Art Credits

  • Background (top to bottom) • Detail, José de Urrutia, Mapa, que comprende la Frontera, de los Dominios del Rey, en la America Septentrionale, 1769. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division, digital ID g4410 ct000539. • Detail, [Great Salt Lake City in 1853. Looking south.], ink drawing by Frederick Hawkins Piercy, digital ID no. 54944. I. N. Phelps Stokes Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. • Detail, deed of manumission: Benjamin Butterworth, Campbell County, Va., emancipates Sall Black when she reaches 18 years of age, March 31, 1791. Butterworth was a Quaker. Courtesy, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. • Foreground • A Naudowessie Dagger, formerly made of Stone and A Pipe of Peace, in J[onathan] Carver, Travels through the Interior Parts of North America, in the Years 1766, 1767, and 1768, 3d ed. (London, 1781), from plate 4, facing p. 296. Courtesy, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
  • Detail, Portrait of Mrs. Denny Soccabeson, possibly by Lt. Alexander Henry Charles Villiers, Eastport, Maine, 1817. Watercolor and ink on wove paper. Courtesy, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, acc. no. 1994.300.1.
  • Dram glass, England, ca. 1770. Around the rim is engraved “The King & the Friends of His Majesty’s American Loyalists.” Courtesy of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, acc. no. 1967-316.

  • Detail, Major General Arnold Wounded Dec 31-1775 at the attack of Quebec, engraving in James Murray, An impartial history of the war in America, between Great Britain and the United States . . . (London, 1780), plate following p. 248. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, acc. no. 02349-6.
  • Detail, deed of manumission: Benjamin Butterworth, Campbell County, Va., emancipates Sall Black when she reaches 18 years of age, March 31, 1791. Butterworth was a Quaker. Courtesy, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
  • Detail, The falls of St. Anthony in the River Mississippi, near 2400 Miles from its entrance into the Gulf of Mexico (1778), in Carver, Travels through the Interior Parts of North America, facing p. 70. Courtesy, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
  • [Dutch explorers are crowned by native Americans], engraving in Arnoldus Montanus, De Nieuwe en onbekende Weereld: of Beschryving van America (Amsterdam, 1671), 110. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, acc. no. 01631-5.
  • Detail, Samuel Lewis, Louisiana, from Aaron Arrowsmith, New and Elegant General Atlas (Philadelphia, 1804). Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division, digital ID g4050 ct000654.
  • Wie der König Vtina wann er sein heer wider den Feind aussführt ein Zauberer rahtfragt, hand-colored engraving by Theodor de Bry, in Der ander Theil der newlich erfundenen Landtschafft Americae, von dreyen Schiffahrten, so die Frantzosen in Floridam . . . gethan . . . (Frankfurt am Main, 1591), pt. 2, plate XII. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, acc. no. 08915-17.
  • Detail, La Nuova Francia, woodcut, in Giovanni Battista Ramusio, Delle navigationi et viaggi . . . (Venice, 1606), vol. 3, p. 353–54. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, acc. no. 08294-1.
  • Manner of Bush-fighting by the African Negroes and Gradation of Shades between Europe & Africa, hand-colored engravings in John Gabriel Stedman, Narrative, of a five years’ expedition, against the revolted Negroes of Surinam . . . (London, 1796), vol. 2, plate 54, following p. 98. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, acc. no. 06944-50.

  • [Details from three views of courtship rituals], drawn by Bernard Picard, engraving in Ceremonies et coutumes religieuses des peoples idolatres . . . (Amsterdam, 1723), vol. 1, plate I, following p. 88. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, acc. no. 04626-2.


  • Detail, The Rights of Man; or Tommy Paine, the little American Taylor, taking the Measure of the Crown, for a new Pair of Revolution-Breeches, by James Gillray, London, May 23, 1791. Courtesy of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, acc. no. 1960-118.
  • Detail, The Murray Sisters: Sally Scott Murray and Her Sister, Anna Maria Murray, by Bouché (active 1785–1801), Annapolis, Maryland, 1794. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, acc. no. 1996-826.

