19th-century American Women

Esther Howland 1828–1904 & the 1st American Valentines

2012-02-14T23:26:00.096-05:00

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847) Howland's red H hallmark, with 5 underneath 1877

Esther Howland (1828–1904) who was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, was the 1st to publish & sell Valentine cards in the United States.

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847))

Howland was an artist & businesswoman who is responsible for popularizing Valentine's Day greeting cards in America.

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847)

Graham's American Monthly, observed in 1849 that Saint Valentine's Day had become a national holiday in the United States.

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847) Howland's red H hallmark, with 1 1/2

After her graduation from Mount Holyoke College in 1847, Howland received an ornate English Valentine from a business associate of her father, when she was 19 years old.

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847) N.E.V. Co. 5

The practice of sending Valentine's cards had existed in England, long before it became popular in North America.

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847) In your heart - my home I view - There I'll live - and love for you. The back shows Howland's red H 15 underneath

There is a Valentine in the British Museum in London dating from the 1400s.

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847) N.E.V. Co. 10

Intrigued with the idea of making similar Valentines & lucky to be the daughter of a stationer, she began her business importing paper lace & floral decorations from England.

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847) Weddings now are all the go, Will you marry me or no - Marked H25

Her father operated the largest book & stationery story in Worcester, Massachusetts, & ordered supplies for her project.

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847)

She made a dozen samples, which her salesman brother added to his inventory for his next sales trip. Hoping for $200 worth of orders, she was elated when he returned with over $5,000 worth of business for her.

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847) Howland's red H hallmark, with 25 underneath

Howland employed friends & developed a thriving business in Worcester, Massachusetts using an assembly line.

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847) My love unchanging Still will be, Though friends depart and fortune flee. On the back is the NEV.CO.

Between 1840-1860, many sentimental, embossed, & perforated lace paper were imported from England. Howland imported lace-edged blanks from Britain, when she began her business.

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847)

Her valentines became renowned throughout the United States, & Howland was called "The Mother of the American Valentine."

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847)

Howland's business eventually grossed over $100,000 per year, a large amount of money for that time.

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847)

Howland sold the business in 1881, to the George C. Whitney Company.

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847)

Since 2001, the U.S. Greeting Card Association has been awarding an annual "Esther Howland Award for a Greeting Card Visionary."

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847)

For further information on these valentines see the American History & Genealogy Project site of Mount Holyoke College History.

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847)

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847) H mark and a price of 10 cents.)

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847)

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847) Howland H mark and a price of 25 cents

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847) 1847 NEV 35

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847) N.E.V. Co. 10 n

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847) NEV.CO. over a 5 1881

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847) NEV.CO. over a 5

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847) NEV.CO. over a 10

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847) No rubies on the Indian shore - Outshine thy noble mind; - Its radiance far excels them all, - And blesses human kind.

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847) red H over 25

New England Valentine Company (established by Esther Howland 1847) vm

Esther Howland 1828-1904
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Love & Marriage: Frakturs from the National Archives

2012-02-14T23:16:00.001-05:00

Illustrated family record (Fraktur) found in Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application File R9408, for Samuel Shade, Pennsylvania., ca. 1800 - ca. 1900

Frakturs are elaborate illustrated family records usually made in Pennsylvania German communities. They are equivalent to modern birth, marriage, & death certificates. They were often created by professional artists or by pastors living in the town, & became treasured family heirlooms. The National Archives has over a hundred of these rare & sought-after examples of folk art. Following the Revolutionary War, the government offered pensions to widows who could prove their relationship to a veteran of the war. These handmade family treasures were sent to the government to support Revolutionary War Pension applications.

Illustrated family record (Fraktur) found in Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application File W15956, for James Runnals, New Hampshire., ca. 1800 - ca. 1900

Illustrated family record (Fraktur) found in Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application File W3079, for Philip Frey, Pennsylvania., ca. 1800 - ca. 1900

Illustrated family record (Fraktur) found in Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application File W4435, for Thomas Ford, New Jersey., ca. 1800 - ca. 1900

Illustrated family record (Fraktur) found in Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application File R7532, for John Moyer, Maryland., ca. 1800 - ca. 1900

Illustrated family record (Fraktur) found in Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application File R8078, for John George Peiffer, Pennsylvania., ca. 1800 - ca. 1900

Illustrated family record (Fraktur) found in Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application File R8260, for Thomas Pinkham, New Hampshire., ca. 1800 - ca. 1900

Illustrated family record (Fraktur) found in Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application File W14231 for Nathaniel Bangs, Massachusetts., ca. 1800 - ca. 1900

Illustrated family record (Fraktur) found in Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application File W15456, for David Watson, New Hampshire., ca. 1800- ca. 1900

Illustrated family record (Fraktur) found in Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application File W19392, for Ebenezer Spencer, New Hampshire., ca. 1800 - ca. 1900

Illustrated family record (Fraktur) found in Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application File W25687, for Colin McLachlan, Connecticut., ca. 1800 - ca. 1900

Illustrated family record (Fraktur) found in Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application File W26600, for Ezekiel Osborn, Connecticut., ca. 1800 - ca. 1900
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Paintings by Shepard Alonzo Mount 1804-1868 brother of William Sidney Mount 1807-1868

2012-01-30T21:49:00.002-05:00

Shepard Alonzo Mount (American artist, 1804–1868) Rose of Sharon

Shepard Alonzo Mount 1804-1868 was the brother of William Sidney Mount, the well-known American genre scene painter. Shepard Mount began his career as a carriage painter in New Haven, Connecticut, before attending the National Academy of Design in New York to refine his techniques. After school, the two Mount brothers entered into a portrait painting business together but soon parted ways. Shepherd became an itinerant portrait painter. He traveled widely, completing portrait commissions as he went & painting nature still lifes & larger landscape scenes, as well.

Shepard Alonzo Mount (American artist, 1804–1868) Plugging the Enemy

Between 1829 & 1860, Shepard exhibited over 100 works at the National Academy of Design. He is known than his brother; because he did not leave diaries & letters behind like his more famous brother, William. However, Shepard wrote poetry throughout his life, which offers some insight to his family life & personality. After his death in 1868, his work was all but forgotten until Albert D. Smith, director of the Heckscher Museum in Huntington, Long Island, put together a one-man show of his work in 1945.

Shepard Alonzo Mount (American artist, 1804–1868) Girl with a Bird's Nest

Shepard Alonzo Mount (American artist, 1804–1868) Boy with an Arrow

Shepard Alonzo Mount (American artist, 1804–1868) The Breakfast Call

Shepard Alonzo Mount (American artist, 1804–1868) Girl Peeling Apples
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Spreading the News 1830s-1850s in Rural America by William Sidney Mount 1807-1868

2012-01-30T21:41:00.002-05:00

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William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) California News

William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) Caught Napping 1848

William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) Coming to the Point 1854

William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) Farmers Nooning 1836

William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) Politics of 1852

William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) The Long Story 1837

William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) The Painter's Triumph 1838
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Country Music in 1830s-60s America by William Sidney Mount 1807-1868

2012-01-30T21:39:00.002-05:00

William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) Catching the Tune 1866-7

William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) Dance of the Haymakers 1845

William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) Right and Left 1850

William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) Dancing on the Barn Floor 1831

William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) The Banjo Player 1856

William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) Rustic Dance After a Sleigh Ride 1830

William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) The Bone Player 1856

William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) The Breakdown Bar Room Scene 1835

William Sidney Mount (American painter, 1807-1868) The Power of Music 1847
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Folk Art

2012-01-28T07:06:00.000-05:00

George Esten Cooke (American artist, 1793–1849) Joseph Fairfax Lapsley
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The Death of John James Audubon: January 27, 1851

2012-01-27T16:25:00.022-05:00

Jean Rabin also known as John James Audubon 1785-1851

He killed thousands of birds and cruelly experimented on many animals, including catfish, a bald eagle, and his very own hunting dog. With friends, he buried a rat in a pot, its tail protruding from the dirt, and gave the complete ensemble to another friend, claiming it was a rare flower. He served jail time for bankruptcy and knifed a man in Kentucky over ownership of a steamboat.

Today, his drawings and paintings of American wildlife are respected worldwide, and his name is synonymous with environmental concern and wildlife preservation. A true enigma, John James Audubon was not even his name until he came to America in 1803 to look after his father’s business.

James Audubon (1785-1851)Roseate Spoonbill from The Birds of America John

Audubon, born Jean Rabin in Saint-Domingue in 1785, was something of a liar from the beginning; he told others falsely and often that he studied painting with Jacques-Louis David. Artistically and professionally, Audubon struggled to gain acceptance into the strict company of American and British scientific academies.

Although Audubon’s technique of moving nature from the outdoors to the canvas was well within the realm of the acceptable in the early nineteenth century, today his process would be anathema to the society that now bears his name.

John James Audubon (1785-1851) The Bald Eagle from Birds of America

According to Audubon biographer William Souder, “At one time or another, Audubon killed specimens of all but a handful of the more than four hundred species of birds he ultimately painted, plus most of the quadrupeds of North America, from squirrels to alligators to moose.”

Simple enough to describe, his process was to kill, clean, position, and paint. One difference, however, between Audubon and his contemporary, Alexander Wilson, is that Audubon portrayed his ornithological subject matter at life size.

John James Audubon (1785–1851) King Rail (Rallus Elegans) From Birds of America.

A second difference is that Audubon posed his birds in nature, conducting activities that he had either imagined or witnessed. For example, his Black Vulture appears to be eating the flesh of a deer carcass, while his female Great Cormorant is portrayed tending her young through tall grass.

With the exception of the display of birds in the Peale Museum in Philadelphia, wildlife work for the scientific community was usually posed and drawn on a small scale and without the aesthetic benefit of habitat, weather, and fauna in the forms of prey or predator.

By 1823, Audubon was living in Louisiana, drawing and teaching, having amassed great debt but also having assembled a vast portfolio of American wildlife art. When he arrived in Philadelphia in 1824, he hoped his art would receive acclaim, but his work was received poorly by the Academy of Natural Sciences and George Ord, a friend of the late Alexander Wilson. As Souder states, “Against Ord’s energetic opposition to him throughout the city and the orchestrated campaign to prevent his election to the academy, Audubon never had a chance.”

His work was well received throughout Britain, however. The Scots elected him to the elite scientific Wernerian Society in 1827, and he was elected to the Royal Society in London in 1830.

John James Audubon (1785-1851) Oyster Catcher Haematopus Palliatus) from Birds of America

These successes coincided with the publication of Audubon’s most lasting achievement—what he called his “great work,” The Birds of America, containing 435 hand-colored images and distributed in 87 parts. A stunning achievement, also recognized in the United States, the publication of The Birds of America eventually propelled Audubon into the ranks of the Academy of Natural Sciences in 1831, seven years after his initial rejection.

Audubon spent most of his last decade in New York, having succumbed to various illnesses, and died there on January 27, 1851. He is buried in Trinity Church Cemetery at 155th Street and Broadway in Manhattan.
—Warren Perry, Catalog of American Portraits, National Portrait Gallery
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A well set table was a sign of a well kept home.

2012-01-17T21:32:00.001-05:00

Book: John Henry Walsh, A Manual of Domestic Economy, 1874.

Image Caption: "Modified Dinner A La Russe, Set Out For Eight"
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Artist Charles Waldo Jenkins 1821–1896

2012-01-16T19:09:00.004-05:00

Charles Waldo Jenkins (American artist, 1821–1896) Residence of L A Newland 1848

From the New York Times, November 17, 1896
Charles W Jenkins, at one time a well-known portrait painter, died suddenly yesterday at his redidence, at 543 E 143rd St. He was 75 years old and was born in the village of Owaseo, Cayuga County, NY, and began the study of art at age 14. In 1848, he came to this city and followed the profession of painter, and was associated with Huntington, Daniel B. Johnson, and other artists. He was also an accomplished musician, and was at one time a member of Dodworth's Band and also vice president of the New York Skating Club. His best works were portraits of the Faculty of Princeton College. For many years he contributed to the exhibitions of the Academy of Design. Death was caused by severe cold, contracted several days ago. He was not married.

