At the beginning of the 19th century, wealthy merchants established factories in New England where businesses and investors prospered. Robust rivers powered water wheels and turbines, and densely populated areas provided labor for factories. Eventually, buyers favored goods produced in these factories over unique, handcrafted items; rather than paying for an artisan’s skill and time, consumers could purchase a product manufactured to look handmade at a fraction of the cost.

Savvy artisans took advantage of mass-production by incorporating prefabricated components into traditionally constructed goods, like employing premade gears when building the inner workings of a clock. Using ready-made parts cut down on an artisan’s manufacturing time and costs, which reduced the price for consumers and enabled some craftsmen to compete with mass manufacturers. However, this strategy did not work for all skilled makers. Many artisans switched from making to repairing, fixing factory-produced goods at a rate cheaper than replacement, while others became shop owners peddling the same type of wares they once created.

Linzel rifle
Schuetzenverein rifle
Made by A.E. Linzel(1831-1904)
Little Rock (Pulaski County)
c. 1870
Half-stock, octagonal barrels, set triggers, walnut stock
53 in. length, approximately .40 caliber
Rhine Condray Sr. Firearms Collection, gift of the Condray Family
Accession No: 89.18.7

Guns originated as a frontiersman's most valuable tool (second only to his knife) for personal protection and for shooting wild game. By the late 19th century, hunting emerged as a leisure activity instead of a necessity, and recreational target shooting transformed rifles from deadly weapons to indicators of style and class. Men gathered in exclusive sporting clubs across the state to boast about their marksmanship skills and compare guns; rifles made by A.E. Linzelwere among the most coveted.

Prussian-born master gunsmith A.E. (August Edward) Linzel left the well-known gunsmithing firm of H.E. Dimick in St. Louis and moved to Little Rock in the years immediately following the Civil War. By 1869,Linzelhad opened a successful shop on Markham Street in the capital city and built a reputation as the state’s most renowned gunsmith. Lavish details like this rifle's ornate trigger guard and curved butt plate, based on the German Scheutzen rifle, act as visual cues separating this firearm from its utilitarian counterparts and were trademarks of Linzel’s designs.

Unfortunately, around the same time, affordable, mass-produced firearms with interchangeable parts flooded the market. These guns were easily repaired by unskilled smiths, and by 1920, only a handful of artisans could still claim to be expert makers and repairers of firearms. To survive, gunsmiths (including Linzel) expanded their businesses to incorporate trades like locksmithing, auto repair, and the retail sale of sporting goods.

Hunter-case pocket watch
Made by Louis C. Bernays (1847-1936)
Little Rock (Pulaski County)
c. 1872
Gold-plated brass and enameled metal
2 ¼ in.
Gala Fund Purchase Honoring Mary Fletcher Worthen
Accession No: 2007.65

After the Civil War, the American economy came to rely on railroads in the same way that river traffic dominated business in the early 19th century. New towns developed around train depots, which eventually functioned as social and commercial hubs for entire communities. In response, consumers embraced pocket watches to keep the time at their fingertips, and jewelers increased their inventory of timepieces to meet demand.

Louis C. Bernays relocated from St. Louis to Little Rock in 1870, where he assisted Albert Cohen at Cohen’s popular jewelry store on Main Street. In 1875, Bernays and an associate, Francis X. Roeck(1838-?), acquired the business and renamed it Bernays & Roeck. Their company advertised an impressive inventory of “Diamonds, Solids, Silverware, Jewelry, Watches, Plated Goods, Clocks, Bisque Figures, Paintings, Engravings, and Novelties,” and proudly announced their stock of merchandise from New York, personally selected by Bernays himself.

Bernays (or one of his employees) constructed this hunter-case pocket watch using a combination of hand-crafted embellishments and prefabricated gears and levers. The watch case is made of gold-plated brass, an affordable alternative to solid gold, stamped with an intricate floral design. It opens to reveal an enameled metal watch face, meant to resemble valuable ivory. Standardized, interchangeable watch parts, first manufactured in 1857, allowed any competent watchmaker to create an accurate, durable timepiece. Shrewd artisan-retailers like Bernays combined items, customized in-house, with an inventory of imported merchandise.

Prior to widespread industrialization, homesteaders and many rural settlers survived by growing and making their own necessities, through trade of basic goods and services, and by living off Arkansas’s rich natural resources -- “the fat of the land.” But consumption of imported luxuries like delicate glassware and fine textiles increased as the price of shipping and production fell. Consumer credit, provided by banks and honored by retailers, eventually permitted customers to buy beyond their means. The growing Victorian middle class took advantage of these developments, adorning themselves and their homes with an abundance of items meant to broadcast taste, wealth, and class, thereby affirming their place in society.

Arkansans stayed informed about trends by consulting popular catalogs, magazines, newspapers, and books. National and international publications advertised the latest furniture and apparel, and they reported on instructions for ladylike comportment and standards for hospitality. Nineteenth-century families entertained guests in the parlor, a more formal version of the modern “living room.” In this hybrid public/private space, Arkansans donned their most fashionable clothing, displayed their fanciest furniture, laid out their finest silver and china, and generally presented themselves to their best advantage.

Morning dress with overskirt and fichu
Maker unknown
Owned by Julia Mary Young Miller
Memphis, Tennessee or New England
c. 1845
Silk, taffeta, bleached cotton and polished cotton
52 x 19 in.
Gift of Juliette Reed Wynn
Accession No: 80.6.8 a-c

Before the proliferation of sewing machines in the 1850s, expert tailors and seamstresses produced most fine clothing. Although women acquired the skills needed to create their own dresses, most hired seamstresses to save time and keep up with their abundant apparel needs. Affluent ladies owned different dresses for different times of day, following the etiquette of the time. This garment is a “morning dress” - meant to be worn while running errands, traveling, or visiting friends during the daytime. Day dresses were typically constructed of lighter fabrics, for breathability, then shaped into dramatic silhouettes that hugged the body and blossomed into voluminous skirts, creating the illusion of a tiny waist. Women favored exotic silks in vivid prints; this dress features striking pink and olive stripes with fringes along all hem lines.