  • Political print (Benjamin Franklin satire) attributed to James Claypoole Jr., 1764. A Quaker holding a band of wampum in one hand rides a Scotch-Irish “Hibernian.” A leash on the Quaker’s arm is attached to the nose of a blindfolded German who carries an Indian on his back. Franklin, standing to the left, holds out a paper that reads “Resolved ye Prop[rieto]r a knave & tyrant.” An Indian peeks his head out of a cave to observe three dead bodies on the ground, by which the artist implies that they have met their death at his hands. In the background, a village burns. At the base of the cartoon are inscribed three couplets: “The German bleeds & bears ye furs / Of Quaker Lords& savage Curs; Th’ Hibernian frets with new Disaster / And kicks to fling his broad brim’d Master; But help at hand Resolves to hold down / Th’ Hibernian’s Head or tumble all down.” Courtesy of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, acc. no. 1972-202.
  • Detail, De Kriegerische Neigung in studirung der Fortification, by Martin Engelbrecht and M. Rosler, Nuremberg, 1700–1710. Courtesy of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, acc. no. 1959-434.
  • Detail, A Map of the Isthmus of Darien, & Bay of Panama, engraving in Lionel Wafer, A new voyage and description of the isthmus of America . . . (London, 1699), foldout map preceding p. 1. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, acc. no. 01943-1.
  • Detail, William Ansah Sessarakoo, by John Faber, London, ca. 1748. The text below the portrait declares the man to be the son of John Bannishee Corrantee Ohinnee of Anamaboe and Eukobah, daughter of Ansah Sessarakoo, King of Aquamboo, and niece of Quishadoo, King of Akroan. “He was Sold at Barbadoes as a Slave in ye Year 1744 Redeem’d at the Earnest Request of his Father in the Year 1748, and brought to England.” Courtesy of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, acc. no. 2000-91.
  • Detail, birth certificate for Catherine Neff, by unidentified artist, ca. 1777–1785. The style, format, and wording of this certificate suggest that it was created near the time of Neff ’s 1777 birth, making it one of the earliest fraktur designs associated with German-speaking immigrants to Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Neff married Christian Kagy in 1801. Courtesy of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, acc. no. 1985.305.1.
  • Detail, Morning, painting attributed to Sophia Burpee, watercolor and ink on wove paper, Massachusetts, ca. 1806. Courtesy of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, acc. no. 1931.301.6.
  • Detail, sampler, by Mary Welsh, silk embroidery threads on a linen ground, Massachusetts, ca. 1770. According to the inscription, Welsh made this sampler, featuring a shepherd and shepherdess tending sheep in a pastoral setting, “in the 12 Year of Her Age.” Courtesy of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, acc. no. 1962-309.
  • Detail, Chirurgie, copy from plate XVII in Denis Diderot, Encyclopedie; ou Dictionnaire raisonne des sciences, des arts et des métiers (Paris, 1751–65). Courtesy, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
  • Plate III in John D. Fisher, Description of the Distinct, Confluent, and Inoculated Small Pox, Varioloid Disease, Cow Pox, and Chicken Pox, 2d ed. (Boston, 1834). Fisher was a doctor. This image represents “the natural distinct Small Pox eruption as it appeared on the face and hand of a male child, on the . . . sixth . . . day after it broke out” (ibid., 1). The unvaccinated child died on the tenth day of illness. Courtesy, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
  • Detail, Abiti Messicani, engraving in Francesco Saverio Clavigero, Storia antica del Messico cavata da’ migliori storici spagnuoli, e da’ manoscritti, e dale pitture antiche degl’ Indiani . . . (Cesena, 1780), vol. 2, plate following p. 224. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, acc. no. 07461-13.
  • Detail, Wha Wants Me: I am Ready and Willing to offer my services to any Nation or People under Heaven who are Desirous of Liberty and Equality, by George Woodward and Isaac Cruikshank, London, Dec. 26, 1792. This caricature of Thomas Paine shows him with a dagger in one hand and a pen and a scroll in the other. The scroll reads, “Rights of Man, Common Nonsense, Equality of Property, &c &c,” and words such as “Cruelty,” “Anarchy Murder,” and “Treason” are inscribed between the rays of the halo around his head. On his back he carries a bundle of weapons, shackles, and instruments of torture. Courtesy of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, acc. no. 1960-120.
  • Detail, deed of manumission: Benjamin Butterworth, Campbell County,
    Va., emancipates Sall Black when she reaches 18 years of age, March 31, 1791. Butterworth was a Quaker. Courtesy, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller,
    Jr., Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
  • Detail, “Plan of the City of Washington . . . ,” map sampler by Eve Resler, silk embroidery threads, ink, and paint on silk with linen tape, Virginia, 1800–1804. Purchased with partial gift funds from Christy Bennett, Dr. and Mrs. Thomas L. Isaac, and Jeannine’s Sampler Seminar. Courtesy of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, acc. no. 2000-26.
  • American Stage Waggon, drawn by Isaac Weld and engraved by James Sargant Storer (?), in Weld, Travels through the states of North America, and the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada . . . (London, 1800), plate following p. 34. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, acc. no. 09904-1.
  • Detail, Foire de Porto Bello, engraving by A. Aveline, in Thomas Gage, Nouvelle relation, contenant les Voyages de Thomas Gage dans la Nouvelle Espagne . . . (Amsterdam, 1720), vol. 2, foldout plate following p. 334. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, acc. no. 01564-11.
  • A Design to represent the beginning and completion of an American Settlement or Farm, painted by Paul Sandby from work by Governor Pownal, engraved by James Peake, London, May 20, 1761. Courtesy of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, acc. no. G1984-52.
  • Detail, Wie die Wilden in Florida die Seul vom Obersten in seiner ersten Schiffahrt aussgerichtet verehrt haben, hand-colored engraving by Theodor de Bry, in Der ander Theil, pt. 2, plate VIII. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, acc. no. 08915-13.
  • Detail, Occidentalis Americae partis . . . , by Girolamo Benzoni, published by Theodor de Bry, Frankfurt, 1594. Courtesy of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, acc. no. 1986-83.
  • Detail, Mico Chlucco the Long Warior or King of the Siminoles, drawn by William Bartram and engraved by J. Trenchard, frontispiece in William Bartram, Travels through North & South Carolina, Georgia, East & West Florida, the Cherokee country, the extensive territories of the Muscoguiges, or Creek Confederacy, and the country of the Chactaws (Philadelphia, 1791). Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, acc. no. 30504-2.
  • [ . . . Arrivée de l’Auteur au Fort S. Joseph à l’embouchure du Lac des Huron. Celle d’un parti des Hurons à ce Fort. Le coup qu’il firent . . . ], in Baron Lahontan, Nouveaux voyages de mr le baron de Lahontan, dans l’Amerique septentrionale . . . (The Hague, 1703), vol. 1, foldout plate following p. 116. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, acc. no. 08086-14.