Charles Waldo Jenkins (American artist, 1821–1896) Portrait of a Lady
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From the Newspapers -Women are graceful because...

2012-01-07T16:44:00.006-05:00

Women are more graceful than men because they have no pockets to put their hands in and acquire a slouchy gait while young.

Mountain Echo newspaper, Marion County, Arkansas, 1886
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Ex-Slave Angie Garrett's Christmas Memories

2011-12-20T12:22:00.002-05:00

Angie Garrett was a slave on a boat owned by Capt Mooring running between Mobile, Alabama, and Aberdeen, Mississippi. On land, they lived in Dekalb:

"Us didn't git no presents at Christmas. Sometimes us had a cornshuckin'."

Photos & quotes from The Slave Narratives, a collection of over 20,000 pages of typewritten interviews with more than 3,500 former slaves, collected over a 10-year period. In 1929, both Fisk University in Tennessee & Southern University in Louisiana began to document the life stories of former American slaves. Kentucky State College continued the work in 1934. In the midst of the Depression between 1936-1939, these narratives continued to be collected as part of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration. They were assembled & microfilmed in 1941, as the 17-volume Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves. The collection includes photos of the interviewees taken in the 1930s as well as their full interviews. Those whose voices are included in the collection ranged in age from 1 to 50 at the time of emancipation in 1865; more than 2/3 were over 80 when they were interviewed.

The obvious problem is the language as reported by the interviewers. The Library of Congress explains on their website, "The narratives usually involve some attempt by the interviewers to reproduce in writing the spoken language of those interviewed...The interviewers were writers, not professionals trained in the phonetic transcription of speech...by the 1930s, when the interviews took place, white representations of black speech already had an ugly history of entrenched stereotype dating back at least to the early nineteenth century." What most white interviewers assumed to be "the usual" patterns of their informants' speech was unavoidably influenced by the 1930s preconceptions & stereotypes of the interviewers themselves. "The result, as the historian Lawrence W. Levine has written, "is a mélange of accuracy & fantasy, of sensitivity & stereotype, of empathy & racism" that may sometimes be offensive to today's readers. Yet whatever else they may be, the representations of speech in the narratives are a pervasive & forceful reminder that these documents are not only a record of a time that was already history when they were created: they are themselves irreducibly historical, the products of a particular time & particular places..."
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From the Newspapers - Dead mermaid washes ashore...

2011-12-20T12:20:00.004-05:00

The dead ‘mermaid’, recently cast up by the sea near Lewes,ought to be preserved in the interest of science.

A Mermaid Found in Delaware.

Date: January 20 1880
Newspaper published in: St. Louis, Mo.
(From the Breakwater (Del.) Light)

On Tuesday of this week Capt. RAYMOND, keeper of Life-Saving Station No. 3, found on the beach what he supposed to be a mermaid which had been washed up from the sea. Capt. RAYMOND describes it as being about the size of a six year old boy, and to the middle or waist of the body resembling a boy in every particular. He says that its face, head, neck, arms and bust, as well as its hair, were similar in appearance to those of a human being. There were no fingers on the hands, but a coarse, moppy hair like the frizzled end of a whalebone, supplied their place. The lower portion of the body, from the middle or waist downward, resembles that of a shark, the tail being covered with a hairy substance similar to that of the hands. Capt. FOWLER says that the “tarnal critter” came there for no good, and it betokens a terrible shipwreck and fearful loss of life, which is soon to happen on that part of the coast.
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Civil War Christmas Memories of Sarah Morgan Dawson 1862 in Louisiana

2011-12-20T12:18:00.001-05:00

A Confederate Girl's Diary: Sarah Morgan Dawson

Born into a wealthy New Orleans family, Sarah Morgan, 1842-1909, was the daughter of an influential judge who moved his family to Baton Rouge when Sarah was eight. Morgan began her diary in 1862 at age 20. Her family became divided, as some broke from regional loyalty to support the North. When Union soldiers captured New Orleans in 1862, Morgan was at first impressed with civility of the officers, but when Baton Rouge experienced the same fate, her attitude changed dramatically. Morgan and her widowed mother were forced to move back to New Orleans, where in 1864, they learned that two of her brothers died of disease in Confederate ranks. Morgan never returned to Baton Rouge. In 1874, she married Frank Dawson, a newspaper owner, who died 10 years later, leaving Morgan with two children. In her later years, Morgan moved to Paris, where she died on May 5, 1909. See Documenting the American South (DocSouth.unc.edu), a digital publishing initiative of the University Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

1862

Yesterday, being a beautiful day, I was carried down in honor of Christmas, to meet Captain Fenner and Mr. Duggan who were to dine with us...We had an exquisite Christmas gift the night before, a magnificent serenade, a compliment from Colonel Breaux...While all goes on merrily, another rap comes, and enter Santa Claus, dressed in the old uniform of the Mexican War, with a tremendous cocked hat, and preposterous beard of false hair... It was a device of the General's, which took us all by surprise. Santa Claus passes slowly around the circle, and pausing before each lady, draws from his basket a cake which he presents with a bow, while to each gentleman he presents a wineglass replenished from a most suspicious-looking black bottle which also reposes there. Leaving us all wonder and laughter, Santa Claus retires with a basket much lighter than it had been at his entrance. . .Then follow refreshments, and more and more talk and laughter, until the clock strikes twelve, when all these ghosts bid a hearty good-night and retire.
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From the Newspapers - Men need chaperones...

2011-12-20T12:10:00.003-05:00

A Chicago woman has been arrested for highway robbery. No proper young man now ventures to appear on Chicago streets without a chaperone.

-from The Newton Press, Jasper County, Illinois, February 15, 1888
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Ex-Slave Alice Houston's Christmas Memories

2011-12-20T12:07:00.002-05:00

Alice Houston was born October 22, 1859. She was a slave of Judge Jim Watkins on his small plantation in Hays County, near San Marcos, Texas and served as house girl to his wife, Mrs. Lillie Watkins for many years after the Civil War. At Mrs. Watkins' death she moved with her husband, Jim Houston, to San Angelo, Texas, where she continued her services as mid wife and nurse:

"On Christmas and New Year we would have all de good things old marster and ole missus had and when any of de white folks marry or die dey sho' carry on big. Weddin's and funerals, dem was de biggest times."

From the Newspapers - Spider in ear...

2011-12-20T12:06:00.005-05:00

Mrs. N. H. Waller had a spider taken out of her ear the other day which crawled in while she was asleep.

-from the Clinton Public, Clinton, Illinois, Feb 23, 1883
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Civil War Christmas Memories of Mary Chestnut 1863-64 in South Carolina

2011-12-20T12:03:00.001-05:00

Mary Chestnut's A Diary From Dixie:

Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut, 1823-1886, was born in Stateburg, South Carolina, in the High Hills of Santee, to Mary Boykin and her husband, Stephen Decatur Miller. Her father had served as a U.S. Representative (1817-19). He later became the governor of South Carolina (1829-30) and a U.S. Senator (1831-31). She was educated in Charleston at Mme. Talvande's French School for Young Ladies, where she became fluent in French and German and received a strong education. On April 23, 1840, Mary Boykin Miller married James Chesnut, Jr., a lawyer and politician eight years her senior. Like her father, he became a U.S. Senator from South Carolina and served from 1858 until South Carolina's secession from the Union in 1860. Once the Civil War broke out, James Chesnut, Jr. became an aide to President Jefferson Davis and a brigadier general in the Confederate Army. Mary Boykin Chestnut began her diary on February 15, 1861, and ended it on August 2, 1865. During much of that time she lived at Mulberry Plantation in Camden, South Carolina, in the midst of thousands of acres of plantation and woodland but with many visitors. The diary was of her impression of events as they unfolded during the Civil War. She analyzed the changing political fortunes of the South and its various classes. She also portrayed southern society and the mixed roles of men and women, and complex situations related to slavery. See Documenting the American South (DocSouth.unc.edu), a digital publishing initiative of the University Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Christmas Day, 1863.
Yesterday dined with the Prestons. Wore one of my handsomest Paris dresses (from Paris before the war). Three magnificent Kentucky generals were present, with Senator Orr from South Carolina, and Mr. Miles...Others dropped in after dinner; some without arms, some without legs; von Borcke, who can not speak because of a wound in his throat...Poor fellows, they laugh at wounds. "And they yet can show many a scar." We had for dinner oyster soup, besides roast mutton, ham, boned turkey, wild duck, partridge, plum pudding, sauterne, burgundy, sherry, and Madeira. There is life in the old land yet!

1864 December 27th.
Oh, why did we go to Camden? The very dismalest Christmas overtook us there. Miss Rhett went with us - a brilliant woman and very agreeable. "The world, you know, is composed," said she, "of men, women, and Rhetts" (see Lady Montagu). Now, we feel that if we are to lose our negroes, we would as soon see Sherman free them as the Confederate Government; freeing negroes is the last Confederate Government craze. We are a little too slow about it; that is all.
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Ex-Slave Eda Rains' Christmas Memories

2011-12-20T11:55:00.002-05:00

Eda Rains was born a slave in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1853. In 1860 Eda, her brothers and mother, were bought by a Mr. Carter and brought to Texas:

"Now, I mus' tell you all 'bout Christmas. Our bigges' time was at Christmas. Marster'd give us maybe fo'-bits to spend as we wanted and maybe we'd buy a string of beads or some sech notion. On Christmas Eve we played games. 'Young Gel Loves Candy,' or 'Hide and Whoop.' Didn' know nothin' 'bout Santa Claus, never was larned that. But we allus knowed what we'd git on Christmas mornin'. Old Marster allus call us togedder and give us new clothes, shoes too. He allus wen' to town on the Eve and brung back our things in a cotton sack. That ole sack'd be crammed full of things and we knowed it was clothes and shoes, 'cause Marster didn' 'lieve in no foolishness. We got one pair shoes a year, at Christmas. Most times they was red and I'd allus paint mine black. I's one nigger didn' like red. I'd skin grease off dishwater, mix it with soot from the chimney and paint my shoes. In winter we wore woolen clothes and got 'em at Christmas, too."

Ex-Slave Molly Ammond's Christmas Memories

2011-12-20T11:03:00.001-05:00

Ex Alabama Slave Molly Ammond:

"Us was treated fine. Our folks was quality. We had plenty somp'n t'eat, but dem slaves hadda work powerful hard though. Atter dey come home fum de fields dey was so tired dat dey go right to sleep, except when de massa had barbecues. Christmas was de big time; dere was several days to res' an' make merryin'..."

Photos & quotes from The Slave Narratives, a collection of over 20,000 pages of typewritten interviews with more than 3,500 former slaves, collected over a 10-year period. In 1929, both Fisk University in Tennessee & Southern University in Louisiana began to document the life stories of former American slaves. Kentucky State College continued the work in 1934. In the midst of the Depression between 1936-1939, these narratives continued to be collected as part of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration. They were assembled & microfilmed in 1941, as the 17-volume Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves. The collection includes photos of the interviewees taken in the 1930s as well as their full interviews. Those whose voices are included in the collection ranged in age from 1 to 50 at the time of emancipation in 1865; more than 2/3 were over 80 when they were interviewed.

