company and Matt Morgan. The Strobridge firm was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio ca 1847 by lithographer Elijah J. Middleton (cited in some sources as Elijah C. Middleton). Middleton was known as one of the pioneers of chromolithography in the United States. By 1854 another lithographer, W. R. Wallace, along with the bookseller Hines Strobridge (1823-1909), had joined the firm as partners. After the Civil War, Strobridge acquired sole ownership of the company and renamed it after himself. Strobridge and Company became especially well known for circus, theater, and movie posters. After leaving the company, Elijah Middleton established a reputation as a portrait publisher, producing prints of George and Martha Washington, Daniel Webster, and other American historical figures.
Matthew Somerville Morgan (1837-1890) was a British-born artist and cartoonist. As a young man, Morgan studied scene painting in London and worked as an artist and war correspondent in Western Europe and Africa. He also established a London humor magazine, becoming especially well known for his attacks on the British royal family. He immigrated to the United States in 1870 and continued to work as a caricaturist and New York theater stage manager. His works included political cartoons drawn on behalf of liberal Republicans who opposed President Ulysses S. Grant. From 1880-1885 he was manager of the Strobridge Lithograph Company where he worked to improve theatrical lithography. In his later years he painted large panoramic scenes of the American Civil War.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
date made
1879
cited
Campbell, Bartley
depicted
Granger, Maude
maker
Strobridge and Company
artist
Morgan, Matt
ID Number
DL.60.3029
catalog number
60.3029
accession number
228146

Newark Institute Hall!

This black and white print with a sepia tint is a profile bust portrait of the actress Maggie Mitchell, her hair loose, wearing a high-necked bodice. Her signature appears below the portrait.
Description
This black and white print with a sepia tint is a profile bust portrait of the actress Maggie Mitchell, her hair loose, wearing a high-necked bodice. Her signature appears below the portrait. Beneath her portrait are the words “Wednesday Evening, May 15.”
Maggie Mitchell (1832-1918) has been described as a pioneering example of "the personality actress," a performer whose onstage persona was almost indistinguishable from her image offstage. ( The History of North American Theater). She was born Margaret Julia Mitchell in New York City. As a young girl, she performed in silent roles before making her speaking debut as Julia in The Soldier's Daughter in 1851. Petite and curly haired, with a childlike energy, she was often cast in sentimental comedies and in male or “tomboy” roles, including the title role in a stage adaptation of Oliver Twist. Mitchell's sprightly charm sparked what would later be called a "Maggie Mitchell craze" in Cleveland, Ohio, and she eventually became one of the most celebrated actresses of her era. She appeared in Jane Eyre, Little Barefoot, The Pearl of Savoy, and other dramas, but her best-known role was as a simple country girl in a comedy called Fanchon, the Cricket, adapted from George Sand's story "La Petite Fadette." She made her debut as Fanchon in the early 1860s and continued to perform the part, along with her trademark “shadow dance,” until she was in her fifties. Abraham Lincoln, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow were said to be among her admirers. Maggie Mitchell retired from the theater in 1892 at the age of 60 and became quite wealthy by investing in real estate in Manhattan and Long Branch, New Jersey. She was married first to Henry Thomas Paddock and then to a co-star, Charles Abbott, and was related to several other stage personalities. The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery has a photograph of Maggie Mitchell by Matthew Brady.
This lithograph was produced by A. Hoen & Co, a lithographic firm in Baltimore, Maryland and Richmond, Virginia. The company was established in the 1840s by August and Ernest Hoen after the death of Edward Weber and the takeover of the E. Weber Company.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
depicted
Mitchell, Margaret Julia
maker
A. Hoen & Co.
ID Number
DL.60.3039
catalog number
60.3039
accession number
228146

Bartley Campbell's Picturesque Drama The Galley Slave by Henry Atwell Thomas, 1879

