BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: American Stories

DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: American Stories:

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[1] SIAHST_191101_001.JPG	[2] SIAHST_191101_011.JPG	[3] SIAHST_191101_012.JPG
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[25] SIAHST_191101_124.JPG	[26] SIAHST_191101_130.JPG	[27] SIAHST_191101_133.JPG
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[55] SIAHST_191101_290.JPG	[56] SIAHST_191101_296.JPG	[57] SIAHST_191101_297.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SIAHST_191101_001.JPG: Swedish Chef debuted in 1975 The Muppet Show It took both Muppet creator Jim Henson and performer Frank Oz to animate the Swedish Chef puppet. Introduced in 1975 on The Muppet Show, the chef's kitchen antics and incomprehensible mock-Swedish made him a favorite Muppet Show regular.
2. SIAHST_191101_012.JPG: Arbor de la muerte (tree of death) 1970s used to celebrate the religious holiday Dia de los Muertos This tree featuring a female skeleton is also a candleabra. In teh Day of the Dead tradition, candles often represent fire and are a light guiding ancestors back to visit the land of the living.
3. SIAHST_191101_018.JPG: Miniature ofredna (altar or offering) 1990s used to celebrate the religious holiday Dia de los Muertos Altars like this miniature are common ways for families and friends to come together to honor deceased loved ones and support their spiritual journey to the other side.
4. SIAHST_191101_023.JPG: La Calavera Catrina (Great Dame of Death) 1978 used to celebrate the religious holiday Dia de los Muertos Skeleton imagery pervades the Day of the Dead holiday. Colorful depictions of skeletons represent the vitality of life and individual personalities.
5. SIAHST_191101_025.JPG: Skeleton musician 1972 used to celebrate the religious holiday Dia de los Muertos Images of skeletons dancing, playing instruments, or participants in comical activities are a common depiction of the philosophy that death is part of life.
6. SIAHST_191101_033.JPG: Each year, Dia de los Muertos, or Day of teh Dead, is celebrated at the beginning of November in many Latina/o households across the United States. People celebrate in public events and in their homes with lighthearted images of skeletons or by creating ofrednas. These altars display portraits, favorite foods, and special possessions in honor of deceased loved ones. In this tradition, death is not something to be feared, but a natural part of life.
7. SIAHST_191101_035.JPG: Caja de muertos (coffin or box of the dead) 1978 used to celebrate the religious holiday Dia de los Muertos This box lightheartedly depicts a wake. A skeleton in a coffin at the center sits up to join the party when a level at the right side of the box is turned.
8. SIAHST_191101_041.JPG: Arboles de la vida, or trees of life, are prevalent motifs in Latina/o history and culture. Stemming from traditional early Latin American imagery and the biblical story of Adam and Eve, each handmade clay tree is unique. These trees of life are expressions of identity and belief, showcasing a variety of Mexican folk dance and music traditions, the circle of life, and the story of temptation in the Garden of Eden.
9. SIAHST_191101_046.JPG: Arbol de la vida (tree of life) 1990s used to represent the circle of life From the biblical origin story in the Book of Genesis, this tree of life depicts Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They are tempted to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge by a snake that coils itself around the tree.
10. SIAHST_191101_052.JPG: Platter 1978 of the arbol de la vida Some trees of life, like the one painted on this ceramic platter, depicts birds as symbols of different stages of life. Younger birds are ready to take off while older ones settle in the branches of the tree.
11. SIAHST_191101_056.JPG: Arbol de la vida (tree of life) 1990s used to represent the circle of life This handmade tree of life was made specifically to showcase a variety of Mexican folk dance and music traditions.
12. SIAHST_191101_060.JPG: Knitting machine patent model 1872 patented by Francis M. Comstock, Cleveland, Ohio Textile and clothing industries accounts for over twenty percent of the American economy by 1880. New machines made manufacturing faster and cheaper. Knitting machines were first invented in the 1500s in England. This model knitted tubes for making socks.
13. SIAHST_191101_065.JPG: F.M. Comstock's UNIVERSAL KNITTING AND MENDING MACHINE Sewing Machine Attachment
14. SIAHST_191101_077.JPG: Gasoline automobile patent model amended patent issued 1895 filed by George Selden in 1879 George Selden filed a patent application for the general concept of a self-propelled vehicle in 1879 and submitted this model. He delayed issue of the patent until 1895, when he recognized that an American automobile manufacturing industry was beginning. Selden imposed royalties on the use of the gasoline engine, and only lost control over auto manufacturers when Henry Ford won a court decision in 1911.
