Chrysler Building, New York City, 1930

Picturing America Display Tips

If your library is fortunate enough to have a gallery space, then you have the ideal environment to create a Picturing America exhibit for your community. However, there are other great display options for libraries without such a space.

• Display cases and bulletin boards present a perfect opportunity to create rotating displays of posters. Consider theme-related groupings, or tie-ins to other programming opportunities (i.e. President’s Day, Black History Month, Constitution Day, American Indian Heritage Month).

• Tabletop easels are a great way to showcase a single poster and allow for complimentary displays of library books, videos, and other materials related to the theme.

• A “traveling exhibit” can be spread throughout your town. Consider contacting your local senior center, town hall, or other agency to increase visibility in the community.

• Posters may be strung with wire and displayed within stacks or from ceilings.

• Check out photos of Picturing America displays submitted by other libraries and find out how to add photos of your own.

To promote the Picturing America collection in advance of programs, staff at the West Pullman Branch of the Chicago Public Library mounted the posters, and affixed decorative, note card-sized labels with provocative questions, interesting facts and other teasers about the art or its subject. This simple strategy encouraged patrons to look more closely at the images when they were on display, and generated interest in the collection in advance of programs.

To create a set of Picturing America labels for your library, you can use the text below or create your own.

1-A / Pottery and Baskets, c. 1100 to c. 1960, Various artists

Did you know?
There was never an “Anasazi tribe,” but archaeologists applied this Navajo word meaning “ancient enemy” to the people who farmed the Four Corners (southern Utah, northern Arizona, northwest New Mexico, and a small section of Colorado) before 1300 AD. (1-A.1)

Sikyátki is the name of a large ancient Hopi village in First Mesa. The village was abandoned around 1500, and is said in Hopi oral tradition to be due to a dispute with Walpi, whose descendents still live on top of First Mesa. This dispute ultimately resulted in the destruction of Sikyátki. (1-A.2 )

Baleen baskets are a rare, labor intensive Alaskan art form. Baleen, the black filtering system from the mouth of bowhead whales, is softened and then woven into baskets by highly skilled artists. (1-A.5)

1-B / Mission Nuestra Señora de la Concepción, San Antonio, Texas, 1755, Various artists

Did you know?
Hundreds of years ago, Spanish expeditions began exploring the land that is now the American Southwest. In the sixteenth century, missionaries began founding missions throughout the land. The San Antonio missions are some of the only remaining examples of colonial missions in the Southwest that are still intact today. These missions offer an architectural record of the era, and are examples of building styles from the mid 1700s.

2-A / John Singleton Copley, Paul Revere, 1768

Did you know?
This portrait gives an idealized view of labor, depicting Paul Revere as a working craftsman. Such a view was consistent with the democratic and egalitarian values of the nation. At the time of this portrait Revere was a successful silversmith, not an American hero. Still, Copley captured the heroic qualities of physical strength and mental prowess that allowed Revere to play a pivotal role in American history.

2-B / Silver of the 18th, 19th, and 20th Centuries

Did you know?
Paul Revere Jr. worked in partnership with his father beginning in August 1783. During his apprenticeship, Paul Jr. crafted spoons, buckles, thimbles, and soup ladles. By 1785, he had his own plating mill for the production of sheet silver, which provided silver for the manufacturing of among other things, tea pots.

American silver manufacturers were established during the 1830s, including Gorham Manufacturing Company and Tiffany and Company. A few years later, The Tariff of 1842 imposed a 40 percent duty on many imported goods including silver, which ignited an expansion of American silver production.

This teapot is crafted in the style of Art Deco, which came from the great Paris exhibition of 1925—the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes.

3-A / Grant Wood, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, 1931

Did you know?
Grant Wood trained in woodworking, metalworking, and jewelry making before he attended painting and drawing classes at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1930, Wood entered the public light when his paining American Gothic won a medal at the Art Institute of Chicago. Just one year later, he painted The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.

