Object of the Month

Edward Savage (1761-1817)
Portrait of George Washington
Circa 1795
Unsigned
Oil on canvas
25 X 30 inches
Morristown National Historical Park, MORR 3252

Physical Description:
This painting reveals the image of an austere and stately George Washington. The background is a dark brown bronze. In almost profile, his face bears a long nose, dark eyes, and a protruding chin. Two brown, arching eyebrows frame his slender features. Four horizontal rows, one above the other, depict his gray and white hair. In a three-quarter length bust portrait, George Washington wears a solid black coat. It is open enough to reveal a white linen shirt underneath. The linen appears to zigzag down Washington’s chest. An ornate, gilded frame adorns the oil portrait.

Attribution:
The history of this George Washington portrait begins with debates about its attribution. Jennie Elizabeth Thompkins of Caldwell, New Jersey donated the painting to the Morristown National Historical Park (MNHP) on May 6, 1941. She believed Gilbert Stuart painted the portrait from life. In addition, she noted that Ebenezer Thayer, the portrait’s first owner, acquired the painting directly from Stuart in Boston or bought it from a Boston museum. The Chicago World’s Fair displayed the painting as a Gilbert Stuart; however, the Washington Centennial Exhibition at the Metropolitan Opera House exhibited the portrait under an unknown artist.[1]

After the portrait arrived in Morristown, the Frick Art Reference Library disputed the Stuart attribution. A letter from September 8, 1941, states: “[The portrait] bears no resemblance to any Stuart of which we find reproduction; it would seem, rather, to be nearer to the Edward Savage type of Washington Portrait.”[2] This letter illustrates that the Frick Art Reference Library compared the photograph of the Washington portrait from Morristown with examples of Stuart’s work. They noted that Washington’s eyes in the MNHP portrait appear dark while Gilbert Stuart’s paintings portray him with grey-blue or hazel eyes.[3] This detail, along with differences in style and technique, proved enough to discredit Gilbert Stuart’s attribution.

The park changed the official attribution to Edward Savage in 1942. The bust portrait of George Washington at the Morristown National Historical Park is an important painting in Savage’s oeuvre, or collective body of work. It displays the influence of Savage’s earlier portraits along with foreshadowing later paintings and mezzotints. While his contemporaries also painted portraits of George Washington, Savage’s portraits reflect his own unique style and technique. His paintings and engravings of George Washington have contributed to our national image of America’s first President.

[1] Information obtained from Mrs. Tompkins, April 28, 1941, MNHP, object file folder, Morr 3252.
[2] Letter from the Frick Art Reference Library to MNHP, September 8, 1941, MNHP, object file folder, Morr 3252.
[3] Letter from R. P. Tolman of the Smithsonian Institution to MNHP, September 20, 1941, MNHP, object file folder, Morr 3252.

Student Intern Exhibit Features Native American Artifacts

In the fall of 2011, during an internship here at Morristown National Historical Park Museum, archaeology and anthropology major Brian Williams from Drew University utilized the Native American collection on site to create a temporary exhibit now on display at the museum. Through tedious research as well as some help from the staff here at Morristown National Historical Park, Brian created a fascinating exhibit showcasing some of the collection’s most unique artifacts.

Of the 20,000 Native American artifacts in the collection ranging from local tribes such as the Lenne Lenape to artifacts from across the Midwest and South, Brian focused in on a process called “knapping”. The tool-making process of Native Americans through knapping involved lithic reduction. This was done by striking workable material with a much harder tool, such as a rock. It was through this process that Native American tool making took a giant step forward during prehistoric times in North America. Through knapping, Native Americans formed sharper and more useful tools and weapons, some of which are exhibited in Brian’s display. Arrowheads are the most well-known products of knapping and are some of the most fascinating to look at.

The exhibit consists of two display cases, the first of which exhibits the tools

used for the knapping process, while the second shows the process and end results of knapping. Included in the exhibit are some examples created by Brian himself in order to replicate the process while others are the actual artifacts in MNHP’s collection. Through Brian’s work in one short semester, we are now able to showcase some of the more unique artifacts in collection here at Morristown National Historical Park Museum.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow right in MNHP backyard?

