A black and white print of a jockey sitting in a saddle of a dark horse with a braided mane and clipped tail. The jockey wears close fitting pants, which button at the knees, high boots, a button-up jacket, and a cap. The track is bound by a rail fence.
Kingston was bred by James R. Keene on the Castleton Stud Farm in Lexington, Kentucky in 1884. His sire was Spendthrift and his dam was Kapanga. Evert Snedecker purchased the horse when he was a yearling and raced him as a two-year old when he raced and defeated Hanover. In 1887 he was bought by the Dwyer brothers, Phil and Mike, for $12,500 because they were already in possession Hanover and hoped to prevent further competitions between the two stallions. Kingston’s training was taken over by Frank McCabe and raced until he was 10, long past the age of retirement. In total, Kingston won 89 races, the most of any thoroughbred in the history of racing, and amounted $140,195 in purse money. Immediately after going to stud, Kingston became the Leading Sire in America in 1900 and 1910. He died on December 6, 1912 and was one of the first horses inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1955.
Black and white print of a two-story wooden house on a street corner. A man (Abraham Lincoln?) and a child are standing inside the fence in front of the house. A carriage and men on horseback are in the street in the foreground and pedestrians walk along the street.
Description
This undated, black and white print of Lincoln’s residence in Springfield, Illinois, was most likely created in the period of high public demand for Lincoln images around the time of his assassination, during which many Northerners felt a desire to display a representation of the man they believed to be the savior of their nation. Lincoln lived in this two-story, twelve-room home from 1844 to 1861. In the print, men on horseback, women with parasols, and a horse-drawn buggy pass all by the residence on the road. A beardless Abraham Lincoln and one his sons stand near the entrance to the home.
On February 6, 1861, about 700 friends, neighbors, and well-wishers came to his residence to bid him farewell before he left for Washington. Lincoln departed Springfield on February 11, 1861, for his inauguration, but would never return to this home alive. His oldest son, Robert Todd Lincoln, donated the family home to the state of Illinois in 1887 and it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960.
Louis Prang (1824-1910) was born in Breslau, Prussian Silesia, and immigrated to America in 1850. Settling in Boston, he began his lithographic career in 1856, partnering with Julius Mayer. In 1860, he established his own firm, which grew to become one of the largest producers of American colored lithographs during the 19th century. The company’s first lithographic prints were Civil war battle scenes, maps, and portraits of military and political leaders. Louis Prang & Co. remained in operation until 1898, producing greeting cards, facsimiles of American and European paintings, and natural history prints. The print was published by S.G. Lane at 21 Cornhill.
A black and white print of a handbill advertising an auction of horses on June 2, 1837. A view of a horserace appears in the center of the text with details.
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.
Forbes was a historical painter and etcher born in New York City in 1839. He studied painting under Arthur F. Tait in 1859. From 1861-1865 he was a staff artist for Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper. Til 1895 he drew upon his Civil War sketches for etchings and book illustrations. He died in Brooklyn in 1895.
Black and white print of a man on horseback holding the reins of a second horse. The second horse wears blinders and a blanket with the name "Cameron" on it.
Description
A black and white print of a mounted ranch hand pulling the reins of a horse that is being broken in. The horse has on blinders, a bit and reins, and a leather strap around his belly. Has on a blanket that says “Cameron,” which is the name of the lithographer.
This 1862 color print depicts Fort McHenry with the Chesapeake Bay in the background. A large American flag flies over the star-shaped fort, visible at the back right. On the left, outside of this main fortification, foot soldiers, men on horseback, and cannon are gathered around the barracks and auxiliary buildings. On the right, the New York 17th Regiment National Guard is assembled and inspected by officers on horseback. A list containing the names of the regiment’s officers appears in the lower margin.
The print’s creator, Edward Sachse, moved to America from Germany sometime in the 1840s. He settled in Baltimore, working under E. Weber & Co., one of the city’s most prominent lithography firms. He established E. Sachse & Co. in 1850, specializing in bird’s eye views of Baltimore and Washington D.C. His brother Theodore joined the firm in the mid-1850s and after Edward’s death in 1873, Theodore’s son Adolph headed the company, as A. Sachse & Co., from 1877 to 1887.
Color print of a trotting course depicting a large two-storied club house with verandahs. Pagoda-like viewing stand for officials is in left foreground. Horses pulling sulkies are racing on the course.
Description
A color print of a trotting course depicting a large two-storied club house with verandas. A pagoda-like viewing stand for the officials is in the left foreground. Horses pulling sulkies are racing on the course.
