Currier and Ives

Currier and Ives lithographs, manufactured in New York from 1834 to 1888, form a sweeping pictorial record of mid-19th century America. When he first opened his shop, Nathaniel Currier had just finished an apprenticeship in lithography, an 18th-century printing process involving making images from inked stones. When an 1835 fire destroyed much of old New Amsterdam, Currier rushed a lithograph of the disaster into print. Ruins of the Merchant's Exchange, NY (shown above) sold briskly and launched Currier's career in pictorial journalism. In 1852, Currier hired bookkeeper and lithographer James Ives, making him a business partner in 1857. Together the two men built Currier and Ives into the most successful lithography house of their time and left a legacy of more than 7,000 prints that document the humor, political climate, current events and sentiments of mid-19th-century American life.

Image Credit: Currier and Ives: Printmakers to the American People

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