The obvious problem is the language as reported by the interviewers. The Library of Congress explains on their website, "The narratives usually involve some attempt by the interviewers to reproduce in writing the spoken language of those interviewed...The interviewers were writers, not professionals trained in the phonetic transcription of speech...by the 1930s, when the interviews took place, white representations of black speech already had an ugly history of entrenched stereotype dating back at least to the early nineteenth century." What most white interviewers assumed to be "the usual" patterns of their informants' speech was unavoidably influenced by the 1930s preconceptions & stereotypes of the interviewers themselves. "The result, as the historian Lawrence W. Levine has written, "is a mélange of accuracy & fantasy, of sensitivity & stereotype, of empathy & racism" that may sometimes be offensive to today's readers. Yet whatever else they may be, the representations of speech in the narratives are a pervasive & forceful reminder that these documents are not only a record of a time that was already history when they were created: they are themselves irreducibly historical, the products of a particular time & particular places..."
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Civil War Christmas Memories of Dolly Sumner Lunt 1864 in Georgia

2011-12-20T10:39:00.001-05:00

A Woman's Wartime Journal: an Account of the Passage over Georgia's Plantationof Sherman's Army on the March to the Sea, as Recorded in the Diary of Dolly Sumner Lunt (Mrs. Thomas Burge) :
Dolly Lunt Burge, 1817-1891, was born in Maine in 1817. As a young woman, moved from Maine to Georgia with her physician husband in the 1840s. By the time she began her diary at age thirty, Dolly had lost her husband and her only living child to illness. A devout and self-sufficient schoolteacher, she soon married again, to Thomas Burge, a planter and widowed father of four. In 1855, she gave birth to their daughter, Sarah, called Sadai. Upon her second husband's death in 1858, Dolly independently ran the plantation, located in Mansfield. She remained there during the Civil War, witnessing Sherman's march through the area. Dolly married a final time, in 1866, to Rev. William Parks, a prominent Methodist minister. Dolly's diary is filled with news about her daughter, her struggles, and her slaves. See Documenting the American South (DocSouth.unc.edu), a digital publishing initiative of the University Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

DECEMBER 24, 1864.
This has usually been a very busy day with me, preparing for Christmas not only for my own tables, but for gifts for my servants. Now how changed! No confectionery, cakes, or pies can I have. We are all sad; no loud, jovial laugh from our boys is heard. Christmas Eve, which has ever been gaily celebrated here, which has witnessed the popping of fire-crackers [the Southern custom of celebrating Christmas with fireworks] and the hanging up of stockings, is an occasion now of sadness and gloom. I have nothing even to put in Sadai's stocking, which hangs so invitingly for Santa Claus. How disappointed she will be in the morning, though I have explained to her why he cannot come. Poor children! Why must the innocent suffer with the guilty?

DECEMBER 25, 1864.
Sadai jumped out of bed very early this morning to feel in her stocking. She could not believe but that there would be something in it. Finding nothing, she crept back into bed, pulled the cover over her face, and I soon heard her sobbing. The little negroes all came in: "Christmas gift, mist'ess! Christmas gift, mist'ess!" I pulled the cover over my face and was soon mingling my tears with Sadai's.

Ex-Slave Nicey Pugh's Christmas Memories

2011-12-20T10:33:00.002-05:00

Nicey Pugh was born a slave to Master Jim Bettis in Alabama:

"At Christmas time, Massa would have a bunch of niggers to kill a hog an' barbecue him, an' de womens would make' lasses cake, an' ole massa Jim had some kinda seed dat he made beer outen, an' we-alls drank beer 'roun' Christmas."

Photos & quotes from The Slave Narratives, a collection of over 20,000 pages of typewritten interviews with more than 3,500 former slaves, collected over a 10-year period. In 1929, both Fisk University in Tennessee & Southern University in Louisiana began to document the life stories of former American slaves. Kentucky State College continued the work in 1934. In the midst of the Depression between 1936-1939, these narratives continued to be collected as part of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration. They were assembled & microfilmed in 1941, as the 17-volume Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves. The collection includes photos of the interviewees taken in the 1930s as well as their full interviews. Those whose voices are included in the collection ranged in age from 1 to 50 at the time of emancipation in 1865; more than 2/3 were over 80 when they were interviewed.

The obvious problem is the language as reported by the interviewers. The Library of Congress explains on their website, "The narratives usually involve some attempt by the interviewers to reproduce in writing the spoken language of those interviewed...The interviewers were writers, not professionals trained in the phonetic transcription of speech...by the 1930s, when the interviews took place, white representations of black speech already had an ugly history of entrenched stereotype dating back at least to the early nineteenth century." What most white interviewers assumed to be "the usual" patterns of their informants' speech was unavoidably influenced by the 1930s preconceptions & stereotypes of the interviewers themselves. "The result, as the historian Lawrence W. Levine has written, "is a mélange of accuracy & fantasy, of sensitivity & stereotype, of empathy & racism" that may sometimes be offensive to today's readers. Yet whatever else they may be, the representations of speech in the narratives are a pervasive & forceful reminder that these documents are not only a record of a time that was already history when they were created: they are themselves irreducibly historical, the products of a particular time & particular places..."
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Ex-Slave Hannah Crasson's Christmas Memories

2011-12-19T18:53:00.002-05:00

Hannah Crasson was born a slave on John William Walton's plantation 4 miles from Garner and 13 miles from Raleigh, in Wake County, North Carolina:

"Dey gave us Christmas and other holidays. Den dey, de men, would go to see dere wives. Some of the men's wives belong to other masters on other plantations. We had corn shuckin's at night, and candy pullin's. Sometimes we had quiltings and dances."

Louisiana Christmas Memories of Sarah Lois Wadley 1860-1864

2011-12-19T17:30:00.002-05:00

Diary of Sarah Lois Wadley August 8, 1859 - May 15, 1865

Sarah Lois Wadley, 1844-1920, was the daughter of William Morrill Wadley (c1812-1882) and Rebecca Barnard Everingham Wadley (fl. 1840-1884) and lived with her family in homes near Amite in Tangipahoa Parish, Monroe and Oakland in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, and near Macon, Georgia. Entries in the diary document in detail opinions and events in the life of an articulate and alert young woman just before and during the Civil War. Early entries include a detailed description of a family trip from Amite, Louisiana, to visit relatives in New Hampshire. Entries during the war describe reactions to war news; life in the vicinity of Monroe, Oakland, and Homer, Louisiana, including comments on freedmen and federal troops; and some activities of Sarah's father, William Morrill Wadley, who managed the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Texas Railroad and served as Confederate superintendent of railroads. See Documenting the American South (DocSouth.unc.edu), a digital publishing initiative of the University Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Tuesday, Dec. 25th / 1860.--It is Christmas day, the great festival of the year, but this Christmas is not very merry to us, nor, I dare say, to many others in This country.
Dr. Lord said last Sunday that we ought to let the great wave of political troubles roll by for a while, and try and forget the exigencies of the times during Christmas, the anniversary of that day in which rose the sun of Righteousness; but this is very hard to do. We can have no tangible expressions of merry making, which though far less dignified than a deep Christian rejoicing goes very far towards promoting universal thankfulness and love in the household...
Uncle Moses and Aunt Jane are coming to dine with us today... We spent Christmas day very quietly, our only extra amusement was going to the Christmas tree at the Church.

1861
We had a very pleasant Christmas; the day after Christmas day, Miss Mary and I fixed up a little pine tree as a Christmas tree, we had no costly gifts, but a few sugar plums in lace bags, and some home made Cornucopias with two or three little wax candles made the tree very attractive to the children. Father had a few fire works too which he had forgot to bring home Christmas eve, and we were delighted looking at them.
The negroes had a supper and dance up at the place and we all walked up to see them, Father was very much pleased to see them dance, and as their house was small and smoky so that we could not look on with any pleasure, Father had our long room cleared out and had them go in there and dance. We stayed looking at them till nine o'clock, and then walked home again.
1862
Friday night I had a most pleasant surprise. Father came home and said that Eldridge had a paper box on the waggon--marked for me... When it was opened there lay a very pretty chair made of velvet, ornamented with ribbon and straw and the seat of which, being raised, showed a space nicely lined with flannel, it was a fancy jewelry box from Miss Valeria, she had it made for a Christmas present...Father left for New Orleans yesterday, we expect him back Saturday night.

Dec. 25th/ 1862--Christmas night, it has been a sad Christmas day to us Father was not here, we received a dispatch Tuesday night saying that he must return to Richmond before coming home, it was a great disappointment, since we had at least hoped that he would arrive Christmas eve. Today has seemed just like Sunday, while at dinner we received some papers one of which contained a list of the wounded...

Friday--Dec. 26th...
The negroes are busy barbecueing and cooking for their party tonight, they may have to start away before day, but we shall let enjoy themselves while they can.

We have been watching the negroes dancing for the last two hours, Mother had the partition taken down in our old house so that they have quite a long ball room, we can sit on the piazza and look into it. I hear now the sounds of fiddle, tambourine and "bones" mingled with the shuffling and pounding of feet. Mr. Axley is fiddling for them, they are having a merry time, thoughtless creatures, they think not of the morrow.
I am sad, very sad, tonight, last Christmas Father watched their dancing with us; where is he now? where shall we all be next Christmas...

Christmas week, 1863
There is to be a ball in Monroe Christmas eve, I have received an invitation and yesterday Mrs. McGuire sent to urge me to go with her, but I am far from wishing to participate in such gaiety. I shall go to Mrs. DeLary's concert because Miss Mary is to play and sing, otherwise I should not think of it. It is to be on next Monday night...

Wednesday, Dec. 30th. 1863...The day before Christmas was busy cooking all day, and this made us feel a little like Christmas was coming. Father and Miss Mary went into town that day and brought out some candy and pecans with which we filled the children's stockings, they woke up before day in the morning and were highly delighted...we had our stockings hung up and candy in them, and Miss Mary scratched the chimney bask in imitation of Santa Claus' carriage wheel tracks, Georgie came in our room in the morning and related with a wondering air how he could see the marks of Santa Claus feet on Mother's room chimney, we then showed him ours and he was strengthened in his belief.
After they were dressed, the children ran out to distribute candy among the little negroes and before breakfast all had disappeared. When our late breakfast was over, we made egg nogg for the negroes, who gathered round the back door highly delighted, there were many of them, for most of the railroad negroes were here. When they had all had a glass round, Mother filled her great punch bowl again for the "white folks..."
We had singing and playing for an hour or more in the evening, and then closed the day with a few pages from Homer's Iliad...
Altogether, our Christmas day was better than the last, principally because Father was here, but yet it was by no means merry, as it could not be now when our prospects are so uncertain and gloomy.

1864
All Christmas day I kept saying over and over "it is Christmas" to keep myself in mind of it. It was very much like any other Sunday, only sometimes we would hear a "Merry Christmas," which sounded hollow, like the echo of past times; we had an egg nogg in the morning but drank it with only an occasional attempt at hilarity...we had a very fine dinner...In the evening we had some ice cream which the children malted at the fire, and so the day passed. I had an hour of pleasure when I read the Christmas service and beautiful Psalms and lessons and again in the evening when Miss May and I contemplated the glories of the setting sun.

Ex-Slave Lou Williams' Christmas Memories

2011-12-19T16:58:00.004-05:00

Lou Williams was born in southern Maryland in 1829. She and her family were slaves of Abram and Kitty Williams, and Lou served as nursemaid to her master's children from the age of eight until after the Civil War. She then went to Louisiana where she worked as a cook for several years before moving to San Angelo, Texas:

"We allus gits Saturday evenin' off to wash our clothes and sometime we has dances Saturday night...We has corn shuckin's and big suppers and on Christmas day massa buys us de present, most times shoes, 'cause we didn't have any shoes."

