Taking the census / after sketch by Thomas Worth. – Antique 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
Taking the census / after sketch by Thomas Worth. comes to life in this antique engraving, reproduced from the original with every detail intact. An authentic image from the Library of Congress, it carries the weight of the real historical record.
The framed print arrives ready to hang; the unframed option suits custom framing. Perfect for a home, office, library or classroom wall, and a gift with a story behind it. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past, founded in 2001, has served tens of thousands of customers worldwide.
Taking the census / after sketch by Thomas Worth.
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The detail that sets this one apart is its origin in a single magazine page: it appeared in Harper's Weekly on November 19, 1870, as a wood engraving made after a sketch by Thomas Worth, a cartoonist and illustrator who worked for the weekly. The 1870 federal census was the first to be taken after the Civil War and the end of slavery, so enumerators were counting a population whose legal status and households had changed dramatically within a few years. Worth's scene of census-taking would have been read by a national audience as a lighthearted but pointed look at the bureaucratic task of counting every American. Wood engravings like this one turned quick pen sketches into printed images, so the drawing's character survives mainly through the engraver's hand.
| Created / published | 1870 |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 print : wood engraving. |
| Genre | Periodical illustrations 1870.Wood engravings 1870. |
| Notes | Illus. in: Harper's weekly, 1870 Nov. 19, p. 749. |
| Subjects | United States.--Bureau of the Census--People--1870. Census--United States--1870. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 1,536 × 999 px · prints to 5 × 3 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-164748 |
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