This trotting course in Philadelphia was founded in 1855 and raced thoroughbreds for the first time in 1860. It was eventually converted into an automobile race course in the 1900s after trotting faded as a popular sport.
Cast-iron toys, such as this fire engine from about 1900, reflect many commonplace but often forgotten aspects of everyday life. The strength of the Museum's toy collection is an outstanding grouping of cast-iron and tinplate toys, 1870s to the 1950s, donated by Sears, Roebuck and Co. The collection was acquired by Sears, Roebuck and Co. from Kenneth Idle, a private collector. Gathered between 1915 and 1960, the collection numbers more than 1,400 cast-iron and tinplate examples of both American and European origins. Cast-iron toy manufacturers represented in this collection are Hubley, Kentontoys, and Kingsbury Toys. Subjects include the circus, horse-drawn vehicles, public transportation, mail delivery, home equipment, recreation, construction equipment, the farm, fire fighting, and police vehicles.
Cast-iron toys are essentially American. Small foundries and factories were mass-producing them towards the close of the 19th century. These toys were sold in novelty stores, department stores, or mail order catalogs. One can follow along with shifts in technology by recognizing the changes in the different models of Sears toys. During the first half of the 20th century, tractors almost completely displaced the horse on American farms—and on the toy counter. Toy motor trucks replaced horse-drawn vehicles. The toy manufacturers were alert to new models and designs of vehicle and appliance manufacturers.
Color print depicting the city of Manchester in the distance with a rural wooded landscape in the foreground. A river separates the rural area from the city with industrial buildings lining the river bank.
A color print of a sleigh pulled by two horses overtaking an elderly couple in a sleigh pulled by a single horse. The sleigh pulled by two horses is tipping over, spilling its driver, still holding onto the reins, onto the ground. Mountains are in the distance, and the road is covered with snow and bordered with a stone fence. A church spire indicates a village.
Haskell and Allen’s most memorable productions were their horse prints. A Boston based publisher of lithographs, the firm seems to have issued more large folio images than small. Haskell began as a print seller with Haskell and Ripley (1868) but in 1869 he began a partnership with George Allen. In 1873 they moved to 61 Hanover St in Boston where they prospered for a few years. They went bankrupt in 1878.
A color print of a horse standing to the side. It is a liver bay held by a jockey standing in front of her. A race track rail is in the background.
Fashion was bred in 1837 by William Gibbons, Esq. of Madison, Morris County, NJ. Her sire was Trustee and her dam was Bonnets o’ Blue. Under the training of Samuel Laird, she won 32 of her 36 starts and gathered $41,500 in prize money. Her races were highly publicized. The North versus South Match Race against Boston in 1842 saw a crowd of 70,000 supporters. Despite Boston’s three mile lead, Fashion won with a time of 7:32 ½ for a four mile race. He next rival was the southern Peytona, who defeated Fashion in the first match but lost in the two rematches. Fashion raced until age 11 and then produced 10 foals in stud. She was sold to John Reber of Lancaster, Ohio in 1855. She died in 1860 and was eventually inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1980. She was the namesake of a steamboat, several hotels, a brand of ladies’ gloves, and men’s cigars.
Color print of a trotting horse (Dexter) pulling a wagon on a race track (Fashion Course, L.I.).
Description
A color print of a black horse, white stockings and nose racing along a track in racing harness and a four wheeled racing carriage. On Fashion Course, LI.
Dexter was foaled in Walden, Orange County, New York in 1858 by Jonathan Hawkins. His sire was Hambletonian and his dam was Clara. Dexter had four white stockings, which was traditionally considered unlucky in a racing horse, but it was superstition he proved to be worthless. In 1862 he was sold for $400 to George B. Alley, who broke him into racing. In 1863 he was sent to Hiram Woodruff and showed 2:42 pulling a wagon. George Trussel paid $14,000 for him in 1866 and placed him in the hands of Budd Doble. Dexter followed Flora Temple as the world’s premier trotter, dominating races between 1864 and 1867. His fastest time was 2:17 1/2, recorded in Buffalo on August 14, 1867. Following this record, he was purchased by Robert Bonner for $35,000. His versatility made him very desired, as Dexter could trot under saddle, in harness, and hitched to a wagon. Dexter’s main rival was Ethan Allen, and on June 21, 1867 on Long Island he raced Ethan Allen and his mate, Charlotte, F. Dexter lost the race but his performance was still considered impressive since he raced the pair alone. Dexter died in 1888 at thirty years old and was inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame as an “Immortal” in 1956.