On a family trip to Niagara Falls (circa 1840), sisters Rachel and Agnes Young recalled many “silk bustles,” similar to this frock, deemed “suitable” for daily errands and travels, especially in warmer weather. This particular dress was worn by the Young sisters of Pennsylvania and Delaware during their teenage years in the mid-1830s to 1840s. Rachel (1816-1857), Agnes (1820-?), and Julia Mary Young (1830-1887) most likely shared this dress and simply passed it along as the elder sisters outgrew it. Eventually, Julia the youngest sister, gave the dress to her own daughters. 

Tantalus case
Liquor decanters in wooden case
Maker unknown
Probably English
1834-1867
Molded glass decanters with cut glass stoppers in wooden case
11 ¼ x 5 x 12 ¾ in.
Gift of Louise Watkins Wright Loughborough
Accession No: ND23.2 A-D

Victorians nicknamed this clever wooden carrying case after the ancient Greek story of Tantalus, who was punished by the gods to remain hungry and thirsty for eternity, with food and drink just out of his reach. Like the tale, the “Tantalus case” kept refreshment near enough to tempt the parched drinker, but unavailable without a key. This case contains three pressed glass decanters in an ornate cane pattern with cut glass bottle stoppers. During the mid-19th century, manufacturers devised a process to press glass into patterns that closely resembled cut glass, but at a lower cost.

Tantalus cases for liquor decanters gained popularity in England in the late 19th century among the Victorian middle class, who longed to experience the imagined ease and excess of nobility. Using this playful novelty item, the host of a party teased his guests by displaying alcoholic spirits in sparkling pressed glass decanters while maintaining control over the dispensation of drink. The action of unlocking the tantalus case transformed the substance in the decanter into a rare elixir, and those who shared it automatically belonged to an exclusive group. Whether they were conscious of it or not, the owner of the case and the guests he entertained engaged in a brief performance of reciprocal fantasy. Like a child with a miniature china tea set, for a few moments, they acted out the excitement of high-born life.

Among fashion’s enduring traits are a tendency toward the irrational, a penchant for whimsy, and sometimes even a hint of danger. Until the invention of synthetic dyes, bright, colorfast hues were sought after due to their scarcity in the natural world. Color combinations that would be condemned by contemporary eyes as gaudy or garish were embraced by Colonial and Victorian Americans in their choices for apparel and home décor.  

Bandbox
Maker unknown
American
1815-1830
Pasteboard (thin cardboard)
11 ½ x 16 x 13 in.
Accession No: 2017.51.2
Gift of Suzanne Hamilton

Tastemakers  and  Trends: What is chinoiserie?

Chinoiserie  comes from the French word, chinois, for Chinese. The term perfectly illustrates how this design style did not come directly from Asia, but rather is a European interpretation of Asian culture and design.  The style originated in the 17th century, at the height of European trade with China and other Asian countries. However, trade with the East could not keep up with the demands of the market, so Western designers created their own “chinois” - inspired  pieces. Since these were Westerners’ interpretations of Asian aesthetics, sometimes their own cultural fantasies blended with Asian compositions.  This bandbox, a cardboard box used to carry hats and other materials, is a wonderful example of this  cultural fusion. At first glance,  the  hunting scene  on the bandbox’s  surfaces imulates an  Asian print, but a closer look reveals a mix of “foreign” cultures that the American creator  simply  cobbled together.  The scene depicts  a  classic fox hunt, but the riders are Native Americans shooting bows and arrows instead of upper-class Westerners shooting rifles.  These seemingly out-of-place hunters add to the exotic feel of the scene, as does the parrot  depicted  on the box’s lid.

Blue tureen
Probably made by the  Moustier s potters
France
ca. 1745
Tin-glazed earthenware
10 x 9 ¼ x 13 ½ x
Accession No: 2003.27
Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council  Grant Purchase

Tastemakers  and Trends: What inspired the designs of French faience?

After Louis XIV banned silver and gold tableware in France in 1672—reserving  precious  metals for the state treasury to pay for his wars—the French pottery industry subsequently blossomed due to a need for new tableware. To replace the grand tableware of old, faience pottery pieces flooded aristocratic and provincial tables alike.  Faience refers to tin-glazed earthenware.

Naturally, since the height of faience pottery was prompted by the seemingly overnight replacement of silver tableware, it makes sense that this new ceramic tableware would mimic  the  existing popular silver forms.  Coinciding with the increasing popularity of Asian porcelain imports, which were too expensive for even most of France’s nobility, French potters decorated their pieces to mimic Asian porcelain in both color (white and blue) and design.  Another ban during this period was the import of chintz fabric, from 1686 to 1759. This decorative Indian cotton fabric incorporated motifs of flowers, exotic figures, and insects, woven together with  broderie  motifs which resembled geometrically arranged panels of drapery. This piece, probably made by the potteries at Moustier-Sainte-Marie, features all of these influences. The shape of the tureen was designed to simulate the silver forms Louis XIV banned. The classic blue and white combination was a direct imitation of imported  Asian porcelain.  And the hand-painted designs were influenced by  both  the styles of Asian porcelain  and  the motifs and patterns from chintz fabrics.  Sherds of faience pottery similar to  this piece were found at the Post of Arkansas. 

Broadside and trading card
Little Rock Paint & Color Works
Printed by M.R. Savage
Little Rock, AR
ca. 1890
Mineral-based paint on paper
6 ¼ X 16 in.
Accession No: 2017.4
Historic Arkansas  Museum Foundation Purchase

Tastemakers  and  Trends:  What was the appeal of this paint store’s product?

Local paint stores of the late 19th century usually sold paint manufactured out-of-state, but Little Rock Paint & Color Works appears to have mixed and made their own paints. This circa 1890s broadside is in mint condition, and features 25 swatches of paint, each  color  individually  painted by hand. The broadside was printed by a local printer, M.R. Savage.

