American History in Images: Rare Photographs, Engravings, Rare Prints, Original Drawings
What do we consider to be “Visual Americana?” Simply, American history in images
The illustrated American history books we first encountered as children, and later as young students, appealed to us with their iconic images:
A portrait of Benjamin Franklin; an illustration of revolutionary Bostonians tarring and feathering the tax man; South Carolina’s The Union is Dissolved! broadside; An artist’s rendering of the yet-to-be-built Statue of Liberty. Images —whether prints, photographs, or original works of art— can capture moments in American history.
Over the passage of time, certain images can achieve an iconic status, representing one significant historic event or even symbolizing an entire era.
Our firm focuses on buying and selling visual Americana printed or created in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries for American history in graphics and images.
As physical objects, they often have interesting histories too. They become starting points to investigate a more complex historical context.
For whom was the image created? How does a manuscript map relate to printed forms? How has a depiction of slave quarters been idealized?
A visit to the Library of Congress is a great starting point to survey this collecting field. Their website features an outstanding selection of historical images from their collections: portrait and documentary photographs, maps, historic prints, visual graphics, architectural drawings, cartoons, etc.