Chase and Bachelder's American Museum of Art

Inscriptions

Stafford and Company, Publishers

Label

That an “American Museum of Art” in England selected this image as an advertisement suggests the extent to which westward expansion was central to the United States’ 19th-century identity, even abroad. Here, a female allegorical figure, “Progress,” lays down telegraph wire as she floats ever westward. Below her, a group of Native Americans lead the way, suggesting that their compliance or participation in expansion is foundational to fulfilling the American destiny. Behind them follow settlers traveling in increasingly modern modes of transportation, while in the foreground, hunters and a prospector anticipate finding game and gold out West. A city in the distance, far right, serves as a foil to the imagined frontier.

This poster celebrates both westward expansion and modern technology, themes that could be in conflict. Which theme, if any, is more dominant here?

From the 2022 exhibition This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World, curated by Jami C. Powell, Curator of Indigenous Art; Barbara J. MacAdam, former Jonathan L. Cohen Curator of American Art; Thomas H. Price, former Curatorial Assistant; Morgan E. Freeman, former DAMLI Native American Art Fellow; and Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art

Course History

HIST 6, NAS 30, History of the American West, Ben Madley, Winter 2012

ANTH 7.05, Animals and Humans, Laura Ogden, Winter 2022

GEOG 31.01, Postcolonial Geographies, Erin Collins, Winter 2022

ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022

ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022

ARTH 5.01, Introduction to Contemporary Art, Mary Coffey and Chad Elias, Winter 2022

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022

SPAN 65.15, Wonderstruck: Archives and the Production of Knowledge in an Unequal World, Silvia Spitta and Barbara Goebel, Summer 2022

Exhibition History

Hail, Holy Land: the Idea of American, Strauss and Barrows Galleries, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 27-September 12, 1977.

Images of the West: Selections from the Permanent Collection, MALS 190, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 15 - August 28, 1994

Nineteeth Century American Prints, Carpenter Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 25-June 12, 1977.

Unlayering Stereotypes: Selections from the Permanent Collection For Teaching Cultural Anthropology, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, Anthropology 7, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 24-August 20, 1995.

Provenance

Source unknown.

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Subjects