Little Rock Paint Works appealed to its market in several ways: the ‘ready-mixed’ feature would have significantly cut the time a painter spent preparing his paint, especially on larger jobs. The company also boasts itself as the “Manufacturer of the  Arkansaw  Traveler,” which we speculate is a reference to a paint color cleverly named after the then-ubiquitous pop culture icon. Finally, the fine presentation of 25 richly saturated color samples would have appealed to consumers. The dominant color among these “popular shades and colors” is green, which appears in a dozen varying olive and sage tones, as well as teal and emerald green. Other popular colors include earth tones  and  a bright and bold orange.

The company’s trading card (a traditional form of advertising) features five color swatches of varying shades of brown and earthy reds. They are advertised on the back of the card as “Iron Clad Paint,” with the suggested use for “Wood or Iron Bridges, Tin and Iron Roofs, Agricultural Implements, Cars, Barns...” Minerals  like  lead and iron were used in paints for their exceptional binding properties.

Child’s cape and  dress
Maker unknown
Likely Arkansas
ca. 1860
Wool, silk, cotton
26 ½ x 15 in. (dress); 31 ½ x 15 in. (cape)
Accession No: ND171

Tastemakers  and  Trends: Where did 19th century tastemakers find inspiration for this style?

Flamboyant details borrowed from military uniforms inspired clothing styles for women and children in the mid-19th  century. The elaborate braid trim used on European Hussar jackets and a distinctive uniform style used by the French Zouaves became fashion staples in the 1850s and 1860s. The many details of this girl’s sized military-inspired cape and dress closely mimic similar outfits worn by fashionable women of the time. Although this ensemble was likely made in Arkansas, far away from the fashion centers of eastern states, the maker had ready access to current styles of the day through lady’s magazines. Arkansas newspapers of the 1860s advertise wool and braided trim available in a rainbow of colors, giving our seamstress a variety of options available locally.

Today, red and green color pairings are most often associated with the Christmas season, but in the 19th  century, tastemakers felt that pairing contrasting colors from the color wheel created visual balance. “Green and scarlet harmonize”, wrote  George  Audsley  in his 1870 book  Color in Dress: A Manual for Ladies. Victorians married tones of red and green in their quilts, needlework, clothing, art, and interior decor with striking results.  The color red was often used in elegant evening wear and winter coats. It conjured thoughts of energy, emotion, and passion and came into fashion through inspiration from military uniforms and hunting livery. To the Victorians, green evoked a much different response. Green symbolized youth, spring, and calm, and when used as an accent, made a wonderful foil for fiery red.

Cupboard
Originally made by Cherokee students
Painted  over time by members of the  Washbourne  family
Russellville, AR
ca.1820-1829
Yellow pine, metal
84 x 62 x 19 in.
Courtesy of the Arkansas Tech Museum

Tastemakers and Trends:  Why does this cupboard have a “rainbow” of colors?

This crudely constructed cupboard was made either by members of the  Washbourne  family and/or Cherokee students at the Dwight Mission, near Russellville (Pope County), Arkansas, around 1820-1829. Frontier furniture was crafted for functionality – which dictated a simple form.  And though American interior design continued to evolve with new fads, these essential pieces of furniture were not cast aside, but were instead updated to reflect the tastes of the times.

The paint strips on this cupboard reflect the changing tastes of the American household from its construction date, 1820-1829, to its last coat of paint in 1947.  In the 1820s, the exuberant trend of Fancy decoration was at an all-time high. The general rule was to choose pieces and materials that animated an interior. Wood furniture was often constructed out of whatever material was on hand, such as yellow pine, and then painted to mimic another finer wood material, such as mahogany. As new green and yellow pigments became commercially available, these colors were applied to furniture.  No colors or combinations were too adventurous. As today, trends waxed and waned.  While brown and more sober hues came back into vogue during the 1850s to 1870s, bright and bold colors, such as this green strip, made their return in the late 1870s to 1890s. Neutral colors once again returned to popularity around the turn of the century, and “drab” colors mimicking natural materials, like camel brown, once again dominated the household.

Mrs. John  Drennen  (née  Emily  Deadrick  Stuart)
(1801-1844)
Attributed to George Catlin
Van Buren, Crawford Co., Arkansas
ca. 1834
Oil on linen
38 x 33 in.
Accession  No: 2005.12.50
Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council  Grant Purchase

Tastemakers  and  Trends:  Why is Mrs . Drennen  wearing black?

“Dress” in 19th century terms refers to the total look, from head to toe. “Day dress” was more casual than morning attire, while evening wear or “full dress” was considered the most formal mode. Day dresses were frequently made of colorful wool or cotton prints, but black continued to be popular due to its associations with piety and traditional formal dress.

During the early 19th century when this portrait was painted, true black was a difficult color to produce in textiles. Cheap dyes made of oak galls, walnuts, or blackberries faded almost immediately into orange or dark gray, respectively. The best and most expensive method was triple-dipping (once in blue, yellow, and then red vats of dye). A simpler process combined indigo and a deep red dye from a Central American tree called logwood to create a more permanent, less expensive dark black. In this portrait, Mrs. Drennen  wears a black day dress with a low neckline, a pointed bodice, and tight-fitting sleeves that balloon out at the elbow. The 1830s were a transitional decade in fashion, spanning the years between the end of the Regency era and the beginning of the Victorian era. In the early 1830s, ballooning “gigot” or “leg-of-mutton” sleeves were considered fashionable, but by 1836, the gigot sleeve shrank, and the upper sleeve was drawn into tight horizontal rows of puffed shirring. Mrs. Drennen  wears an embroidered cotton or linen bertha around her shoulders for modesty, closed with a decorative brooch at the center of her chest.

Overmantle looking glass (mirror)
Maker unknown
Owned by the Woodruff Family of Little Rock, AR
United States
1815-1830
Compo, bole, wood, gold, modern mirror glass
54 ¾ x 44 in.
Accession No: 2018.30
Gift of Swannee Bennett

Tastemakers  and  Trends:  Why are there Romans on this mirror?

