Abolition Meeting Held at Willis's Rooms in Honor of Harriet Beecher Stowe

Abolition Meeting Held at Willis's Rooms in Honor of Harriet Beecher Stowe

William Henry Fisk

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

After Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1852) became a best-seller in Britain and America, the author visited England and Scotland to promote her anti-slavery beliefs. Society thronged to meet her, and commentators mentioned her small stature and unassuming appearance. This drawing depicts a packed reception held on May 25, 1853 at Willis's Rooms, an upscale social club located on King Street, in London's Mayfair. On this occasion, Stowe was honored by the British and Foreign Antislavery Society and the drawing shows her in the left foreground, accompanied by black and white gentlemen, greeting an admirer.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Abolition Meeting Held at Willis's Rooms in Honor of Harriet Beecher StoweAbolition Meeting Held at Willis's Rooms in Honor of Harriet Beecher StoweAbolition Meeting Held at Willis's Rooms in Honor of Harriet Beecher StoweAbolition Meeting Held at Willis's Rooms in Honor of Harriet Beecher StoweAbolition Meeting Held at Willis's Rooms in Honor of Harriet Beecher Stowe

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.