15. SIAHST_191101_083.JPG: Improved windmill patent model 1878 patented by Jesse Benson Taking advantage of wind as a free source of power was not new to the United States, but 19th-century American inventors did develop an American-style windmill that pumped underground water to arid fields and helped open up new lands to agricultural development. With this patent, Jesse Benson proposed a simplified windmill made all of sheet metal with few moving parts, due to "their liability to become frozen together by ice and sleet."
16. SIAHST_191101_089.JPG: Print 1870s black politicians during Reconstruction With the end of the Civil War, hard-won constitutional amendments abolished slavery and established citizenship and voting rights for black Americans. But during and after Reconstruction, blacks were often treated as second-class citizens. Southern states continued to restrict black voting, and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan led to decades of violence.
17. SIAHST_191101_096.JPG: Match safe 1878 made in Bodie and San Francisco, California Pennsylvania-born John Franklin Boyd received this gold quartz (Cody Stone) case for matches on his 36th birthday. Boyd was a partner in The Standard Consolidated Company, which operated the Bunker Hill Mine in Bodie, California. Standard's success there touched off the Bodie Gold Bonanza of 1877. This case was probably made of materials mined in Bodie and fabricated in San Francisco, where the company was headquartered.
18. SIAHST_191101_108.JPG: Cross 1875-99 made by a Hispanic Catholic in New Mexico New Mexico has experienced many cultural encounters since the arrival of the Spanish in the early 1500s. Following the United States' 1848 annexation of the area at the end of war with Mexico, the population of the territory boomed, bringing together Catholics of Spanish descent, indigenous tribes, Protestant missionaries, and Anglo American settlers. Though often in conflict, these communities forged a distinctive regional identity that survives to the present.
19. SIAHST_191101_112.JPG: Winchester rifle 1881 captured from Sioux when Chief Low Dog surrendered in Montana Territory Through most of the 1800s, Americans viewed the nation's westward expansion as a symbol of its providence as a land of wealth and progress. But Indian tribes resisted the encroachment of settlers in their territories, setting off decades of violence. The federal government gradually pushed the tribes to more isolated areas, offering U.S. citizenship, but few opportunities, to those who agreed to accept allotments of land on reservations.
20. SIAHST_191101_117.JPG: Silver presentation cup about 1900 presented to Susan B. Anthony on her eightieth birthday Although American women fought for black suffrage, they were unable to vote in federal elections themselves until 1920. As suffragists moved out of the parlor and into the streets, they challenged the notion that a woman's place was solely in the home. Susan B. Anthony shocked the nation when she was jailed in 1872 for illegally trying to vote.
21. SIAHST_191101_124.JPG: Even the all-American game of baseball did not escape the effects of racial prejudice; black players were segregated until 1947 Baseball 1929 signed by Babe Ruth As Americans gained more leisure time and disposable income in the early 1900s, the popularity of spectator sports boomed. In the 1920s, professional sports became a big business and successful athletes became national celebrities. Babe Ruth, one of America's greatest sports heroes, helped turn baseball into the popular, power game it is today.
22. SIAHST_191101_130.JPG: Homestead Grays first baseman Walter Fenner "Buck" Leonard was one of the first Negro Leagues players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, in 1972.
23. SIAHST_191101_133.JPG: John Brown Lennon's delegate badge 1893 from the Journeymen Tailors' Union convention Rapid industrial development in the late 1800s changed where and how Americans worked. By 1900, U.S. factories employed 4.5 million people, most working long hours for low wages in often unhealthful conditions. Workers organized local and national unions in response, leading to an intense period of political activity, strikes, and sometimes violent clashes in the fight for labor rights.
24. SIAHST_191101_137.JPG: This 1902 cartoon shows the diminutive consumer suffering when management and labor are at odds.
25. SIAHST_191101_139.JPG: Sewing machine patent model 1889 James Osterhout and Joseph Hallenbeck's buttonhole-making improvements on a Singer industrial machine American goods were increasingly made in factories as companies adopted large-scale, standardized production methods in the late 1800s. Specialized machines took the place of manual tasks -- such as sewing buttonholes for ready-made clothing -- speeding up the work to meet the growing demands of a nation of consumers. The advent of more loosely fitted women's apparel in the 1890s gave a further boost to the clothing industry.
26. SIAHST_191101_150.JPG: $10, $5, and $2.50 gold coins 1849 made at the Mormon Mint, Salt Lake City, Utah The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints founded a private mint in 1848-49. The gold coins made there used gold dust brought back to Utah by Mormons who had followed the Gold Rush to California. Images on the coins include an emblem of the Mormon priesthood with an all-seeing eye beneath, and clasped hands of friendship.
