The First cotton-gin / drawn by William L. Sheppard. – Vintage Print
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
Few images capture their era like this antique engraving of The First cotton-gin / drawn by William L. Sheppard.. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.
The framed print arrives ready to hang; the unframed option suits custom framing. It brings character to any room and makes a memorable gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past has been bringing history to the wall since 2001, for tens of thousands of customers worldwide.
The First cotton-gin / drawn by William L. Sheppard.
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This wood engraving, titled *The First Cotton-Gin*, imagines the moment a machine that would reshape the American South first came into use. William L. Sheppard drew it for *Harper's Weekly*, where it appeared on December 18, 1869, and the print is classed as a conjectural work, meaning an imagined scene rather than an eyewitness record. Eli Whitney's gin, developed in Georgia in 1793, mechanized the separation of seed from short-staple cotton, which made upland cotton profitable on a large scale and tied the expansion of slavery to the industry. The record also lists African American subjects for the 1790s, so the engraving reflects how the period's labor was central to that transformation.
| Created / published | 1869 Dec. 18. |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 print : wood engraving. |
| Genre | Conjectural works 1860-1870.Periodical illustrations 1860-1870.Wood engravings 1860-1870. |
| Notes | Illus. in: Harper's weekly, 1869 Dec. 18, p. 813. |
| Subjects | Cotton gins--1790-1800. African Americans--1790-1800. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 4,096 × 3,283 px · prints to 14 × 11 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-180612 |
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