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Title: Soldiers Home in the city of Philadelphia. This certifies that [Charles Macalester] having contributed the sum of [fifty] dollars is constituted a [life] member of the Soldiers Home. Philada
Description: Certificate containing an allegorical scene depicting a central, winged female figure, seated, and surrounded by wounded soldiers and other female figures. The central figure has long, dark hair, adorned with a headband, and is attired in a toga with a drape-like shawl. Her arms are outstretched to her sides. Celestial light frames her head. In her left hand, she holds an olive branch. Broken shackles adorn her right wrist. In her lap, a loose scales of justice rests atop a sword. At her feet, a pair of white and African American soldiers and sailors sits and lies. In the left, the white soldier, a bandage on his arm, sits on a bound volume, near a canteen, and in front of the seated African American soldier. The latter wears a bandage on his head and rests the right side of his head on his right hand. The white soldier holds up a sheet of paper inscribed "Honorable Discharge" to the winged figure. The white sailor sits across from the white soldier. His head and left arm are bandaged and crutches rest by his side. He extends his right hand and holds his cap out to the winged figure. The African American sailor, prone, and partially visible behind him, does the same. American flags, on their sides and their upper poles adorned with wreaths of garland, rest among the soldiers and sailors. Four allegorical female figures, two and two, flank the central figure. To her left, one holds a basket of bounty as the other (behind her) tosses wreathes of garland. To her right, one holds a pocket watch as the other (behind her) shoots lightning from her hand. In the left background, wreathes rain upon soldiers, some in bandages, who march and carry American flags. In the right background, lightning bolts strike an ironclad ship on open waters., The soldiers home chartered in 1862, opened in December 1863, and incorporated in 1864 was an outgrowth of the relief organization, the Cooper Shop Volunteer Refreshment Saloon. The founding relief organization provided hospital care, washing, sleeping, and writing facilities to military personnel, sailors, refugees, and free people during the war. The Soldiers Home was chartered with the mission of "the providing of a temporary or permanent Home for all persons who, while in the military service of the United States of America, either upon land or sea, shall become disable from wounds, or from sickness, so that they are unable to perform the ordinary avocations of life." The Soldiers Home operated until 1889 when the Board of Managers dissolved itself and turned the home over to the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States., Title from item, Date inferred from year organization was chartered., Completed in manuscript on January 1, 1866 and signed by E. S. Hall, Secretary; Ellerslie Wallace, President; and Wm. Struthers, Treasurer., Charles Macalester was a Philadelphia financier and philanthropist. Macalester College is named for him., Gift of David Doret, 2002., For a history of the Home, including the process to transfer administration of the home to the Loyal Legion, see Ferdinand Sermiento, ed., Historical Sketch of the Soldiers' Home ... (1886) [Am 1886 Phi Sol Hom 24755.O]., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
Creator: Sartain, John, 1808-1897, engraver
Date: [ca. 1862]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Philadelphia certificates - Organizations - Soldiers [P.2002.40.1]

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