3-B / Gilbert Stuart, George Washington (the Lansdowne portrait), 1796

Did you know?
George Washington had false teeth! At the time he was elected president he had only one tooth left. Instead he wore dentures made of hippo ivory and gold, into which human and donkey teeth were set. Dental problems caused him pain throughout his life, and some people think that is why his expression in portraits was always so stern.

4-A / Emanuel Leutze,Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1851

Did you know?
During the Revolutionary War, the British paid many soldiers from other countries to come and fight their rebelling colonies. One such force was the Hessians. George Washington’s famous crossing of the Delaware happened during a surprise attack on the Hessian camp on Christmas day.

Look at the painting. What are the white chunks floating in the river? Can you guess what the job of the man at the front of the boat is?

4-B / Hiram Powers, Benjamin Franklin, 1862

Did you know?
Hiram Powers began his career as a modeler of wax figures in Cincinnati, Ohio. After becoming a well-known sculptor, Powers entered into a contract with then-President James Buchanan that specified Powers build two statues, one of Benjamin Franklin and one of Thomas Jefferson. The statue of Benjamin Franklin incorporates Franklin’s theories about electricity by having Franklin resting on a tree trunk with a channel in it from a lightning strike.

5-A / Thomas Cole, View from Mount Holyoke,Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm—The Oxbow, 1836

Did you know?
Thomas Cole was an influential part of the creation of The Hudson River School, the first native school of American Art. This school began in the Hudson River Region of New York, and consisted of a group of painters focused on the natural beauty of America.

5-B / N. C.Wyeth, Last of the Mohicans, cover illustration, 1919

Did you know?
Wyeth’s teacher, Howard Pyle, encouraged his student to learn as much as possible about the things he painted. When he was painting bucking broncos and cowpunchers, Wyeth went and worked as a cowboy in Colorado. Wyeth spent time with the Navajo in Arizona and gained a deep love of Native American culture. He wrote his mother: “The life is wonderful, strange—the fascination of it clutches me like some unseen animal—it seems to whisper, ‘Come back, you belong here, this is your real home.’”

6-A / John James Audubon, American Flamingo, 1838

Did you know?
Audubon’s American Flamingo is an illustration from a book! The Flamingo is one page from John James Audubon’s The Birds of America, often regarded as the greatest picture book ever created.

A copy of The Birds of America sold at Christie’s in 2000 for $8,802,500—still a world record for any printed book!

6-B / George Catlin, Catlin Painting the Portrait of Mah-to-toh-pa—Mandan, 1861/1869

Did you know?
George Catlin traveled through remote Indian country in the Great Plains throughout the 1830s. During his journey, he visited more than140 tribes, and painted more than 325 portraits and 200 scenes of American Indian life.

7-A / Thomas Cole and others, State Capitol, Columbus, Ohio, 1838–1861

Did you know?
Ithiel Town and Alexander J. Davis formed one of the earliest architectural firms in America in 1829. The firm, created in New York, went on to create many significant buildings throughout America, including the Ohio Statehouse, which is one of the greatest examples of Greek Revival architecture in America.

7-B / George Caleb Bingham, The County Election, 1852

Did you know?
This painting portrays the chaos of a small town county election. The lack of a single dramatic focus emphasizes the ideal that no vote is worth more than another. Can you find:

• A dog? What does he want?
• An unhappy man? Why is he unhappy?
• Two children playing? What are they playing?

8-A / Albert Bierstadt, Looking Down Yosemite Valley, California, 1865

Did you know?
Albert Bierstadt traveled to California in 1859 after the gold rush had sparked the interest of the entire nation. Most Americans could only see the California landscape from small, black-and-white photographs brought back by land surveyors; Bierstadt capitalized on this by painting colorful panoramic pictures that eastern Americans would pay money to see.

8-B / Black Hawk, “Sans Arc Lakota” Ledger Book, 1880–1881

Did you know?
The Sioux tribe refers to themselves as “Lakota,” which means “friend”. Lakotas called their houses “tipis,” which means “the place where a person lives.” These tipis were made from buffalo hides, which allowed them to be warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and large enough to accommodate entire families.

