Tea Party

William P. Chappel

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

While we don’t know the precise destination of these sixteen well-dressed ladies, an inscription on the reverse of the image suggests they are going to a tea party. Women regularly hosted afternoon or evening tea socials in their homes or at churches to raise funds for charitable causes. The ladies appear to attract some attention as they proceed down Second (now Forsyth) Street, past the smith’s shop owned by David and Jabez Fowler and toward Thomas Foster’s grocery at the corner of Pump (now Canal) Street. Only the sailor and the little boy across the street seem too busy to take notice.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art