The word “ballot” is derived from the Italian word “ballotta,” meaning little ball. The artifact here is a Civil War-era ballot box with 14 black and 25 white clay balls or marbles. Well before the American Revolution, fraternal clubs such as the Masons were using similar boxes to decide elections. Marbles or balls were dropped…
Category: Exhibits
The Pamplin International Collection of Art and History include many items relating to World War II.
This year’s exhibit showed a Japanese government POW flag, Signed by Prime Minister Tojo and other top ministers of the WWII government of Japan. Obtained by a guard at the Sugamo Prison, where the Japanese officials were incarcerated after the war. A Japanese Surrender card (often such cards were dropped from airplanes into enemy territory…
Humor
Where’s My Date? by Charlie Dye (American, 1906-1972)20 X 18 inches, oil on board The writer James Thurber once observed that “Humor is a serious thing. . . one of our greatest, earliest natural resources, which must be preserved at all costs.” Charlie Dye was a western artist who created this droll cover for The…
Buffalo Bill
There were many books written about Buffalo Bill and his life in the American West Early in his life (age 14) Bill rode for the Pony Express, carrying mail across the American midwest and the Kansas Territory in the years before the Civil War. This book, BUFFALO BILL AND THE PONY EXPRESS, is an illustrated…
Civil Unrest
Wei Dynasty Armored Horse and Rider. 386–534 CE. Civil unrest is nothing new or unique. By 386 CE, China was deeply divided by multiple warring territories. All had broken away from the previous governmental leadership and had declared their independence. This exodus shattered a nearly four hundred years-long peace in which philosophy and artistic expansion had been fostered. This new era continued…
THEME OF THE WEEK: Defense and Protection
Wei Dynasty Soldier 386–535 CE Even fifteen hundred years ago, defense and protection were essential. By 386 CE, China was deeply divided by multiplewarring territories; a nearly four hundred years-long peace was shattered, and the previous period of artistic expansion and philosophy was over. All parties had declared their independence, breaking away—politically and geographically—from China’s unified governmental leadership. The period…
Humor
In these challenging times, we all could use a bit of humor. The Pamplin Collection has many paintings, prints, and posters that illustrate humorous events and lives. Here are just a handful. Boy and Principal Boy and Principal, by Richard Sargent (American, 1911-1978), Saturday Evening Post cover for February 7, 1959. Here, Sargent captures the two sides of a young…