William R. King, Democratic Candidate for Vice President of the United States, 1852 old alaska map the language of freedom set

the language of freedom set in type while the war that would enforce it still smoldered across half a continent

Daniel Webster 1865 — a posthumous likeness of the Massachusetts orator issued more than a decade after his death

The Barbers Blade Warner Safety Razor Patent Blueprint captures the working geometry of the Victorian barber's trade — the angles

Spanish American Soldiers and Flags 1898 — a martial tableau from the year empire announced itself in Cuban heat and Manila harbor

William R. King, Democratic Candidate for Vice President of the United States, 1852 old alaska map the language of freedom setWilliam R. King, Democratic Candidate for Vice President of the United States, 1852. A campaign portrait of the Alabama senator yoked to Franklin Pierce on a ticket that bet the Union on compromise King would win the office and die before he could meaningfully hold it, his lithographed dignity outlasting his lungs. About the Source Bella Frye sources artifacts from the great American historical archive the Library of Congress, the National Archives,