27. SIAHST_191101_163.JPG: Shackles 1865 worn by Lincoln assassination conspirators The Confederate army surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, signaled the end of four long years of civil war. Northern victory preserved the Union and ended slavery, and President Lincoln prepared to rebuild the nation. But five nights later Southern sympathizer John Wilkes Booth fatally shot the president at Ford's Theatre in Washington DC. The attack was part of a larger failed plot to murder national leaders and throw the Union into turmoil. Booth was later killed by a federal officer, and eight co-conspirators were arrested and jailed, where they wore these arm and leg shackles. Four were hanged and the other sent to prison.
28. SIAHST_191101_168.JPG: Bronze cast of Abraham Lincoln's life mask 1886 made by Augustus Saint-Gaudens after Leonard Volk's 1860 original As the United States expanded westward, Americans debated and fought over the issue of allowing slavery in the new lands. Abraham Lincoln rose to national prominence after delivering a speech at the Cooper Union in February 1860 arguing against the extension of slavery. Following his election that year, seven southern states, fearing that he was anti-slavery, seceded from the Union. When a portrait of Lincoln appeared on the cover of Harper's Weekly in November 1860, southern postal officials refused to deliver it, hinting at the divisions to come.
29. SIAHST_191101_172.JPG: United States Colored Troops medal 1864 commissioned by General Benjamin Butler to honor black troops under his command Less than a year after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 promised freedom to Confederate slaves, tens of thousands enrolled in black military regiments. By war's end, almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors fought for the North. Usually under white leadership, black troops fought in thirty-nine battles; 37,000 died in service. The Butler medal was the only one created for a black unit.
30. SIAHST_191101_178.JPG: John Brown pike 1856 used in the 1859 raid at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia In the 1850s, responding to pressure from southern slaveholding states, Congress passed a number of laws upholding the rights of slave owners. Abolitionist John Brown believed slavery could only end through violence; he purchased 1,000 pikes to arm a slave revolt. His raid on Harpers Ferry failed to secure the U.S. arsenal, but did energize the abolitionist movement. Joseph Emerson Brown pike 1860s one of 10,000 purchased to arm Georgia's militia until guns could be obtained The struggle over the balance of power between the federal government and individual states had been a concern since the formation of the nation and was a major issue in driving the country to civil war. As governor of Georgia, Joseph Brown supported seceding from the Union, which he believed had grown too powerful.
31. SIAHST_191101_189.JPG: John Brown and two dozen men, black and white, were defeated by federal troops after two days of fighting at Harpers Ferry.
32. SIAHST_191101_195.JPG: Part of a telegraph patent model 1846 Samuel F. B. Morse's modification for a telegraph receiver Along with the spread of transportation networks, the invention and commercial application of the telegraph helped stimulate economic growth in the United States by connecting far-flung markets. Samuel Morse opened the first telegraph line in 1844. Less than a decade later telegraph wires crisscrossed the country, allowing business to be conducted more quickly and profitably.
33. SIAHST_191101_203.JPG: Howard watch No. 1 1852 made by E. Howard & Company, Boston The advent of the Industrial Revolution meant that more people worked in shops and factories. This changed the long-established rhythms of daily life and more people had a greater need to know the time. To tap into this market, Edward Howard's firm developed the first machine-made watches.
34. SIAHST_191101_215.JPG: Presentation saddle about 1866 made in Mexico and given to General Philip H. Sheridan The United States gained hundreds of thousands of square miles of territory at the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848. In 1866, General Philip Sheridan armed Mexican nationalists led by Benito Ju�rez, and headed a 50,000-man army along the U.S.-Mexico border in order to pressure France to end its occupation of Mexico. That same year, a Mexican friend gave Sheridan this elaborate saddle with embossed silver medallions.
35. SIAHST_191101_223.JPG: Slave ship manifest from the schooner Lafayette 1833 listing a group of eighty-three enslaved people shipped from Alexandria, Virginia The United States ended the legal importation of slaves in 1808, but enslaved blacks continued to be bought and sold within the country, making the internal slave trade a lucrative business. Historians estimate that as many as one million enslaved people were moved from the eastern United States to the Deep South between 1810 and 1861.
36. SIAHST_191101_239.JPG: Pitcher about 1853 decorated with scenes from Uncle Tom's Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe's wildly popular 1852 anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, helped many white Americans understand the brutality that enslaved people suffered and the forcible separation of families they endured. While Stowe's book enraged pro-slavery advocates, it is credited with attacking new supporters to the abolitionist cause. Some came to believe that the popularity of the book (and subsequent theatrical performances) helped bring on the Civil War.
