Black Valley Railroad by Emil Ackerman and printed by Charles H. Crosby
date: label: Date made
content: 1863
name: label: copyright holder
content: Hanks, S. W.
label: maker
content: Ackermann, Emil
label: maker
content: Crosby, Charles H.
notes: label: Description
content: This hand-colored allegorical print depicts the course of destruction through drinking in a series of symbols designed to illustrate the dangers of drinking alcohol. A train labeled "Distillery" is stopped at "Drunkard's Curve Station." It has left a tranquil valley and is heading toward doom in a land of evil serpents (as in Eden), skeletons, a vampire bat, and what appears to be a dangerous route to destruction, with fictional station names like "Horrorland," "Maniacville", "Prisonton" and “Woeland." The train runs on grain alcohol with the piston working in a decanter. Numerous travelers who can no longer pay the fare are lying abandoned, sick, or passed out along the side of the tracks, with an ambulance in the lower right, while others appear to be looking for ways to escape. Station names bear a cautionary tale of scriptural citations along the left and right borders and below the image is a considerable amount of interpretive text.
label: Description
content: This print was created by lithographer Emile Ackermann, printed by Charles H. Crosby, issued by the American Seamen’s Friend Society, and published by Reverend Steadman Wright Hanks in his book The Crystal River Turned Upon the Black Valley Railroad and Black Valley Country -- A Temperance Allegory (also known as The Black Valley: The Railroad and the Country. Hanks called the print "probably the most successful temperance lecture in the country," and in 1879 claimed there were more than 3 million copies in various forms that had been distributed. Stedman Wright Hanks (1811-1889) was a Congregational minister in Lowell, Massachusetts, as well as an author, artist, and fervent supporter of both the temperance and anti-slavery movements. Hanks spoke to audiences around the United States about the evils of overindulging in alcohol. In addition to his book about the Black Valley Railroad, his published works included Sailor Boys, or, Light on the Sea, and Mutineers of the "Bounty. He also compiled a temperance song book and served as a representative in the Massachusetts General Court. He is noted for performing the sermon commemorating John Quincy Adams death at the St. John Street Congregational Church.
label: Description
content: Lithographer Emil F. Ackermann (1840-1900) was born in Dresden, Germany in 1840 and came to the United States in 1848 and built a reputation as a lithographer, engraver, and designer. Ackermann eventually went to work for the lithography firm of J.H. Bufford and Sons, which produced another version of this print.
label: Description
content: Charles H. Crosby (1819-1896) was a printer working in Boston, Massachusetts and a partner in the firm Moore & Crosby and Charles H. Crosby & Company. He employed numerous skilled artists but was a poor businessman who declared bankruptcy several times.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Boston
topic: label: Subject
content: Chronology: 1860-1869
label: Subject
content: Railroads
label: Subject
content: Architecture
label: Subject
content: Architecture, Domestic Buildings
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
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content: Art
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content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.60.2889
label: catalog number
content: 60.2889
label: accession number
content: 228146
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Lithograph
label: Object Type
content: Lithograph
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: image: 11 7/8 in x 15 7/8 in; 30.1625 cm x 40.3225 cm