Diploma containing two vignettes and and a dominant scene symbolizing agriculture separated by borders comprised of sheaves of wheat, a shovel, farm produce, and vinery. In the upper right, vignettes depict a farmer reaping his field with a horse-drawn reaper and an industrial view of a train passing a coal breaker factory across from a coal mine in which horse-drawn coal cars arrive and depart. The dominant scene shows a farm with livestock, including a pig, turkeys, chickens, and ducks milling the grounds near a woman milking a cow while farmhands corral cows out of a yard, transport a wagon of hay from a barn, and plow a field. View also shows horses before a pasture of grazing sheep and other homesteads, the Wyoming Monument (erected in 1833 in memory of victims of the Wyoming Massacre 1778), and treescaped hills in the distance. The Luzerne County Agricultural Society was founded in 1858 by persons interested in farming and gardening with the mission "to foster and improve agriculture, horticulture, and the domestic and household arts." The first annual fair was held in 1859 and stopped after circa 1879 and before 1891., Not in Wainwright., Dilpoma completed in manuscript: This diploma was awarded by the Luzerne County Agricultural Society at their [Thirteenth] Annual Fair held at Wyoming [Sept. 25, 26 & 27] 18[72] To [William H. Shoemaker Esq. of Wyoming] for [best bottle of grape wine]. [Steuben Jenkins], Prest. and [W. H. Jenkins], Secy., Glued onto a modern mat by previous owner., Philadelphia on Stone, POSP 287, Steuben Jenkins was a respected lawyer, farmer, historian, and antiquarian of Wyoming County.
Date
[ca. 1860]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *Philadelphia certificates - Agriculture - Luzerne [P.2014.11]
