Frances Flora Bond Palmer

Palmer, Fanny

American, born England, 1812 - 1876

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Train tracks slice across a flat, grassy landscape with log cabins to our left and a river and mountains to our right in this horizontal lithograph. The scene is printed with vivid colors and is packed with tiny details. A train engine puffing black smoke pulls five cars from the bottom right corner away into the distance, angling to our left before disappearing on the horizon, which comes about three quarters of the way up the composition. Writing across the tops of the first three cars reads, “Through line New York San Francisco” in all caps. The open windows on the fourth car are crowded with riders. Tucked into the lower left corner, eleven log-built structures are mostly clustered closely together. Children play and run around the open door of the building closest to us, which is labeled “Public School.” Other people in long skirts or suits, some in hats, stand waving near the tracks. Four men in long-sleeved shirts or jackets and long pants, all with hats, chop down trees or hold shovels in a wooded area in the lower left corner. Four wagons, three of them covered and drawn by ox, move away from the town. All of the people in the town and on the train appear to have pale, peachy skin. The black smoke pouring from the train engine turns to slate gray where it blankets the ground to our right. Two people with brown skin, long black hair, feathered headdresses, and yellow and red clothing sit on horseback and are nearly swallowed by the smoke. A glassy, blue river winds into the distance to our left. One person is in a canoe on the river, which is lined by pines and other trees. White clouds kick up against the snowy mountain peaks that span the right half of the horizon against an otherwise bright blue sky. The margin around the scene is foxed, speckled brown against the white paper. Printed below the image, in all caps, the title reads, “Across the Continent. “Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way.” In tiny letters, immediately below the printed image are three more inscriptions. They read, to the left, “J.M. Ives, Del.” At the center, “Entered according to Act of Congress in the year AD. 1868 by Currier & Ives in the Clerks Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.” And to the right, in all caps, “Drawn by F.F. Palmer.”
Frances Flora Bond Palmer, James Merritt Ives, Currier and Ives, Across the Continent: "Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way", 1868, hand-colored lithograph, with touches of gum arabic, on wove paper, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.160

Across the Continent: "Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way"

Frances Flora Bond Palmer, James Merritt Ives, Currier and Ives · 1868 · hand-colored lithograph, with touches of gum arabic, on wove paper ·  Accession ID  1985.64.160

Frances Flora Bond Palmer, Currier and Ives, Currier and Ives, "Wooding Up" on the Mississippi, 1863, color lithograph with hand-coloring on wove paper, Donald and Nancy deLaski Fund, 2011.30.1

"Wooding Up" on the Mississippi

Frances Flora Bond Palmer, Currier and Ives, Currier and Ives · 1863 · color lithograph with hand-coloring on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2011.30.1

Fire burps out the top of a pair of smokestacks on two steamboats that power down a wide river at night in this color lithograph. Black smoke billows back from the flames, and steam hisses from smaller smokestacks at the back of the boats. The boat to our left is the Natchez, and writing around its name reads, “Vicksburg, Natchez and New Orleans Mail Line.” The other boat is the Eclipse. People line the decks of both as the boats race under the moonlit sky. A blanket of gray clouds breaks in front of the luminous moon. Printed text below the image reads, “A MIDNIGHT RACE ON THE MISSISSIPPI.” Tiny text printed under the lower left corner of the image reads, “F.F. PALMER DEL. FROM A SKETCH BY H.D. MANNING OF THE NATCHEZ” and “LITH. OF CURRIER & IVES, N.Y.” in the lower right.
Frances Flora Bond Palmer, Currier and Ives, Currier and Ives, A Midnight Race on the Mississippi, 1860, color lithograph with hand-coloring on wove paper, Donald and Nancy deLaski Fund, 2012.16.1

A Midnight Race on the Mississippi

Frances Flora Bond Palmer, Currier and Ives, Currier and Ives · 1860 · color lithograph with hand-coloring on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2012.16.1

Frances Flora Bond Palmer, Nathaniel Currier, American Winter Scenes: Morning, 1854, hand-colored lithograph on wove paper, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.158

American Winter Scenes: Morning

Frances Flora Bond Palmer, Nathaniel Currier · 1854 · hand-colored lithograph on wove paper ·  Accession ID  1985.64.158

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American Farm Scenes: No. 4

Frances Flora Bond Palmer, Nathaniel Currier · 1853 · hand-colored lithograph on wove paper ·  Accession ID  1985.64.157