Details
Creator Sartain, John, 1808-1897, engraver.
Title Missionary Society of the Evangelical Association of North America [certificate] [graphic] / Engraved by John Sartain.
Publisher [Philadelphia] : [publisher not identified]
Publisher PA. Philadelphia. 1850
Date [ca. 1850]
Physical Description 1 print : engraving ; sheet 42 x 31 cm (16.25 x 12 in.)
Description Life membership certificate containing a vignette contrasting scenes of apocalyptic doom and religious salvation. Shows to the right an angel trumpeting salvation and wielding the Bible; a white man missionary preaching to a large group of Native Americans; and a converted African family of a man, woman, and child, kneels and reaches toward the winged messenger of God. On the ground are broken chains and swords, and a hut and palm trees are in the background. Opposite the scenes of salvation, a cross rises from the ground, bringing forth a river of redemption too late for the lost souls of a bejeweled "heathen" woman and a skull-headed man entangled by serpents. Behind them a temple, probably the Vatican, collapses to the ground. The Evangelical Association, a Methodist ministry, worked first to convert Native Americans and enslaved people before extending their missions to the Black inhabitants of Liberia in the 1820s.
Notes Issued to Peter H. Cage of Catasauqua, Pa. on February 24, 1870. Signed by Thomas Bowman, Secretary; Francis Hoffman, President; and Isaac Hess, Treasurer.
Gift of David Doret, 2004.
RVCDC
Description revised 2021.
Access points revised 2021.
Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Subject Evangelical Association of North America. Missionary Society
Angels.
Children, Black -- Missions.
Ethnic stereotypes.
Indians of North America -- Missions.
Indigenous peoples -- Missions.
Men, Black -- Missions.
Missionaries -- United States.
Posture in worship.
Racism in popular culture.
Women, Black -- Missions.
Black children.
Black men.
Black women.
Genre Engravings -- 1840-1850.
Membership certificates -- 1840-1850.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| *Philadelphia certificates - Organizations - M [P.2004.46.1]
Accession number P.2004.46.1