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving, completes the Halloween season with its thrilling legends of Ichabod Crane, and his ultimate doom with the headless horsemen. But could this timeless supernatural tale have some local history behind it?

As much as Irving was a one of a kind story teller, he was also an avid historical researcher. While settling down in Terry town New York at his estate, Sunnyside, Irving wrote Life of George Washington. Morristown National Historical Park’s Lloyd W. Smith library located at the headquarters’ museum, currently houses the first edition of two of the three volume set, which was printed in 1855.

Allegedly, while Washington Irving was in New Jersey conducting research for his biography Life of George Washington, he came across a local legend dating back to the time of the American Revolution. This story evolved around a Hessian soldier in the “devil’s den” area of the Great Swamp in Morris and Somerset counties. Apparently killed by the Continental Army, a Hessian soldier’s head, nearly severed from the body, remained in the saddle as the horse ran into the swamp. The horseman has been reported over the years by residents who live in the area. Could this story be the original legend of sleepy hollow?

Like all legends, there are discrepancies with this local tale. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was printed between 1819 and 1820. Life of George Washington was first printed four years before Irving’s death. This means that Life of George Washington was printed thirty years after The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. But these dates do not necessarily mean that Life of George Washington took a short time to write. It is possible that before The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was published, Irving could have taken his time researching the man he was named after, George Washington. It is also possible that Washington Irving heard this story from the local town’s people while researching in New York years earlier, and did not hear it when he was in New Jersey.

When investigating this local legend for the park's newsletter, some sources that have published the article were not sure if the story was true. Shadowlands.com's audience sends in their stories to be published the shadowlands website, and so the people that run the site did not have enough manpower to research the story.

Other sources however, had not heard of this legend. The park historican herewas not at all familiar with the story. When discussing this story with a representitive from Historic Hudson Valley who runs Sunnyside, she did not find that the story was true, and believed that Irving most likely heard the tale when researching for his first book about the Hudson valley.

This last finding appears to be the true story...that its just a story.

Living Voices presents Our Revolution October 22

Join us on Saturday, October 22 at 2 P.M. when Living Voices, a New York based performance arts organization, will return for its second year in a row presenting "Our Revolution" at Washington's Headquarters Museum Auditorium.


"Our Revolution" discusses a delemma faced by the fictionalized "Peter Freeman" whose story is based on true situations faced during the American Revolution. Peter and his brother are faced with the ultimate question: Whose liberty am I fighting for?

For more information, please go to http://www.nps.gov/morr

or

http://www.livingvoices.org/revo/index.html

Lord Byron Letter... A Fake?

Lloyd W. Smith Library and Archives Collection

The rumours are true!

Recently, Drew University in Madison, NJ wanted to borrow a letter from the Lloyd W. Smith Collection for their Lord Byron exhibit, documents would be provided by the Byron Society of America. Our chief of cultural resources/curator, Jude Pfister, seized the opportunity to show off the Lord Byron letter and gladly offered the letter to be exhibited.

To cover their bases, Drew University had Doucet Devin Fisher, from New York Public Library, come up and view the letter. While Fisher viewed the document, Fisher noted that there were noticeable discrepancies from other Byron letters.

One of the hints that Fisher saw that backed up this theory was the use of the word "affectionately". It was used by Byron scarcely, but the word was present within the letter to Capt. John Hay. Another hint that the letter may be fake is that the signature "N. Byron" was out of place.

Fisher decided to check out a 12 volume collection by Leslie Marchand, who is known to be one of the leading authorities on Byron. Under the section of forgeries, the discovery was made that the Byron letter was indeed a forgery.

NJnews.com states that "The letter appeares to have been written 50 years after Byron's death in 1824 and sold with other memorabilia...". Lloyd W. Smith, who collected the Byron letter, would be horrified at the sound of that right about now.

However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Eventually, Dr. Jude Pfister wants to make the letter into a educational exhibit about forgeries. It is uncertain when the exhibit will debut, but stay tuned to find out!