Ex-Slave Charlotte Beverly's Christmas Memories

2011-12-19T12:26:00.003-05:00

Charlotte Beverly was born a slave to Captain Pankey's wife, in Montgomery County, Texas. She has lived most of her life within a radius of 60 miles from Houston:

"Every year they have big Christmas dinner and ham and turkey and allus feed us good. Us have Christmas party and sing songs. That was sweet music."

South Carolina Christmas Memories of Mary Ames 1865

2011-12-19T11:49:00.002-05:00

From A New England Woman's Diary in Dixie in 1865

This book relates the experience of two northern white women, Mary Ames, 1832-1903, and Emily Bliss, who were employed in 1865 as teachers by the Freedmen's Bureau and sent to South Carolina to open a school for former slaves. The account is told through excerpts from the diary of Mary Ames. It follows the women's journey to Edisto Island, South Carolina, formerly a region of cotton plantations, where many liberated slaves had been settled by the Reconstruction government. Ames tells of the poor living conditions of the former slaves, and the widespread decay and squalor of the homes on the island--including the abandoned plantation house in which she and her companion settled. Despite inconveniences such as a leaky roof, insects, snakes, and inconsistent rations, the women managed to establish a school with an enrollment of well over 100 students, both children and adults.

The women remained on the island for a little over a year. Ames' diary entries tell of her dealings with the former slaves, and document their social and religious life. She also tells of the difficulties of day-to-day life in the Reconstruction South, including the lack of food, water, and other necessary supplies. By May of 1866, the Freedmen's Bureau announced that they would no longer support the school. The women closed the school in July, then returned to Massachusetts in September, a little more than a year after they had arrived. See Documenting the American South (DocSouth.unc.edu), a digital publishing initiative of the University Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Christmas, 1865
All of us at headquarters were invited to dine on Christmas with Captain and Mrs. Towles, and their friends on Wadmelaw Island. It was a foggy morning, and we were not in the best of spirits. Four of the soldiers rowed us in a pontoon. The dinner of wild turkey, etc., was excellent. The ladies who were asked to meet us, and whom we liked, had been sent out by the Philadelphia Society. Captain Towles had got a fiddle and an old negro to play it, and insisted upon our dancing, because it was Christmas and we must be merry. It was bad music and worse dancing, but we danced ourselves into a great heat and great good spirits. At seven we started for home...

Ex-Slave Martha Bradley's Christmas Memories

2011-12-19T11:32:00.003-05:00

Martha Bradley was a slave to Dr. Lucas of Mt. Meigs, Alabama, long before the War between the States:

"But Marster Lucas gin us big times on Christmas and July. Us'd have big dinners and all the lemonade us could drink. The dinner'd be spread out on de ground an' all the niggers would stand roun' and eat all dey wanted. What was lef' us'd take it to our cabins. Nancy Lucas was de cook fer ever'body...In de winter time us'd quilt; jes' go from one house to anudder in de quarter. Us'd weave all our ever'day clothes, but Marster Lucas'd go to Mobile ever' July and Christmas and git our Sunday clothes, git us dresses and shoes and we'd sho be proud of 'em."

Civil War Chirstmas Memories of Julia Johnson Fisher of Georgia

2011-12-19T10:20:00.003-05:00

DIARY OF JULIA JOHNSON FISHER, 1864

Julia Johnson Fisher, 1814-1885, was a native of Massachusetts, living with her husband, William Fisher (1788-1878), and her children in an isolated area in Camden County, Georgia, near the Florida border. The diary contains comments on conditions and incidents of daily life, family and neighborhood news, personal thoughts, and reports of military activity in the region. See Documenting the American South (DocSouth.unc.edu), a digital publishing initiative of the University Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

1864
On Christmas day we fared sumptuously. Mrs. Lynn dined with us and furnished the turkey. We had some chickens and a piece of fresh pork. Gussie had been off ten miles and brought oysters--so we had an oyster stew and chicken salad, minus the greens, potatoes and rice. The turkey was dressed with corn bread. Our dessert was a corn meal pudding wet with water, enriched with bottled huckleberries and pork fat; sauce made of borrowed syrup and flour--it was excellent, how we did relish it! but we talked of the good pies and bread and cakes that linger in remembrance, and the nuts and apples that pass around so freely in that land of plenty. It is hard to be so entirely deprived of them but we try to console ourselves with the fact that we enjoy better health and appetites. We are always hungry-- hungry the year round, but do not grow fat.

Ex-Slave Ellen Butler's Christmas Memories

2011-12-19T10:15:00.004-05:00

Ellen Butler was born a slave to Richmond Butler, near Whiska Chitte, in the northern part of Calacasieu Parish (now a part of Beau Regard Parish), in Louisiana:

"On Christmas time they give us a meal. I 'member that. I don't 'member no other holidays."

Photos and quotes from the Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves. The Slave Narratives is a collection of over 20,000 pages of typewritten interviews with more than 3,500 former slaves, collected over a 10-year period. In 1929, both Fisk University in Tennessee & Southern University in Louisiana began to document the life stories of former American slaves. Kentucky State College continued the work in 1934. In the midst of the Depression between 1936-1939, these narratives continued to be collected as part of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration. They were assembled & microfilmed in 1941, as the 17-volume Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves. The collection includes photos of the interviewees taken in the 1930s as well as their full interviews. Those whose voices are included in the collection ranged in age from 1 to 50 at the time of emancipation in 1865; more than 2/3 were over 80 when they were interviewed.

The obvious problem is the language as reported by the interviewers. The Library of Congress explains on their website, "The narratives usually involve some attempt by the interviewers to reproduce in writing the spoken language of those interviewed...The interviewers were writers, not professionals trained in the phonetic transcription of speech...by the 1930s, when the interviews took place, white representations of black speech already had an ugly history of entrenched stereotype dating back at least to the early nineteenth century." What most white interviewers assumed to be "the usual" patterns of their informants' speech was unavoidably influenced by the 1930s preconceptions & stereotypes of the interviewers themselves. "The result, as the historian Lawrence W. Levine has written, "is a mélange of accuracy & fantasy, of sensitivity & stereotype, of empathy & racism" that may sometimes be offensive to today's readers. Yet whatever else they may be, the representations of speech in the narratives are a pervasive & forceful reminder that these documents are not only a record of a time that was already history when they were created: they are themselves irreducibly historical, the products of a particular time & particular places..."
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Civil War Christmas Memories of Meta Morris Grimball 1862 in South Carolina

2011-12-19T09:54:00.002-05:00

Journal of Meta Morris Grimball: South Carolina, December 1860-February 1866: At

the Grove Plantation, St. Paul's Parish, South Carolina

Margaret Ann "Meta" Morris Grimball, 1810-1881, was a descendent of Lewis Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. In 1830, she married John Berkley Grimball (1800-1892), who owned a rice plantation near Adam's Run, South Carolina. They had nine children, whom they brought up at the plantation and in Charleston. During the Civil War, the family sought safety in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The plantation was confiscated by federal troops but returned to the family in 1866. The Grimballs were unable to continue mortgage payments and lost the house in 1870. Meta kept a diary before, during, and immediately after the Civil War. In it she records the major events of the day and their effect on her family's life. Grimball juxtaposes common domestic concerns with larger issues related to the Civil War, including slavery, personal safety, and religion. See Documenting the American South (DocSouth.unc.edu), a digital publishing initiative of the University Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

1862
Daughter Elizabeth had a charming Christmas day...She was invited to spend the day with Mrs Dawkins, at Union, where there is a very nice Episcopal Church...There was a plentiful breakfast on their arrival, and then the Christmas tree for the children, with little gifts made by kind hands. After the tree they practised the Church Music, then went to Church, where E. took her place in the Choir, they returned to Mrs D's, had a real Christmas dinner...We went to hear Mr Whiteford Smith preach in the morning, had a fine sermon...came home to a dinner of Roast pig and a pudding, which we all enjoyed...In the evening short cake, and a great deal of pleasant talk. - Just now we have some sausages, and I am glad Mr Grimball is with us to enjoy them.

Son Berkley writes that his Christmas passed very pleasantly, they had a fine breakfast, of Opossum, Partridges, corn bread, & butter. A dinner with company. - In the Evening Theatricals a burlesque on the Ghost Scene in Hamlet. The dying scene of Lady Macbeth, and then a piece called the stolen pig, a man comes to the Captain of the Company complaining of having lost a pig, & says his negro, Cuffy, saw who took it. The Court Martial is arranged and the whole company called out, and Cuffy is made to point to the man who stole the pig. The part of the negro is played by Simons; and to the great delight of the negroes present, composed of teamsters, & servants there was music between the acts. Berkley lead the Orchestra, which consisted of 2 Violins, a triangle, bones, a drum. The end of the play is that the man is sentenced to death, and dies like Othello.

Civil War Christmas Memories of Anita Dwyers Withers in Virginia

2011-12-19T09:35:00.002-05:00

DIARY OF ANITA DWYER WITHERS 1860-1865

A devout Roman Catholic, Anita Dwyer Withers, wife of a United States and Confederate army officer, lived at her home in San Antonio, Texas, and briefly in Washington, D.C., before the Civil War, and in Richmond, Virginia, during the war, before returning to Texas in 1865. The diary, 4 May 1860-18 June 1865, mainly records her life in the Confederate capital, her concerns for her husband, John (d. 1892) and children, social visits, the Catholic Church, news from battles, rumors and threats of approaching federal troops, and temporary visits away from the city. See Documenting the American South (DocSouth.unc.edu), a digital publishing initiative of the University Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

"Christmas Day 25th. [Dec.] Wednesday. [1861]
We went to Church at 10 O'clock. Father McMullen preached a very good sermon. After Church we all went to Mr. John Purcell's and took a glass of egg-nog, and from there we went to see the Sisters, Mrs. Randolph took us ladies in her carriage. (The Stable of Bethlehem was beautiful.) The little Orphans sang for us. About five we walked up to Mr. Menard's to dine--we returned about nine..."

1862
"Christmas day I went to Church at half past ten. My Husband was busy and could not go--he had to attend to every thing for Mrs. Whiting, her husband had to be buried the same afternoon--It was the saddest Christmas I ever spent--no person dined out, though many were invited. We were to have dined at Mr. John Purcell's."

1863
"On Christmas day Col. Williams & his family, Capt. Wade & Capt. Myers & wife dined with us. We had a mighty nice dinner--cake, Jelly, Blanc Mange and many nice things."

Ex-Slave Emma Taylor's Christmas Memories

2011-12-19T09:31:00.005-05:00

Emma Taylor was born a slave of the Greer family, in Mississippi. She and her mother later were sold to a Texan:

"Sometimes de niggers danced and played de fiddle and us chillen played in de yard. We could stay up all night dem times, but had to work next day, and hardly ever stayed up all night. Dat durin' harvest or at Christmas time."

Ex-Slave Mary Reynold's Christmas Memories

2011-12-19T09:28:00.002-05:00

Mary Reynolds was born in slavery to the Kilpatrick family in Black River, Louisiana:

"They give all the niggers fresh meat on Christmas and a plug tobacco all round. The highes' cotton picker gits a suit of clothes and all the women what had twins that year gits a outfittin' of clothes for the twins and a double, warm blanket."

