M-265: Prints, Photos and Drawings

The St. Louis Mercantile Art Museum holds an extensive collection of American historic and modern prints, fine art photographs, and drawings by Missouri artists.
St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri-St. Louis
A Live Buffalo Broadside
This early western exhibition broadside is a very early piece of St. Louis printing. The place and date of the exhibition are filled in in manuscript which states that the exhibition will be held at the stable of "Mr. Samuel Palmer in West Springfield on the 8th day of Inst. February 1816. West Springfield, Missouri, may not exist today but it was once a post-office in Shelby County, and once the site of a buffalo exhibition. The description below the buffalo reads: "This interesting animal was caught about Two Hundred miles above the Lead Mines, on the Missouri River. It is a female; is two years old, and is as large as a common sized Ox.", Possibly printed by Joseph Charless, the first printer west of the Mississippi, who set up shop in St. Louis in 1808.
Bound Down the River
"Bound Down the River" print published by Currier & Ives
National Elimination Balloon Races Held at Priesters Park
Panoramic photograph depicting six racing balloons still tethered to the ground at the center of the racing track at Priesters Park. Spectators can be seen in the stands to the right and left. The race was presented by the Aero Club of St. Louis.
Sequoyah
This lithographic portrait of Sequoyah, who was credited with inventing the Cherokee alphabet, was created as part of the McKenney & Hall "History of the Indian Tribes of North America." Sequoyah is shown wearing a blue coat with a red and white headscarf and a peace medal hanging around his neck. He points to a document showing the Cherokee alphabet and is smoking a pipe.

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