Friday Photo: High and Mighty Pug

High and Mighty Pug, 1782

I don’t know what I would do without the Lewis Walpole Library prints. Every time I find myself lacking inspiration for a Friday blog post I just start browsing and find something delightful. This week’s selection redresses an inequality on the blog; I am, in case it hasn’t been obvious, a cat-owner. I have posted several historical images of cats, but have been a bit neglectful of the canine community. I decided to make up for it this week, and to post not only a dog, but a pug. That happens to be the favorite breed of Hammond-Harwood House Director Carter Lively. This is a political pug too: in this print from 1782, entitled “The high and mighty pug answering Fox’s proposals of peace,” the pug represents the country of Holland and the fox is the English politician Charles Fox. I don’t think it looks like their negotiations are going very well, but I still find them both adorable.

Drink Like Jefferson

The topic of Thomas Jefferson seems to pop up often, in relation to very diverse topics. In today’s Washington Post, there’s an article about Madeira, the Portuguese wine that was popular in the 18th century. The restaurant in the Jefferson Hotel in DC has bottles of Madeira from 1780, so if you want to drink like Jefferson, you can! For a price, of course…

Friday Photo: From Facebook

Daffin House

I have Facebook on the brain because I am preparing to present a workshop on museums and Facebook at the Small Museum Association Conference on February 19th. I have to convince people who work and volunteer at small, often-understaffed museums that establishing a Facebook presence is worth their time and effort. I’m sure some will be more resistant than others, but I hope that the success that Hammond-Harwood House has had in using Facebook to reach out to our local community as well as people around the world will be a convincing example of what social media can do for a historic site. If you haven’t checked out our Facebook page, you can find it here. We post information, questions, and photographs often; this photo of Daffin House, the site for our Garden Party this year, was posted on Tuesday and has already gotten several “Likes.” Do me a favor and go add a few more!

Friday Photo: Tax Time

From the Lewis Walpole Library

One of the blogs about historical costume that I like to look at, American Duchess, used the frustration that came from doing her taxes as inspiration for a post full of 18th century satirical prints about taxes. When I saw this one, I just had to post it. Many luxury items were taxed in England in the late 18th century, including hair powder. In this print from 1795, this family full of wig-wearers has decided that they must do without, and wear their wigs as is. The young lady peering in the mirror looks rather distressed about it…

Friday Photo: New Exhibit on Jefferson and Slavery

A new exhibit called “Slavery at Jefferson’s Monticello: Paradox of Liberty” opens today at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. Jointly organized by the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the exhibit explores the contradiction inherent in Jefferson’s advocacy of universal rights and his ownership of slaves. The exhibit is unique in that the temporary exhibit at NMAH is accompanied by a permanent exhibit at Monticello, Jefferson’s plantation in Charlottesville, VA, that uses outdoor signage to explain the evidence of African-American life and labor found at the plantation through archaeological digs. As well as providing specific information on Jefferson’s views, the exhibit provides more general information on the context of slavery in the 18th century. One image included in the exhibit and on its website (www.slaveryatmonticello.org) is this 1796 watercolor by Benjamin Henry Latrobe:

Image from the collection of the Maryland Historical Society

The watercolor, which is from the collection of the Maryland Historical Society, is entitled An Overseer Doing His Duty, Near Fredericksburg. It provides a stark view of the reality of 18th century life and work, and a useful reminder that as interpreters of history we need to teach our visitors about the people whose lives may not be as immediately visible but whose labor made the lavish lifestyles and grand homes of the upper-class possible.

Friday Photo: Almost Forgot…

I almost forgot it’s Friday! I blame the work I’ve been doing this week, which is cleaning. Cleaning window frames, doors, floors, furniture…Hammond-Harwood House is getting a thorough going-over. Since I did manage to remember that I needed to post a picture, I thought I’d post one I could relate to this week:

From the Lewis Walpole Library

To clarify, I do not feel like the cute kitchen maid with her frills and bows; no, I feel more like the grimy chimney sweeper. But as long as Hammond-Harwood House is sparkling, it’s worth it!

Friday Photo: 18th Century Technology

Kids who visit the Hammond-Harwood House always want to know why there’s no bathroom. Adults want to know too, but they’re a little more hesitant to ask. We tell them about chamber pots and outhouses, and they get appropriately grossed out, but there were actually flushing toilets in the 18th century. The first patent for one was issued to Alexander Cummings in 1775. Cummings’ innovation was the S-trap, which used water to seal the toilet bowl’s outlet and prevent foul smells from rising from the pipes. The drawing above is a design patented by Joseph Bramah in 1778. He replaced the slide valve of Cummings’ design with a hinged flap. Apparently Queen Victoria’s house on the Isle of Wight, Osbourne House, still has functioning Bramah toilets. Historic toilet tour, anyone?

Send Me a Postcard

For me, trying to pick a favorite museum is like trying to pick a favorite star in the sky. But if forced, I would probably say that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is my favorite museum (other than Hammond-Harwood House, obviously). And luckily for me, they frequently give me new reasons to love it. Next week, another section of the American Wing of the Met will reopen after renovation. It looks stunning, an appropriate home for such masterworks as John Singer Sargent’s painting Madame X. For lovers of decorative arts, the Great Hall from the Van Rensselaer Manor House in Albany, which dates to 1765-69, has been reinstalled. The wallpaper in it is positively droolworthy. If you get a chance to see it in person, send me a postcard. If, like me, you can’t seem to find time in your schedule for a jaunt to the City, the New York Times has posted a 360 degree view of the galleries on its website.

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Friday Photo: Misses Wicket & Trigger

From the British Museum

This has been a busy week, as we’ve returned from our holiday break and are making all sorts of plans for the year ahead. So I thought I would kick off the blogging year with another fun satirical print. This one features Miss Wicket and Miss Trigger, two well-to-do young ladies engaged in the very unladylike activities of hunting and cricket. If you look closely, you’ll see that Miss Trigger is treading upon a paper with the word “Effeminacy” on it. Apparently the artist feels that sports are not compatible with femininity. I, however, am just impressed that someone could score that many points in cricket while wearing petticoats and heels.

Friday Photo Update!

Remember Mrs. Middleton from last week? In case you don’t, here she is again:

Mrs. Middleton, painted by John Hesselius, ca. 1765

Thanks to the miracle that is the Internet, I may (fingers crossed) have a better idea who she is. In the file I have on her portrait there was a terrible photocopy of an article from the November 1904 issue of Broadway magazine about the Middleton family, George Washington, and portraits. Images of a number of Middleton family portraits were included in the article, but they were too blurry to make out any details in my copy. It took intrepid intern Tara less than five minutes to find the article on Google books, so here it is.  And if you scroll down to page 26, there’s Mrs. Middleton! She is identified as Elizabeth Gilbert Middleton, and page 22 of the article says that she used her will to dispose “of innumerable taffeta petticoats, silk nightrobes and mob caps.” I don’t particularly enjoy wearing mobcaps, but I wouldn’t have minded inheriting a taffeta petticoat or two.

When I find free time, or intern Tara does, we need to do some genealogical research on the Middleton family to determine if the identification of Elizabeth Gilbert Middleton seems correct. But it was so satisfying to find something that might be pointing us in the right direction!