Civil War Christmas Memories of Mary Jeffreys Bethell 1861-1862 in North Carolina

2011-12-19T09:18:00.002-05:00

Diary of Mary Jeffreys Bethell, January 1st 1861 - Dec. 1865:

Mary Jeffreys Bethell, born in 1821, was the daughter of Phereba Hinton Jeffreys and farmer and Methodist preacher George Washington Jeffreys (1794-1849). She married William D. Bethell in 1840 and spent most of her life in Rockingham County, North Carolina. Mary Jeffreys Bethell's diary has infrequent entries beginning on 1 January 1853 and ending 6 January 1873. Diary entries discuss Bethell's home and neighbors; her religious activities; the activities of her children, several of whom died young, and children in the Torrien family, whom Bethell referred to as nieces and nephews and who lived in the Bethell household for many years. There are frequent mention of Bethell's journeys with her husband to Louisiana, Tennessee, and Arkansas, and thoughts of moving the family out of North Carolina. During the Civil War, the diary also includes the activities of sons Willie and George in the Confederate Army, including George's adventures with the 44th North Carolina Regiment and his capture and imprisonment at Johnson Island. Bethell's husband joined the Army in 1864, after which Bethell wrote of the difficulties she endured in her husband's absence, including the departure of their slaves. See Documenting the American South (DocSouth.unc.edu), a digital publishing initiative of the University Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

December 25, 1861
This is Christmas day, a beautiful day but very cold, how different this Christmas from last, now our Country is filled with armies to defend our country from the Northern army, many bloody battles have been fought, hundreds have been killed on both sides, and a great many soldiers have died in the camp from disease and want of attention while sick, it is sad to contemplate, perhaps the Lord is chastising his church, I believe he permits it for our good.I have two sons in the army, they have enjoyed fine health, the Lord has blessed them, I thank and praise him for it. I hope and pray that they may get home safe to my arms.

December 25, 1862
This is Christmas day, a most lovely day for the season, it is almost like Spring. I hope 'tis a token of good, that the Lord is going to bless us if it is his will. I hope the war will soon close and that we may have peace.

From the Newspapers - 1888

2011-12-13T22:50:00.000-05:00

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A Chicago woman has been arrested for highway robbery. No proper young man now ventures to appear on Chicago streets without a chaperone.-from The Newton Press, Jasper County, Illinois, February 15, 1888
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Painting His Mother - Massachusetts Artist David Waite Bowdoin (c 1819-c 1872)

2011-12-12T07:05:00.002-05:00

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In 1840, David Waite Bowdoin (ca. 1819-ca. 1872), an obscure portraitist (only 2 paintings are known & the other is of his father) from New Braintree, Massachusetts, painted an intense portrait of his mother wearing an unusual brown dress and bonnet with yellow ribbons.

David Waite Bowdoin (ca. 1819-ca. 1872), The Artist's Mother Tirzah Waite Bowdoin, New Braintree, Mass., 1840
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American Artist Sturtevant J Hamblin 1817-1884 (Prior-Hamblin School)

2011-12-12T03:51:00.000-05:00

Attributed to Sturtevant J Hamblin (American artist 1817-1884), but probably by "Blake not Hamblin" Boy in Blue c 1840 (Prior-Hamblin School)

Sturtevant J. Hamblin worked as a portrait painter in Portland, Maine; and, sometime around 1839, he was working in Boston, Massachusetts with his family. His facts are a little vague and can be confusing. His last name is sometimes spelled Hamblen, & he is sometimes listed as L. J. Hamblin.

Sturtevant J Hamblin (American artist 1817-1884) (Prior-Hamblin School)

Sturtevant worked with his brothers Eli, Joseph, Nathaniel, & their sister Rosamond, wife of artist William Matthew Prior. When Rosamond married Prior, the Hamblins & the Priors joined forces creating a family art business. Their art styles, as well as many other New England folk artists of that era, are very similar and nearly indistinguishable. Today, most unsigned paintings done in this style are commonly referred to as the Prior-Hamblin School. There seem to be only 7 known signed portraits by Sturtevant Hamblen. Sturtevant was listed as a portrait painter in Boston until 1856, when he & his brother Joseph went into the men’s furnishings business.

Sturtevant J Hamblin (American artist 1817-1884) Little Boy with Flowers (Prior-Hamblin School)

Sturtevant J Hamblin (American artist 1817-1884) Young Woman c 1840 (Prior-Hamblin School)

Sturtevant J Hamblin (American artist 1817-1884) Pair of Double Portraits Laura Ann 9 yrs; Mary Ellen 7 yrs; George Albert 4 yrs; William Wood 2 yrs (Prior-Hamblin School)

Sturtevant J Hamblin (American artist 1817-1884) Portrait of a Young Lady (Prior-Hamblin School)

Sturtevant J Hamblin (American artist 1817-1884)(Prior-Hamblin School)

Sturtevant J Hamblin (American artist 1817-1884) Little Girl Holding Apple c 1840 (Prior-Hamblin School)

Sturtevant J Hamblin (American artist 1817-1884) Boy with Riding Crop (Prior-Hamblin School)

Sturtevant J Hamblin (American artist 1817-1884) The Younger Generation c 1850 (Prior-Hamblin School)

Sturtevant J Hamblin (American artist 1817-1884) Young Girl with Flowers (Prior-Hamblin School)

Sturtevant J Hamblin (American artist 1817-1884) Baby with Doll c 1850 (Prior-Hamblin School)

Sturtevant J Hamblin (American artist 1817-1884) Mother and Child (Prior-Hamblin School)

Sturtevant J Hamblin (American artist 1817-1884) Boy with Hoop (Prior-Hamblin School)

Sturtevant J Hamblin (American artist 1817-1884) (Prior-Hamblin School)

Sturtevant J Hamblin (American artist 1817-1884) Little Girl with Pet Rabbit c 1845 (Prior-Hamblin School)

Sturtevant J Hamblin (American artist 1817-1884) Sisters in Red c 1840-50 (Prior-Hamblin School)

Sturtevant J Hamblin (American artist 1817-1884) (Prior-Hamblin School)

Sturtevant J Hamblin (American artist 1817-1884) Sisters in Blue c 1840 (Prior-Hamblin School)

Sturtevant J Hamblin (American artist 1817-1884) Young Boy Holding a Bow and Arrow with a Drum on the Floor (Prior-Hamblin School)

Sturtevant J Hamblin (American artist 1817-1884) Girl with Apple (Prior-Hamblin School)
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Folk Art from the Prior-Hamben School

2011-12-12T03:47:00.002-05:00

Prior-Hamblen School Portrait of woman attributed to EW Blake c 1845

Here are more paintings from the Prior-Hamblen or Hamblin School. Five artists are general identified as being part of the Prior-Hamblin School who were influenced by artist William Matthew Prior:

Sturtevant Hamblen or Hablin,Prior's brother-in-law, whose family the Prior family lived with in Maine, & in Boston, during the 1830's - 1840's;

George Hartwell, whose niece Elizabeth Hartwell married a Hamblen son, James Hamblen, and who also lived in Boston during the time that Prior lived there;

J. (Jacob) Bailey Moore of Candia, New Hampshire;

William W. Kennedy, who painted in New Bedford & Nantucket, Massachusetts, but mainly in Baltimore, Maryland, and for whom no direct relationship to Prior has ever been shown other than that he published an advertisement in New Bedford similar to advertisements used by Prior;

E.W. Blake was listed in the Boston City Directory as a physician at the Boston Lunatic Hospital living on Beach Street near Harrison Avenue in Boston in 1843. From 1844-1849, he was listed at 28 Harrison Avenue. Both locations were within easy walking distance of Prior's residence on Marion Street. Blake was surely influenced by Prior, as he frequently used a small-size format similar to that used by Prior and had a simple style, not realistic. Blake's portraits, except for two known signed paintings, have usually been attributed to Prior.

Prior-Hamblen School

Prior-Hamben School 1840s

Prior-Hamblen School Baby Boy with Pencil c 1835

Prior-Hamblen School A Rhode Island Woman attrubuted to William W Kennedy

Prior-Hamblen School Sarah Gray 1843

Prior-Hamblen School

Prior-Hamblen School Young Girl with Black Braids

Prior-Hamblen School 1840s

Prior-Hamblen School Baby

Prior-Hamblen School Young Woman c 1840

Prior-Hamblen School Baby Girl with Ribbons

Prior-Hamblen School Dark Haired Young Woman with Bow-Knotted Pearls and Brooch

Prior-Hamblen School Girl in Blue Dress c 1840

Prior-Hamblen School Rosy-Cheeked Young Girl Wearing a Lace-Trimmed White Dress

Prior-Hamblen School Young Girl with Flowers

Prior-Hamblen School Young Girl Holding Flowers

Prior-Hamblen School attr to Sturtevant Hamblen (American painter, 1817–1884) Adelaide Endora Smith, Waterville, ME, 1852.

Prior-Hamblen School Young Woman

Prior-Hamblen School Baby

Prior-Hamblen School

Prior-Hamblen School Young Girl in Blue c 1835
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American Artist William Matthew Prior 1806-1873 (Prior-Hamblin School)

2011-12-12T03:45:00.001-05:00

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In the first half of the 19th century, before photography made it possible to have inexpensive true likenesses, portrait painters worked in most urban cities & often traveled from small town to small town, memorializing their clients for future generations.

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) William Whipper c 1835

Born in Bath, Maine, William Matthew Prior became an itinerant portrait & landscape painter who also painted on glass. By 1824, he had traveled to Portland, Maine, and lived there from 1831 to 1840. Prior was a most practical portrait painter, he would adjust his fees in accordance with what his sitters could pay. He advertised in the "Maine Inquirer" in 1831 that "persons who wished a flat picture can have a likeness without shade or shadow at one-quarter price"

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) Mrs. Nancy Lawson, wife of a Boston clothing merchant. 1843 (Prior-Hamblin School)

Prior executed some of the 19th century’s most respectful portraits of free men & women of color, suggesting that he may have held abolitionist sympathies or beliefs, which was fairly common in New England.

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) Margaret Gardener Howard (Prior-Hamblin School)

Prior's portrayal of free blacks elicit the same seriousness & respect as his white clients. Prior avoids the caricature sometimes seen in others depictions of African-Americans. The fashionably dressed Copeland children hold a book, some cherries, and a bouquet of flowers, accoutrements that declared the family's middle-class gentility & prosperity.

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) Three Sisters of the Copeland Family 1854 (Prior-Hamblin School)

Prior was born into a seafaring family in Bath, Maine. His father, Matthew, & brother, Barker, were both lost at sea in 1815. Prior decided not to go to sea & trained to become an ornamental painter. Advertisements in the Maine Inquirer from 1827 through 1831, detail the types of projects he undertook during this period, from re-japanning tea trays and tin waiters in a “tasty style” to restoring oil portraits. By 1823, however, he was primarily painting portraits.

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) The Burnish Sisters 1854 (Prior-Hamblin School)

In an effort to solicit more business, Prior put this notice in his local Portland newspaper on February 28, 1828, which declared: "Portrait painter, Wm. M. Prior, offers his services to the public. Those who wish for a likeness at a reasonable price are invited to call soon. Side views and profiles of children at reduced prices." Apparently people took him up on his offer. His entrepreneurial approach made painted portraits available to a wider range of clients.

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) or Sturtevant J. Hamblin (American artist, 1817-1884) Mary Cary and Susan Elizabeth Johnson, 1848 (Prior-Hamblin School)

A label attached to the back of Prior’s portrait Nat Todd, painted about 1848, announced: “PORTRAITS /PAINTED IN THIS STYLE!/Done in about an hour’s sitting./Price 2,92 including Frame, Glass, & c./ Please call at Trenton Street/East Boston/WM. M. PRIOR.”

