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Along with the growth of the minstrel show in the 1840s was the spread of singing families, such as the Hutchinsons, a tribe of 16 New Hampshire siblings, the four youngest of whom carried their musical message across the land. The cover of their most popular song, The Old Granite State, shows a primitive picture of Judson, Abby, John, and Asa Hutchinson and is an example of the work of the Endicotts, New York’s leading lithographers at the time.
| Another work by George and William Endicott was the 1851 title page for the Saratoga Schottisch. At this time, Saratoga Springs, New York was the most popular spa in the United States. The curing waters had been discovered in the 1760s, but it was not until 1803 that Saratoga’s first hotel was built. By the 1850s it was a gathering place for the wealthiest families in the country.
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| Thomas Sinclair was a Scot who came to Philadelphia in the 1830s and whose work compared favorably to the best produced in New York. His 1851 lithographed title page forThe National Union is dedicated to Henry Clay. The 31 gold rings around the Capitol name the states then comprising the Union and their dates of admission to statehood. | Another example of Thomas Sinclair’s lithographic work is the 1854 cover forThe City Museum Polka. It portrays Philadelphia’s City Museum, which opened in 1854 on the site of an old church that had outgrown its usefulness. Sinclair’s artist for this piece was a German named Peter Kramer who came to the United States for ten years then returned to his native country. There he printed a caricature of the King of Bavaria, which so enraged the king that he banished Kramer, who returned to America. |
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When James McNeill Whistler was a cadet at West Point in 1852, he was asked to design a title page for a Song of the Graduates of that year. Although there is valid suspicion that the drawing may have been doctored by the lithographer, Napoleon Sarony, this is of particular interest as the only known Whistler artwork on a music sheet.
| Lithographer George W. Lewis was a New Yorker whose sheet music covers are rare. His 1852 lithograph for The Castle Garden Schottisch illustrates an attractive building on a small island off the Battery at the foot of New York City. This building originally served as a fort until the end of the War of 1812 when it became a popular gathering place. |
The tour continues on the next page.
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