The World in Color
The World in Color
It wasn’t just the clothes early Americans wore that were colorful. In this case, you see evidence that people used monotone paper as a base for richly painted artwork; that the wallpaper visible in the background of pictures could actually be quite vivid; that the cards people gambled with could be exceptionally flashy; that the carefully applied lipstick could be quite bold. These four examples show that even the most mundane, everyday things in the past were intentionally bright. Spending time admiring the beautiful array of colors with which people chose to adorn themselves and the world around them reminds us that the past was energetic, lively, and dynamic.
S. P., ”A Map of Hearts: Which is Thine?,” manuscript map. [ca. 1850]. [Catalog Record]
E. Schaefer & Co., [Blank illustrated letterhead with view of Philadelphia], [ca. mid-19th century]. Graphics Ephemera Collection.
A. C. Yates & Co., “The Young Colorist,” watercolor set. Philadelphia, 1881.
19th-century wallpaper, with a facsimile of The Daily Citizen (Vicksburg, Mississippi), July 2, 1863, printed on the verso. [Catalog Record]
[Portrait of family group with patterned wallpaper], tinted ambrotype with gilt highlights, [ca. 1860]. [Catalog Record]
Tiffany & Co., Harlequin Transformation Playing Cards. New York: 1879.
[Men playing Faro at a hunting camp], real photo postcard, [ca. 1907-1918].
Bonnie Fiore letter to Henry Fiore, February 10, 1942, [New York, New York]. Henry Fiore Collection. [Finding Aid]
