Snapshots of the Past

The dessert [e.g. desert] – Vintage Print

The dessert [e.g. desert], [1859] — historic drawing
The dessert [e.g. desert], [1859]. Historic drawing from the California collection.

(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

A window into the past: The dessert [e.g. desert], preserved in this historic drawing. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.

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The dessert [e.g. desert]

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Its title is catalogued as "The dessert," with the editors' bracketed correction "desert," and the subject list names the desert, mountains, and wagon trains of Nevada. The drawing belongs to the late 1850s, when emigrant wagons crossed the Great Basin on overland routes toward the California gold fields. The sheet combines graphite, ink, crayon, and watercolor, with areas scraped out to create highlights. Those techniques suggest a traveler's or artist's sketch made quickly on the trail, which makes it a useful record of how the route looked to those who crossed it.

Created / published[1859]
Medium1 drawing on paper : graphite, ink, crayon and watercolor with scraping out ; 18.2 x 25.3 cm. (sheet).
GenreDrawings American 1850-1860.
NotesPurchase, Ed Cox Americana fund (Madison Council), 2000 (DLC/PP-2001:050.12) Exhibited in: American treasures of the Library of Congress, Washington, DC, 2003.
SubjectsGold rushes--California--1850-1860. Deserts--Nevada--1850-1860. Mountains--Nevada--1850-1860. Wagon trains--Nevada--1850-1860.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan4,560 × 3,709 px · prints to 15 × 12 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-222772

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