This black and white lithograph depicts a central scene of an interior with a woman wearing a veil, collapsed in an armchair. Two men standing near her appear to be arguing.
Description
This black and white lithograph depicts a central scene of an interior with a woman wearing a veil, collapsed in an armchair. Two men standing near her appear to be arguing. The central scene rests on an easel and is surrounded by four vignettes, with a circular bust portrait of Bartley Campbell at the top center. The complicated plot involves the betrayal of a well-born woman by her artist husband and her ultimate vindication and revenge.
The names of two actors, Frank Evans and J. J. Sullivan, have been added in colored lettering on the left and right margins. An early playbill contains the names of these actors as cast members for performances of The Galley Slave at Haverly’s Theatre in New York in 1880. The Galley Slave was made into a 1915 film starring Theda Bara.
Bartley T. Campbell (1843-1888), was a journalist, novelist, poet, dramatist, and theatrical manager. He was born to Irish immigrant parents in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and began his writing career at age 15 as a reporter for the Pittsburgh Post . He also worked for newspapers in Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio, and founded the Southern Monthly Magazine in New Orleans, Louisiana. After the success of his first melodrama, Through Fire , in 1871, Campbell gave up journalism for playwrighting and experimented with everything from comedies to domestic dramas to military sagas. Several of his works, including The White Slave , focused on racial themes and the plight of mixed race characters. Another of his plays, Siberia , featured many prominent actors of the day and toured in England, Australia, and New Zealand. After an 1876 trip to London, Bartley Campbell began to write the western dramas for which he became especially famous, including The Vigilantes , or, The Heart of the Sierras . He has been described as America's first "first fully professional dramatist" ( The Oxford Companion to American Theatre ), and he also produced and directed plays. Later in life Bartley Campbell suffered from financial and mental problems and died at the State Hospital for the Insane in Middletown, New York.
This lithograph was produced by Henry Atwell Thomas (1834-1904). He was an artist, portrait painter, and lithographer especially well known for his theatrical portraits. His New York firm was called H. A. Thomas Lith. Studio until 1887, when it became H. A. Thomas & Wylie Lithographic (sometimes cited as Lithography or Lithographing) Company.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1879
referenced
Campbell, Bartley
Sullivan, J. J.
Evans, Frank
maker
Thomas, Henry Atwell
ID Number
DL.60.3065
catalog number
60.3065
accession number
228146

Jenny Lind by Nagel & Weingaertner and C. G. Crehenafter the daguerreotype by M.A. & S. Root,1850.