Thomas Kelly, of New York City, was one of the more successful publishers of the period, creating archetypal and idyllic views of all areas of life in America. Kelly's work is distinctive for strong coloring and vivid, forthright compositions.
Color advertising print of a trotting horse (Lady Suffolk) with a jockey in the saddle.
Description
A color advertising print of a trotting grey mare and jockey. The background is grained.
Lady Suffolk, known as the “Old Gray Mare,” was foaled in 1833 in Smithtown, Suffolk County, Long Island. Her sire was Young Engineer, making her a descendent of the famous thoroughbred Messenger who had founded the Standardbred breed; her dam was Jenny. David Bryant purchased the mare in 1835 and they remained together until 1851. She entered her first race in 1838 ridden by Hiram Woodruff. Lady Suffolk trotted in 161 races between 1838 and 1854, winning 88 of them and earning over $35,000 in purse money. In her prime she traveled through the major cities, appearing from Boston to New Orleans. However, in the last six years of her career, she raced only seven times because harness racing had begun to replace under saddle trotting. In 1843, ridden by Albert Conklin, Lady Suffolk was the first trotter to go the mile in under 2:30, which made her the first “Queen of the Turf.” This feat reduced the 1834 record by almost five seconds, coming in at 2:26 ½. Her popularity was greatly due to William T. Porter, who used his weekly newspaper, The Spirit of the Times, to publicize her exploits. She died in 1855 in Vermont and was eventually inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame as an “Immortal” in 1967.
A color print of two chestnut horses (Lancet and Fearnaught Boy) with light manes pulling a cutter on a country road. They are joined by a T-shaped tongue, and their harnesses are light and handsome. The driver is wearing a black coat with lapels, gloves, a boat-shaped hat, and a beaver rug over his knees. He is probably their owner David Nevins, Jr. A split rail fence borders the road. Mountains are in the distance, and the landscape is covered with snow.
Lancet and Fearnaught Boy were owned by David Nevins Jr. of Framingham, Massachusetts.
Haskell and Allen’s most memorable productions were their horse prints. A Boston based publisher of lithographs, the firm seems to have issued more large folio images than small. Haskell began as a print seller with Haskell and Ripley (1868) but in 1869 he began a partnership with George Allen. In 1873 they moved to 61 Hanover St in Boston where they prospered for a few years. They went bankrupt in 1878.
Black and white advertising print depicting a seven-story sugar refinery building behind a row of two and a half-story buildings on a city street. The building is the expanded Harrison & Newhall refinery, formerly the Penington Sugar Refinery, circa 1855 or 1856. A number of horse-drawn carts or drays carry barrels to and from the refinery at one end of the street while a traffic jam occurs at the other end. This image was included in the 1856 edition of Colton's Atlas of America, as an example of businesses in Pennsylvania.
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.
The West Front of the U.S. Capitol as viewed from old City Hall (4th and D Streets, N.W.) is depicted in this 1832 lithograph. The cornerstone was laid in 1793 by George Washington. By 1832, the building was an imposing structure, 352 feet long by 282 feet wide, overlooking open fields. The few other structures depicted include the brick city jail, built in 1815 as a temporary Capitol, and a few row houses along New Jersey Avenue. In 1832, running water was added to the Capitol. The Capitol building expanded significantly in following years, but the current dome was not be completed until 1866.
Americans were curious about progress in the nation’s capital. This early lithograph would have been published in a view book with other similar prints and purchased as a gift, commemorative, or souvenir of Washington. The artist was a landscape painter and lithographer known to have sold designs for other city souvenir gift books.
A color print after a photograph of a four-horse carriage thought to have belonged to George Washington. Two men in high silk hats are pictured. One is in the driver’s seat and one is standing by the door. The background has several houses and a church. A crest labeled “Exitus Acta Probat” is in the lower margin. The image was taken of the carriage as it was used during a Washington birthday parade in 1872 by the United Order of American Mechanics of New York City as discussed n the inscription below the image. The carriage was created while Washington was president in Philadelphia and preserved by William Dunlap of Philadelphia.
The lithograph was created by John H. Daniels (1828-1901) a printer, engraver, and lithographer from Boston. Daniels was noted for portaits, landscapes, and images of local events.
