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- Title
- Historical monument of our country
- Description
- Allegorical print after the 1858 painting by German-born painter Johann Michael Enzing-Müller documenting the history of the United States from ca. 1000 to the 1850s. In the right foreground, Norsemen, some seated and some standing on ground marked "1000" are portrayed discovering North America, which they called Vinland. A few of the men hold bunches of grapes, a shield, or a spear. In the left foreground, Columbus stands on a shore, between a rowboat holding white men, one writing in a ledger and with his back to an enslaved Black man in shackles, and a group of Indigenous people wearing headdresses. Columbus holds a flag into the ground marked "1492" and a sword up into the air. Behind the scene Plymouth Rock with the date "1620" inscribed on it is visible. In the center of the image, white men in different era attire use tools, convene, or celebrate near a trunk, cargo, and a stone wall. Beside them, in the right, a Pilgrim family (man, woman, child) rests near a frontiersman completing a blanket tent near cattle. In the upper right, the image contains scenes representing the American Revolution, including soldiers at battle and wounded men being attended to. In the upper left, ships and trains depicted near cityscape strewn with people and from which an American flag flies represents American progress. In the upper center, the American eagle mauls the British lion and unicorn on a stone mound. At top center, on a pyramid-like structure adorned with the shields of the states of the Union, George Washington stands with his hand on the Constitution which rests on an ornate stand. To his left are the fourteen presidents who followed him standing in a line. Above them, are allegorical women figures of Liberty and Justice. An allegorical female figure holding the Declaration of Independence sits to Washington's right. Behind the Presidents and pyramid is the new U.S. Capitol building with a dome., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Copyright 1893, by Myers, Bryn & Cranford., RVCDC
- Creator
- Enzing-Müller, Johann Michael, 1804-1808
- Date
- c1893
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department ***GC-Allegories [P.2023.42.1]
- Title
- The United States Centennial International Exhibition
- Description
- Share certificate issued by the Centennial Board of Finance containing a series of historical and allegorical vignettes, scenes, and figures. Vignettes depict a view on a coastline showing a white man, attired in colonial dress, reaping with a sickle beside a white man driving a plow in front of a steer-drawn conestoga wagon, a moving train, and sailing ships; the signing of the Declaration of Independence; and a scene depicting a Native American man, attired in pants and moccasins with a feather in his hair and a quiver of arrows on his back, covering his face from the sight of a dilapidated windmill near rows of industrial buildings spewing smoke. Along the sides figures include: tradesmen; laborers; soldiers; frontiersmen; inventors, including Benjamin Franklin; Native Americans; and an African American man reading. In the top center, allegorical figures of Liberty, Art, and Peace, portrayed as white women, accept offerings from representations of people from across the world, including African women; a woman attired in a turban, a person with a parrot on their shoulder, and an Asian man with a queue. Also contains: busts of George Washington and Ulysses S. Grant; an eagle holding an American flag; views of the State House and Capitol; and the printed seal of the Centennial Board of Finance. The Centennial Exhibition of 1876 celebrated the centennial of the United States through an international exhibition of industry, agriculture, and art., Title from item., P.2002.67.77 issued to Margaret R. Bringhurst for one share on October 20, 1875. Signed by Fred. Fraley, Treasurer; and John Welsh, President., 5788.F.10 issued to Mary Norris Logan for one share on November 10, 1876. Signed by Fred. Fraley, Treasurer; and John Welsh, President., Printed on recto: Shares $10. Each. Capital $10,000,000., P.2002.67.66 poor condition., Gift of Helen Beitler, 2002 [P.2002.67.66]., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of Centennial and Columbian Exposition views [5758.F.10. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886., 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 Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
- Creator
- United States, Bureau of Engraving and Printing
- Date
- [ca. 1872]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Philadelphia certificates - Centennial [P.2002.67.77], Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department **Philadelphia certificates - Centennial [5758.F.10]
- Title
- Centennial Westward the course of empire takes its way
- Description
- Print commemorating the 100th anniversary of the nation, celebrated at the Centennial Exhibition through an international exhibition of industry, agriculture, and art in Philadelphia. Contains the text of the Declaration of Independence and the Proclamation Emancipation bordered by several historical and allegorical vignettes, scenes, and views that symbolize the social, political, and technological progress of the country. Oval frames surround the texts, which encircle bust-length portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The frames are adorned with banners labeled with the names of the original 13 colonies and the 38 states recognized as of 1876. Two bird's eye views showing the development of a cityscape, possibly New York City, from 1776 to 1876 are visible between the framed texts. Other images show the "Battle of Bunker Hill"; "Battle of Gettysburg"; "Surrender of Cornwallis"; "Columbus - 1492"; colonists landing at "Plymouth Rock"; "[Lafayette's] Visit to U.S. in 1824"; "A Home of 1776" with a white woman at a loom; "Franklin's Printing Press"; "Hoe's Ten Cylinder Press"; "A Home of 1876" with a white woman at a sewing machine; the marine battles of the "Constitution and Guerriere" and "Merrimac and Monitor"; Independence Hall, and the U.S. Capitol., Uncaptioned vignettes show an auction of enslaved African American people, African American children in a classroom, farmers harvesting a field by hand, a farmer harvesting a field with a horse-drawn reaper, a man traveling by horseback, a speeding train, a hand-pump fire engine of "1776" and a steam engine of "1876." Other pictorial elements include an American eagle, flags, and a view of the Main Building of the Centennial Exhibition incorporated into the title design in addition to floral vinery interweaved between the vignettes, scenes, and views., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1876, by D.T. Ames in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington., Letters of title illustrated with state seals., Title based on quote by Bishop George Berkley., Not in Wainwright., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 96, Gift of David Doret, 2001., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
- Creator
- Ames, Daniel T., artist
- Date
- 1876
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department ***BW - Centennial [P.9974.2]