The second half of the 18th century in Europe witnessed the rising influence of classical antiquity on aesthetics and artistic style. As artists and aristocrats began touring, and subsequently copying, the great works and monuments of antiquity, the neoclassical style was born. This mix of first-hand observation and the reproduction of classical works dominated European art, architecture, and the decorative arts. Neoclassical designs had an immediate and broad influence  on  American interiors,  and the “antique” taste was utilized by craftsmen  in their own creations.  To furnish the neoclassical style, ancient forms were transformed into gilt ornament. The gold finish was meant to mimic the golden accents  recently  rediscovered on Roman ruins. Only the elite were fortunate  enough  to purchase antiquities to decorate their homes,  but  cabinetmakers and other artisans transformed their creations to pass as the real things. This mirror is a mix of both.

The bas-relief frieze panel, featuring a scene of Roman centurions riding a chariot drawn by lions, warriors and cherubs, was inspired by classical Roman mythology. This scene is flanked by fluted columns with Corinthian capitals. The gilding of the piece added another mystical element mimicking classical antiquities. Gilding is the application of metal finishes to metal, wood, glass, or ceramics. This frame was probably water and oil gilded onto a bole-prepared compo surface. Compo (composition) was a popular material for molded ornament, as it was faster to produce than carved wood and more stable for gilding.

Painted flour bin
Maker unknown
Jefferson or Pulaski County, Arkansas
ca. 1875
Southern yellow pine, paint, iron hinges
36 x 42 ½ x 14 ½ in.
Accession No: 98.11.2
Gala Purchase honoring Ginger and  Adron  Crews

Tastemakers and Trends:  How did the paint on this bin function in a mid-19th  century kitchen?

The white paint on this bin oxidized over its original emerald green undercoat, transforming into a crackled yellow-cream. When the museum acquired the piece in 1995, it  arrived  well-aged, distressed to perfection from over 100 years of use. But back in the 1870s when it was made, its sturdy Southern yellow pine base was given a slick, shiny coat of paint. For a piece so heavily used (it likely stored flour), a freshly painted surface was much easier to wipe down and keep clean than bare wood. This “sanitary aesthetic” factored significantly into mid-Victorian era home furnishings, especially in work spaces like the kitchen.

Sanitary campaigns of the mid-Victorian era promoted hygiene in the home and associated sunlight and brightness with cleanliness. They marked the beginning of a slow shift from the dim, shadowy interiors of earlier days, which were thought to trap dust and conceal germs. The application of paint to surfaces like furniture also conveyed cleanliness and hygiene.

Innovations in paint production helped popularize painted surfaces; as an alternative to traditional oil based paint, which had a more matte finish, 19th  century paint manufacturers offered zinc oxide as a non-toxic base with a sheen for enamel paints. A second choice was soft distemper, which was reversible and required a re-coating after a year or two of use.

Peter Hanger’s velvet parlor carpet
Manufacturer unknown
Probably American
ca. 1860
Wool and linen
13 x 11 ¼ in.
Accession No: 87.70.17
Gift of Charles and Rebecca Witsell

Tastemakers  and  Trends:  How did 19th-century Americans use carpets to enliven their decor?

Few original 19th century carpets survived the ravages of moths, water damage, heavy foot traffic, and efforts to repurpose even the most worn fragments. This well-used carpet section was found in the attic of the historic Frederick Hanger House at 1010 Scott Street in Little Rock with a hand-written inscription penned by Frances Marion Hanger, daughter-in-law of early Arkansas settler Peter Hanger, describing the carpet’s origins. In 1859, Peter Hanger acquired 160 acres east of downtown Little Rock, as well as a Greek Revival home that he called  Oakwood, which was located on what is now the south side of the 1400 block of East 9th Street. According to Frances’s inscription, Peter Hanger ordered several thousand dollars’ worth of goods during the Civil War, but this velvet carpet was the only article in the order to make it down the Mississippi River before it was blockaded by Union Troops in 1863.

Velvet carpet is a high-end tapestry carpet with a low pile. Most middle-class families used flat-woven ingrain carpet, but affluent homes were decorated with pricier carpets, including  Wiltons, Brussels, Axminsters, and tapestries. Wills and estate inventories confirm the practice of reserving quality floor coverings for the most public rooms of a house, with the best carpet saved for the formal parlor where guests were entertained and weddings, funerals, and other events were held. This velvet carpet was probably installed wall-to-wall in the parlor of Peter Hanger’s antebellum home,  Oakwood. The original colors would  have  included cream, orange, maroon, golden yellow, and brown in an arabesque design.

Reproduction ingrain carpet
Brunschwig & Fils, New York
Wool 22 x 20 in.
Reproduced in 2004
Based on 1840s carpet from Abraham Lincoln’s home in Springfield, IL
Accession No: R2005.002       

Tastemakers and  Trends:  Is this carpet gaudy or tasteful?

“Two colors only, with the dark and light shades of each, will make a very handsome carpet,” wrote “Miss Leslie” in her 1854 edition of  The Lady’s House Book. Mid-19th century American design critics like Leslie praised ingrain carpets with various shades of green and red.  Although this carpet may seem gaudy to contemporary eyes, the pairing of red and green was especially popular in the 1840s and 50s, in home furnishings and fashion alike. It is no accident that on the color wheel, red and green lie opposite each other and are thereby considered complementary.

A home-furnishings fever spread across America when this ingrain carpet was manufactured. For the first time, Americans were experiencing an age of public taste in which they could actively cultivate an aesthetic for their home. Thanks to mass production, now most  people—not just the wealthy few—could afford to decorate their interiors. Wallpaper, carpeting, and furniture arrived in Little Rock on steamboats from factories in Cincinnati and New Orleans.

The average  Arkansas settler  probably  grew up in a home with bare or painted pine floors.  But by the 1840s, almost everyone  could afford to deck his home wall-to-wall with carpet.  Samples arrived in mail-order catalogs, and merchants  offered goods in great variety in their storefront windows. Given this new opportunity,  a person  might enthusiastically choose carpet bursting in colors and geometric patterns.  The antebellum home of James  McVicar  (located on the museum grounds)  features this  reproduction carpet in the parlor.

