Centennial Mirror 1776-1876
American Oleograph Co., American, 19th century
1876
Lithograph on paper
Sight: 23 5/8 in. (60 cm)
Sight: 29 1/2 in. (74.9 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Julia L. Whittier Fund
PR.966.89
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
19th century
Object Name
Research Area
Not on view
Inscriptions
Not signed.
Label
This print, titled Centennial Mirror, plays with the concept of reflection to compare scenes from 1776 and the founding of the country with scenes from 1876, the year this print was made. The crowded image highlights changes in agriculture, architecture, technology and industry, the military, and even fashion and leisurely pastimes during the first American century. At center, immediately below the banner-bearing eagle of the Great Seal of the United States, the presentation of the Declaration of Independence is paired with the Main Exhibition Building from the Centennial International Exhibition, both of which took place in Philadelphia. Overall, the print is a celebration of American progress visualized through values such as hard work, innovation, and military might.
From the 2025-26 exhibition Revolution Reconsidered: History, Myth, and Propaganda, curated by Michael W. Hartman (Jonathan Little Cohen Curator of American Art), Haely Chang (Jane and Raphael Bernstein Associate Curator of East Asian Art), Elizabeth Rice Mattison (Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art), Ashley B. Offill (Curator of Collections), and Evonne Fuselier (Hood Museum Board of Advisors Mutual Learning Fellow)
Course History
HIST 27, WGST 23, Gender and Power in American History from the Colonial Period to the Civil War, Leslie Butler, Spring 2012
ENGL 29, American Fiction to 1900, Colleen Boggs, Spring 2014
Exhibition History
A Self Portrait of America, Lower Jewett Corridor, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 18-September 16, 1984.
Cultural Exchange, the Body, and Art and Technology, Art History 2, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 25-March 9, 2003.
Hail, Holy Land: the Idea of America, Strauss and Barrows Galleries, Hopkins Center of Arts, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 27-September 7, 1980.
Revolution Reconsidered: History, Myth, and Propaganda, Harteveldt Family Gallery and Owen Robertson Cheatham Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 18, 2025 - August 8, 2026.
Publication History
Hail, Holy Land: the Idea of America, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1980, no. 13.
Provenance
Raymond G. Clifton (1895-1968), Pine Cupboard Antique Shop, Franklin, New Hampshire; sold to present collection, 1966.
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