Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition

Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition

William Barber

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A prolific designer of medals and coins, London-born Barber was the Chief Engraver at the United States Mint from 1869 to 1879. In 1876 Barber engraved a gilt bronze commemorative medal for that year’s Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. On the obverse, Liberty crowns female personifications of Art and Industry with laurel wreaths, while the reverse bears a kneeling Liberty holding an unsheathed sword.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.