Roderweis front parlor
Photographer unknown
Jacksonville, AR
1895
Photographic print
9 x 11 in.
Accession No: 96.49.3
Gift of the Estate of Ina Dupree

Tastemakers and Trends: What colors do you imagine in this Victorian parlor?

The  Roderweis  family (pictured) represented the up-and-coming, stylish middle class of late 19th century Americans. John Roderweis, the head of this German immigrant family and a carpenter by trade, built his home and surely beamed with pride at this accomplishment. His family fittingly posed for the camera inside their fully-furnished front parlor, the heart of the home. The family displays some of its prized personal possessions, including a piano, Bible, and gilt-framed family portraits. It’s the kind of cluttered, romantic nest that characterized so many bourgeois Victorian homes.

It’s hard to tell from the original black-and-white photograph that this late 19th century Victorian parlor was full of color, from floor to wall to tabletop. But a closer examination shows that nature-inspired floral and vine-like patterns climb almost every surface and furnishing. Cozy chaos came to define Victorian interiors. Attention to scale and a warm, subdued color palette helped harmonize an otherwise dizzyingly cluttered living space. Design critics from the period praised wallpaper and carpet manufacturers’ use of soft or “drabbed” color combinations, and denounced the bold contrasting colors of the mid-19th century.  A wall covering, for example, was not meant to be a showstopper, but rather contributed to the atmosphere of a room.

We reimagined the  Roderweis parlor with the help of William Doran, a  professional colorist who digitally applied color to a high-resolution scan of the print.  The tones in our retouched image appear a bit louder and bolder than they would have looked in real life, which is a trait common to both modern and historical photo colorizations. 

Abbie Churchill  Henry C. Byrd (1804-1884)
Little Rock, Pulaski Co., Arkansas
ca. 1857
Oil on mattress ticking
42 ¼ x 37 ½ in.
Accession No: 98.51.1
Gala Fund Purchase in honor of  Adron  and Ginger Crews

Technology  and  Innovation:  How have the fine art painter’s tools changed since the 1850s?

When artist Henry Byrd made this portrait of young Abbie Churchill in the late 1850s, the painter’s tools and techniques had not changed much since 1400s, but American and European artists were poised on the precipice of rapid technological development. Before the overwhelming adoption of the collapsible paint tube, invented in 1841, each pigment was ground into linseed or poppy seed oil using a glass muller on a stone slab. For the sake of economy, most artists made only enough paint for the day’s work, laying out just a few colors on a relatively small palette.

Standing at his easel, the 19th-century artist needed a solid foundation in draftsmanship, but he also had to remember a dizzying number of rules governing the possibilities and limitations of each pigment. Some pigments could not be worked with oil, and many pigments created chemical reactions when mixed, altering colors and even eating away at the linen support. Wax, alum, chalk, and other drying agents were added to correct what were seen as deficiencies in each pigment’s intrinsic properties. Itinerant artists like Henry Byrd probably would’ve purchased raw pigments and other fine art supplies from a merchant like S.H. Tucker, a Little Rock dealer in a wide variety of dry goods and stationery shipped to Arkansas through contact with wholesalers in bigger port cities like New Orleans. In lieu of fine linen canvas from England, Byrd painted this portrait on a support of tightly-woven blue and white mattress ticking.

Black Vulture or Carrion Crow
Drawn from nature by John James Audubon (1785-1851)
Engraved, printed and colored by Robert Havell
London
1831
Double elephant folio
37 x 47 in.
Accession No: 93.34
Gift of Dr. Alex A. Pappas

Technology and Innovation: How were colored prints made for Audubon's original The Birds of America?

Before the invention of photography and precision-ground lenses, if you wanted to study birds closely, you needed to be handy with a rifle. American naturalist John James Audubon was interested in the fledgling field of ornithology from a young age, and he spent hundreds of hours shooting and sketching wild birds. To create life-like poses, he pinned a freshly-killed bird to a board of his own design, wiring it into place and working quickly with pencils and watercolor before the creature deteriorated beyond use.

Almost from the beginning, Audubon was determined that even the biggest birds he drew should be reproduced at life-size. When printers Robert  Havel l and his son were hired, they used the largest paper then available, the double elephant folio. Robert  Havell  Jr. first created a copperplate engraving based on each of Audubon’s original drawings by incising the design into a sheet of copper with a sharp tool called a burin. Then he inked the entire copper plate and wiped it clean, so black ink remained only within the incised lines. A printing process called aquatint was used to create effects like texture and value. Color printing was in its infancy in the 1830s, so once the black lines were printed, color was added by hand using watercolor paints. Robert  Havell  Sr. created one perfect ‘pattern’ print that was copied over and over by a team of colorists who painted each print to match the reference pattern.

Black Japanned chair
Maker unknown Likely American
19th century
Maple or pine with fabric cover over original rush seat
32 x 14 ½ in.
Accession No: 73.11.7
Gift of the Elger Estate

Technology & Innovation: Why was this chair painted gold and black? 

Fueled by increasing trade with countries like Japan and China in the 18th and 19th centuries, Europeans and Americans developed a taste for all things Asian. The love for "Oriental" imports included art, ceramics, textiles, and perhaps most of all, black lacquered furniture. Lacquer finishes were prized for their lustrous depth and striking black sheen and those who could afford it incorporated imported pieces into their home decor. Yet for many people, high price and limited supply meant that authentic lacquered furniture was out of reach.

Lacquer is made of carefully processed sap from the Chinese lacquer tree, which is a species Western craftsmen didn't have access to. Ever ingenious, they developed ways to replicate the glossy black finish by using varnishes, a product derived from plant resin. Cabinet makers and furniture decorators called their faux-lacquered furniture “japanning”; the mistaken view of the time was that “Japan” encompassed all of  southeast Asia, India, and China. This process further imitated imported furniture by incorporating faux bamboo, floral, porcelain elements, and gilt chinoiserie  designs. Fine black lines, referred to at the time as pen work,  were  applied to further enhance the lacquer designs.