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873)(Prior-Hamblin School)

In 1828, Prior married Rosamond Clark Hamblin uniting him with a large family of painters & glaizers with whose fortunes & movements he became intetwined. Today there is often confusion in trying to distinguish among unsigned portraits produced by William Matthew Prior, his in-laws Sturtevant J. Hamblin (active 1837–1856); George G.Hartwell (1815–1901); & William W. Kennedy. The works by these interrelated artists are sometimes refered to as the Prior-Hamblin School. Sometime between 1831 & 1834, Prior moved with his growing family to Portland, Maine, where he began a pattern of living with or near his Hamblin relatives. By 1841, the Prior and Hamblin families had moved together to Boston, where they lived in the home of Nathaniel Hamblin.

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) Two Children with Dog Minny on a Ribbon 1840 (Prior-Hamblin School)

By 1846, the Priors & their large family were living in their own home at 36 Trenton Street, which Prior dubbed the “Painting Garret.” The number of portraits surviving from this period attest to Prior’s popularity despite the advent of photography. He continued to travel throughout New England and as far south as Baltimore, Maryland, in search of commissions, sometimes accompanied by one of his sons.

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) Issac Josiah and William Mulford Hand (Prior-Hamblin School)

As early as 1838, Prior had offered posthumous portraiture, but during the 1850s & 1860s he advertised this practice, but now using the “spirit effect,” a gift he claimed he had received after his conversion to Millerism. In 1840, Prior probably saw Adventist leader William Miller preach during a major convocation in Casco, Maine. He & his brother-in-law Joseph G. Hamblin became zealous converts; and Prior wrote at least two books on Miller, even after the evangelist's predictions failed to occur.

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) (Prior-Hamblin School)

The paintings I am posting here have been attributed to William Matthew Prior but may have been painted by some of his in-laws or others. I am surely not positive. Anyway, just relax and enjoy.

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) Young Woman (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) Rosamond Clark Prior, the Artist's Wife (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) John Thayer 1848 (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) Mary Jane Anthony Nichols (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) Miss Jones with Her Dog and Cat 1846 (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) Girl with a Pink Bow (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) Portrait of a Young Girl (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) A Young Woman (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) Young Girl in Blue Dress 1852 (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) A Young Lady (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) Baby with Rattle (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) A Young Girl (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) Girl with Dog (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) Young Lady (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) Girl with Flowers (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) Two Andrews Children (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) Little Miss Fairfield 1850 (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) Two Andrews Children (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) Lydia and William Anderson (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) Girl in Green Dress (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873)(Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) Young Boy and Girl (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) Tim Thumb (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) Young Boy with Toy Whip and Toy Wagon (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) Young Boy in Gray Costume with Black (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) Little Child with Big Dog 1848 (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) Janey in Pink and White Dress 1840 (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) Girl Seated on Bench 1840 (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) Miss Fairfield 1850 (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) William Allen 1843 (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) Girl with a Black Cat (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) Boy with a Riding Crop (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) Boy in White Dress (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) Child in Stripped Shirt with Whip (Prior-Hamblin School)

William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873)

William Matthew Prior, (American artist, 1806-1873) Baby in Blue (Prior-Hamblin School)

Folk Art Portraits Attributed to George G. Hartwell 1815-1901 of the Prior-Hamblen School

2011-12-12T03:42:00.002-05:00

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributedChild Holding Doll and Shoe c 1845

George G. Hartwell was associated with the Prior-Hamblin group of painters. He was related to William Matthew Prior by marriage and he painted signs and portraits in Bridgewater, Massachusetts and Auburn, Maine. His flat style of painting is very close to that of William Matthew Prior, Sturtevant Hamblin, George Bailey Moore, and G. Alden. These paintings are attributed to him, because he did not sign his work.

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Young Woman in Grey Dress with Rose c 1840

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Young Boy in Grey

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Unknown Woman, probably New England, ca. 1840.

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Ann Maria Wilcox Holding a Rose

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Young Woman

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Girl with Rose

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Woman holding Red Book

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Child in Red Dress

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Woman in Blue Dress

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Boy in Scroll-Back Chair

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Mary Williams (Mrs. John Williams)

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Albert Winslow Trow

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Woman Holding a Rose

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Girl in Pink Dress

George G. Hartwell (American artist, 1815-1901) Prior-Hamblen School attributed Girl in Blue Dress
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From the Newspapers - Female Farmer

2011-12-11T20:05:00.000-05:00

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A young woman in Dakota who works 160-acres, says she could work twice that if marriage-minded men would stop bothering her.

-from the Vernon Courier, Vernon, Alabama, 1887

From Tweets of Old
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From the Newspapers - The Hair on the Back of Their Heads...

2011-12-08T11:45:00.000-05:00

.The Atlanta Constitution says: “In Russia the girls carry dynamite in their back hair. In Georgia they carry it in their dear little eyes.”
-from the Richmond Dispatch, Richmond, Virginia, August 8, 1884, quoting the Atlanta Constitution.

note: Back then, “back hair” referred to the hair worn on the back side of the head.

From Tweets of Old.

Ohio Portrait and Genre Painter Allen Smith Jr (1810–1890)

2011-12-07T04:07:00.019-05:00

Allen Smith Jr (American artist, 1810–1890) The Artist's Mother

New York-trained artist, Allen Smith, Jr. settled in Cleveland, Ohio in 1841, having been in New York City from 1930, and swiftly rose to prominence there as a portrait & genre painter.

Allen Smith Jr (American artist, 1810–1890) The Young Mechanic

Like all artists, Smith suffered greatly during the Panic of 1857, forcing him to take a job in James F. Ryder’s studio where, according to his employer’s advertisements, he produced the “best oil painted photographs in Ohio.”

Allen Smith Jr (American artist, 1810–1890) A Lady

With 8 children to support, Smith collaborated with other photographers in times of need, both in Cleveland & Cincinnati, but ended his days happily in Ohio's Lake County, painting landscapes in the Big Creek Valley.
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From the Newspapers - A Curious Case of Kidnapping in June 1857

2011-12-05T19:51:00.000-05:00

Unknown American Artist Baby in a Red Chair 1825

A German girl named Bertha Bushkill, “was arrested on Sunday last, in New York, for kidnapping a child. Her purpose was that she might induce a young man who had been courting her to marry her.

She had told him that he was the father of a child which she pretended was being taken care of by some of her friends.

Her lover consented to marry her, provided she would produce the child. She accordingly, stole a child; took it home, and her lover being pleased with the appearance of the child agreed to fulfill his part of the contract.

Preparations were going forward for the marriage at the time of the arrest.”

From the Semi-Weekly Western Sun, June 30, 1857
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Dance!

2011-12-04T12:19:00.000-05:00

18th-Century Dancing

Dance in the Morning

I danced in the morning when the world was begun,
And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun,
And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth,
At Bethlehem I had my birth.

Dance, then, wherever you may be.
I am the Lord of the dance, said he.
I'll lead you all wherever you may be,
I will lead you all in the Dance, said he.

Dancing in a Grove in the 18th-century

Sidney Carter (1915–2004) wrote these words in 1963 Britain, to a 19th-century Shaker melody, "Simple Gifts" by Joseph Brackett. The tune was written by American Joseph Brackett (1797–1882) who first joined the Shakers at Gorham, Maine, when his father's farm helped to form the nucleus of a new Shaker settlement. The song was largely unknown outside of American Shaker communities; until it became world famous thanks to its use in Aaron Copland's score for Martha Graham's ballet "Appalachian Spring," 1st performed in 1944. Copland used "Simple Gifts" a second time in 1950, in his first set of "Old American Songs" for voice & piano, which was later orchestrated.

Dancing in the 19th-century

19th-Century Dance
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Children with Books - Folk Art

2011-12-03T06:20:00.002-05:00

Attributed to George Hartwell (Americian artist, 1815-1901) Little Girl in Pink with Book and Rose, ca. 1840.

Attributed to Jacob Eicholtz (American artist, 1776-1842), Two Girls, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Attributed to William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) Girl Seated on Bench 1840 (Prior-Hamblin School)

Attributed to William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) or Sturtevant J. Hamblin (American artist, 1817-1884) Mary Cary and Susan Elizabeth Johnson, 1848 (Prior-Hamblin School)

Attributed to William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873) Laura Ann Wood, age 9; Mary Ellen Wood, age 7

Attributed to William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873)Three Sisters of the Copeland Family 1854 (Prior-Hamblin School)

Attributed to William Matthew Prior (American artist, 1806-1873)Young Girl in Blue Dress 1852 (Prior-Hamblin School)

Erastus Salisbury Field (American artist, 1805–1900) Ellen Tuttle Bangs

Erastus Salisbury Field (American artist, 1805–1900) Margaret Gilmore

George Linen (Amreican artist, 1802 - 1888 ) Portrait of the Balentine Children of New Jersey c 1873 detail

John Brewster Jr. (American Painter, 1766-1854) Boy With a Book 1810

John Brewster Jr. (American Painter, 1766-1854) Mary Warren Bryant c 1815

John Brewster Jr. (American painter, 1766-1854) Boy with Book 1800

John Brewster, Jr (American painter, 1766-1854) Boy with Red Book

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) Blue-Eyed Boy in Brown

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) Boy and Girl with Book

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) Daniel Plumb, Jr

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) Henry Ward

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) John and Louisa Stock, 1845

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) James Eugene Judd

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) Mary Abba Woodworth 1837

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) Master Henry Field 1844

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) The Blaksley Boys

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) William Howard Smith 1838

Joshua Johnson (American artist, 1763–1824) Adelina Morton

Lewis Thomas Ives (American artist, 1833-1894) The Storybook

Mary B. Tucker (American artist, 1784-1853) Learning the ABCs c 1840

Samuel Miller (American painter, 1807-1853) Emily Moulton

Unknown American artist, Girl with a Book and a Cat 1840s

Unknown American artist, James M Mitchell Amesbury, Massachusetts 1835

Unknown American artist, Little Boy With Book, Basket, And Hammer

Unknown American artist, Mary Briggs 1840

Unknown American artist, Philip

Unknown American artist, Rachel
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Bonnets, Books, & Color - A Few More Liberated Female Readers

2011-12-03T04:24:00.002-05:00

Jonas Holman (American artist, 1805-1873) Woman with Pink Neck Ribbon c 1830-35

John Brewster Jr. (American Painter, 1766-1854) Ann Batell Loomis 1822

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) c 1814-19 Mrs. Crane

John Usher Parsons (American artist, 1813-1851) Woman in Pink 1835-40

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) Woman with Books

Deborah Goldsmith (American artist, 1808-1836) Permilia Forbes Sweet of New York 1832

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) 1825 A Lady with a Book

Oliver Tarbell Eddy ( 1799-1868 ) Abbe Greiger Chavallier 1835

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) c 1815-19 Mrs. Stoddard Holding Bible

Joshua Johnson (American artist, 1763–1824) A Young Lady Holding a Book

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) Catherine Stoutenburgh

Unknown American Artist, Woman Seated 1840s

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) 1820 Jane Ann Campbell

Joshua Johnson (American artist, 1763–1824) Sarah Ogden Gustin

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) 1820 Rebecca Rouse (Mrs. Jonathan Eddy)

Joseph Whiting Stock (American artist, 1815–1855) Miss Thayer

James Brown (American artist, fl 1800-1835) Laura Hall 1808

Unknown American Artist, Martha 1810

Samuel Lovett Waldo (American artist, 1783-1861) Mrs Sackett 1839

Joshua Johnson (American artist, 1763–1824) Portrait of a Woman

Samuel Lovett Waldo (American artist, 1783-1861) Mrs Edward Kellogg 1831

Deborah Goldsmith (American artist, 1808-1836) Lady with Book

Samuel Lovett Waldo (American artist, 1783-1861) Lady of the Buloid Family?