This colored lithograph depicts the second Camp Convalescent, a military camp near Alexandria, built to house soldiers recently released from hospitals, stragglers who had become separated from their units, and men on parole from Confederate prisons. In December 1862, it replaced the first Camp Convalescent, nicknamed “Camp Misery” by its inhabitants. The original camp had only tents, and was constantly lacking adequate supplies of food and fuel for fires. The upper panel of this print depicts the new camp’s wooden barracks. The lower panel presents the camp’s administrative buildings, five of which are arranged in a semicircle. These include, the officer and staff quarters, the soldiers’ library, a church, and the quartermaster and commissary’s offices.
Charles Magnus (1826-1900) was born Julian Carl Magnus in Germany and immigrated with his family to New York City sometime between 1848 and 1850. During the 1850s, he learned the printing business while working with his brother on a German language weekly newspaper, the Deutsche Schnellpost. He later began his own lithographer firm, producing city views and commercial letterhead designs. During the Civil War, he designed pro-Union envelopes and illustrated song sheets. The firm’s Washington, D.C. branch also produced small, hand-colored scenes of Union camps and hospitals. Soldiers purchased these picturesque scenes of camp life to send home to calm the worries of anxious family members.
This color print depicts the 37th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry at camp in an open field near Brandy Station, Virginia. On the right, some men are being drilled while those on the left have time to relax. They are shown playing cards, smoking, conversing, playing leapfrog, and taking part in a ball game, possibly cricket. In the background are seventeen rows of log cabins and in the far right background is a plantation house set in a grove of trees.
Although this print makes camp life away from the fighting seem idyllic, an 1884 history of the 37th Massachusetts reveals that the men were actually uncomfortable during their time at Brandy Station, since they were exposed to the cold winds of early winter and firewood was difficult to obtain.
This print was published by the lithographer John Henry Bufford. The son of a sign painter and gilder, Bufford trained with Pendleton's Lithography in Boston, 1829-1831. He worked in New York with George Endicott and Nathaniel Currier (1835-1839) before returning to Boston where he had a good reputation for printing and publishing popular framing prints, commercial work, labels, and trade cards. The company went through several iterations and name changes until about 1865. He became the chief artist for Benjamin Thayer until buying out the firm to found J. H. Bufford & Co. (1844-1851). He continued to work in the lithography and publishing business for the remainder of his life. In 1865, his sons Frank and Henry John became partners in Bufford & Sons or J.H. Bufford’s Sons Litho. Co. After his death they continued the family business as Bufford Brothers and as Bufford Sons Engraving & Lithographing Company until 1911.
Color print of a bay trotting horse (St. Julien) standing in a grassy meadow.
Description
A color print of a side view of a stallion with black tail, mane and lower legs. The horse has finely developed muscles and a shiny coat. He stands in a grassy meadow with trees and foothills in background.
St. Julien was a descendant of Hambletonian by his sire Volunteer and foaled in 1869. His dam was Sayre's Harry Clay. He spent his early life pulling a milk cart in Orange County, New York before he was eventually rescued for $600 by James Gaiway of New York City, who named the gelding St. Julien after seeing the name on a bottle of wine. He was put in races on the Grand Circuit in 1875, at the age of seven, and won his first six tries with a best time of 2:21/2. St. Julien was trained and driven by Orrin A. Hikok, who bought the horse for $20,000 and took him west. The act of traveling west was the best training for the stallion, who would be driven up to 40 miles a day. On October 25, 1879, to a large crowd in Oakland, California that included General Grant, St. Julien beat Rarus’ record with time of 2:12 ¾. Eventually racing a time of 2:11 ¼, he held fastest record in the world until 1880 when he was beaten by the mare Maud S., who achieved a time of 2:08 ¾. St. Julien died retired on a horse farm in 1894 at the age of 25 after going missing for several days.
Edward Bosqui lived from 1832-1917. He was a printer and amateur landscape painter, born in Montreal Quebec. Bosqui moved to California in 1850 and established the Bosqui Engraving and printing company, San Francisco’s largest printing house. He was not only an artist, bookbinder, pulisher, and printer but a patron of the arts as well. He died in San Francisco in 1917. William Harring worked with Bosqui in San Francisco. He was born in Prussia in 1812. He worked for Lovis Prang Co. in Boston before moving to San Francisco. He worked for Bosqui Printing Company from the 1870’s until his death in 1899. Bosqui & Co. was located at 517 Clay St. San Francisco, CA. The business was destroyed in 1906 by an earthquake and fire; but was rebuilt at 136 Lerdesdorff, San Francisco.