Resources: NJ.com

Museum Technician's Note: To Check out Jude Pfister's interview on WCBS on 880 AM radio about Lord Byron and hear it, Click HERE

Lloyd W. Smith Native American Collection

My name is Carleigh Moore and I am a rising senior anthropology student at the University of Notre Dame. This summer I am working with the Lloyd W. Smith Native American artifact collection.

At the onset of my internship, roughly four weeks ago, I began cataloguing the Native American collection in order to make it more accessible to the museum staff, researchers, and Native American tribes who may be interested in the collection.

The collection of over 20,000 artifacts is stored in 60 boxes. Within each large box there are several bags of artifacts, grouped by type. The majority of the collection is comprised of various types of stone tools and projectile points.

To complete the cataloguing process, I am methodically going through each bag to record information about every artifact in the collection. Each bag of artifacts receives a catalogue number according to its contents. Next, I photograph the contents of the bag. Finally, I record descriptions of the contents in an excel spreadsheet.

The best part of my job is when I come across something that I have never seen before. In one box, I found several bags of small round stones. I was unaware of their function until I researched and concluded they were most likely used as part of a bola throwing weapon. A bola consists of several connected ropes with weights on the end. Hunters throw the bola and the weapon’s ropes become tangled in the animal’s legs, often making it impossible for the animal to continue running.

While assigning these small stones new catalogue numbers I was in awe of the hunters’ ingenuity. I would have never thought to use these small stones to create such an effective weapon!

Object of the Month: Lydia Maria Child Manuscript

Description:

Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880) was an American author whose earliest works centered on hearth and home. She founded the children’s periodical Juvenile Miscellany when she was twenty-four years old. By 1831, Child had published The Mother’s Book and The Girl’s Own Book, “both of which,” according to her obituary in The New York Times, “hold places in nearly every New-England family library.”

In that same year, 1831, Child met William Lloyd Garrison. Her subsequent writings forcefully promoted anti-slavery issues. Within a decade she moved to New York to edit the weekly newspaper National Anti-Slavery Standard, a position she held until 1843.

This letter from the Lloyd W. Smith Archives was addressed to a Mr. Frederic Oxnard, and sent from New York in the fall of 1846. It appears that Oxnard had written for Child’s permission to include her in his pending project. Child replied,

“I cheerfully comply with your request, though with a consciousness that you may be often asked why that name was inserted among a gallery of “distinguished” ones; and, like the old Roman, ‘I would prefer that posterity should inquire why no statues were erected for me, rather than ask why they were.’”

Look closely at the bottom right corner of the manuscript. Affixed to the document is circular impression in green wax. The image appears to represent the palm of a right hand. Seals were used in the nineteenth century for a variety of purposes, often to secure envelopes. This particular seal, however, was not meant to be broken, and remains intact after more than one hundred and fifty years.

Featured Manuscript:

Child to Oxnard (November 3, 1846). LWS 2471. Lloyd W. Smith Archival Collection, Morristown National Historical Park, Morristown, New Jersey.

Sources:

“Child, Lydia Maria.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 11 July 2011. .

“Obituary: Lydia Maria Child.” The New York Times, October 21, 1880.

“sigillography.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2011. Web. 15 July 2011.

Museum Technician's note: Blog made by one of the Cultural Resources summer interns, Anne Ricculli

Archival Ambassadors Program First Year A Success

The Archival Ambassadors Program, headed by Sarah Minegar and Jude Pfister of Morristown NHP, just finished their first year with a success!

What is the Archival Ambassadors Program about?

The Archival Ambassadors Program is a 4-week summer program where graduate level students (such as Elizabeth, Peter, Andrea, Lacey and Lauren, who were chosen this year) decide to spend some of their summer exploring the endless boxes of archives, and put together a traveling archives box. Not only do they put together a traveling archives box, but by the end of the summer, the graduate students meet with high school students among the grade levels of 10th, 11th, and 12th, (who are nominated by their teachers) and both groups of students put together a exhibit that is featured on community day. Community day is led by the graduate students.

The graduate students can receive college credit, and the high school students receive a certificate on community day.

Interested?

Any students who are interested in history, historical documents, artifacts, public history, archives, and have museum research experience should go to the Primary Source Seminar Blog on the main page, on the right hand side where you can find more information on how to apply.

