Collection Highlights
Declaration of Independence
Date:
1776
Object Number:
LIB.SY.1776.4
Medium:
Paper, broadside
SUPPORT THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Help us present groundbreaking exhibitions and develop educational programs about our nation's history for more than 200,000 schoolchildren annually.
Museum Collections
Luce Center
Pewterers' banner
Object Number:
1903.12
Date:
1788
Medium:
Silk, paint
Dimensions:
Frame: 92 x 120 x 2 3/4 in. (233.7 x 304.8 x 7 cm)
Marks:
painted: at top right: "The Federal Plan Most Solid & Secure/Americans Their Freedom Will Endure/All Art Shall Flourish in Columbia's Land/And All her Sons Join as One Social Band"
painted: below shield: "SOLID AND PURE."
painted: above shop image: "SOC
Description:
Painted silk banner with fringe on top, bottom, and right sides; painted American flag with 13 stars in upper left corner; pewterers' arms below flag, with two figures on either side of a shield and banner reading "SOLID AND PURE."; at right, painted image of interior of a pewterer's shop, with "SOCIETY of PEWTERERS" painted above shelf of three pewter objects; four figures at work making pewter objects.
Gallery Label:
This banner was carried by the Society of Pewterers of the City of New York in the Federal Procession of July 23, 1788, which celebrated the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. It is one of the only banners known to have survived from celebratory parades held in such cities as Baltimore, Charleston, Philadelphia, and Boston. The banner descended in the family of pewterer William J. Elsworth (1746-1814), who presumably carried the banner in the New York procession.
Bibliography:
Bach, Debra Schmidt. "Witness to history: Furniture and historic relics." The Magazine Antiques 167 (2005): 162-167.
Credit Line:
Gift of James S. Haring
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
