J. H. Haverly's "Our Strategists"
date: label: Date made
content: 1884
name: label: maker
content: Seer, A. S.
notes: label: Description
content: This colored advertising print or poster is a drawing of men and women playing in a gigantic white bowl labeled "Boneset tea." The people have shrunken bodies and large heads and can be seen diving into the tea, stirring it with a big spoon, holding a kettle, and riding a bottle. The title J. H. Haverly’s “Our Strategists” is printed at the top, and at the bottom are the words “Written and Acted “Just for Fun.”
label: Description
content: Entertainment entrepreneur J. H. (“Jack”) Haverly (1837-1901) was born Christopher Haverly near Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. He launched his show business career in 1864 in Toledo, Ohio, where he purchased a variety theater. Inspired by entrepreneurs like P. T. Barnum, Haverly went on to manage other theaters, and he created minstrel and comic performance groups on the East Coast and in the Middle West. In the late 1870s he consolidated his troupes into a single company called the United Mastodon Minstrels which included forty performers, along with a brass band and drum corps. The group continued to grow and at one point had more than a hundred members. Around the same time, he took control of a black performing group called Charles Callender's Original Georgia Minstrels, which he renamed Haverly’s Colored Minstrels. He promoted their performances as authentic depictions of black life, even creating a mock plantation with costumed actors portraying slaves and overseers. Haverly’s troupes toured the United States, usually appearing at his own theaters in cities like New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Francisco. They also traveled to England and Scotland. Featuring lavish stage sets, extravagant special effects, and performers in blackface makeup and exotic costumes, his innovations inspired the creation of smaller minstrel shows during the late nineteenth century.
label: Description
content: This chromolithograph was produced by A. S. Seer. Alfred S. Seer was an engraver in Brooklyn, New York.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
topic: label: Subject
content: Drinking
label: Subject
content: Eating
label: Subject
content: Comic prints
label: Subject
content: Chronology: 1880-1889
label: Subject
content: Swimming
label: Subject
content: Toys
label: Subject
content: Theater
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
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content: Popular Entertainment
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content: Clothing & Accessories
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content: Advertising
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content: Art
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content: Peters Prints
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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.60.3003
label: catalog number
content: 60.3003
label: accession number
content: 228146
objectType: label: Object Name
content: chromolithograph
label: Object Type
content: Chromolithograph
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: image: 29 1/4 in x 19 1/8 in; 74.295 cm x 48.5775 cm