* Museum Technician's Note: Special thanks to Sarah Minegar who was a big part of making this first year such an success. Great Job!

Object of the Month: Captain Cook prints

Description:

The two prints depicted here, A Night Dance by Men in Hapaee and Articles Sandwich Islands reflect how vast and rich James Cook’s final voyage was.

A Night Dance by Men in Hapaee exhibits the exoticism of Polynesian dances. Seated at the centre foreground is Captain Cook who is flanked by his crew. Bare-chested dancers perform a dance to a rhythm provided by men striking the ground with bamboo poles. John Webber engraved this scene c. 1774 on the island of Hapaee (Ha’apai, Central Tonga).

Articles Sandwich Islands displays wooden weapons, sharks teeth, a musical gourd instrument with feathers, an idol with mother of pearl eyes and dogs teeth and boar’s tusk bracelet. John Webber was also the artist of these objects c. 1785 at Cook’s last voyage in Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii.

The exquisite prints produced by the artists on Cook’s voyages come from Lloyd W. Smith as part of his extensive archival and rare book collection donated to the park in 1955.

MORR?

About Cook's Voyage:

Born in 1728 in Marton Yorkshire, Britain, Cook joined the Royal Navy and sailed his first voyage around the world on the ‘Endeavour’ from 1768-1771. He sailed three voyages in total in the 1770’s, and was killed on the third voyage in an unfortunate miscommunication between his men and the native in Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii in 1779. Cook was attempting to circumnavigate the globe in an attempt to define shipping routes, trade routes, identify new societies and cultures, and to determine the position and extent of the west side of North America.

Cook had naturalists, anthropologists, and artists (no cameras of course) among others, to document the exotic sites and peoples he encountered, and to collect biological specimens. Men such as Henry Roberts, William Hodges, Sydney Parkinson, and John Webber joined Cook to document what they saw by sketching drawings, maps, and engravings. These prints that were produced by the artists are among the most valuable productions and developments from an anthropological standpoint during a very active decade for the British.


Resources:

Morristown NHP Collection
Bound volumes of Captain Cooke's voyage to the Pacific Ocean exists in the Morristown Library Collection

Object of the Month: Joseph Plumb Martin and Yankee Doodle

Description:


Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier, (known today as Private Yankee Doodle),which is featured in this month's object of the month. The volume held at Morristown NHP (picture above) is a first edition which was published anonymously and is now known to have been written by Joseph Plum Martin. The volume is unusual in that both the front and back boards are literally boards. The cover consists of paper cover wood with a gold tooled and quarter leather spine. There is an inscription on the title page presumably front a former owner which reads, Charles C. Tyler Cooper, 1839. The publication date is 1830.


The book was donated to the museum in 1959 by Lloyd W. Smith via 1955 and is part of the rare book collection.



MORR 9600




About Joseph Plumb Martin:

Joseph Plumb Martin entered active military service at age 15 in 1776. During his eight-year tour of duty in the army, he kept a journal of his experiences.

In 1830, he published his memoir, based on his journals composed during the Revolution, under the title A Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Solider. The work is a vivid first-person account of the life and times of a common Revolutionary War solider and is often referred to for its detailed descriptions in terms of understanding the life of a continental solider.

The work however suffers from a malady quite common of period in which it was published and of the style and genre of writing. Put simply, Martin tended to embellish or exaggerate episodes and events to present a more favorable or action-packed account of his or the armies exploits.

Again, while this was common, modern readers and researchers should rely on Martin with an appropriate amount of caution added. Martin was 70 years old when he published the work, but memory beyond what is reasonable in most individuals.

Finally, the work suffered one more malady common to historical tracts of the period: poor sales. It was Morristown NHP superintendent Dr. Francis Ronalds who showed the Morristown NHP copy to George Scheer who then edited the volume for publication as Private Yankee Doodle. It has not been out of print for over 50 years.

Resources:


Chronicle of The Revolutionary War, Joseph Plumb Martin." Liberty! The American Revolution. PBS, h.d. Web. 2 June 2011. plummartin.html>.

"Selections from the Diary of Private Joseph Plumb Martin."

