All Glory to God 1776 - 1876.
[Photography / Women / Labor / Americana / Religion]. Weaver, Anna K.

All Glory to God 1776 - 1876.

Regular price $350.00 $0.00

Salem, Ohio: (1876). Mounting board 11 x 23 inches; photogram 8 x 20 inches. Large b&w photogram mounted on cream cardstock. Damp staining to photogram edges near center and left side; mounting board stained, damp stained, and darkened, with scraps of paper stuck to side margins and dark paint along sides of photogram -- presumably due to the image having been framed at one point. Fair.

A scarce "fern leaf motto" photogram by Anna K[uhn?] Weaver (1848-?), celebrating the American centennial and praising God for it -- and, perhaps, referring to American manifest destiny.

Weaver was a Quaker from Salem, Ohio, who used her photography work to employ numerous women as well as to fund her own missionary work in Bogata, Columbia. Although she initially created the photogram religious mottos for herself sometime in or around 1874, their unexpected success led her to found an establishment in her hometown dedicated to their production. According to an article in The New Century for Women (Philadelphia: Women's Centennial Committee, Women's Building, International Exhibition, May 13- Nov. 11, 1876), this enabled "hundreds of ladies, who undertake their sale, or assist in their construction, to support themselves or to aid the various charitable Societies to which they belong" (p. 180). It also allowed Weaver to purchase a sewing machine, cabinet organ, and "valuable books" for her mission in Bogata.

Despite their apparent popularity, few of these photograms seem to have survived. We locate one copy of this one in OCLC, at the Newark Public Library, as well as two different mottos held by the Smithsonian.


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