Heavy wooden dowel inserted in fabric for hanging. On front: "THE UNCONQUERABLE EAST WARD" over an eagle and oval color portrait of the head of James Buchanan. Words under portrait read: HOME AND RESIDENCE OF JAMES BUCHANAN / WE KNOW HIM, WE RESPECT, / ESTEEM & WILL HONOR HIM." Gold-colored soft fabric fringe around the banner. Poor condition.
Date Range
1856
Storage Location
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, PA
Storage Room
DAC
Storage Wall
Island 5
Storage Cabinet
Unit 56
Storage Shelf
Shelf 1
Object Name
Banner
Width (cm)
182.88
Width (ft)
6
Width (in)
72
Condition
Poor
Condition Date
2023-09-14
Condition Notes
Fabric faded and falling apart. Fringe becoming detached. Unrolled extremely carefully in sections.
Letter box with slant front, hinged-lid, and multi-compartment interior. Exterior is done in silver, ebony, ivory, and mahogany inlay in a cube and flower design. Interior is wood with circular inlay design with ivory, silver, jade, and red material. Key included.
Brought from Siam in the 1860s by Admiral William Reynolds, brother of General John Fulton Reynolds.
Foldable eyeglasses with D-shaped blue-tinted lenses and similar side panel lenses. Worn by Amos Ellmaker (1787-1851) and are seen in portrait.
Provenance
Amos Ellmaker (1787-1851) wore these glasses, including during his sitting for accomplished Lancaster portrait painter Jacob Eichholtz. Amso graduated from Princeton before embarking on a long and successful career as both an officer in the army and a lawyer; rising to positions such as State Representative and Attorney General of the Commonwealth. Amos almost became a state senator as well, but lost to the future president, James Buchanan.
Corn knife used by one of the Black resistors in the Christiana Riot on September 11, 1851. Wrought iron long curved blade of 19.5" is fitted into oak or ash turned handle rounded terminal end. Tang of blade extends through length of handle and protrudes at terminal where it is clinched.
The Christiana Resistance resulted from the efforts of a Maryland slave holder to claim fugitives hiding in the home of Willam Parker, a free black man living in Chritiana, PA. This corn knife was used by one of the black resistors during this confict. The bloody confrontation, occurring in September of 1851, resulted in the death of Edward Gorsuch, the slaveholder, and the escape of William Parker and the fugitive slaves to freedom in Canada.
Large iron box lock from Conestoga Cotton Mill #3 gate. Very long rectangular box has four screw holes for securing to gate and two very small butt hinges attached with screws to back edge. A projecting hollow key escutcheon is riveted to front of box about 5" from one end. Key would be inserted into lock through escutcheon.
In addition, there is an iron latch plate with L-shaped projection mounted onto face of plate, for receiving a lift latch bar. It has five screw holes for mounting on gate.
Depth or thickness is box lock only. Overall thickness including projecting handle holder is 3".
Condition
Fair
Condition Date
2014-10-07
Condition Notes
Expected strong weathering, resulting in surface pitting, rust, white paint residue and 3 significant cracks branching out from one screw hole near latch holder. Latch plate is extremely worn with apparent missing sections. L-shaped projection has lost its original surface due to grinding. Interior of box lock also ground away in sections.
A Silver kugel in grape cluster form, silvered interior. Mold-blown glass is well formed. Top has patterned brass cap with wire hanging ring. 6.5" x 4.5"
B Green kugel in grape cluster form, with silvered interior. Mold-blown glass is well formed. Top has patterned brass cap with wire hanging ring. 5 x 3.5"
C Gold kugel with silvered interior, in grape cluster form. Mold-blown glass is well formed. Top has patterned brass cap with wire hanging ring. 5 x 3.25"
D Bag of twisted glass cylinders with tapered ends. One end twisted into a circle for metal hook.
A reel-type quilt pattern in 9 pieces cut from 2 different yellow papers is attached to a large sheet of newsprint. A central square with concave sides with a horizontal oval shape cut out in its middle is attached to the paper with long stitches of white thread. Four arcs of the same yellow paper surround the central piece. Four 6-plumed flourishes of a glossy yellow paper project from tips/corners of the central piece. These are also stitches in brown and white threads to the newspaper backing.
Donor claimed this is a Lancaster County piece and a Lancaster newspaper.
(One article ends with: " May 8, 1858.")
Note: "Buchanan" is named in an article on this newspaper: far left, 7.5 inches from the bottom. ..."Buchanan the servile tool of..."
Old number in Heritage Center file: "D.S.11"
Date Range
1858 circa
Storage Location
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, PA
Storage Room
DAC
Storage Cabinet
Cabinet 2
Storage Shelf
Shelf 3
Storage Container
Box 0539
Object Name
Pattern, Quilt
Height (cm)
46.355
Height (ft)
1.5208333333
Height (in)
18.25
Width (cm)
45.72
Width (ft)
1.5
Width (in)
18
Condition
Good
Condition Date
2023-06-01
Condition Notes
Pattern is stitched to an old newspaper: brown on fold; foxing on newsprint overall, heavy on left side (front). Holes in newsprint at places. Tears on upper left edge.