Crazy quilt square
Maker unknown
Arkansas
ca. 1890
Silk, velvet and cotton
9 ¼ x 10 ½ in.
Accession No: 2003.4.120
Gift of Peg Newton Smith

Technology  and  Innovation:  How did a Victorian quilter have  access to  such a wide variety of fabrics?

A Victorian-era crazy quilt square holds a myriad of 30 unique pieces of fabric. Velvets in chocolatey earth tones and silks in pale pink and crimson red are accented by yellow and white embroidery stitches. Composed of a household’s clothing and textile remnants, this crazy quilt square is a wonderful way to see the variety of fabrics available to Americans during the second half of the 19th century. Mail-order design books such as  Godey’s  an d Journal of Design  offered Americans the latest fabric samples, from patterned cottons and calicoes to high-styled silk, chiffon and crepe for fine dresses. For the first time, Americans (not just the wealthy elite) could purchase textiles of varying colors, patterns, and textures.

The industrialization of textiles in this country during the 19th century provided Americans with an unprecedented abundance of affordable fabric. Manufacturers in major cities produced fabrics like silk, velvet, and cottons in varying colorful prints. This new found supply essentially gave rise to the pieced quilt in America. In particular, crazy quilts—which got their name from the seemingly random arrangement of fabric pieces—appealed to needle workers of all skillsets and economic means. The crazy pattern was widely adored for the chance it gave its maker to add personal touches  such as memorial ribbons and personal initials, and  to  make use of her “rag bag” of dress and household textile remnants. 

“Currant” Flock Paper for General Purposes
Manufactured by  Woollams  and Co.
The Journal of Design
England
1850-51
Flock paper, paint
5 x 4 in.
Accession No: 87.68.2

Technology  and  Innovation:  What toxic ingredient created green in early Victorian wallpaper?

Victorians fell in love with a particular color called “Scheele’s Green,” named after the Swedish chemist, Carl Wilhelm Scheele, who first developed it. But the secret ingredient used to make this lusted-for hue was arsenic, an extremely toxic naturally-occurring element mined and used by manufacturers to color paint, wallpapers, and clothing. Arsenic was blamed for the deaths of miners and many consumers who were exposed to this pigment through painted objects and home furnishings like wallpaper.

Arsenic is a metalloid, meaning it and can bind with another metal to form an alloy, or a compound mixture. Scheele first combined arsenic in the 1770s with copper when he produced his brighter-than-usual green pigment. The copper-to-arsenic ratio, along with the degree of heat applied during the bonding process, determines the intensity of the resulting green. Even though arsenic was used as a rat poison at the time, consumers and manufacturers continued to deny its toxic effect on humans. However, as number of arsenic-related illnesses and a deaths rose, manufacturers eventually stopped using it in their production.

Machine printed-wallpaper entered the mass market after 1840. Mechanized rollers allowed manufacturers to produce a higher volume of paper, making wallpaper more accessible and affordable to middle class Americans than traditional block-printed wallpaper. Rococo revival floral patterns were especially popular during the first half of the 19th century. 

Orange Tureen
Maker unknown
Canton, China
ca. 1810
Glazed hard-paste porcelain
11 ½ x 14 ½ x 8 ¾ in.
Accession No: 2006.45.1
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. A. Howard Stebbins, III.

Technology  and Innovation:  How was this tureen made?

Chinese porcelain, “chinaware,” has always been popular in America. In 1785, when America’s  firs t merchant ship in the Chinese trade returned from Canton, her hull contained the porcelain pieces made to order for the American market. The mechanics of the porcelain trade with the West was a streamlined, multi-step process  completed at several different locations. From the digging of clay,  the  forming  of  objects at a potter’s wheel or using a mold,  the  decorating and glazing, the firing of kilns, to the final packing and distributing of the items to merchants, this process was automated at different villages established for each  individual step.

At Canton, the vessels received final decorations specified by their buyers. Traders shared designs and personalized emblems from their customers with the painters who masterfully copied these designs.  While visiting Canton in 1769, American traveler William Hickey noted, “we found upwards of a hundred persons at work in sketching or finishing the various ornaments upon each particular piece of ware, some parts being executed by men of a very advanced age, and others by children even so young as six or seven years.”

This tureen features  the Fitzhugh,  an immensely popular pattern of the time,  with a floral quadrant of chrysanthemum clusters spaced around a central field which was filled with the buyer’s  own design. The orange over-glaze, with a personalized emblem of the rampant United States bald eagle, painted  en grisaille  (dark brown over-glaze enamel painted to present an appearance with more shades) is an extremely rare combination. 

Roderweis  family outside their home
Photographer unknown
Jacksonville, AR
ca. 1880
Photographic print and watercolor
10 ½ x 11 ½ in.
Accession No: 96.49.2
Gift of the Estate of Ina Dupree

Technology  and Innovation:  Why did this late 19th century family have their photograph color-tinted?

When the  Roderweis  family posed before their home circa 1890, innovators in the field of photography had not yet figured out how to feasibly process color photographs. Still, it’s fair to say that everyone yearned to see their lives captured in color. The photography industry’s solution was (for only a few pennies more) to colorize the black and white prints by hand.

After they were processed, the photographic prints were  tinted  by a “colorist,” a trained professional usually hired by the photographer.  It was common for the photographer to make color notes on the back of his print for the hand-tinter to use as her guide. The colorist applied her colors with a small brush, using pastel, oil, or watercolor. Varnishing the print first  ensured  an even application of the color medium.

The colorizing of  Roderweis’s  print was perhaps a bit of an amateur job, or the family chose a minimal but affordable treatment. The artist brushed the principal elements of the image: the ground (grass & vegetation), the roof of the home, and a big blue sky. The five members of the  Roderweis  family remain untouched, and stand in their original black and white forms.

Pigments are colored powders that can be suspended in a medium like oil, egg, or acrylic to make paint. The primary difference between pigments and dyes is that pigments don’t dissolve – tiny particles of color stay suspended in the medium. Dyes are mostly used for coloring textiles, and they dissolve in water. Dyes usually need to be fixed with a mordant so the color doesn’t wash out of the fabric. Pigments generally cannot be made into dyes, but some dyes can be made into paints by fixing them onto a white mineral powder like clay. Paints made from dyes are called lakes.