37. SIAHST_191101_245.JPG: Fire hats mid-1800s Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Until the late 1800s, fighting fire in America's cities and towns was a duty performed entirely by volunteer fire companies. These companies were often the focus of community pride, as well as social and political influence. As frequent participants in public parades, volunteer firefighters commissioned highly decorated engines and uniforms, emblazoned with images emphasizing patriotism, virtue, and masculinity.
38. SIAHST_191101_256.JPG: Baby rattle with whistle and bells about 1778 purchased by John Hancock for his son How can a child's toy offer a window into the life of a Founding Father? Today we remember patriot John Hancock, president of the Second Continental Congress, for his bold signature on the Declaration of Independence. But his story is one of tragedy as well as triumph. A prominent and successful merchant and statesman, Hancock helped form the new nation even as he mourned the loss of his children, an infant daughter in 1777 and his nine-year-old son in 1787.
39. SIAHST_191101_264.JPG: Wooden saint statue 18th century made in Utuado, Puerto Rico As Catholicism spread across the Americas during Spanish exploration, religious statues known as santos were crafted by artisans in the Caribbean and the Southwest. An unknown artist carved this rendering of Saint Raphael the Archangel. According to tradition, San Rafael (as he is known in Spanish) offered healing to those in need.
40. SIAHST_191101_272.JPG: Coins 1604-1737 from various European and new world countries England prohibited the American colonies from coining money. Before the Revolution, colonists relied primarily on silver and gold coins from Holland, England, France, Portugal, Spain, and Spanish colonies in the new world, although Massachusetts illegally coined Pine Tree shillings starting in 1652. Foreign coins were considered legal tender in the United States until 1857, long after the establishment of the National Mint in 1792.
41. SIAHST_191101_279.JPG: Fragment of Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts said to be where the Pilgrims landed in 1620 Plymouth Rock retains a hold in popular memory as the Pilgrims' stepping-stone in the new world, although it is not mentioned in accounts of their landing until the 1700s. The story of Plymouth Rock often obscures the history of earlier European and British settlements, such as Jamestown, Virginia, as well as the arrival of enslaved Africans as early as 1619.
42. SIAHST_191101_286.JPG: As a result of frequent moves and relic seekers, Plymouth Rock became smaller over the years. A 1921 McKim, Mead & White portico currently protects the rock from souvenir hunters.
43. SIAHST_191101_290.JPG: Willie Mays's hat, glove and shoes 1970-72 from his final years with the San Francisco Giants Hall-of-Fame center field Willie Mays was one of the most popular players in baseball history. He began his twenty-six-year career in the Negro leagues, and joined the New York/San Francisco Giants in 1951, after the desegregation of Major League Baseball. Mays appeared in twenty-four All-Star games and earned two Most Valuable Player awards.
44. SIAHST_191101_296.JPG: Willie Mays's hat, glove and shoes 1970-72 from his final years with the San Francisco Giants Hall-of-Fame center field Willie Mays was one of the most popular players in baseball history. He began his twenty-six-year career in the Negro leagues, and joined the New York/San Francisco Giants in 1951, after the desegregation of Major League Baseball. Mays appeared in twenty-four All-Star games and earned two Most Valuable Player awards.
45. SIAHST_191101_297.JPG: Willie Mays's hat, glove and shoes 1970-72 from his final years with the San Francisco Giants Hall-of-Fame center field Willie Mays was one of the most popular players in baseball history. He began his twenty-six-year career in the Negro leagues, and joined the New York/San Francisco Giants in 1951, after the desegregation of Major League Baseball. Mays appeared in twenty-four All-Star games and earned two Most Valuable Player awards.
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Description of Subject Matter: American Stories
April 12, 2012 – Indefinitely
A chronological look at the people, inventions, issues, and events that shape the American story, this exhibition showcases more than 100 historic and cultural touchstones of American history from the museum's vast holdings, supplemented by a few loans. A changing exhibition space features new acquisitions. Highlights include:
* a fragment of Plymouth Rock
* a section of the first transatlantic telegraph cable
* a sunstone capital from the Latter-day Saints temple at Nauvoo, Illinois
* the ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz
* baseballs used by Babe Ruth and Sam Streeter
* a Kermit the Frog puppet
* clothing artifacts, including a “quincea�era” gown worn for a 15th-birthday celebration
* Apolo Ohno’s speed skates from the 2002 Winter Olympics
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