The Progress of the Century – The Lightning Steam Press. The Electric Telegraph. The Locomotive. The Steamboat.

The Progress of the Century – The Lightning Steam Press. The Electric Telegraph. The Locomotive. The Steamboat.

Currier & Ives

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This scene from American history highlights a range of nineteenth-century inventions. At center, a man sends a message via telegraph that reads "Liberty and Union now and forever one and inseparable. Glory to God in the highest. On earth peace, good will toward men." In the background at right are a steam locomotive and steamship. In the background at left a boy uses printer's tools and two men stand at a printing press. Unlike many Currier & Ives lithograph, this example is not hand-colored.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Progress of the Century – The Lightning Steam Press. The Electric Telegraph. The Locomotive. The Steamboat.The Progress of the Century – The Lightning Steam Press. The Electric Telegraph. The Locomotive. The Steamboat.The Progress of the Century – The Lightning Steam Press. The Electric Telegraph. The Locomotive. The Steamboat.The Progress of the Century – The Lightning Steam Press. The Electric Telegraph. The Locomotive. The Steamboat.The Progress of the Century – The Lightning Steam Press. The Electric Telegraph. The Locomotive. The Steamboat.

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.