Lakotas tracked history with “waniyetu wowapi” roughly translated as “winter counts.” These calendars recorded history with a picture representing each year, from first snowfall to first snowfall. Each year was named for an event, and the pictures in the waniyetu wowapi referred to the year names.

9-A / Winslow Homer, The Veteran in a New Field, 1865

Did you know?
Winslow Homer completed this painting in 1865, the year the Civil War ended. When it first was put up for sale in New York that same year, it was not received well, so Homer changed various parts of it, and offered it again for auction the following year.

9-B / Alexander Gardner, Abraham Lincoln, Pres. ,U.S. , 1809–1865, 1865

Did you know?
Lincoln was nicknamed “The Railsplitter” at the time of his presidential nomination in 1860. A railsplitter refers to people who split logs into rails, usually for fences. This nickname referenced Lincoln’s humble origins, which appealed to many voters.

10-A / Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment Memorial, 1884–1897

Did you know?
This relief sculpture measures 11' by 14' and took Saint-Gaudens over thirteen years to finish. Saint-Gaudens made forty studies of the heads of African American men who were willing to pose for his sculpture, and even tethered a live horse in his studio to make his monument as realistic as possible.

10-B / Quilts of the 19th and 20th Centuries, Various artists

Did you know?
Quilts form a patchwork of American stories. They are the work of women from all walks of life, including African-Americans in slavery, frontier women in the American West, and Amish women, the daughters of those who sought religious freedom in the New World. The quilts reflect the stories of these women.

Stitching, much like handwriting, usually varies from person to person. Close inspection of Susan McCord’s quilts suggest that she made most of them on her own, not asking for other women’s help at quilting bees, which were organized to share the work and provide social interaction.

Quilting was a great way for women of the nineteenth century to recycle materials. Fabric scraps and old clothing were saved and ultimately used in creating quilts. (10-B.5)

Amish houses are typically modest, and quilts offer women an outlet for their creativity, as well as a way to brighten the house. (10-B.7)

11-A / Thomas Eakins, John Biglin in a Single Scull, c. 1873

Did you know?
Thomas Eakins is well known for his watercolors, but in 1880, he took his first photographs of his family. One year later, he bought his first camera and began using it to help him with the subjects in his paintings.

11-B / James McNeill Whistler, Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room, 1876–1877

Did you know?
The Peacock Room used to be Frederick R. Leyland’s dining room in Liverpool, England. Leyland was a wealthy ship owner, and filled the room with his prized collection of Chinese porcelain. After Leyland passed away, the Peacock Room was removed and exhibited in an art gallery. Now, the room rests in Washington, D.C., after being moved and reassembled three times since Leyland passed away.

12-A / John Singer Sargent, Portrait of a Boy, 1890

Did you know?
Though Sargent is well known for his portraits, he spent almost sixty years traveling extensively and painting the landscapes, architecture, and people he encountered.

12-B / Childe Hassam, Allies Day, May 1917, 1917

Did you know?
Childe Hassam was the only major American impressionist to portray the home front during World War I, creating his Flag series of nearly thirty oil paintings beginning in 1916 with The Fourth of July, 1916 and ending with Victory Day, May 1919.

13-A / Walker Evans, Brooklyn Bridge, New York, 1929

Did you know?
When the Brooklyn Bridge was built in 1883 for $18 million dollars, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, and was the first suspension bridge to use steel for its cable wire.

13-B / Louis Comfort Tiffany, Autumn Landscape, 1923–1924

Did you know?
Tiffany had new ideas about stained glass. When he could not convince fine glassmakers to leave imperfections in their glass, he used the glass from jelly jars and bottles to provide texture in his amazing creations.

He also had new ideas about subject matter—before Tiffany, most stained glass depicted saints or other figures. Tiffany created landscapes in glass, but kept the feeling of spirituality from the earlier iconography. What emotion does this window create? Does it still feel religious?

14-A / Mary Cassatt, The Boating Party, 1893/1894

Did you know?
Mary Cassatt moved to France to paint, and while she was there, sent paintings back to exhibit in the United States. Her paintings were among the first impressionist paintings displayed in the United States.

