Susquehanna R. at Columbia. ("3-5.00" is faded pencil)
Description
Small painting by Lloyd Mifflin, oil or acrylic on paper, entitled:"Susquehanna R. at Columbia".. Title in pencil script is below painting. "3 -- 5.00" is faintly written above title, perhaps erased. Painting is mounted on a larger paper and the whole matted with window mat in new wood frame. Foam board backing.
Two men in a canoe-like craft depicted on fiver with small islands with trees immediately behind and mountain in distance. Done in warm, muted colors.
White porcelain commemorative plate with black printed image of Colemanville Bridge. Surrounded by, "3rd International Volksmarch / Pequea, Pennsylvania"; "IVV / AVA"; "7 - 8 October 1989 / Penn Dutch Pacers"; signature, "G. Robert Wagner"
Large, dark blue oval Staffordshire platter with expansive countryside view, river and bridge. Multiple people and horses including a Conestoga wagon, river boat, fisherman, horse and rider, etc. Slightly scalloped edge. Decorated with an eagle at each "corner"; the remainder has acanthus leaves and flowers.
Underside of border is stamped in blue within an oval medallion: "Upper Ferry Bridge over the Schuylkill River."
Long crack from middle of center to edge. Multiple stains on underside, including tape stains.
Object ID
2003.064.1
Notes
The Colossus Bridge – also known as Fairmount Bridge, Colossus of Fairmount or Upper Ferry Bridge (and formally as the Lancaster Schuylkill Bridge[1]) – was a record-setting timber bridge across the Schuylkill River near Philadelphia. It was built in 1812 by Louis Wernwag, and was considered his finest bridge design. It had a clear span of 340 feet (103.6 m) (contemporary US Record) and was the first long span bridge to use iron rods.
The bridge was destroyed September 1, 1838, by fire.[3] The bridge was succeeded by Charles Ellet, Jr.'s wire suspension bridge and then the Callowhill Street truss bridge.[4] The modern bridge at this site is the Spring Garden Street Bridge. (Wikipedia)
The scene is from an 1823 engraving by Jacob J. Plocher, which is turn is after the painting by Thomas Birch.
Place of Origin
Staffordshire, England
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Bridge over Susquehanna River Between Columbia and Wrightsville
Description
Color painting of bridge over Susquehanna River between Wrightsville and Columbia with three Canada geese landing on water in right foreground. Print 15/500. Signed by artist in lower left corner: copyright by Kristin Hill, 2005, ASAA.' Framed with double mat. TruGuard UV glass sticker on back. Framed by Lancaster Galleries, Lancaster, PA..
Upholstered wingback commode chair has four turned Sheraton legs. Has replacement of original soiled handsewn homespun linen (remnants in this file), now an orange fabric with potted and vining flower design. Solid pinewood seat under cushion has center hole with fitted removable wooden disc.
This chair was from the Pownall home at Gap, where it was used by Dickinson Gorsuch, Maryland slaveholder, during his recovery from wounds sustained during the Christiana Riot of Sept. 11, 1851. His father and two others were killed during the skirmish at the home of freedman William Parker, and Dickinson was transported to the Pownall home for recovery. William Parker later published his story in the "Atlantic Monthly" in 1866, making it highly publicized.
This incident "is an important example of the struggle over the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act and the escalating tension between the North and the South. This act gave slave owners broad powers to recapture runaway slaves". (ExplorePAhistory.com)
Polaroid photos of chair before re-upholstery, in file.
Likely Lancaster or Chester Co.
Provenance
Provenance: Chair owned by the Pownall family & given in 1973 to the Lancaster County Historical Society by Mrs. Levi Pownall of Lancashire Hall (569-7279).
It was initially loaned to the Heritage Center (# L.77.9 and # 161.64.80) but soon donated to HCLC. Board minutes of Dec. 8, 1975 include Richard F. Smith's Museum Committee report noting a donation of a "Sheraton armed wing chair commode, used by the Pownall home in nursing Dickinson Gorsuch following Christiana Riot in 1851." Later unsigned note (Bruce Shoemaker?) states John Aungst of LCHS was consulted & chair was removed 11/9/84 from list on LCHS loan form, settling an apparent question of ownership.
