America

SORT BY:
Image features a large egg carved with the allegorical image of "America" as a female figure wearing a robe and feather headdress, holding arrows, and seated before a palm tree and crocodile within a landscape. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object.
A Hard Shell to Crack
This ostrich egg is carved with allegorical figures representing the Four Continents—Europe, Asia, Africa, and America—a subject that originated in sixteenth-century drawings and prints and that later gained popularity in the decorative arts.[1] The collection of the late James Hazen Hyde, from which the ostrich egg comes, comprised hundreds of objects and prints depicting the...
Image features a poster design by Lester Beall for the Rural Electrification Administration. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object.
Electrification for a Better Biscuit
This blog post was originally published on January 8, 2014.  By the 1930s, the vast majority of American urban dwellers had access to electricity in their homes and businesses.  But those in impoverished rural areas were often not serviced by private electric companies, who believed that it was not cost-effective for them to invest in...
Office interior with figures standing along walls; and figures sitting at desk at left; map on wall and screen; waiting area at center of floor.
A Hitchhiker’s Guide to America
In his famous book, On The Road (1957), Jack Kerouac relays a cross-country adventure he undertook in 1949:  “…. eyes bent on Frisco and the coast, we came into El Paso as it got dark, broke. We absolutely had to get some money for gas or we’d never make it. We tried everything. We buzzed the...
Poster with black and white photo image (bottom) of woman removing freshly-baked biscuits from oven, set against blue printed background. Top section: Background is composed of a red polka dots on white background; title "A Better Home" appears within central band of blue (ovoid shape).
Electrification for a Better Biscuit
By the 1930s, the vast majority of American urban dwellers had access to electricity in their homes and businesses.  But those in impoverished rural areas were often not serviced by private electric companies, who believed that it was not cost-effective for them to invest in extending power lines into areas of the country that would...
View of front, side, and back of wood and blue upholstered side chair, from left to right across upper half of sheet. Plan of side chair in the lower middle of sheet, with pre-printed multiple image of chair at lower left.
A Chair for the American Family
In 1951, Danish architect and designer Finn Juhl brought Danish Modernism to forefront of American consciousness. He did so with his interior for the “Good Design” Exhibition in Chicago, as well his design for the Trusteeship Council Chamber at the UN headquarters in New York, which he completed the following year. However, Juhl’s sculptural forms,...