A unique sisterhood bound the earliest of American quilts. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, most young women learned a rudimentary degree of needlework skills from the older women in her family. The occasional but relished quilting bee or frolic offered the isolated farm woman a chance to socialize with her peers and exchange ideas about patterns and techniques. At these merry gatherings, women assisted a neighbor with the final stage of binding her quilt’s three layers: top, batting, and back.Friendship and album-style quilts enlisted multiple people—friends, church members, civic club members—to work a single quilt together over an extended time. Such collectively created works were typically made over a series of day-long sessions at a hosting member’s house (with plenty of opportunities for socializing and meals provided), and the final finished piece perhaps sold at a charitable fundraiser or presented as a gift to a loved one departing from the community.

Log Cabin
Pieced quilt
Clara Baker
ca. 1950
North Little Rock (Pulaski County)
78 x 63 in.
Collection of the Historic Arkansas Museum
Gift of Rebekah Teague
Accession No: 2004.68

Clara Baker was affectionately called "Mother Baker” by those who knew her. Born on a cotton farm near Memphis around 1917, she was part of a great migration of African Americans who left the poverty and hardship of the Mississippi Delta after World War I. Baker was fond of bold, bright colors and made use of fabric remnants she had at her disposal, from hospital sheets to old articles of clothing. She was a resourceful woman who sewed her own clothes, and was accustomed to getting by on very little. It was her habit to offer her quilts to those who visited her at her home in North Little Rock.

Also known as “britches” quilts, Baker’s quilt falls into a category of utilitarian quilts made by poor white and African American women of clothing and blanket remnants during the first half of the 20th century. Despite the use of well-worn fabrics like corduroy, polyester, and seersucker, Baker’s quilt expresses her creativity, resourcefulness, and love for color.

Signature
Pieced quilt
Made by members of the Women’s Home Missionary Society of Cabot
1907
Lonoke County
79.25 x 79.25 in.
Collection of Historic Arkansas Museum
Gift of Carolyn Park
Accession No: 2012.032

Members of a missionary society in Cabot (today’s First United Methodist Church), probably made this quilt to raise money for their new church building. Signature quilts like this one often generated funds through the donation of money by each individual named on the blocks, and in the final sale, or raffling of the quilt. More than 1,000 names record a large network of the people and organizations who touched the lives of this early 20th-century Arkansas community.

Mrs. Vise, a descendent of one of the quilt’s makers, recalled that her father, who wrote with “such a pretty hand,” first applied the names to the quilt in pencil or chalk, over which her mother and other skilled members embroidered by hand. Vise recalled, “I remember my grandmother fussing about the way some of the members did their stitches—not making them small enough, you know, and of course some of the knotted ends shouldn’t have been left to show.”

An enslaved woman’s needlework skills often included sewing, knitting, crocheting, embroidery, tatting, spinning, weaving, and quilting. Enslaved seamstresses typically produced all the clothing for male and female slaves, plus quilts, coverlets, and table linens for the master’s house. Many enslaved people made utilitarian and decorative quilts for their own use, stitched at night after the day’s tasks were complete, and quilts for the big house, created under the supervision of the mistress of the household. Very few slave-made quilts exist today; fire, theft, and sale for extra income contributed to their disappearance, but frequent use was probably the most important factor. Without documentation of a quilt’s origin, it is impossible to know if it was made by an enslaved artisan. Occasionally, quilts made by enslaved people for the master’s household were considered among a family’s best quilts, and they were tucked away for use on special occasions. These are the most common surviving quilts made by enslaved artisans.

Chintz Appliqué
Pieced and appliquéd quilt
Made by enslaved individuals owned by Caleb Lindsey
c. 1838
Pulaski and/or Jefferson counties
104 x 103 in.
Collection of Historic Arkansas Museum
Gala Fund Purchase honoring Peg Newton Smith
Accession No: 95.53

According to family lore, enslaved individuals owned by the Caleb Lindsey family made this quilt for the 1838 marriage of Rebecca Brilhart to Caleb Lindsey Jr. In 1840, Pulaski County Census records indicate that Caleb Lindsey Sr. owned eight women and employed two free black individuals. This rare chintz appliqué medallion quilt generally predates pieced block style quilts that became popular in the third quarter of the 19th century. Chintz appliqué quilt tops were made by cutting figures like flowers or animals from glazed, (in this case roller-printed) cotton chintz fabric and stitching them to a piece of foundation fabric. American and European quilts made before 1840 were often organized around a central medallion design that featured piecework or appliqué, or both. The central focus of this quilt is a geometric piecework and appliqué design framed by multiple pieced borders. By 1850, whole-cloth and appliqué techniques were almost completely eclipsed by the emerging popularity of repeating block style quilts in America.

From cradle to coffin, 19th century quilts were made to mark the most significant events in a family, such as the birth of a new baby, a marriage, or the loss of a loved one. Cherished as keepsakes, quilts often get passed down the generations. The occasions for which the quilts were made get passed down, too, in pattern names like “Grandad’s Wedding Quilt” or “Mother’s hope chest quilt.”
Today, quilters still bring their ancestors’ quilts to guild meetings to share, and many of them learned needlework from their own mothers and grandmothers. A tangible connection to their family’s heritage, the textiles are also a source of pride; when a historical quilt is donated to a museum, it sometimes comes with a handwritten note pinned to the top, denoting the year, maker, and bits of genealogy. Many such treasures were kept safe over decades in blanket chests, smelling of cedar chips.

Star of Bethlehem and unknown foliate pattern
Pieced and appliquéd quilt
Mary Jane Vincent
ca. 1860
Searcy (White County)
74 x 73 in.
Collection of Historic Arkansas Museum
Gift of Nona V. Ogle
Accession No: 88.47

A tradition in the Vincent family was for the mothers in the family to christen their baby’s birth with a newly made quilt. True to this custom, Mary Jane Vincent completed her Star of Bethlehem on the night her son was born, in 1860. The quilt stayed in the Vincent family well into the late 20th century, until the dying days of the family’s last heir, Nona (Ogle) Vincent. In 1988, Vincent mailed the quilt to the museum with a letter that read: “I am sending my father’s quilt in your care… If you like the quilt, please keep it and restore it, I am 81 years of age, my health is no good, I will not be able to keep it much longer. I am the last one of the immediate family.”

