Object of the Month

Benjamin Colman Sermon to Pirates
July 10, 1726
VAULT BV 4262 .C64

To kick things off, we have this sermon pamphlet, one of many from the eighteenth century in the Rev Spaces collection. Sermons were often written down and pamphlets of the transcriptions produced after the fact, so that churchgoers could experience their favorite sermons again, or discover new ones to aid in their religious education. This particular example was given by Benjamin Colman, on the occasion of the execution of pirate William Fly. Fly was an English pirate who was convicted of raiding New England merchant ships in 1726. He was put to death and his body hung in chains (gibbeted) on Nix’s Island in Boston Harbor, as a warning to other lawbreakers. Many consider Fly’s death to be the end of what came to be known as the “Golden Age of Piracy.”

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“Thompson the Abolitionist” Broadside
1835
MS0119.DC973.7114

On October 21, 1835, George Donisthorpe Thompson, a British abolitionist, arrived in Boston to give an anti-slavery lecture at the invitation of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society. The lecture was to take place at the offices of The Liberator, an abolitionist newspaper published by William Lloyd Garrison. This broadside reflected the popular opinion of much of Boston’s “respectable” society in that time period, who supported slavery and believed abolition would result in the destruction of the union. Approximately two thousand people (termed “highly respectable gentlemen” by local newspapers) gathered to protest. A riot ensued as protesters mobbed the office, searching for Thompson. Instead, they found William Lloyd Garrison, dragging him through the streets before the police rescued him, taking him first to Old State House, then to the Leverett Street Jail for safekeeping. The incident came to be known as the Boston Gentlemen Riot or the Garrison Riot and made national headlines.

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Sampler made by Lydia Hutchinson
1730
1885.0125

Samplers are works of embroidery that often contain a combination of letters, numbers, pictures, and rhymes. Young women and girls would often make samplers as part of their education during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, typically as a way to learn letters and numbers while practicing their embroidery skills. Sewing was considered an essential skill for young women who were typically expected to manage their households as wives and mothers.  This example was made by Lydia Hutchinson, sister of Thomas Hutchinson who would later serve as governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1771 to 1774.

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“Pick Up Sticks” Game Pieces
Nineteenth century
1937.0036.001-.038

These tiny wooden implements, playing pieces for a game of pick up sticks or jackstraw, were carved from wood salvaged from the John Hancock home on Beacon Street in Boston. The house remained in the family after Hancock’s death in 1793, but was ultimately sold in 1859 and torn down in 1863. Several building elements and wood scraps were salvaged, and a number of these items remain in the Revolutionary Spaces collection.

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Keystone (Corbel) from the Old State House
c. 1713
0005.1959.010

The exterior of the Old State House has a surprising feature hiding in plain sight! Circling each of the round windows are four unique faces carved in limestone. These keystones provide structural support for the window frames, but also reflect the creativity of the stonemasons. Each of the sixteen faces is completely unique. A young boy, old man, lion, and satyr are some of the faces that peer down to the street below. The originals were removed for safekeeping and now reside in the Revolutionary Spaces collection, but replicas can still be seen surrounding the four round windows, two on each end of the building.

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Print, Vue de Boston by Franz Xaver Habermann
1770s
2017.0001.001

This etching, likely created in the 1770s, is said to depict the Old State House and King Street (now known as State Street) in Boston, Massachusetts. Interestingly, nothing in the depiction is accurate; the artist was German and seemingly never visited Boston, nor did he use an accurate image of the city as reference. The print was made to be used with a zograscope, a device used to magnify and give depth to an image, hence the reversal of some of the text.

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