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Artist/Maker
Thomas Nast
(American, born Germany, 1840 - 1902)
Datec. 1863
MediumGraphite on paper
DimensionsComposition/Sheet: 8 1/2 in. × 14 in. (21.6 × 35.6 cm)
Credit LineGift of the artist's son
Object number1944.1.10
On view
DescriptionPencil sketches depicting the nursery rhyme, "Mary Had a Little Lamb." It is possible Nast's cartoon is a nod to Mary Josepha Hale, editor of Godey's Ladies Book and writer of "Mary Had a Little Lamb," who petitioned for Thanksgiving to become a fixed annual holiday. In 1863, Hale persuaded William Seward to draft an official Thanksgiving proclamation for Abraham Lincoln to sign. Nast later created a Thanksgiving-themed drawing in honor of the fifteenth amendment in 1869.
Collections
Additional Details
Exhibition History
2024-2025
Clinton, NY. The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College. "Menagerie: Animals in Art from the Wellin Museum," September 7, 2024 –June 8, 2025 (no cat.).
Clinton, NY. The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College. "Menagerie: Animals in Art from the Wellin Museum," September 7, 2024 –June 8, 2025 (no cat.).
Provenance
1943: Hamilton College, by gift of Mabel Nast Crawford and Cyril Nast;
? - 1943: Thomas Nast family (Mrs. Thomas Nast, Thomas Nast Jr., Mabel Nast Crawford, and Cyril Nast), presumably by gift or inheritance from the artist.
? - 1943: Thomas Nast family (Mrs. Thomas Nast, Thomas Nast Jr., Mabel Nast Crawford, and Cyril Nast), presumably by gift or inheritance from the artist.
Thomas Nast
Date: published November 28, 1874
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.262
Thomas Nast
Date: published December 5 , 1863
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.47
Jamea Richmond-Edwards
Date: 2018
Medium: Pigment print with silkscreen diamond dust and gold foil
Object number: 2020.1
Dorothy Shakespear
Date: 1937
Medium: Watercolor on paper, mounted on cardboard
Object number: 1996.10
Krista Steinke
Date: 2006
Medium: Archival inkjet print
Object number: 2020.8.17
Thomas Nast
Date: published October 3, 1868
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.103
Fratelli Alinari Fotografi Editori
Date: 1875-1900
Medium: Albumen print
Object number: S2018.2.113
Thomas Nast
Date: published December 11, 1875
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.303
Thomas Nast
Date: published January 22, 1876
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.309
Thomas Nast
Date: published March 14, 1874
Medium: Wood engraving on newsprint
Object number: 2019.13.234