Joshua Johnson (American artist, 1763–1824) Young Lady on a Red Sofa with a Book

Deborah Goldsmith (American artist, 1808-1836) Woman in Blue

Erastus Salisbury Field (American artist, 1805–1900) Clarissa Gallond Cook

Thomas Eakins (American Realist Painter, 1844-1916) The Artist's Wife Susan Macdowel Eakins and their Setter Dog
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Bonnets & Books: America's Very Straightlaced "Folk Art" Female Readers

2011-12-03T04:21:00.000-05:00

Sheldon Peck (American painter, 1797-1868) Mrs Dodge

Sheldon Peck (American painter, 1797-1868) Mr and Mrs William Vaughan of Aurora, Illinois

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) Katherine Salisbury Newkirk Hickok, c. 1825

Sheldon Peck (American painter, 1797-1868) Anna Gould Crand and Granddaughter Jenette 1837

Milton W. Hopkins (1789-1844) Ann Gennett Pixley Lacey (1809 - 1841)

Sheldon Peck (American painter, 1797-1868) Unidentified Couple

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) 1824 Woman With a Shawl & Bonnet Holding Book

Milton W. Hopkins (1789-1844) Unknown Lady with Book & Shawl

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) Portrait of a Woman

Sheldon Peck (American painter, 1797-1868) Woman Holding a Book

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) Lady in Black Dress Holding Book

Milton W. Hopkins (1789-1844). Fanny Aiken, 1835

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) Jeanette Payne

Sheldon Peck (American painter, 1797-1868) Young Woman from New York

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) Old Woman with a Bible

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) Marie Pells Phillips

William Sidney Mount (American artist, 1807–1868) Mrs Gideon Tucker 1830

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-14 1865) Wife of the Journalist

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) 1817 Mrs. Tobias Steller

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) 1824 Pauline Daring Denton

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) 1820 Sarah Mynderse Campbell

Ammi Phillips (American artist, 1788-1865) 1836 Mrs. Isaac Cox

Samuel Shaver (American artist, 1816–1878) Mrs Samuel Chastain (Elizabeth White)
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19th-Century School Days by American Artists

2011-12-01T20:15:00.001-05:00

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Charles Frederic Ulrich (American expatriate artist, 1858–1908) Children in a Schoolroom

Constant Mayer (French-born Amerian artist, 1832–1911) The Sewing School

Francis William Edmonds (American artist, 1806–1863) The Two Culprits

Winslow Homer (American artist, 1836-1910) Blackboard

Winslow Homer (American artist, 1836-1910) The Country School

Winslow Homer (American artist, 1836-1910) Homework

Winslow Homer (American artist, 1836-1910) The Noon Recess

Winslow Homer (American artist, 1836-1910) Country School
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From the Newspapers - Old Fogies

2011-10-25T11:45:00.000-04:00

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Mrs. W. H. Clausen gave birth to a healthy son weighing fifteen pounds. And yet old fogies croak about the degeneration of the human race.
-from the Burlington Hawkeye, Des Moines, Iowa, March 19, 1874

From Tweets of Old
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Another Portrait of African American Muslim Yarrow Mamout 1822

2011-10-24T21:03:00.000-04:00

1822 James Alexander Simpson (American artist & teacher) Yarrow Mount. Peabody Room, Georgetown Public Library

Georgetown artist James Alexander Simpson, a sometime painter & instructor at Georgetown College, painted this portrait of Yarrow Mamout in 1822. The Simpson portrait appears to have been painted from life & is not a copy of the much better known 1819 portrait (done when Mamout was about 83 years old) by the celebrated American painter, Charles Willson Peale. The Simpson painting was probably done in 1822 (the date on the label next to the painting), about two years before Yarrow's death.

Yarrow Mamout was born in Africa around 1736 and was a teenager when enslaved & brought to America, apparently no later than 1752. Yarrow (Mamout was his first name) was born & educated in Guinea, West Africa. Recent research shows that Yarrow probably was of Fulani heritage (in which the name Yaro still is used) & was literate in Arabic.

At about age 14 he was captured by slave traders & shipped to the United States, where Samuel Beall of Maryland purchased him. Beall bequeathed Yarrow to his son, Brooke Beall, who had Yarrow make bricks for a house he was building in Georgetown. After Brooke Beall's death his widow freed Yarrow in 1796. Yarrow saved the money he earned as a laborer & after 4 years was able to purchase a house & other property in Georgetown.

According to James H. Johnston’s 2006 Washington Post article, Yarrow himself was a survivor, having amassed a hundred-dollar nest egg for his retirement. Twice, merchants who held the money for him lost it when their businesses failed. Yarrow scraped & saved a third time, putting aside two hundred dollars, which he used to buy shares in Georgetown’s Columbia Bank, finally allowing him to support himself in retirement with the interest from his investment.

Yarrow, who followed the Muslim faith at a time when few Americans did, was immortalized by these two white artists near the end of his life. Yarrow reportedly was buried in his yard; research is ongoing into whether his remains are still there & whether any part of the house at 3324, 3330-3332, Dent Place NW in Georgetown could have been Yarrow's.

Sources:
Valerie Babb, Carroll Gibbs, & Kathleen Lesko, Black Georgetown Remembered (Washington: Georgetown University Press, 1991), 11-12.

Thomas J. Carrier, Historic Georgetown: A Walking Tour, Images of America Series (Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 1999).

Kenneth C. Haley, “A Nineteenth Century Portraitist & More: James Alexander Simpson,” Maryland Historical Magazine 72-3 (fall 1977): 410-411.

Yarrow Mamout, Vertical Files, Peabody Room, Georgetown Public Library

James H. Johnston, "The Man in the Knit Cap," Washington Post Magazine, Feb. 5, 2006.

Humanities Magazine, November/December 2008 Volume 29, Number 6
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Earliest known portrait of practicing American Muslim by Charles Willson Peale

2011-10-23T08:03:00.000-04:00

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One of the earliest formal portraits of an African American - a well-known oil painting of a kufi-wearing free black man painted by Charles Willson Peale in 1819 - has been sold by the Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Charles Willson Peale (American painter, 1741-1827). Yarrow Mamout is believed to be the earliest known portrait of a practicing American Muslim.

In 1819, Charles Willson Peale headed down to Washington DC to paint portraits of President James Monroe, Henry Clay, and other dignitaries for exhibition in the famed Peale museum located in Independence Hall.

But there was another sitter the painter wanted to snare on his trip.

"I heard of a Negro who is living in Georgetown said to be 140 years of age," Peale wrote in his diary. "He is comfortable in his Situation having Bank stock and lives in his own house."

The man was Yarrow Mamout, a free African, a Muslim who indeed held bank stock, purchased with great effort to secure a comfortable old age - after a life of abduction and bondage. (He was, however, most likely only in his 80s.)

Mamout, known throughout Georgetown as affable and chatty, sat for Peale for at least two days, talking about his life.

The finished portrait - the earliest known rendering of an American Muslim and an extremely rare early portrayal of a free African - has been purchased by the Philadelphia Museum of Art from the Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent. It is already on view at the Art Museum.

"It's such a wonderful picture," said Kathleen A. Foster, the museum's senior curator of American art. "It's been cleaned. He looks so great, so great. It just sparkles."

She continued: "We're never going to take that painting down. It will be out seven days a week. It's such a great story."

Mamout told at least some of that story to Peale (who was 78 years old at the time), fascinating the painter and inspiring him to fill his diary with Yarrow Mamout anecdotes.

Mamout had been born in West Africa (probably Guinea), captured by slave traders, and shipped to America when a teenager in the early 1750s.

Once here, he was purchased by Samuel Beall of Maryland and passed on to his son, Brooke Beall.

Brooke Beall told Mamout sometime in the 1790s that if he helped build the Beall home in Georgetown, he would be freed when it was completed.

Although Brooke died before the house was done, his widow kept the promise, freeing Yarrow Mamout.

Peale was so intrigued by this story that he visited the widow, who confirmed it.

After he was freed, Mamout went on to work tirelessly as a laborer, saving money, losing it, saving more, and eventually acquiring some measure of security as one of Washington's few free blacks in the early 19th century.

"Yarrow owns a house & lotts and is known by most of the Inhabitants of Georgetown & particularly by the Boys who are often teazing him which he takes in good humour," Peale confided in his diary. "The acquaintance of him often banter him about eating Bacon and drinking Whiskey - but Yarrow says it is no good to eat Hog - & drink whiskey is very bad."

After completing the portrait, Peale brought it back to Philadelphia and hung it in his museum, perhaps as a complement to the portrait of Absalom Jones - noted clergyman and cofounder of Philadelphia's Free African Society and leader of the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas - painted by Raphaelle Peale, Charles' son.

Exhibited with Peale renderings of the nation's eminent statesmen, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, Yarrow Mamout was a magnet for visitors.

In 1854, long after Peale's death, his museum's holdings were liquidated, and Yarrow Mamout was purchased by a prominent Philadelphia Quaker and businessman, Charles S. Ogden. Ogden also purchased the Peale portrait of Washington painted at Mount Vernon in 1772, believed to be the first portrait of the future general and president.

Ogden apparently thought the two paintings were closely related because when he donated both to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1892, he included a letter misidentifying Yarrow Mamout as Billy Lee, "Washington's favorite military servant during the war for Independence."

Lee was the only slave Washington freed immediately in his will.

Over the next century, Yarrow Mamout - who was not correctly identified until the 1940s - was often on exhibit at the historical society until 2001, when its ownership was transferred, along with virtually all of the 10,000 historical society artworks and artifacts, to the Atwater Kent.

The Kent showed the painting at least once, in 2004, in commemoration of Martin Luther King's Birthday and African American History Month.

Mayor Nutter hailed the art museum's acquisition in a statement Thursday evening:

"This portrait depicts a man who triumphed over enormous challenges and commanded the respect and admiration of all who knew him. It is a great thing that such an extraordinary painting will remain here so that it can continue to serve as an inspiration for all of our citizens."

Foster, of the Art Museum, said the painting represented a renaissance of Peale's artistic powers.

"Peale, age 77, 78, was so on his game," she said. "The whole thing, these two old men, are a testimony to the power of age."

And, she added, "What a story!"

Philadelphia Inquirer - Stephan Salisbury - ‎October, 23, 2011‎
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From the Newspapers - Chicken Bones

2011-10-03T10:55:00.000-04:00

New York, Nov. 16, 1899–

Justice Bookstaver, in the Supreme Court, yesterday heard the application for divorce made by Mrs. Mary E. Okerlind from Gustavus E. Okerlind of Brooklyn. Mrs. Okerlind testified that when they used to have chicken for dinner Mr. Okerlind would pick up his chicken bones and dance them upon the table, so she could see how she would look as a skeleton. He would say to her upon such occasions that they had been married nine years and that it was time she died, as no wife should live longer.Mr. Okerlind testified that his wife has always treated him harshly and threatened him with bodily harm. Once she threw a pail of water on him when he was in the garden. Justice Bookstaver reserved decision.
-The New Haven Evening Register

From Tweets Of Old
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Louisiana Portrait Paintings by Italian-born artist Anthony Meucci (flourished in America, 1819-1827)

2011-10-02T09:12:00.002-04:00

Anthony Meucci (fl in America, 1819-1827) Juliet Noel (Mrs Pierre Toussaint)

A painter known for portrait miniatures, teaching drawing, painting opera scenery, & restoring art, Anthony Meucci was active in New Orleans from 1818 to 1827, with visits to Charleston, South Carolina in 1822; New York City 1823; & Salem, Massachusetts in 1825. In 1818, he established a studio on St. Ann Street in New Orleans between Dauphine & Bourbon, & by 1826 was working out of a studio at the corner of St. Peter & Royal Streets.