This black and white lithograph is a 3/4 length portrait of Jenny Lind wearing a formal gown with a lace shawl and holding a handkerchief in her lap. Her signature serves as the title. This print is modeled after a well-known daguerreotype by M. A. and S.
Description
This black and white lithograph is a 3/4 length portrait of Jenny Lind wearing a formal gown with a lace shawl and holding a handkerchief in her lap. Her signature serves as the title. This print is modeled after a well-known daguerreotype by M. A. and S. Root and is on thin, white paper which has been pasted to heavier cream-colored paper.
Jenny Lind (1820-1887) was an opera singer often described as “The Swedish Nightingale” for the range, purity, and melodiousness of her soprano voice. Born Johanna Maria Lind in Stockholm, Lind trained at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, began performing in her teens, and was soon creating a sensation on tours throughout Europe. When she made her London debut in 1847, frenzied theatergoers set off a stampede as they entered the theater. Queen Victoria was among those who attended that opening night performance. The Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen is said to have fallen in love with Lind and to have written fairy tales with her in mind, including “The Nightingale.” She also won the admiration of composers like Robert Schumann, Hector Berlioz, and Felix Mendelssohn, who became a close friend. In addition to Lind’s vocal gifts, she was greatly admired as a model of piety, simplicity, and generosity. In 1849, although only 29 years old, she announced her retirement from opera and turned to performing Romantic and Swedish folk songs. She resumed her operatic career in 1850, when she launched an American tour under the management of the showman P. T. Barnum. He promoted her arrival with such fanfare that she was greeted by a crowd numbering in the thousands when she sailed into New York’s harbor. She traveled across the United States and to Cuba and Canada in the year that followed, often donating her profits to the endowment of free schools in Sweden and other charitable causes. Lind and Barnum ended their partnership in 1851, but she continued to tour on her own for another year.
In 1852, Jenny Lind married her accompanist, Otto Goldschmidt, and continued to appear in occasional European concerts as Jenny Lind Goldschmidt. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 67. Although critics have debated whether her talent measured up to her reputation, her legendary popularity lives on in memorials and monuments around the world. She has inspired books, films, and a series of Swedish banknotes, while schools, streets, parks, hospitals, pies, clothing, and cigars all carry her name. Even a clipper ship, the USS Nightingale, and the Gold Rush town of Jenny Lind, California have been named in her honor.
This lithograph was produced by Nagel & Weingaertner and C. G. Crehen. Louis Nagel was born in Germany ca. 1817 and began working in New York as early as 1844. There he was involved in two partnerships, Nagel & Mayer (1846) and Nagel & Weingaertner (1849-1856). In 1857, he moved to San Francisco. Charles G. Crehen (1829-ca 1891) was a portrait painter, lithographer, and printer in New York.
Marcus Aurelius Root (1808-1888) was a photographer and daguerreotypist born in Granville, Ohio. He studied painting and penmanship before turning to daguerreotyping and became one of the early practitioners of the new art. He worked in Mobile, Alabama; New Orleans, Louisiana; St. Louis, Missouri; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and then in 1849 established a gallery in New York with his brother Samuel. The Root brothers were the first to produce daguerreotypes of Jenny Lind. After being disabled in a train accident, Marcus Root devoted himself to writing about photographic history and aesthetics. His book The Camera and The Pencil: Or the Heliographic Art, published in 1864, argued that photographers should be as highly esteemed as artists, and that much more was involved in photography than simply operating a camera. In recognition of his pioneering achievements, Root's daguerreotypes of famous people were included in an exhibition at the 1876 American centennial celebration in Philadelphia.
Samuel Root (ca. 1819-1889) was a daguerreotypist born in Granville, Ohio. He learned the art of daguerreotyping from his brother Marcus and the two opened a gallery in New York in 1849. Samuel Root later moved to Dubuque, Iowa, where he opened another daguerreotype business. He also published photographic books on Dubuque residences and businesses.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1850
copyright holder; publisher
Schaus, William
depicted
Lind, Jenny
maker
Nagel & Weingaertner
Crehen, C.G.
original artist
M.A. & S. Root
maker
Crehen, C.G.
ID Number
DL.60.3066
catalog number
60.3066
accession number
228146

Fashions. Fall & Winter. 1852-3 S. A. & A. F. Ward...Philadelphia

Color print, two horizontal panels depicting twenty one figures: twelve men, two women, and six children in fashions from 1852-53.
Description (Brief)
Color print, two horizontal panels depicting twenty one figures: twelve men, two women, and six children in fashions from 1852-53. The upper panel depicts an outdoor scene with a park overlooking a town in the background; the bottom panel depicts an outdoor scene with a lake in the background. Numbers below the figures are keyed to a separately printed descriptive text.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1852
maker
Sinclair, Thomas
ID Number
DL.60.3072
catalog number
60.3072
accession number
228146

Mr. Gus Williams the American Star Comique by Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company

This black and white print is a three-quarter length portrait of Gus Williams wearing a dress coat and hat and carrying a walking stick. Beneath the portrait are the words “American Star Comique.” The left side of the poster appears to have been cut off.
Description
This black and white print is a three-quarter length portrait of Gus Williams wearing a dress coat and hat and carrying a walking stick. Beneath the portrait are the words “American Star Comique.” The left side of the poster appears to have been cut off. A portion of the title (the letter "S") and the edge of another image are still visible. The Opera House performance dates are advertised on an affixed datebill that is pasted on the bottom margin. A torn fragment of a small oval portrait of Williams is affixed to the upper right corner.
Gus Williams (1848-1915) was an American comedian and songwriter. He was born Gustave Wilhelm Leweck, Jr., in New York City, the son of a German American furrier. Leweck set out for the American West in his early teens but got only as far as Indiana, where he went to work as a farmhand. In 1862, Leweck joined Union troops fighting the Civil War as part of the 48th Indiana Infantry. He apparently got his start as an entertainer putting on shows as a drummer boy for his fellow soldiers. He first appeared on stage in 1864 during the Union Army’s occupation of Huntsville, Alabama, where he performed in The Pirate’s Legacy: The Wrecker’s Fate by Charles H. Saunders. After the war, Leweck toured with Tony Pastor's vaudeville group and became known for singing and performing comic skits with a German accent. He appeared in a number of German farce comedies, including Our German Senator and One of the Finest . He was known for writing his own songs, both comic and sentimental. In 1885 Leweck took the stage name Gus Williams. He also worked to secure better wages for vaudeville performers and was said to have been the first to earn 500 dollars a week for doing stage monologues. Williams committed suicide in his sixties, possibly because of health concerns and his declining career.
This lithograph was produced by Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company. The Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company was founded by William H. Forbes (ca 1836-1915), who immigrated to the United States from Liverpool, England in 1848. Forbes became an apprentice in the lithography business while still a boy and established William H. Forbes and Company in Boston in 1861. The firm expanded to become Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company in 1875 with hundreds of employees and offices in Boston, New York, Chicago, and London. During World War II, the company became a major printer of allied military currency but went out of business later in the 20th Century.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
depicted
Williams, Gus
maker
Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company
ID Number
DL.60.3059
catalog number
60.3059
accession number
228146

