American Revolution Institute Educator Book Club, American Revolution Institute
Washington, D.C.
October 8, November 5 and December 3, 2019
The inaugural semester of the American Revolution Institute Educator Book Club featured The Property of the Nation: George Washington’s Tomb, Mount Vernon, and the Memory of the First President by author Matthew Costello, who joined the group for dinner and a private book discussion at Anderson House prior to his public lecture on the topic. Teachers used the following American Revolution Institute museum and library collection items celebrating the legacy of George Washington to generate original classroom activities inspired by the book.
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Henry Alexander Scammel Dearborn to Alexander Washington Johnston
January 1, 1849The Society of the Cincinnati
When Henry Alexander Scammel Dearborn was elected the eighth president general of the Society of the Cincinnati in 1848, he became the first hereditary member to hold the office. In this letter to the Society’s secretary general, Dearborn wrote of the honor of receiving the Diamond Eagle, noting that the presentation had taken place on December 14, 1848, the forty-ninth anniversary of Washington’s death. “As a humble disciple of that Greatest and Best of Men, may I be ever emulous to imitate his preeminent virtues, & anxiously endeavor to maintain those lofty principles by which he was actuated … as one of the most decided & efficient advocates for the Rights and Liberties of his countrymen.”
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"To the Honorable the Society of the Cincinnati : This Monument of Genl. George Washington is Very Respectfully Inscribed by the Artist"
John Eckstein (ca. 1736-1817)
Philadelphia, Pa., ca. 1806The Society of the Cincinnati, The Robert Charles Lawrence Fergusson Collection
This engraving depicts George Washington in uniform, wearing the eagle insignia of the Society of the Cincinnati; standing upon a pedestal inscribed "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his country." In the background is representation of a Revolutionary War battle.
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"Washington, Sacred to Memory"
John James Barralet (ca.1747-1815), revised from David Edwin (1776-1841) after Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828)
1800The Society of the Cincinnati, The Robert Charles Lawrence Fergusson Collection
After Washington's death, Barralet modified an existing print into a memorial image; erased the title and the federal eagle vignette and added a border with a tablet inscribed "Washington, Sacred to Memory." Washington is depicted wearing the eagle insignia of the Society of the Cincinnati.
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"Giorgio Washington Alla grande nazione degli Stati Uniti di America"
Antonio Canova (1757-1822), sculptor, Tognoli Giovanni (1786-1862) artist, Angelo Bertini,, 19th century, Italian engraver
The Society of the Cincinnati
This statue of Washington was commissioned by Governor William Miller for the state of North Carolina and placed at the state house in Raleigh in 1824. It was destroyed in a fire on June 12, 1831. It depicts Washington, seated on a chair to the right, dressed in Roman garb. He is holding a sylus in his right hand and on his left knee rests a large stone slab on which is engraved: "Georgio Washington al topolo degli Stati Uniti 1796 Amici e Concittadini." Washington's likeness is based on a life study of Canova's friend, Giuseppe Ceracchi. This is the front or folio engraving by Bertini.
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"Commemoration of Washington"
John James Barralet (ca. 1747-1815)
The Society of the Cincinnati, The Robert Charles Lawrence Fergusson Collection
This engraved scene depicts the apotheosis of Washington, rising from the tomb and supported by representations of Time and Immortality.
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"Lafayette, The Friend of Washington"
D. W. Kellogg & Co., Hartford, Ct.
The Society of the Cincinnati, Gift of Mrs. Lester T. Gayle
This lithograph represents Lafayette's visit to George Washington's tomb at Mount Vernon during his return visit to the United States in 1824-25.
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George Washington mantel clock
Jean-Baptiste DuBuc, Paris
ca. 1800-1810The Society of the Cincinnati, Gift of David Gordon Sutton, Frank Taylor Sutton III, and Frank Taylor Sutton IV, 2001
George Washington's death inspired artists and craftsmen in America, France and Great Britain to produce commemorative ceramics, medals, textiles and other objects memorializing the first president. This Neoclassical mantel clock, designed for the American market, features a standing figure of Washington in military uniform. The French clock's maker modeled the image of Washington after John Trumbull's 1792 portrait of the general before the battlefield at Trenton. The scroll held in Washington's right hand may allude to his resignation of his commission, an act comparable to Cincinnatus putting down his sword and returning to his plow.
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Daguerreotypes of portraits of George and Martha Washington
John L. Grubb, Alexandria, Va.
mid-19th centuryThe Society of the Cincinnati, Gift of Henry Irvine Keyser II, 1960
This pair of daguerreotypes reproduces well-known portraits of George and Martha Washington both originally painted around 1796—James Sharples’ profile portrait of General Washington and Gilbert Stuart’s Athenaeum portrait of the general’s wife. These keepsakes are enclosed in a hinged leather-covered case.
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Sacred to the Memory of Washington
1800The Society of the Cincinnati, The Robert Charles Lawrence Fergusson Collection
The bound volume contains 25 eulogies on the death of George Washington published in 1800, collected and bound by the sister-in-law of original member Anthony Walton White.
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"A Funeral Oration, on the Death of George Washington: Delivered in the City Hall of Albany, in Presence of an August Assemblage of Citizens, on the Twenty-second of February, 1800"
Michael Gabriel Houdin
Albany: Printed by Barber & SouthwickThe Society of the Cincinnati, The Robert Charles Lawrence Fergusson Collection
Michel Gabriel Houdin, born in France, served in the Massachusetts Continental Line and became an original member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati. Among the hundreds of eulogies published on Washington’s death, Houdin’s pamphlet has the distinction of featuring as the frontispiece an engraved portrait of the author rather than of Washington.
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"Sacred to the memory of the truly illustrious George Washington"
John Coles (ca. 1776-1854)
1800The Society of the Cincinnati, The Robert Charles Lawrence Fergusson Collection
Image of a monument to George Washington with allegorical figures of Minerva, and Fame, whose trumpet hangs a banner inscribed: "Trenton, Princeton, Monmouth, Yorktown." A bust length mediallion portrait of Washington in uniform, head to right (after Edward Savage), surmounted by a funeral urn, is at the center of the monument. America and a soldier weep in the foreground.