Anthony Meucci (fl in America, 1819-1827) George Washington

He sailed to the United States from Rome. Among his commissions for scenery painting was the New Orleans Theatre. He was married to artist Nina Meucci, & the couple moved to Havana, Cuba in 1827, & then to the northern coast of South America. Among his portrait subjects from the period was Simon Bolivar, whom he met in Cartegena, Columbia. He also did portraits of the Marquis de Lafayette & George Washington.

Anthony Meucci (fl in America, 1819-1827) Simon Bolivar

Anthony Meucci (fl in America, 1819-1827) Euphemia Toussaint

Anthony Meucci (fl in America, 1819-1827) Marquis de Lafayette

Anthony Meucci (fl in America, 1819-1827) Pierre Toussanint

Thanks to Suzay Lamb for exploring historic New Orleans & Louisiana this week. See American Gallery.
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From the Newspapers - The Bustle Returns

2011-09-29T10:53:00.000-04:00

.What self-respecting female sticks a hump on her back the size of a dollar’s worth of flour?
The Winston Herald, March 15, 1894 (Alabama)

That Pesky Bustle.—That ridiculous bustle is going to be “the fashion” again this summer. What self-respecting female sticks a hump on her back the size of a dollar’s worth of flour? It seems to a man up a tree like it’s time to call a halt and consider the bearings. We truly hope that the pretty girls of Winston will refrain from making themselves ridiculous by wearing the bustle this summer. We don’t care a snap what the ugly girls do about it.
From Tweets Of Old
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Louisiana Genre & Portrait Paintings by French-born artist Alfred Boisseau 1823–1901

2011-09-28T17:24:00.001-04:00

Alfred Boisseau (Paris-born American painter, 1823–1901) The Photographer

Alfred Boisseau was born in Paris, & studied with French academic painter, Paul Delaroche. He later showed at the Paris Salon. During the 1840s, he sailed for America. He resided in New Orleans between 1845 & 1848. He was probably drawn to the city, because his brother served as secretary to the French consul.

Alfred Boisseau (Paris-born American painter, 1823–1901) Portrait of Young Woman 1849

He exhibited 2 works at the 1849 National Academy of Design in New York, a portrait & a Creole landscape. He had traveled to Cleveland by 1852, where he advertised as a portrait & landscape painter, art teacher, & art dealer. He remained in Ohio, until 1859. He settled in Montreal in 1860, where he was known to produce portraits of local society. He died in Buffalo, New York, in 1901.

Alfred Boisseau (Paris-born American painter, 1823–1901)The Artist and Her Models

Thanks to Suzay Lamb for exploring historic New Orleans & Louisiana this week. See American Gallery.
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Paintings by French-born Louisiana painter François Bernard (1812–a 1880)

2011-09-28T09:31:00.003-04:00

François Bernard (French-born Louisiana painter, 1812–a 1880) Paulina de Graffenried (Mrs. James Belton Pickett) and Sallie Pickett (Mrs. Robert C. Cummings)

Portrait, landscape, & genre painter, Francois Bernard is known in Louisiana primarily for his portraits in oil, pastel, & watercolor. He was probably born Nimes, France.

François Bernard (French-born Louisiana painter, 1812–a 1880) Choctaw Village Near Chefuncte

He studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts at Paris & Collin' & exhibited in the Paris salon between 1842 & 1849. His portraits of Louisiana residents are dated as early as 1848, when he apparently was visiting.

François Bernard (French-born Louisiana painter, 1812–a 1880) Basilice Toledano - Mrs John MacDonald Taylor

Bernard returned in Dec. 1856, to settle in New Orleans, supposedly at the invitation of a group of sugar planters who wanted him to paint their portraits. He worked in New Orleans during the winter months & traveled as an itinerant painter in
the summer.

François Bernard (French-born Louisiana painter, 1812–a 1880) Girl in White Dress

It is probable that Bernard returned to France during these travels, since his children were born there (ca. 1857 & ca. 1862). He seems to have left New Orleans during the Civil War & traveled, especially around Mandeville, Louisiana, where he painted local Indians.

François Bernard (French-born Louisiana painter, 1812–a 1880) Elizabeth Alice Briot Alces

In February of 1867, it was reported that he had returned to the city. He taught drawing to Alexandre Alaux & advised the continuation of his studies in Europe.

François Bernard (French-born Louisiana painter, 1812–a 1880) Two Chitimacha Indians

He exhibited in New Orleans at Wageners in 1867; at the Grand State Fair in 1868; at Wagener & Meyer's from 1869-71; & at the American Exposition from 1885-6. About 1875, Bernard left New Orleans for Peru.

François Bernard (French-born Louisiana painter, 1812–a 1880) Lise Jone McCall - Mrs Frederick G Freret perhaps

François Bernard (French-born Louisiana painter, 1812–a 1880) Mrs Mary Campbell Strother Moore

François Bernard (French-born Louisiana painter, 1812–a 1880) Delphine Odile Fleitas - Madame Alcee Villere

François Bernard (French-born Louisiana painter, 1812–a 1880) Angele Longer - Mrs Evan Jones McCall

Thanks to Suzay Lamb for exploring historic New Orleans & Louisiana this week. See American Gallery.
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Portraits by French-born Louisiana artist Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans 1801–1888

2011-09-28T08:53:00.004-04:00

Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans (French-born Louisiana artist, 1801–1888) Member of the Beauviais-Decuir Family

Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans (1801–1888) was a French neoclassical portrait painter working in New Orleans in the 1840s-1850s.

Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans (French-born Louisiana artist, 1801–1888) Antoinette Decuir

Amans was trained in the French neoclassical tradition of portraiture. He exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1831 to 1837.

Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans (French-born Louisiana artist, 1801–1888) Corinne Knott - Mrs Gustave Miltenberger

Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans (French-born Louisiana artist, 1801–1888) Augustine Massicot Tanneret

Artist Jean Joseph Vaudechamp & Amans traveled on the same ship from France to New Orleans in 1837. Following Vaudechamp’s departure from Louisiana, in 1839, Amans assumed the role as the most celebrated portraitist in Louisiana.

Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans (French-born Louisiana artist, 1801–1888) Madame Francoise Gabrielle Rosa Montegut Pitot

Amans later returned to Paris, where he died in 1888.

Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans (French-born Louisiana artist, 1801–1888) Clara Mazureau

Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans (French-born Louisiana artist, 1801–1888) Women in Green Dress A Member of the Beauvais-Decuir Family

Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans (French-born Louisiana artist, 1801–1888) Creole in a Red Turban

Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans (French-born Louisiana artist, 1801–1888) Portrait of a Lady

Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans (French-born Louisiana artist, 1801–1888) Portrait of a Woman

Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans (French-born Louisiana artist, 1801–1888) Josephine Roman Aime

Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans (French-born Louisiana artist, 1801–1888) Reverend Mother Sainte Seraphine

Thanks to Suzay Lamb for exploring historic New Orleans & Louisiana this week. See American Gallery.
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From the Newspapers - Giddy Mother of 16

2011-09-08T08:28:00.000-04:00

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Mrs. J.C. Anderson, a giddy young thing, and the mother of 16 children, has run away with a big-trousered dude 25 years of age.
Xenia, Ohio 1889 -The Telegraph

From Tweets Of Old
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Long Island in the 1860-70s by William Moore Davis (1829–1920)

2011-09-07T16:13:00.000-04:00

William Moore Davis (American artist, 1829–1920) The Lady Behind the Door

Born in Setauket, New York, the self-taught William Davis was a painter of trompe l'oeil still life, genre, & landscapes. He trained as a boat builder in Port Jefferson, Long Island. There, he befriended renowned genre painter William Sidney Mount, who lived nearby in Stony Brook. Davis was influenced by Mount, who was one of the most respected painters in America at that time. Although Davis was never a pupil of Mount's, surviving letters between the two artists show that Mount often gave the younger painter artistic advice.

William Moore Davis (American artist, 1829–1920) A Close Shave

In 1868, Davis exhibited still-life paintings at the National Academy of Design. From 1863-1871, he exhibited at the Brooklyn Art Association. Davis had opened a studio in New York City in 1868; but in 1872, he returned permanently to the Long Island area of Port Jefferson, where he was affectionately known as "Painter Davis." Mount had died 4 years earlier, & to a degree, Davis continued in his mentor's footsteps, providing locals with paintings of villagers pursuing their daily tasks, the area's quiet bays & coves, as well as boats anchored or at sea.

William Moore Davis (American artist, 1829–1920) Girl Reading by a Tree c 1875

Once he returned to Long Island, Davis exhibited exclusively in Port Jefferson, with the exception of a one-man show in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1894. According to the Bridgeport Daily Standard, Davis showed 135 of his works and had over 700 people in attendance. Davis died on Long Island in 1920.

William Moore Davis (American artist, 1829–1920) Cider Making on Long Island

William Moore Davis (American artist, 1829–1920) Farmyard
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Men & Women Camping in the Adirondacks, New York

2011-09-07T15:42:00.001-04:00

Photographer J F Holley, Camping in Lean-tos in the Adirondacks 1890

Here, both men and women are camping in the Adirondacks in various styles of fashionable dress. The six couples are standing in front of two lean-tos that have been set up as an open camp. One man has a banjo on his knee. The woman at the far left holds a small dog in her arms. Tall trees can be seen beyond the lean-tos.

The lean-tos are furnished with a number of household furnishings like curtains and shelf drapes. A mirror hangs inside the far lean-to. The roofs are covered with overlapping pieces of spruce or pine bark, held down with long boards. The large rocks in front of the lean-to probably mark the fire pit for campfires.

The photo shows many details of clothing and accessories. The women are wearing long skirts and fitted blouses. The men are wearing high, thick socks and breeches, fitted pants that end at the knee. Shoes, belts, jewelry and hats can also be seen. Three of the men are wearing a Scottish style of hat called a Tam o' Shanter.

J. F. Holley was a photographer from Chestertown, NY, during the late nineteenth century. He photographed Adirondack locations and people in the 1870s-90s, and published a series of photographs he called Adirondack Views. He also operated a variety store, and repaired bicycles, clocks, jewelry, etc.

Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait (American artist, 1819-1905) A Good Time Coming 1862

In this painting, artist Tait portrays his own shanty on Constable Point (now named Antlers Point) in Raquette Lake, New York in this painting. After Chateaugay, New York became developed with resort hotels, Tait moved to Raquette Lake in the summer of 1860. Raquette Lake remained picturesque, remote and unsettled. With his guides Calvin — known as Captain — Parker, Jim and Josiah Blossom, Tait camped here for nearly a decade.

Tait made a rare identification of one of the figures in this painting in his Register of Paintings. The man holding the bottle was John C. Force, a Brooklyn restauranteur and collector of Tait's paintings. Two of the other figures are guides, one bringing freshly caught fish to the campsite and the other cooking over the fire. The label on the case of wine bottles reveals that they came from Tait's good friend John Osborn, a Brooklyn liquor importer.

The lean-to is made of poles with large pieces of spruce bark used for the roof and sides. Two Native American-style birch bark canoes and their paddles can be seen at the shore past the lean-to. Two dogs are near the men, and two firearms lean against the lean-to on the right side. A fishing creel made of wicker hangs over a common style wool blanket above the firearms.

Currier & Ives published this image as a hand-colored lithograph in 1863. This and other Adirondack scenes did much to attract sporstmen to the region.

All depictions & descriptions from The Adirondack Museum at 9097 State Route 30, Blue Mountain Lake, New York 12812.
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From the Newspapers - Toenails

2011-09-06T08:24:00.000-04:00

.A woman in Minnesota filed for a divorce because her husband “never cuts his toenails and being a restless sleeper, scratches me severely.”
-from The Hartford Weekly Herald, Hartford, Kentucky, April 18, 1894

From Tweets Of Old
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