McKee Rankin.

This lithograph is a black and white bust portrait of the performer McKee Rankin.
Description
This lithograph is a black and white bust portrait of the performer McKee Rankin. Below the portrait are the words “Opera House / Friday and Saturday Evenings / January 17th and 18th / Matinee Saturday (2 P?)" on the datebill, which is a label with the location and date of the performance. Unfortunately name of the opera house is missing.
Arthur "McKee" Rankin (ca 1841-1914) was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. He made his theatrical debut in 1861 in Rochester, New York, using the name George Henley. He moved on to starring roles on the Philadelphia and New York stage, then headed west to California, where he established a repertory theater in San Francisco. Rankin was married to the actress Kitty Blanchard, and they became known as one of the nation’s most popular husband and wife acting teams. He appeared in a wide variety of roles, including Shakespearean dramas, minstrel shows, melodramas, Broadway productions and motion pictures. He was also a playwright, director, theater owner, and acting coach who became especially celebrated for his frontier dramas. An 1877 play about California miners, titled The Danites, or The Heart of the Sierras , featured a Mormon sect bent on avenging the death of their prophet Joseph Smith. The play has been hailed for injecting a new note of realism into American theater. A later play,49, was inspired by an uncle who joined the California Gold Rush in the mid nineteenth century and worked in a mining camp similar to those where Rankin performed as an actor. Although hailed as a daring and innovative artist, Rankin's risky financial investments and heavy drinking left him impoverished in his later years. Rankin's three daughters all married into noted theater families. Daughter Gladys married Sidney Drew, adopted son of Louisa Lane Drew. His daughter Phylis married Harry Davenport, the son of E. L. Davenport and brother to Fanny Davenport. His illegitimate daughter Doris married Lionel Barrymore, who was a grandson of Louisa Lane Drew.
This lithograph was produced by Henry Atwell Thomas. Henry Atwell Thomas (1834-1904) was an artist, portrait painter, and lithographer especially well known for his theatrical portraits. His New York firm was called H. A. Thomas Lith. Studio until 1887, when it became H. A. Thomas & Wylie Lithographic (sometimes cited as Lithography or Lithographing) Company.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1879
depicted
Rankin, McKee
maker
Thomas, Henry Atwell
ID Number
DL.60.3012
catalog number
60.3012
accession number
228146

List of Prices of Tin Ware

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
early 19th century
ID Number
DL.71.0031
catalog number
71.0031
accession number
292235

Jacob Haehnlen's Lithographic and Steam Power Letter Press Printing Rooms

Color advertising print and calendar depicting "Goldsmith's Hall", the building where Jacob Haehnlen had his lithographic establishment. Calendars for 1867 and 1868 appear along the sides and bottom of the image of the building.
Description (Brief)
Color advertising print and calendar depicting "Goldsmith's Hall", the building where Jacob Haehnlen had his lithographic establishment. Calendars for 1867 and 1868 appear along the sides and bottom of the image of the building. There is an ornate border of oak leaves.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1866
printer
Haehnlen, Jacob
ID Number
DL.60.3090
catalog number
60.3090
accession number
228146

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