14-B / Joseph Stella, Brooklyn Bridge, c. 1919–1920

Did you know?
To Joseph Stella, this structure was the “shrine containing all the efforts of the new civilization of America.” His painting of the Brooklyn Bridge was inspired by the sights and sounds of a night spent alone on its promenade, feeling the pulse and chaos of the city below.

15-A / Charles Sheeler, American Landscape, 1930

Did you know?
Ford Motor Company commissioned Sheeler to take a series of photographs of its production plant west of Detroit, which inspired Sheeler’s paintings portraying the industrialized world.

15-B / William Van Alen, The Chrysler Building, 1926–1930

Did you know?
The competitive atmosphere of 1920s New York drove the creation of this building, which ultimately topped even the Eiffel Tower in height. Van Alen used industrial motifs in his work, depicting machine parts such as hubcaps and radiator caps in the sweeping lines of his Art Deco design.

The Chrysler Building contains more than 20,000 tons of structural steel, more than 3.8 million bricks, and nearly 4,000 windows. Walter Chrysler, who commissioned the Chrysler building, never paid architect William Van Alen for his work on the building because Chrysler suspected Van Alen was involved in suspicious financial arrangements with the contractors.

16-A / Edward Hopper, House by the Railroad, 1925

Did you know?
House by the Railroad, painted in 1925, became the first painting by any artist to be acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

16-B / Frank Lloyd Wright, Fallingwater, 1935–1939

Did you know?
The Kaufmann family, who owned Kaufmann’s Department Store, commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to build them a summer home near their favorite waterfall on their country estate. Instead of a building the house with a view of the waterfall, Wright built the house on top of the waterfall.

17-A / Jacob Lawrence, The Migration of the Negro Panel no. 57, 1940–1941

Did you know?
Jacob Lawrence is well known for his art depicting Harlem during the Great Migration. Harlem covers fewer than two square miles, and was home to more than a quarter million African American migrants.

17-B / Romare Bearden, The Dove, 1964

Did you know?
Bearden is best known for his collages, but he also created paintings, drawings, murals, political cartoons, record album jackets, and more. During his career, which lasted almost fifty years, Bearden created approximately two thousand works of art.

18-A / Thomas Hart Benton, The Sources of Country Music, 1975

Did you know?
This mural was commissioned by Nashville’s Country Music Foundation and was completed in less than one year by an eighty-five-year-old artist; an impressive feat, seeing as the canvas measures 6' by 10', and includes seventeen almost life-size figures.

18-B / Dorothea Lange, MigrantMother and Children, 1936

Did you know?
Dorothea Lange, best known for her photograph Migrant Mother and Children, took this picture during her month-long trip photographing migratory farm labor for what was then known as the Resettlement Administration.

19-A / Norman Rockwell, Freedom of Speech, The Saturday Evening Post 1943, 1943

Did you know?
Norman Rockwell had a successful career from the start, painting his first commission of Christmas cards before he even turned sixteen. When he was just twenty-two, he painted his first cover of the The Saturday Evening Post magazine. Over the span of his career, another 321 covers created by Rockwell would appear on the magazine.

19-B / James Karales, Selma-to-Montgomery March for Voting Rights in 1965, 1965

Did you know?
James Karales became a staff photographer for Look magazine in 1960, and spent the next eleven years traveling as a photojournalist. During this time, Karales photographed the civil rights movement and took his most famous picture, Selma-to-Montgomery March for Voting Rights in 1965.

20-A / Richard Diebenkorn, Cityscape I, 1963

Did you know?
Richard Diebenkorn served in the United States Marine Corps from 1943 to 1945. Diebenkorn returned from the service in 1946 and was able to study at the California School of Fine Arts because of the G.I. bill.

20-B / Martin Puryear, Ladder for Booker T. Washington, 1996

Did you know?
Martin Puryear began his career in the late 1960s with a variety of mediums including painting, drawing, and printmaking, but is best known for his sculptures. His Ladder for Booker T. Washington was created using ash and maple wood, and measures 36' long.