An expansion on the central medallion concept of earlier quilts, the star begins in the center, and thousands of diamond-shaped cutouts emanate to the quilt’s outermost edges. The prismatic effect of this pattern is believed to have been influenced by the invention of the kaleidoscope in the early 19th century.

The everyday experiences of 19th century women are reflected in the colloquial names of their patterns, as well as the representational motifs that adorned their finished quilts. They used appliqué to imitate nature with stylized flowers, leaves, and vines, while pattern names like Broken Dishes, Puss in the Corner, Shoo Fly, and Hole in the Barn Door reflect daily life on the farm. Quilt-making reached fad status in the second half of the 19th century as Americans shaped a national identity distinct from their ancestors. This era has been called the most visually inventive time period in the history of quilting; almost all of the quilt styles popular today were conceived between 1870 and 1910. Inspiration for quilt designs came from diverse sources including fashionable furniture and decorative arts, popular inventions, and cultural exchanges made possible by the proliferation of international publications and expositions. 

Crazy
Pieced quilt
Made by Rose family dressmaker
ca. 1880Little Rock (Pulaski County)
66 x 64 in.
Collection of Historic Arkansas Museum
Gift of Peg Newton Smith
Accession No: 2003.4.115

America’s infatuation with “Oriental” art began in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, where some nine million people visited the Japanese Pavilion. The asymmetrical designs introduced there influenced the spectrum of American decorative arts, but especially appealed to textile designs, in the form of the “crazy quilt” pattern. Cuts of velvety soft earth tones and shiny silks were seamed together with brightly colored embroidery stitches. Eastern motifs like fans and figures in kimonos were popular, as well as other Victorian symbols such as butterflies, daisies, and peacock feathers.

This quilt belonged to the prominent Rose family of Little Rock. Their dressmaker made beautiful use of the formal garments she had sewn for the family’s special occasions. Over the years, members of the Rose family gazed at the quilt and recalled “Ellen’s debut dress,” “Emma’s trousseau gown,” and other fine remnants from which the crazy quilt was made. Certain embellishments make this quilt a sentimental family scrapbook of sorts, such as the initials “U.M.” for Uriah Milton Rose (1834-1913), the family’s figurehead and founder of Rose Law Firm.

Lyre
Pieced and appliquéd quilt
Elizabeth Anne Washington Rogers
ca. 1860
Arkadelphia (Clark County)
77 x 83.5 in.Collection of Historic Arkansas Museum
Gala Fund Purchase
Accession No: 91.90.1

Symbols of ancient Greek life were revived in American furniture, ceramics, and other decorative arts during the 18th and 19th centuries. During this period, Greek symbols became associated with classical artistic achievement and democratic ideals. In Greek mythology, Apollo is the god of sun, music, poetry and art. One of his instruments is the lyre, whose harp-like quality symbolizes harmony and heavenly peace.

More commonly seen in furniture and vases, the lyre motif is somewhat rare in quilts. But because of its popularity, it comes as no surprise that this symbol would also surface in the textile arts. This Arkansas quilter chose to embellish her quilt’s nine lyres with appliquéd tulips and roses of her own design. Like so many Americans of her time, Rogers embraced the classical ideals of peace and harmony when furnishing her home.

Whig's Defeat or Democratic Victory
Pieced and appliqued quilt
Marian Aikman Trayler
ca. 1850
Izard County
79.25 x 67.5 in.
Collection of Historic Arkansas Museum
Gift of Dula Mariah Wood Hook
Accession No: 95.76              

The genius of Mariah Aikman Trayler’s quilt lies in her use of negative space. Upon closer examination, it is evident that Trayler began her quilt with 10 individually pieced squares (plus two half-squares), each consisting of blue-and-white diamond borders, and four pink petals augmenting the corners. Each pieced square was then appliquéd to the quilt top, to form an overall circular design. Trayler quilted the whitework with the finest and most intricate stitches.

Like written documents, historical quilts can function as primary sources, yielding information about their makers. Well before they won the right to vote in 1920, women used quilting to express their political and social views. Pattern names like Whig’s Defeat, Abe Lincoln’s Log Cabin, and Grandmother’s Choice (a women’s suffrage pattern) describe moments in American political history, while special embellishments like embroidered verses or the names of political candidates could be used to illustrate a quilter’s personal position. Quilts also provided useful ways to raise money to support religious causes, social reform movements, and war efforts. During the Civil War, patriotic women on both sides of the conflict took up their sewing needles and quilted to raise funds for ill-equipped soldiers. On many occasions during the war, quilts were used as graphic political statements, and some were considered dangerous enough to suppress or destroy.

Secession
Pieced quilt with trapunto
Mary Green McPherson
ca. 1861
West Point (White County)
85.5 x 97 in.
Collection of Historic Arkansas Museum
Gift of Florence C. Spore (Mrs. Kenneth L.)
Accession No: 85.39.4

Mary McPherson of West Point, Arkansas, made her quilt to raise funds at a local raffle for Confederate soldiers in need. But far from a humble bed covering, the masterpiece she created was also a political statement, as herninetrapuntostarssymbolize Arkansas as the ninth state to secede from the Union. When word got out about McPherson’s “rebel quilt,” Union soldiers put her under house arrest until the war’s end. In later newspaper accounts, it was said that McPherson’s quilt stayed hidden as it passed hands from plantation to plantation, and attic to cellar.

Trapuntoisan ornamental technique used separately or in combination with all-white, pieced and appliquéd quilting. McPherson’s stuffed stars give her quilt a wonderful three-dimensional quality. To make them, she cut tiny slits in the quilt’s backing, stuffed in bits of cotton batting, and then carefully stitched closed the openings. Applyingthetrapuntowouldhave been the final intricate step of completing her quilt.