Credit: Library of Congress Media type: engraving Museum Number: LC-USZ62-79589 Annotation: From the latter 1800’s to the turn of the twentieth century, the rise of Robber Barons and Monopolies, and “The Gospel of Wealth” espoused by extravagantly wealthy men like Andrew Carnegie and John Rockefeller marked the rise of American capitalism and a dramatic decrease in the small independently…

Credit: Library of Congress Media type: engraving Museum Number: LC-USZ62-2235 Annotation: In 1869, The Wyoming territory became the first section of the United States to extend suffrage to women since New Jersey rescinded laws allowing women to vote in 1807 (which had been in place since 1776). Wyoming’s decision was shortly followed by legislature passed in the Utah Territory…

Credit: Library of Congress Media type: engraving Museum Number: LC-USZ62-2023 Annotation: This engraving, taken from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, portrays Victoria Woodhull argues for women’s suffrage before the House Judiciary Committee on 2 January 1871, surrounded by prmominent suffragists of the day. Woodhull, a successfull businesswoman and lobbyist, used her considerable experience to revive the older argument for women’s…

Credit: Library of Congress Media type: engraving Museum Number: LC-USZ62-121959 Annotation: In 1870 Elizabeth Tilton confided to her husband that she had been having an affair with his close friend and immensely popular Protestant minister and reform movement leader Henry Ward Beecher. Beecher himself has married and the father of ten children, though it was quietly suggested that the…

Credit: The American Museum of Photography Media type: cyanotype Museum Number: Annotation: Developed in 1842, the process of cyanotype gives a cyan-blue tint to photographs. This is the same method used to make blueprints used by engineers and architects. Ten African American children pose for this photograph. Year: 1898

Credit: Library of Congress Media type: broadside Museum Number: LC-DIG-ppmsc-04557 Annotation: Broadside shows portrait of military leader Macario Romero on horseback and Indians wearing feathered headdresses in the background. The text tells of the murder of Romero by his girlfriend’s father and speaks about his valor. Romero fought against the government of President Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada and served…

Credit: Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library Media type: illustration Museum Number: Annotation: Published in 1899, Charles Waddell Chestnutt’s fictional short story about the challenges faced by African Americans in Ohio and North Carolina, contributed to Chestnutt becoming one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. The first African American to be published by major…