USHistory.org. Independence Hall Association, 2010. Web. 2011.

Object of the Month: Open Front Cupboard

Description:
The cupboard’s upper section has an open front with molding around all edges and is arched at the top. There are three shelves within the upper section. Each of the three shelves are cut concavely, with two lower shelves containing a round projectile in the center of the shelf.
The lower section possesses a single paneled door, with mounted hinges. The door also has a keyhole and turn-button fastener. There is a concealed drawer between the upper and lower sections.

MORR 4815


About open front cupboards:
According to word-origins.com, the definition of a cupboard is “a board; or table, on which cups (and other pieces of crockery or plate) were placed for display” (Blackburn, 1). The extensive use of a cupboard began roughly around the 14th century, when there was a surplus of food that was provided to the poor, and a storage unit was needed.
Eventually, from this humble beginning, cupboards evolved over time into armoires, hutches, and side boards utilized for various types of storage within the overall open front cupboard design.


The open front cupboard, belonging in the livery cupboard category, was mainly found in bedrooms so that “a supply of food and drink was readily available when a very long interval separated the last meal of the evening from the first in the morning”(Chisholm, 634). The cupboard was often small enough to stand upon its own as a minor piece of furniture or as a larger sideboard or cabinet requiring significant space in a room. Most designs featured a variation of the open front with balusters, just like the one featured in the object of the month.

Resources:

Blackburn, Graham. “A Short History of Cupboards.” Fine WoodWorking.com. Taunton Home and Garden Network, 2011. Web. 26 Apr 2011.

“The Encyclopedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature, and General Information."Google e-book. Ed. Hugh Chisholm. University Press, 2006. Web. 26 Apr 2011.

Object of the month: Chippendale Style Tiger Maple Slant Front Desk

Description:

The front of the desk has a rectangular top over a lunged fall front opening. The interior has four short document drawers with fan carving accents. The center document door leads to a secret compartment. The compartment has over six figured cubbyholes. Under the cubby holes are four short convex drawers set back and above two short drawers to support the lid.

Under the lid, there are four graduated overlapping drawers with brass lulls on ogee bracket feet. The desk has a Branchburg, NJ provenance.

MORR 686

History of the Writing Desk:

A desk is a table dedicated to reading or writing, and as such originally implied a sloping top. The sloping top, in fact, constituted practically the entirety of early desks, since these were used primarily in monasteries and universities before the invention of the printing press when the books that were read or written were large parchment volumes.

After the introduction of printing, books became more plentiful (and were no longer commonly chained to the desk) and smaller, so that they no longer required such massive supports. Consequently the desk evolved into what we now call a desk box: a relatively small box with a sloping lid. For several hundred years the term “desk” implied something portable, even when fitted with small drawers and made large enough to store several books and various writing impedimenta.

Inevitably desks were provided with stands and could be confused with a new type of furniture known originally as an “escritoire,” or “scriptor” (from the Latin word to write) designed primarily for writing. This new type of furniture was originally made much like a legged cabinet, the front of which folded down to provide a writing surface, frequently lined with wool, hence the name “bureau,” from the French word bure, meaning wool.

An important exception, and one than presaged the flat-topped modern desk, was the kneehole desk: a small cabinet designed for writing with drawers surrounding a central recess that allowed the user to sit up close to the writing surface.

By the 18th century, bureaux and desks were essentially the same item, and with the introduction of larger pieces that included shelving or other storage space above the writing surface, the secretary was born, although for a long time the commoner term was “bureau-cabinet” and sometimes “writing-cabinet.”

Of course, other combinations were inevitable, such as secretaire-bookcases, but all retained the central function of providing a surface for writing on, which was the original function of a desk. The term “desk,” however, has now been limited to a flat-topped table designed for commercial rather than domestic use, and has continued to evolve into further varieties such as a partner’s desk, essentially a double desk designed to accommodate a user on both sides; a roll top desk, which is practically another form of the 18th- and 19th-century secretary but with a curved and articulated lid rather than a drop-down flap that also functions as the writing surface; and the computer table.

Resource:

http://www.finewoodworking.com/PlansAndProjects/PlansAndProjectsAllAbout.aspx?id=3029